ByWater Solutions, America’s forefront provider of Open Source library technology support, announced today that they have partnered with Unique Management Services to provide support and integration with communication services within Koha ILS.

This integration provides services from Unique that were designed to innovate library to patron communication services. ByWater Solutions and Unique Management Services worked directly with Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) in Maryland to bring this enhancement into Koha. MCPL's involvement was crucial for the success of the integration.

Joy Nelson, President, Koha Division at ByWater Solutions recently commented on the partnership, "We are thrilled to partner with Unique to help libraries communicate with their patrons. This development initiative directly complements the work we do in Koha and meshes with our mission to empower libraries. We look forward to expanding our work with Unique."

Integration with Unique Services
Koha can now connect directly to the Gentle Nudge ® process with Unique. This has been designed to meet the needs of libraries by effectively working to recover materials and other assets while preserving patron dignity and goodwill.

Koha can now also connect directly to MessageBee. This integration allows libraries to send bold, engaging and branded emails, text messages, and automated phone calls with MessageBee.
Unique’s number one goal is to help libraries improve communication with their patron customers. Ranging from helping libraries recover overdue materials to sending the many thousands of daily messages to patrons about their engagement with their home library, we hope to make the process better and more automated. The team at ByWater was fantastic and made the process very smooth. Creating these automated workflows will save time for library staff and improve overall library communications."

Library Partnerships
'Working one on one with Unique Management Services and Montgomery County Public Libraries was critical to getting this integration set up. Librarian-driven development for these services ensures that the process and workflows are easy for staff and end-users."

James Donaldson, Assistant Director at Montgomery County Public Libraries, recently commented on the integration, "We are pleased to have worked with our partners at ByWater Solutions and Unique Management Services to add this functionality to Koha. It will help us connect with our customers and ensure the timely recovery of our materials, so other community members can benefit from them."

About Montgomery County Public Libraries
Montgomery County Public Libraries offers free and equal access to services and resources that connect the people of Montgomery County to ideas and information which sustain and enrich their lives. For more information: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/library/.

About Unique Management Services
Unique Management Services is the preferred patron communication partner for nearly 2,000 library systems worldwide. Initially known for their Material Recovery program (which has returned over $1 Billion to library systems), Unique now provides communication resources for all aspects of communicating with library patrons and prospective patrons. Learn more at https://uniquelibrary.com/.

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full-service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

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/.

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944