Implementing Koha ILS at the National Library of Puerto Rico
By Hilda Teresa Ayala-González, Interim Library Director, Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico
Introduction
The General Library of Puerto Rico was created by Law Number 44 from June 6, 1967 and was assigned to the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) by Dr. Ricardo Alegría. In 2003, it became the National Library by Law Number 188 from August 17 with the aim to preserve and provide access to the rich, unique, and significant bibliographic productions about and related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.
The services of the National Library are aimed towards the advancements and dissemination of the cultural values of Puerto Rico. Through the encouragement of leisure reading, specialized research works, educational activities and group visits to the facilities, the National Library fosters a deeper engagement with the Puerto Rican academic, scientific, and creative production and its users. As a National Library, it safeguards the published treasures of Puerto Rico and makes them available for the wider public.
In 2019 the National Library decided to move from the outdated ILS system (Mandarin M3) to an open source system looking for alternatives to attain staff and users’ needs in times of economic limitations. Thanks to the Equinox Open Library Initiative in January 2020 the possibility of a renovated Integrated Library System became a reality.
Adapting Koha to our needs
One of the most important aspects of the initial discussions related to the design was the need to develop a bilingual user interface (OPAC), the default being Spanish and optional English. This was taken into consideration as the main language in Puerto Rico is Spanish, but also, as an option to expand access to our resources to English-speaking populations too; many second or third generations of Puerto Ricans living outside the Archipelago’s main language is English. This design was successfully achieved by providing tailored translations in Spanish to those texts that were not already part of what the community of Koha offers, with an emphasis on automated text messages that users receive when using the OPAC services.
In terms of the database design, the team had to take into consideration that the datasets were stored in 19 different “libraries”, as called on the previous ILS, and this needed to be combined into one whole data set to make sense in the new design. The distinction was preserved under the “location” as each data set had specific use restrictions.
The migration process and design of the database and services coincide with the government closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in early March 2020, shaping also decision making to optimize access to our valuable resources and expand the possibilities for our users, according to new challenges the virus represents for the health of the population served.
Some of the add on services that are new to attend to our users’ needs are: self-registration, article requests, lists & carts, and placing holds for in-person visits. Through self-registration everyone interested in researching the collection can do it. This allows for little intervention from staff and focuses on changing permissions to residents only, which will take advantage of in-house use of materials. But, the researchers that wish to request copies of particular articles of chapters can do it (for a fee), as a new digitization service is currently being implemented to expand our services not only to residents that live far, but also those not living on the main Island. The idea of implementing lists and carts is to allow researchers to facilitate compilations that address their research topics and to store or share the bibliographic data for future use.
As a National Library policy, the collections are for in-house use only. With the new challenges related to keeping staff and users safe from COVID-19, we decided to implement hold services for those users that will require in-person visits. Through holds we can facilitate scheduling visits and creating workstations for users without a lot of contact from personnel and researcher. Also, it will help with timing quarantine. Although we considered this feature as a measurement to respond to the current times, we have decided that the benefit of allowing researchers to let us know ahead of time which resources they will be consulting could result in an efficient use of time and we will maintain it for the future as well.
Planning for future projects
One extraordinary opportunity we had with the Koha team was to develop a specific cataloguing framework to provide a link and access to the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) journals collection. The resources were digitized and are maintained in a digital archive, in a separate online platform. Previously, the journals were indexed to facilitate researchers access to articles (ca. 1,309). In 2005 the project was not carried on. Through Koha, we decided to link each digital journal and upload a new access version to the 27 new journals that were published since 2005. This framework provides users with the table of content of the journals and the link to the digital version.
This framework will also be put into place to increase access to other digitized material by the ICP and special digitization projects the library is currently planning.
Final remarks
The new catalogue was launched (https://bnpr.kohacatalog.com/) in June 2020 and even though we are still not providing in-person services to users, 30 have already register through the system. We are very excited with the possibilities of the Koha ILS and the projects that lay ahead to continue to increases access and enhance services for our users, more importantly to the Equinox services and support for the next three years.
