The Northeast Kansas Library System Selects Koha ZOOM

The Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS) is a multi-type regional library system serving 116 libraries in a 14-county region. NEKLS will be using Koha ZOOM to run 'NExpress', their regional shared ILS and courier service. The Koha installation will be hosted off-site at one of LibLime's secure data centers. NEKLS has also contracted with LibLime for data migration, support and training services.

"After examining the major ILS systems, NEKLS believes that Koha ZOOM is the most refined, flexible and well-supported system in the open-source ILS market," says Jim Minges, Director of NEKLS.

Jim explains why NEKLS chose an open-source ILS: "NExpress has used a major proprietary ILS system for five years, and the difficulty in making system revisions within that proprietary software system have been too cumbersome to meet service needs. NEKLS believes that it is time to stop being a passenger and start driving its own ILS system. That means a transition to an open-source system."

NEKLS is looking forward to the ease of customizing Koha features to meet system and library-level preferences. "Koha will enable seamless access by all users to the resources in all NEKLS/NExpress libraries, and even gives us the ability to combine the OPAC with library open-source websites," adds Jim.

NEKLS is strongly committed to a future in which libraries actively control and contribute to their own information services. "We are really excited about the possibilities of sharing system improvements with others in the Koha community," says Jim.

Among the open-source library software services that NEKLS already manages are: the Kanguard statewide content filtering service utilizing the SquidGuard open-source URL director software; the My Kansas Library on the Web (MyKLOW)--a library website service utilizing Wordpress software; and the NEKLS Tech Weblog.

The Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS) is the 7th consortium to choose Koha ZOOM in the last eight months.

About The Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS)

The Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS) is a multi-type regional library system serving 116 libraries in a 14-county region. The NEKLS vision is for libraries to be recognized and respected for providing convenient access to state-of-the-art library resources and outstanding customer service. Taking a leadership role in placing state-of-the-art technology in the hands of member libraries, and working in a shared technology environment with libraries throughout Kansas, are key strategies to reaching that vision. NEKLS provides a spectrum of services including training and consulting, technology services, advocacy, recognition of library service improvement, and grants to libraries. One of the flagship NEKLS services is NExpress, a regional shared ILS and courier service.

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.

Press Contact:

Tina Burger

Vice President, Marketing LibLime

(888)Koha ILS (564-2457)

tnb@liblime.com