South Central Library System in Wisconsin Selects Koha and LibLime

South Central Library System, with headquarters in Madison WI, provides service to 52 libraries located in 7 counties with a service population of 800,000.  LINK is the consortium of the 41 SCLS members that share an integrated library system.  With annual circulation of over 11.6 million, nearly 3 million holds filled annually, 826,000 bibliographic records, and over 3 million item records, LINK will be one of the largest installations of Koha to date.

The LINK Koha installation will be hosted off site at one of LibLime's secure data centers. SCLS has also contracted with LibLime for data migration, support and training services.

Dynix Classic was installed in 19 of the libraries in 1993, but growth over the intervening years has created a complex environment that requires responsive and agile technology. "We may hold a record for the longest planning effort expended in the replacement of an ILS," said Director, Phyllis Davis.

"During the investigation it became apparent that open-source software and a hosted service were viable alternatives to the proprietary products we had painstakingly researched.  LibLime-supported Koha proved to be the most suitable for our multi-faceted organization.  The timing was right for making a bold decision,"  said Director, Phyllis Davis.

"Developed by the user community, Koha offers us the opportunity to create a robust and flexible suite of products that will lay the foundation for future large-scale customers and attract co-developers of innovative services.  Remote hosting will free our automation staff from server maintenance tasks and allow them to devote their energy to other library technology services," explained Davis.

"SCLS chose LibLime as our implementation and support partner based on their long-term successful track record and commitment to enhancing Koha.  We’re poised for the launch and ready for the challenge of co-producing feature-rich software modules as a part of the Koha open source community," Davis added.

LINK libraries use all of the main modules: circulation, cataloging, PAC, acquisitions and serials as well as many add-on products such as debt collection, self-check/RFID and telephony hold notification.  SCLS has planned development projects in all modules.  Projects include improved distribution of holds, serials control features for a consortia setting, improved batch editing in cataloging and the ability to show the “active” library’s holds first in the PAC.

"With the signing of the SCLS/LibLime Agreement we’ve addressed our major goals for a long-term investment in our next ILS," said Davis. "We’re excited by the flourishing Koha community of dedicated developers and users who share our enthusiasm for improving library services through technology.  We look forward to collaborating with LibLime for continued development and support of Koha features that will benefit large consortia as well as small institutions.  In addition, our system and library staffs will contribute their expertise to development projects and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor."

About South Central Library System

South Central Library System, with headquarters in Madison WI, provides service to 52 libraries located in 7 counties with a service population of 800,000.  LINK is the consortium of the 41 SCLS members that share an integrated library system.  With annual circulation of over 11.6 million, nearly 3 million holds filled annually, 826,000 bibliographic records, and over 3 million item records, LINK will be one of the largest installations of Koha to date.

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 (i.e.., 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.

Use of open source not only lowers the per-library cost of running software, it also empowers libraries with a higher level of control over customization and the overall direction of software development.

Press Contact

Tina Burger
Vice President, Marketing LibLime
(888)Koha ILS (564-2457)

tnb@liblime.com

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