February 8th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
staff@bywatersolutions.com

Solanco School District Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha Support

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that The Solanco School District, covering Southern Lancaster County, PA has partnered with them for support of the community version of the Koha integrated library system.

Solanco School District is running a self installed and implemented Koha system, and has contracted with ByWater for support and consultation.

Denise Miller, Head Librarian of Solanco High School commented on Koha and their new relationship with ByWater Solutions;

“My district has been working with KOHA for about 5 months and we have had a moderately successful transition from our previous library software. But, as with all new software implementation, we have run into a few issues that require more experienced help. After talking to a couple of Koha Support providers, we decided to go with ByWater Solutions. I was very impressed by their commitment to the open source philosophy and their flexibility in meeting our needs. We are looking forward to a productive partnership as we enter the open source community.”

The Solanco School District is comprised of seven schools made up of over 4,000 students and faculty, and serves a population of over 27,000 residents

About Solanco School District:
The Solanco School District is nestled in the southern portion of Lancaster County amidst the rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania. The name Solanco is an abbreviated form of Southern Lancaster County, the territory covered by the school district. The component municipalities of the school district are Bart, Colerain, Drumore, East Drumore, Eden, Fulton, Little Britain and Providence Townships, as well as Quarryville Borough. The mission of the Solanco School District is to develop responsible citizens and life-long learners by providing opportunities to maximize student academic performance in a safe and secure environment. For more information about the Solanco School district please visit: www.solanco.k12.pa.us

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circ, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit www.koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: www.bywatersolutions.com

YourLibrarySite (http://www.yourlibrarysite.com) now provides expanded online technology services for Academic, Special, and Public libraries. A well-established participant and core development contributor in the Drupal open source community; YourLibrarySite (YLS) is also co-maintainer of the SOPAC 2 module (http://thesocialopac.net/), a community-driven online catalog display layer.

YLS recently worked with the University of Toronto–Mississauga library (http://library.utm.utoronto.ca/) to create their new website. As the information needs of students and faculty change through the term, so will the site. Incorporated within it are various Web 2.0 applications to ensure the website is current, relevant and useful to users.

Most YLS websites have a custom graphic design on top of existing fixed layouts or are built to accommodate a highly flexible grid layout made possible with the use of Promo Module [http://drupal.org/project/promos], developed by YLS programmers. YLS websites can also provide a fully customized user interface to accommodate any specialized needs.

YLS has expanded services to library consortia. The new website for Peninsula Library System (a California based consortium of public libraries) is scheduled to launch shortly. A second consortium project, providing filtered SOPAC access to member libraries, is currently underway for SAILS (a Massachusetts based library consortium with over 70 public and academic library members).

YLS is working with three SOPAC project libraries (Palos Verdes Library District (http://pvld.org), Newport Beach Public Library (in development) and SAILS) to collaboratively fund the new features they want to see in SOPAC 2.1.

Complementary webinars are now being offered that explain open source web technology options and benefits for libraries. The technology incorporated into current and recently completed projects are discussed along with collaborative funding strategies libraries can use to gain maximum advantage from ever-constrained budgets. For information about the YLS complementary webinars, librarians should email Paul Berger at paul@yourlibrarysite.com.

New Affiliate Program

Richard P. Hulser Consulting will be the first participate in the new YLS technology affiliate program. “Over the course of several years participating and attending a number of Library technology conferences and workshops, we have identified consultants and firms whose expertise is compatible with ours. We are approaching those firms whose services compliment our open source approach for libraries using technology to better serve their patrons and constituents” said Joseph Muennich, YLS partner and senior project director. “After highly productive discussions with Richard Hulser at the Internet Librarians Conference last fall, we decided that this would be a great first affiliation.”

Richard P. Hulser Consulting provides services for libraries regarding technology strategy planning, content licensing and management, and digital library implementation and management. Richard has 30 years of international experience working with a variety of library and cultural institutions to enhance their information management practices. He is an SIIA Certified Contents Rights Manager, a Fellow of SLA (Special Libraries Association), and has served on the SLA Board of Directors.

“The approach YLS takes to promoting a range of open source online technology solutions for libraries and their focus on client participation in guiding innovation for the platforms they work with complements my approach to technology strategy planning,” said Hulser. “For those considering open source as a possible choice for their information management needs, YLS has a very good approach worth considering".

Information on the YLS Affiliate program along with contact information for Richard P. Hulser Consulting can be found at http://www.yourlibrarysite.com/affiliates.

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Press Contact: Paul Berger - paul@yourlibrarysite.com

On February 20 and 21, 2010 the first convention for bookmark collectors will take place online. For 24 hours, bookmark collectors from all over the world will meet to give and attend seminars, view galleries, shop, swap, and socialize with other collectors and enthusiasts. For many collectors, this will be the first time they will have the opportunity to meet and discuss their passion with other enthusiasts, live.

If you collect bookmarks, make bookmarks, or are curious about bookmarks; if you are interested in ephemera, biblio-paraphernalia, craft samplers, book history, small art, or collectibles; or if you are interested in seeing the first virtual convention for collectors of any sort, then stop by the website and register for the Bookmark Collectors Virtual convention.

Convention Websites are BMCVC and Bookmark Convention. Organizers are Alan Irwin, info@bmcvc.com and Lauren Roberts, lauren@bmcvc.com, who also runs the website Bibliobuffet. In My Book® will participate in the convention as a vendor.