Going Fine Free in Evergreen ILS
By Rogan Hamby, Data and Project Analyst at Equinox Open Library Initiative
Recently an increasing number of libraries have decided that going fine free is an important part of their plans to provide optimized services for their communities. Many other libraries are interested in this possibility but not sure how they would accomplish this. To help you out here are the things to look at in going fine-free at your Evergreen library.
Circulation Policies
The one thing you must do to go fine-free is to not charge fines anymore. In Evergreen there are three components to this. First under Administration -> Server Administration -> Circulation Recurring Fine Rules you will want to create a rule for zero fines.
Now go to Administration -> Server Administration -> Circulation Max Fine Rules and create a max fine rule for zero fines.
Finally, go to Administration -> Local Administration -> Circulation Policies and edit your existing rules to use your new recurring and max fine rules.
While you are doing this you also have an opportunity to condense any circulation policies that only differ due to fine amounts. While that is all you have to do in order to go fine-free, there are a few other things you will want to consider.
Group Threshold
One concern with going fine-free is how to encourage patrons to return materials and prevent further loss of unreturned materials. The answer in Evergreen is a group threshold for a standing penalty. Go to Administration -> Local Administration -> Group Penalty Thresholds.
Here you will want to edit or create thresholds for the penalty PATRON_EXCEEDS_OVERDUE_COUNT. The ‘Threshold’ field contains the number of overdue checkouts that will trigger this penalty. Change the threshold to any value you want. You can create different thresholds for different patron groups by using the ‘Group’ drop-down selector and creating new penalty thresholds so that perhaps Adults are limited to 5 while Juveniles get 10.
Transition Period
One important consideration is that you will have a transition period. Evergreen stores the values of circulation rules in the circulation when it is made. So, if you check a book out with a $0.10 a day fine on July 1st and switch to fine-free on July 2nd that book will still accumulate $0.10 a day fines if it becomes overdue.
One tool that libraries can do to reduce fines for check-ins is to use the Amnesty Mode check-in modifier on the ‘Checkin Items’ screen. This won’t remove existing fines on a circulation but will prevent new ones from being generated during the check-in.
Notices
You will want to review any existing print, email and SMS notices you generate for their language in regards to fines. In fact, this may need to be done twice, once while transitioning if fines continue to accumulate on older circulations and then to finalized new language after a determined cut off point. You can calculate a cut off for a transition point by taking the date of your switch to fine-free and then adding the length of your longest circulation plus the time it would take to go to lost or the maximum time based fine accumulation.
Preparing Staff
Finally, as with any public service impacting change, you will want to prepare staff. All staff should have the major talking points about why the library is doing this and how it benefits the community. Additionally, some libraries will choose to allow staff to forgive or void fines either during the transition or permanently. In this case, circulation staff will need the account permissions to apply the payments or void bills.
Talk to Your System Administrator
So far we have talked about what can be done in the staff client. Additional tools exist for those with the ability to directly write scripts for the Evergreen database. This shouldn’t be done unless the person doing it is very comfortable with these kinds of changes but it is a powerful tool. Two major opportunities exist for those who do a data project as part of going fine-free. One is that you can edit existing open circulations to use the new fine free rules and not accumulate new fines. Not having to have a transition period greatly simplifies the process for staff and patrons. The second is that if you also want to forgive historical fines you can have those zeroed out in bulk.
Equinox migrates the Saint Peter School District to Evergreen ILS with the Traverse de Sioux Library Cooperative
Duluth, Ga., September 10, 2020: Equinox is pleased to announce the successful migration of the Saint Peter School District to Evergreen ILS as part of the Traverse de Sioux Library Cooperative in Mankato, Minnesota.
