1
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,000
What is Koha?

2
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Well, it’s a community and it's also a software. 

3
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,000
It’s the world's first Open Source integrated library system.

4
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000
so it provides for librarians the functionality that they require...

5
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,000
to conduct their library operations

6
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:47,280
to be able to register patrons, to circulate materials to patrons,

7
00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,000
to be able to describe their collections, 

8
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,000
But it was the first,

9
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,000
and to me it’s the biggest

10
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,000
and I still think it’s the best Open Source option.

11
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,000
So, in this sense, like all Open Source products, 

12
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:12,000
they cover a requirement, and they are good for society as a whole.

13
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:19,000
Who works in Koha? 

14
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,000
I think it’s everyone, it’s everyone that shelves a book...

15
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000
even all the way down to people that actually write the code.

16
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000
The benefit of working with this product is that...

17
00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:37,100
there is a community of developers throughout the world.

18
00:01:37,100 --> 00:01:40,100
A lot of people participate in it, it’s a very rich community...

19
00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:44,100
We have many librarians who participate in different ways:

20
00:01:45,100 --> 00:01:48,100
some of them doing quality assurance for the developers, 

21
00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:52,100
others helping their colleagues on the email list, or in the chat channels, 

22
00:01:52,100 --> 00:01:55,100
we work across all the world's time zones,

23
00:01:55,100 --> 00:02:03,100
so it’s important coordinate the work and there are regular meetings...

24
00:02:03,100 --> 00:02:08,100
just to get people involved and share what they are doing,

25
00:02:08,100 --> 00:02:11,100
and in certain way to coordinate the work.

26
00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:15,100
Koha is an Open Source integrated library system,

27
00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:22,100
so an integrated library system normally consists of modules like...

28
00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:27,360
check out, patron management, acquisitions, 

29
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:32,080
serials, reporting, things like that…  we all have that in Koha. 

30
00:02:37,100 --> 00:02:38,100
write

31
00:02:38,100 --> 00:02:39,100
edit

32
00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:40,100
report

33
00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:41,100
help

34
00:02:41,100 --> 00:02:42,100
translate

35
00:02:42,100 --> 00:02:43,100
Koha

36
00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:50,100
It started as a project for a small library in New Zealand,

37
00:02:50,100 --> 00:02:52,100
that had a “Year 2000 Problem”,

38
00:02:52,100 --> 00:02:55,100
so they had a system that wasn’t gonna work 

39
00:02:55,100 --> 00:02:56,100
they needed a new system,

40
00:02:58,060 --> 00:02:59,900
and so I worked for a small company, 

41
00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:03,060
that decided to write a system for them.

42
00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:09,100
it was a period when old systems would fail in the year 2000,

43
00:03:09,100 --> 00:03:18,100
and they got the idea to build a software from zero, based on it has to be free.

44
00:03:18,100 --> 00:03:21,120
We decided to make it Open Source because 

45
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,100
we were a software development company,

46
00:03:23,100 --> 00:03:26,100
we didn’t want to be sellers, so we wanted to keep writing code, 

47
00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:29,680
we decided to make it Open Source, 

48
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,720
and hopefully other people in the world would start using it as well, 

49
00:03:33,100 --> 00:03:38,100
and we had only three months so we had to do it fast.

50
00:03:38,100 --> 00:03:42,100
After the first version of Koha in the year 2000, 

51
00:03:42,100 --> 00:03:46,100
there was a international community which started to...

52
00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:55,100
join the project of the first New Zealander who created Koha. 

53
00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:59,100
At the beginning it was software to lend books,

54
00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:01,100
and then they were adding features. 

55
00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:05,100
before we used systems so closed, 

56
00:04:05,100 --> 00:04:12,100
we uploaded with one system and we provided with other, now it is all together and easier

57
00:04:12,100 --> 00:04:16,100
The Project was gradually expanded and it became...

58
00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:22,100
an international project with many programmers...

59
00:04:22,100 --> 00:04:25,100
and librarians who participate in its development

60
00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:36,100
The principals of Koha, I think are to be...

61
00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:40,100
a free and open community,

62
00:04:40,100 --> 00:04:48,100
to really let the actual users, you know, the patrons and the librarians

63
00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:51,100
of the project really have a voice. 

64
00:04:51,100 --> 00:04:55,100
Openness, sharing, flexibility, 

65
00:04:55,100 --> 00:05:00,100
it gives freedom to the librarians to mold the software...

66
00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:04,100
to their wants and needs rather than just using what someone sells them. 

67
00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:08,100
generally every type of library can use it, 

68
00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:11,100
like it’s not limited to one size or one type of library.

69
00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:15,100
If you look at it, and it meets your needs,

70
00:05:15,100 --> 00:05:18,100
it has the features you need you can use it.

