Read a good book lately?

I’ve definitely read more than a few, and hope you have too! But I’m not going to talk about what I am reading in this post. Instead, I want to mention that there are tools out there that help you to find other similar books to read based on genre, appeal, characters, setting and a whole gamut of other selections. These are called readers’ advisory tools. I will be doing a presentation on NoveList on Tuesday and am hoping to post some of the details on my blog shortly. Sorry to keep my ‘blog readers waiting for a post – between school and work I have been really busy!

Koha – An Executive Summary

A computerized operating system is a risky venture and it is important that the project be successful. The Weston Family Library could benefit from the Koha ILS as it meets the libraries needs now and would be able to grow with the library into the future. Although the cost of acquiring the software is minimal, an expense for maintenance and support for the software would be accrued. Launching any new ILS would require initial preparation and staff and volunteer training. As well, communication between library staff and IT personnel must be facilitated in order to communicate software issues and modifications required. The time which must be spent on fixing bugs and modifying the software would be dependent on the continued interest in Koha by the software development community. If interest in Koha continues to spread in online forums and mailing lists, then larger libraries may begin using the program. Further observation of Koha would be advisable and a comparative investigation into similar open source projects currently employed in small and special libraries should be conducted before any decisive conclusions are made.