The Saint Peter School District supports 4,019 patrons and includes a circulation of 26,900 bibliographic records. Services provided by Equinox included project management and configuration in addition to data services encompassing data extraction and bibliographic record deduplication and data conversion. Other offerings included by Equinox were support, hosting, and virtual training.
“We’re very happy to be part of the Evergreen Community,” said Seth Erickson, IT Systems Manager for the Traverse de Sioux Library Cooperative. “The Evergreen ILS will bring enhanced functionality and efficiency to the workflow of the Saint Peter School Public District, as well as opening up other exciting possibilities down the road with the TdS Library Cooperative. Equinox has done a great job with the migration. They were very very helpful and knowledgeable, and the whole process was well planned and organized. We look forward to collaboration on future projects.”
Traverse de Sioux Library Cooperative serves public, academic, school and special libraries in the nine county area of south central Minnesota. They coordinate shared access to resources and services within their member libraries.
“School systems with their diverse but interconnected locations are perfect for Evergreen’s flexibility to handle a large number of independent but related libraries,” said Rogan Hamby, Data and Project Analyst at Equinox. “As part of work on the migration we were able to enhance Evergreen’s ability to do automated bulk loading and updating of patrons that will benefit the entire Evergreen community, especially schools and academic libraries.”
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., Equinox carries forward more than a decade of service and experience with Evergreen ILS, Koha ILS, and other open source library software. At Equinox, we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
About Evergreen
Evergreen is an award-winning ILS developed to provide an open source product able to meet the diverse needs of consortia and high transaction public libraries. However, it has proven to be equally successful in smaller installations including special and academic libraries. Today, over 1500 libraries around the world are using Evergreen including NC Cardinal, SCLENDS, and B.C. Sitka. For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.
Applications Open for the 2021 Equinox Open Source Grant
APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED: SEPTEMBER 8 – NOVEMBER 1, 2020
APPLICATION WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/EOSG2021
Duluth, Ga., September 8, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2021 Equinox Open Source Grant. Libraries, archives, museums, and other eligible educational, cultural, and information organizations are encouraged to apply. The grant application period opens on September 8, 2020 and closes on November 1, 2020. Two grantees will be selected. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application by December 20, 2020.
The Equinox Open Source Grant provides project management, training, hosting, and technology support services for the implementation of Koha ILS, an open source integrated library system used by libraries worldwide. To be eligible, an applicant must be a 503 (c) non-profit, governmental, or educational organization with a library or resource collection available for public use, but without the financial or technological resources to implement and support an integrated library system. The organization must be located in the United States and have a collection no larger than 50,000 items. Preference will be given to organizations that serve historically underrepresented, underserved, or marginalized communities.
The Equinox Open Source Grant first launched in 2019, inspired by the vibrant open source community and the belief that every community deserves to benefit from a searchable, accessible, and thriving library. Last year’s Equinox Open Source Grant recipients included Spark Central, in Spokane, Washington, and Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, who both went live with Koha ILS implementations in 2020.
“Open source technologies offer innovative and sustainable solutions for libraries of every size and circumstance,” said Lisa Carlucci, Executive Director. “The Equinox Open Source Grant unites collections with communities, bridges technological gaps, and makes resources searchable and discoverable. We believe every community, and every library, should have access to a modern, user-friendly, library system. We’re excited to provide this opportunity and support two new grantees in 2021.”
To view full application details please visit http://bit.ly/EOSG2021 and be sure to follow Equinox Open Library Initiative on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., Equinox carries forward more than a decade of service and experience with Evergreen ILS, Koha ILS, and other open source library software. At Equinox, we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
About Koha
Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit https://koha-community.org.
Equinox Announces Curbside Pickup Now Available for Evergreen ILS
Duluth, Ga., September 3, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative announces the availability of Curbside Pickup for libraries using Evergreen ILS. The latest feature was designed and developed by Equinox team members Sally Fortin, Andrea Buntz Neiman, Galen Charlton, and Mike Rylander. Development funding was provided by the Pennsylvania Integrated Library System (PaILS), which oversees SPARK, an Evergreen consortium in the state of Pennsylvania.
