February 3, 2009-- The creators and developers of Koha, the first open source Integrated Library System (ILS), today announced that KohaCon 2009-- a conference for current and interested users of the Koha Integrated Library System--- will be held in Plano, Texas, April 16 &17, 2009. KohaCon 2009 is the sequel to the first ever KohaCon--held in Paris, France in 2006-- which brought together users and developers worldwide. KohaCon 2009 will feature an international slate of speakers (both Koha users and active Koha contributors) conducting presentations and workshops on a diverse range of topics. Topics will include technical information on how to develop for the various modules of Koha, support options, and even panel discussions featuring users of Koha talking about their experiences with the software. "We expect this event to have wide appeal," said Paul Poulain, BibLibre, CEO and Release Manager of Koha 2.x "The conference is for both techies and non-techies. In addition to presentations on the technical side of Koha, the conference will serve as a hands-on introduction to how users and developers around the world collaborate to make the Koha open-source software possible," Poulain explained. "Kohacon 2009 will be huge, everything is bigger in Texas. Plus you get to hear from some of the veteran Koha developers, complete with funny accents. What more could you want?" said Chris Cormack, one of the original authors of the Koha version 1.0, and current Translation Manager for the Project. This is a FREE conference. There is no registration fee, but conference organizers are requesting that all attendees pre-register using the registration form found at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pMSkZuQLLHD_R8MFCGWz4OQ Details (travel, hotels, tentative agenda, etc) can be found on the Koha wiki at: http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=kohacon2009 About Koha Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). Gifted by Horowhenua Library Trust and now in use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. The impressive set of features available in Koha continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. Koha has lived up to its name, which means 'Gift' in the Maori language of New Zealand. To learn more about the Koha project, visit: http://koha.org Press Contact: Paul POULAIN http://www.biblibre.com Expert en Logiciels Libres pour l'info-doc Tel : (33) 4 91 81 35 08