Koha is a web-based ILS, with a
SQL database (
MariaDB or
MySQL preferred[citation needed]) back end with cataloguing data stored in
MARC and accessible via
Z39.50 or
SRU. The
user interface is very configurable and adaptable and has been translated into many languages.[3] Koha has most of the features that would be expected in an ILS, including:
Various
Web 2.0 facilities like tagging, comment, social sharing and
RSS feeds
Union catalog facility
Customizable search
Online circulation
Bar code printing
Patron card creation
Report generation
Patron self registration form through OPAC
History
Koha was created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, and the first installation went live in January 2000.[4]
From 2000, companies started providing commercial support for Koha, building to more than 50 today.[5]
In 2001, Paul Poulain (of Marseille, France) began adding many new features to Koha, most significantly support for multiple languages.[6] By 2010, Koha has been translated from its original English into French, Chinese, Arabic and several other languages. Support for the cataloguing and search standards
MARC and
Z39.50 was added in 2002 and later sponsored by the
Athens County Public Libraries.[7] Poulain co-founded BibLibre in 2007.[8]
In 2005, an Ohio-based company, Metavore, Inc., trading as
LibLime, was established to support Koha and added many new features, including support for Zebra sponsored by the Crawford County Federated Library System. Zebra support increased the speed of searches as well as improving scalability to support tens of millions of bibliographic records.[9]
In 2007 a group of libraries in
Vermont began testing the use of Koha for Vermont libraries. At first a separate implementation was created for each library. Then the
Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL) was organized to create one database to be used by libraries. This database was rolled out in 2011. Fifty-seven libraries have chosen to adopt Koha and moved to the shared production environment hosted and supported by
ByWater Solutions.[10] Another consortium of libraries in Vermont, the
Catamount Library Network has also adopted Koha (also hosted by ByWater Solutions). Previously automated Vermont libraries used software from Follett, or other commercial software vendors.[11]
In 2010 the
King's Fund, supported by PTFS Europe, completed their migration to Koha after an extensive feasibility study.[12]
In 2011 the
Spanish Ministry of Culture began maintenance of KOBLI, a tailored version of Koha[13] based on an earlier report.[14][15] The project was concluded in 2018.[16]
In 2014 the
Ministry of Culture (Turkey) started to use Koha–Devinim in 1,136 public libraries with more than 17 million items and around 2 million active users.[17] Specialized libraries such as music libraries have adopted Koha because its open-source nature offers easier customization for their particular use cases.[18]
A 2017 Library Technology Reports article claimed that Koha "holds the position as the most widely implemented open source integrated library system (ILS) in the world".[19] According to
ohloh (now OpenHub), in 2019 Koha had a "[v]ery large, active development team" and a "[m]ature, well-established codebase", with hundreds of contributors and over 20 monthly contributors each month from 2011 to 2019.[20]
Dispute with LibLime / PTFS
In 2009 a dispute arose between
LibLime and other members of the Koha community. The dispute centred on LibLime's apparent reluctance to be inclusive with the content of the sites[21] and the non-contribution of software patches back to the community. A number of participants declared that they believed that LibLime had
forked the software and the community.[22][23][24][25][26][27] A separate web presence, source code repository and community was established.[28] The fork continued after March 2010, when LibLime was purchased by PTFS.[29]
In November, 2011, LibLime announced they had been granted a provisional trademark on the use of the name koha in New Zealand by
Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.[30] The Koha community and Catalyst IT Ltd (NZ) successfully appealed against the provisional trademark grant, with a decision handed down in December 2013[31] and with
LibLime to pay costs.[32][33][34]
Releases
Koha releases follow a regular, calendar based, pattern with monthly maintenance releases and bi-annual feature releases.