“Curbside for Evergreen was truly a team effort — from the initial concept to the community-ready pull request,” said Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development at Equinox. “Whether it was design, development, testing the feature, or creating training materials, almost every Equinox employee had a hand in making Curbside happen.”
Curbside Pickup extends existing functionality in Evergreen to coordinate curbside lending and expedite communications using the ILS. Patrons can select items in the catalog, place holds, arrange a pick up time, and notify the library upon arrival. A new tabbed interface will be available to library staff to help identify new holds for pickup, to view or modify delivery times, and to prepare and check out items to patrons. When patrons arrive at the library, they press or click a button in their library account to alert staff that they’re at the designated location for curbside delivery. Interested libraries may contact Equinox at info@equinoxinitiative.org for more information or for assistance activating or installing the new feature.
“Library staff are reimagining services, adapting programs, and addressing new challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Lisa Carlucci, Executive Director at Equinox Open Library Initiative. “At Equinox, we set a goal to design and deliver curbside pickup functionality to facilitate communication and coordination for curbside service at no additional cost to libraries. I’m incredibly proud of the Equinox team for accomplishing this goal and for their creativity and commitment to making these tools available to Evergreen and Koha libraries in record time.”
To learn more about the Curbside Pickup Feature as well as Equinox’s other resources please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/resources .
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., Equinox carries forward more than a decade of service and experience with Evergreen ILS, Koha ILS, and other open source library software. At Equinox, we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
About Evergreen
Evergreen is an award-winning ILS developed to provide an open source product able to meet the diverse needs of consortia and high transaction public libraries. However, it has proven to be equally successful in smaller installations including special and academic libraries. Today, over 1500 libraries around the world are using Evergreen including NC Cardinal, SCLENDS, and B.C. Sitka. For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen libraries, see http://evergreen-ils.org.
Equinox Announces Evergreen ILS Migrations for the First Quarter 2020
Duluth, Ga., August 31, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is pleased to announce the successful migrations of four new libraries to Evergreen ILS.
In the first quarter of 2020, Keller Public Library of Dexter, Missouri joined the Missouri Evergreen Consortium (MEC), following Barry Lawrence Regional Library and Montgomery City Public Library who both joined the consortium in late 2019. Other libraries that celebrated Evergreen migrations in the first part of the year include Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County, Ohio as part of the Consortium of Ohio Libraries and West Lincoln Public Library in Ontario, Canada as part of the Libraries in Niagara Consortium.
“We’ve had the honor of providing implementation services to a wide range of libraries this year, and each offers unique and diverse materials to their patronage,” said Erica Rohlfs, Senior Implementation Project Manager at Equinox. “While there were unexpected challenges at the beginning of 2020, it was inspiring to observe the resilience of each library and to support these successful migrations.”
To learn more about adopting open source technologies for libraries and the expert services Equinox has to offer please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/ .
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies.
About Evergreen
Evergreen is an award-winning ILS developed to provide an open source product able to meet the diverse needs of consortia and high transaction public libraries. However, it has proven to be equally successful in smaller installations including special and academic libraries. Today, over 1500 libraries around the world are using Evergreen including NC Cardinal, SCLENDS, and B.C. Sitka. For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.
Equinox Announces Update to Curbside Pickup Plugin for Koha ILS
Duluth, Ga., August 28, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is pleased to announce completion of the latest update to the Curbside Pickup plugin for libraries using Koha ILS. This improvement will allow Koha libraries to immediately make use of the plugin without having to pay for additional development services or wait for a technical change to the core Koha ILS.
The specifications and workflow for the new Koha plugin were designed by Equinox staff this past July based off of the Curbside Pickup functionality developed by Equinox for the Evergreen ILS in June. The Koha Curbside Pickup plugin provides new staff management tools for coordinating curbside pickup services and expediting communications using the ILS. These staff management tools include setting pickup intervals, setting the number of pickup slots allowed per interval, and whether patrons may directly schedule their own appointments. The development work completed by Equinox this week removes a technical barrier in the Koha system, allowing libraries to quickly deploy the new plugin without added cost.