71
00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:22,100
librarians are able to contribute ideas, 

72
00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:25,100
they are able to report any problems that they have,

73
00:05:25,100 --> 00:05:28,100
they are able to request enhancements. 

74
00:05:28,100 --> 00:05:30,100
The librarian role…

75
00:05:30,100 --> 00:05:34,100
well, our fundamental role is customer service,

76
00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:39,100
we do all things to provide information to the users. 

77
00:05:40,100 --> 00:05:42,100
Koha helps build that bridge, 

78
00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:45,100
to ensure that anybody, at any time, any where 

79
00:05:45,100 --> 00:05:48,100
can read what they want, can research what they want, 

80
00:05:48,100 --> 00:05:52,100
can find the information that is valuable to them, 

81
00:05:52,100 --> 00:05:56,100
so that they actualize as a person.

82
00:05:56,100 --> 00:06:01,100
Now, the Project belongs to everyone, 

83
00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:07,100
it’s so community because there isn’t an official structure, 

84
00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:10,100
it is all the people around the world who are volunteers,

85
00:06:10,100 --> 00:06:15,100
and they contribute to make it evolve and spread it throughout the world.

86
00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:25,100
The importance of KohaCon, or any Koha event, 

87
00:06:25,100 --> 00:06:29,100
is that we get to talk to each other face to face, 

88
00:06:29,100 --> 00:06:32,100
I know we only have chat, and we have mailing lists,

89
00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:37,100
of course it lacks the emotion, I mean, you can use smilies but...

90
00:06:37,100 --> 00:06:41,000
there are things you can’t express, and once you have met someone...

91
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,000
you have another picture of them in your mind,

92
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,000
you know what they are like, and you see them when you... 

93
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000
talk or chat them, you see their faces, and it’s different

94
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000
KohaCon is essential, 

95
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,000
without face to face contact, 

96
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:06,000
there is a part of the human spirit that lets you relate over distance

97
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,000
I think it’s a great opportunity to get to meet the people you interact with virtually every day,  

98
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000
It has an amazing breadth of diversity, 

99
00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,000
people from all over which, I think, is really interesting,

100
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,000
I find it very vibrant and exciting,

101
00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000
I like to talk to people from other countries that are using the software 

102
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000
and finding out how they use it. 

103
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,000
It’s a different thing each one

104
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000
but it’s always, always it's reaffirming the friendships, often sometimes...

105
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000
like at the Hack Fest here, put us all in a room and...

106
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000
someone will come up with an idea, and someone else says “that is a good idea”

107
00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,000
and things happen really fast.

108
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:49,380
to have that opportunity every year to come together and to work side by side… 

109
00:07:49,380 --> 00:07:53,520
it’s just marvellous, it's very valued, 

110
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,960
very treasured, I think, by everybody who participates in it.

111
00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,000
Koha gives to me, in one hand, 

112
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000
a way to live, it’s my job,

113
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000
I am lucky to can work on something which fascinates me. 

114
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,000
And in the other hand, I’m full of friends, 

115
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,000
it’s the most important to me, I have friends all over the world.

116
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,000
I’ve enjoyed every minute of my involvement in the community,

117
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000
it’s such a wonderful community of people, 

118
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:34,000
it really is the spirit of Koha that keep us all coming back and keeps us excited about it

119
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:41,000
I think it’s a software with a promising future because the people are...

120
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,000
very interested in this product which is constantly evolving and rapidly progressing.

121
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,000
Satisfaction more than anything,

122
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,000
it’s wonderful to do something which helps others,

123
00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,000
and also be appreciated and recognized for what we do.

124
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000
I’m grateful everyday that I get to work with this community, 

125
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,000
with this group of people, and definitely the software, 

126
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,000
I think the software is great.

127
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,000
I can work with what I love

128
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,020
and I can bring together being a librarian 

129
00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:12,240
and also being interested in technology, 

130
00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:17,000
and being a little geeky, so it’s a good mix for me, personally.

131
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:23,000
For me it was actually having control over what I could do

132
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,000
and with Koha I had complete access to everything and I was actually able to...

133
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,000
look at the code and understand what the business logic was behind it.

134
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,000
I think that it gives us all freedom, 

135
00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:41,000
we’re not stuck behind doors with a proprietary system or with something that’s not very public

136
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:42,000
freedom.

137
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000
Freedom to access your own information

138
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,000
Koha is, in a certain way, the gateway of what libraries are, 

139
00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,000
and hence, the access to the knowledge

140
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,000
I think it’s a really, a really good tool for social change.

141
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000
In this system everyone wins if everyone plays.

142
00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,000
I choose to be part of Koha

143
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:13,000
I am Koha

144
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000
And we are Koha Community

145
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,000
we are Koha Community