Koha Transition Project
During my time running the Out on the Shelves Library at Qmunity, the Koha Transition Project was by far the largest and most complex project I was involved in. Before transitioning to Koha, our library was using an old, messy, card catalogue style system which wasn't working and wasn't organised. We didn't know what books we had in the collection, who had checked out which ones, and we didn't have a procedure in place for ensuring our items were returned.
This 5-month project solved all of these issues and allowed us to start new, exciting projects related to social media, outreach, and classification (e.g. working with subject headings and tagging systems to make our items easier to find).
As a leader in the Koha Transition Project, I was involved in every step of the process, including:
As a result of this project, the library has been able to:
This 5-month project solved all of these issues and allowed us to start new, exciting projects related to social media, outreach, and classification (e.g. working with subject headings and tagging systems to make our items easier to find).
As a leader in the Koha Transition Project, I was involved in every step of the process, including:
- managing 5-month project from start to finish
- managing a team of 20 volunteers
- ensuring that the library's regular operations remained unimpeded as much as possible during the chaotic transition period (e.g. managing volunteer scheduling, communicating process to volunteers, ensuring that procedures were in place to ensure a smooth circulation workflow)
- grant-writing to secure funding for cataloguing supplies and new acquisitions
- liaising with IT department to set up servers and debug software issues
- cataloguing 4,000+ items in different formats
- customizing software application to suit library's needs
- training volunteers in cataloguing and circulation procedures (including hosting workshops, writing procedural manuals, running a live training screencast session)
- weeding collection
- modifying the design of the OPAC using html (using established organizational branding guidelines) and rewriting the website and OPAC copy
As a result of this project, the library has been able to:
- Increase circulation and patron count numbers drastically
- Implement procedures to ensure that items are returned to the library
- Manage circulation records more effectively
- Help patrons find items they are looking for more easily
- Help MLIS and Library Technician students gain valuable experience using an open source ILS (Koha)