“The beauty of community-based open source projects is that no organization is truly alone when taking a new feature over the finish line,” said Galen Charlton, Implementation Manager at Equinox and a Koha developer. “We are happy that we could assist the Koha community by making this important functionality widely available.”
Equinox has supported Koha ILS and partnered with the Koha community since 2009. Equinox is proud to serve Koha customers across North America with experienced support and migration teams as well as flexible, state-of-the-art hosting.
Equinox’s most recent Koha migrations include the Equinox Open Source Grant recipients Spark Central and Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico. To learn more about these and the other Koha libraries supported by Equinox, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/highlights.
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen, Koha, and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
About Koha
Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.
Equinox Announces Curbside Pickup Now Available for Koha ILS
Duluth, Ga., August 20, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative announces the availability of Curbside Pickup for libraries using Koha ILS. The specifications and workflow for the new Koha plugin were designed by Equinox staff members Galen Charlton, Sally Fortin, and Andrea Buntz Neiman following the successful release of the Curbside Pickup functionality developed by Equinox for Evergreen ILS in June. The Koha plugin specifications were released to the Koha community with a call for co-sponsorship on July 29, 2020. Koha developer Kyle M. Hall of ByWater Solutions announced initial development of Equinox’s specifications this week.
“I am proud of how quickly our team at Equinox was able to produce a design and specification for this feature in support of the Koha community,” said Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development at Equinox. “Open Source communities thrive on collaboration, and I am glad that ByWater saw the value of this design and answered our call for co-sponsorship with in-kind development.”
The new feature will support Koha libraries as they adapt services to meet changing needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Curbside Pickup extends existing functionality in Koha to coordinate curbside lending and expedite communications using the ILS. The feature functions as a plugin for Koha, and provides new staff management tools for curbside pickup appointments. These staff management tools include setting pickup intervals, setting the number of pickup slots allowed per interval, and whether patrons may directly schedule their own appointments.
Equinox has supported Koha ILS and partnered with the Koha community since 2009. Equinox is proud to serve Koha customers across North America with experienced support and migration teams and flexible, state-of-the-art hosting.
Equinox’s most recent Koha migrations include the Equinox Open Source Grant recipients Spark Central and Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico. To learn more about these and the other Koha libraries supported by Equinox, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/highlights.
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen, Koha, and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
About Koha
Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.
Equinox Open Source Grant Recipient Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico Goes Live with Koha ILS, Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, beneficiaria de la subvención Equinox Open Source, se pone en marcha con Koha ILS
En español
Duluth, Ga., July 29, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is honored to announce the successful migration of the Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña in San Juan, Puerto Rico to the Koha Integrated Library System. They were one of two 2019 Equinox Open Source Grant recipients.
The Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico was created in 1967, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. In 2003 it became the National Library to preserve and provide access to resources related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. Their migration encompassed 56001 bibliographic records. Equinox services included: project management, system configuration, extraction and migration of bibliographic data, and staff training. Equinox also provided Koha support, hosting, and auxiliary services.
“We are extremely happy and thankful for this extraordinary work,” said Carlos Ruiz Cortés, Executive Director of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. “The catalogue is modern and very comfortable for research. It is also a great opportunity as we are implementing new services for our users, while promoting access to our valuable cultural resources.”
The Equinox Open Source Grant was offered for the first time in 2019 providing Koha migration, support and training to two successful grantees. The grant was inspired by the vibrant open source community and the belief that every community deserves to benefit from an accessible and thriving library.
