3/18/2016
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Nunavut Public Library Services Goes Live on ByWater Solutions Koha Support

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Nunavut Public Library Services, made up of 11 community libraries spread across Nunavut’s three regions: Kitikmeot, Kivalliq, and Qikiqtani, is now live on their Koha open source integrated library system.

ByWater Solutions has completed the migration of the eleven Libraries' more than 80,000 items earlier this year and is providing ongoing hosting and support services to the library using ByWater's Canadian based hosting facility. The Library's customized online catalog can be viewed at: http://catalogue.publiclibraries.nu.ca/

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater commented on their partnership with NPLS:

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with the staff and patrons of the Nunavut Public Library Services. With Koha we will be bringing improved functionality to the library users and staff at an affordable price and we are happy to be part of this transition. The feedback we have gotten from library staff has all been very positive and we look forward to a long and productive relationship with then!

About the Nunavut Public Library Services:
Created in 1999, Nunavut is the newest Canadian territory. It is both the least populated and the largest of the provinces and territories in Canada. Nunavut’s geography spans over 2.2 million square kilometres (three times the size of Texas!), with an estimated population of approximately 36,000 people residing in 25 communities organized into 3 regions with 3 different time zones.Nunavut Public Library Services (NPLS) is the division of the Government of Nunavut (GN) empowered to provide resources for the eleven public libraries located in the Territory. NPLS is part of the Department of Culture and Heritage.

In 2006, Nunavut Public Library Services opened its new office and distribution facility in Baker Lake which has a full-time staff of five. NPLS also continues to operate the Iqaluit Centennial Library, which is the busiest public library in Nunavut, and has two full-time and two part-time staff. Support is currently provided to eleven community libraries located in all three regions of the territory. These libraries vary program and resource offerings according to the needs and aspirations expressed by members of the community. Part of the support provided by NPLS is a single catalog for the NPLS collection housed in the eleven branches. For more information please visit: http://www.publiclibraries.nu.ca/about.html

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, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–HTML5, 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: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

Münster University of Applied Sciences (The Fachhochschule Münster) is the first academic institution in Germany to select OCLC WorldShare Management Services as its library management system.

The announcement was made during the Bibliothekskongress 2016 conference in Leipzig.

WorldShare Management Services (WMS) is a complete, cloud-based library management system that offers all the applications needed to manage a library, including Acquisitions, Circulation, Metadata, Resource Sharing, License Management and a single-search Discovery interface to connect library users to the information they need. WMS also includes a range of Reports based on local data that help libraries understand their activities and track key metrics over time.

“It has always been our goal to replace existing workflows with efficient, staff friendly processes so that we can spend less of our valuable time on routine tasks,” said Dr. Bruno Klotz-Berendes, head of the library of the Münster University of Applied Sciences. “Our experience with WorldShare License Manager and the WorldCat knowledge base in managing our electronic resources confirmed that the use of shared information is useful and efficient. Moving to WorldShare Management Services is the next logical step—to move all our workflows to the cloud environment. As an innovative university, we look forward to working together with other libraries through WorldShare.”

"We welcome FH Münster as the first library in Germany to join the WorldShare Management Services community,” said Eric van Lubeek, Managing Director, OCLC EMEA and APAC. “Management of electronic, digital and print resources via WMS will enable the library to make their processes more efficient. These efficiencies will enable the library staff to spend more of their time on different objectives and priorities in service to their users.”

More than 390 libraries worldwide are using WMS to share bibliographic records, publisher and knowledge base data, vendor records, serials patterns and more. With WorldCat at its foundation, WMS enables libraries to draw on the collaborative data and work of libraries worldwide for more efficient workflows. WMS also provides libraries with the unique opportunity to share innovation, applications, infrastructure, vision and success in serving their users.

About the library of the Münster University of Applied Sciences
The library of the Münster University of Applied Sciences makes all media that are needed for research, teaching and studies available for everyone who is interested - but primarily for associates and members of the university. It supports users with the acquisition of information and media as well as with using information services and provides possibilities for studying and working.

About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library cooperative providing shared technology services, original research and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC’s WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff and partners make breakthroughs possible.