The Koha installation will be hosted off site at one of LibLime's secure data centers. The Library has also contracted with LibLime for support, training, and migration of their bibliographic records, patron records and items.
"We decided to go with Koha based on excellent peer recommendations," says Director Darla Allen.
"As a small library with limited staff, Koha appealed to us for a number of reasons. First of all, we had the option to have the site hosted and therefore avoid many of the headaches associated with troubleshooting and maintaining our own computer. Secondly, Koha enables our patrons to go online and check our holdings, manage their account and see what's new. Our current service does not have that capability," Darla explains.
"We are a small library in a community that has been hit hard by recent economic woes. For a very reasonable cost, Koha will enable our library to serve our patrons in the same way that many larger and more prosperous libraries are able to do," says Darla. "I have always believed that it didn't matter if you came from a small town or a big city, the library offers access for all. Each person who walks through the library doors has the same opportunities as any other library user in the United States."
She adds: "Koha makes this a reality for so many of our rural patrons. They will be able to use the library more effectively and get real value out of our services."
"The Charles and JoAnne Lester Library has always played a significant role in its community," says Susan Buchanan, VP Library Partners at LibLime. "LibLime is pleased to be able to provide the support and services to enable the Library to continue to be an integral part of the growth of the community. Implementing Koha will provide library patrons with enhanced access to, and use of, the library collection and facilities."
About The Charles and JoAnn Lester Library
The Charles and JoAnn Lester Library serves a population of about 4,500 people in the South Wood County Area. The present building was paid for through community fundraising and a very generous donation from Charles and JoAnn Lester. The Library has an up-to-date collection of over 28,000 unique titles and an extensive local history collection. The Library offers wi-fi, 8 public use computers and two meeting rooms for public use.
About Koha ZOOM
Koha ZOOM is the next-generation release of the award-winning Koha open-source integrated library system. Notably, it includes a powerful search engine based on Zebra, a high-performance indexing and retrieval engine. Koha ZOOM's search engine can read structured records in practically any input format (e.g., email, XML, MARC) and allows access to them through exact boolean search expressions and relevance-ranked free-text queries. It supports large databases (more than ten gigabytes of data, tens of millions of records) as well as incremental, safe database updates on live systems.
To try out Koha ZOOM for yourself, visit LibLime's demos:
http://liblime.com/demos
About LibLime
LibLime is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries, with a mission to make open source accessible to libraries. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open-source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions--solutions tailored to each library's needs. For more information, see http://liblime.com.