“Staff from the National Library and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, led by Hilda Teresa Ayala-González, worked diligently for many months migrating data, making configuration decisions, testing, and training to prepare for the new system,” said Jennifer Weston, Implementation Project Manager at Equinox. “The new Koha database inspired additional projects as the staff took advantage of the library’s recent closing to launch a new website, and plan for a digitization project to be linked with Koha to coincide with the 65th anniversary celebration of the Cultural Institute. It has been both a pleasure and an honor to work with the Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico to provide these new opportunities for their community.”
To learn more about Koha and the expert services Equinox has to offer please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/ .
About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies.
About Koha
Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.
Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, beneficiaria de la subvención Equinox Open Source, se pone en marcha con Koha
Duluth, Georgia, 14 de julio de 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative se enorgullece de anunciar la exitosa migración de la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, una división del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña de San Juan de Puerto Rico, al Sistema Integrado de Gestión de Bibliotecas Koha. Es uno de los dos beneficiarios de la subvención Equinox Open Source para el 2019.
La Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, creada en 1967, es una división del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. En el 2003 se convirtió en la Biblioteca Nacional encargada de conservar y dar acceso público a recursos relacionados con Puerto Rico y los puertorriqueños. Esta migración abarca 56001 archivos bibliográficos. Los servicios de Equinox incluyen: gestión de proyectos, configuración de sistemas, extracción y migración de los datos bibliográficos, y formación del personal. Equinox también brinda asistencia para Koha, servicios de servidores y servicios auxiliares.
“Estamos extremadamente felices y agradecidos por esta labor tan extraordinaria” dijo Carlos Ruiz Cortés, Director Ejecutivo del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. “Es un catálogo moderno y muy cómodo para la investigación. También es una gran oportunidad para la implementación de nuevos servicios para nuestros usuarios, al fomentar el acceso a nuestros valiosos recursos culturales.” La subvención Equinox Open Source se ofreció por primera vez en el 2019, permitiendo la migración a Koha y proporcionando asistencia y formación a dos exitosos subvencionados. La subvención se inspiró en la vibrante comunidad Open Source y en la creencia de que todas las comunidades merecen beneficiarse de tener acceso a una biblioteca próspera y accesible.
“El personal de la Biblioteca Nacional y el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, bajo la dirección de Hilda Teresa Ayala-González, trabajó con diligencia durante varios meses migrando datos, tomando decisiones configuración, probando y preparándose para el nuevo sistema”, dijo Jennifer Weston, Gerente de proyectos de implementación de Equinox.“ La nueva base de datos Koha inspiró proyectos adicionales al personal, que aprovechó el reciente cierre de la biblioteca para lanzar un nuevo sitio Web y planear la digitalización del proyecto enlazada a Koha para coincidir con el 65 aniversario del Instituto Cultural. Ha sido un placer y un honor colaborar con la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico para ofrecer estas nuevas oportunidades a su comunidad. Para más información sobre Koha y la experta oferta de servicios de Equinox, por favor visite: https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.
Acerca de Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. es una empresa sin fines de lucro que se dedica a actividades literarias, caritativas y educativas al servicio de instituciones culturales. Como sucesora de Equinox Software, Inc., esta iniciativa cuenta con una década de servicio y experiencia con Evergreen y otras aplicaciones de software de biblioteca Open Source. En Equinox OLI le ayudamos a empoderar su biblioteca con tecnologías de Open Source.
Acerca de Koha
Creado en el 1999 por Katipo Communications para la Fundación de la Biblioteca Horowhenua de Nueva Zelanda, Koha es el primer sistema internacional de gestión integrada de bibliotecas Open Source. El software es un sistema ILS completo con diseño de base de datos dual (buscador y RDBMS) y se creó creado en cumplimiento con estándares de biblioteca. El catálogo OPAC de Koha, el personal y la interfaz de préstamo automático son aplicaciones de Web. Distribuidas con Licencia Pública General (GPL), las bibliotecas son de uso gratuito, instalan automáticamente Koha y ofrecen la posibilidad de contratar asistencia y servicios de desarrollo. Para más información sobre Koha, visite http://koha-community.org.