2 August 2021 Catalyst is delighted to announce that Auckland University of Technology (AUT) will soon become the first University in New Zealand and Australia to implement Koha Library Management System.
"Koha is open source software which connects us to an international community of over 15,000 libraries working collaboratively to continually improve it. It's great that the best system for AUT was first developed in New Zealand, and in Catalyst we have a New Zealand-based company to to implement and support it. Our collective team is keen to embrace the ways we can approach the project and ongoing system support in a te ao Māori way, which we have not had the opportunity to explore before now" says Ben Conyers, Director, Research and Learning, AUT.
The move away from an overseas vendor product will save the university $100,000 per year from 2022 onwards. The library retains all functionality from the current system and gains a number of other benefits for both students and library staff.
AUT and Catalyst find their values around openness closely aligned. Catalyst is excited to partner with AUT, where the library team have become champions in the use of open source software. "Adopting Koha allows us to continue our progress in open source – this drives increased flexibility and control of our own destiny. Open source software allows our people to take ownership – the move to Koha will mean increased capacity, capability and satisfaction for our staff. We get to work directly with a huge global community of librarians and developers to improve and extend Koha, including dozens of libraries in New Zealand," says AUT Manager of Open Library Initiatives, Craig Murdoch.
Catalyst and AUT are planning for a long collaborative future, with an ongoing values-driven approach to project direction and decision-making. With all system data and people on the project based in New Zealand, data sovereignty and the ability to meet face-to-face provides the essential base to begin discussion about how we can grow our connections and ways of working with a te ao Māori focus.
The University Librarian, Kim Tairi, is thrilled that Catalyst is willing to work closely with AUT's Library Māori Engagement Group. "It is a new way of working for both and we hope to learn a lot from each other".
The system is due to go live towards the end of 2021.
About Koha
Koha is a fully featured and scalable Library Management System, now running over 15,000 libraries worldwide including R1 University libraries in the United States, and a number of other Universities around the world.
About Catalyst
Catalyst is a New Zealand owned and operated company where openness, long term relationships, community and diversity are essential characteristics of how we do business. Since 1997, Catalyst has been enabling success with expert open source solutions, and clients all over the world trust us with their mission-critical systems.
About AUT
AUT is the second largest university in Aotearoa New Zealand. It has been a university since 2000, but a place of learning for 120 years and operates in accordance with the Education Act (1989). Times Higher Education ranked AUT as the top millennial university in Australasia and in the top 1% of universities in the world.