Koha rocks!

I love Koha! No, Koha is not a woman. Koha is an Integrated Library Management System that is open source. I have been following Koha since 2002, when, in conjunction with Projektlink Konsult Ltd, we deployed it for the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi library at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

The past three years has however seen a renewed intrest in Koha in Nigeria. We have deployed Koha in over 13 libraries these last 3 years.

Why do I love Koha?

1. It does well what other (costing thousands of $$$) library management systems does. So you get great value for your money.
2. It is open source, so you own your data! And get to modify the code to your heart's content.
3. A great support community (www.koha-community.org)
4. Its a great opportunity for libraries in developing countries like Nigeria to automate their functions.

Koha was 10 last year (2010). The Koha conference was held in New Zealand. I made a presentation via skype at the conference on the prospects and challenges of Koha in Nigeria. You can see the presentation here.

This year Koha conference will be held in Thane, India. Full details here.

Koha is so much fun that doing stuffs on it gives me great pleasure. Expect to read more about Koha in this blog!