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Statistical Report for Koha -- ByWater Solutions

2022 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	133			1	2	1		7	28	43	51	9	7.92	8
ILS Functionality	133			1	2	1	1	10	27	53	38	8	7.76	8
Print Functionality	131	1			3	2	1	5	22	49	48	8	7.86	8
Electronic Functionality	120	1	1	4	4	6	14	16	25	26	23	8	6.67	7
Company Satisfaction	131			1	1	1	1	2	19	36	70	9	8.22	9
Support Satisfaction	132				2	1		4	24	28	73	9	8.20	9
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	132	3		2	1	1	3	4	15	24	79	9	8.02	9
Open Source Interest	83	9	1	1	1	1	4	3	5	5	16	9	7.67	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	137	6	4.38%
Considering new Interface	137	4	2.92%
System Installed on time?	137	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		177938

Type	Count
Public	79
Academic	27
School	6
Consortia	0
Special	6

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	11
[2] 10,001-100,000	88
[3] 100,001-250,000	14
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	12
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	5
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2021 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	140				1		1	3	36	58	41	8	7.94	8
ILS Functionality	140		1		1		3	8	39	54	34	8	7.70	8
Print Functionality	138		1			1		7	21	54	54	8	8.06	8
Electronic Functionality	135	6	1	3	5	3	18	20	27	27	25	7	6.47	7
Company Satisfaction	139					1	4	2	17	53	62	9	8.18	8
Support Satisfaction	138					1	4	3	24	41	65	9	8.14	8
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	137	2			1	2	3	1	19	44	65	9	8.04	8
Open Source Interest	77	6	1	1			1	2	2	5	27	9	8.27	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	141	4	2.84%
Considering new Interface	141	5	3.55%
System Installed on time?	141	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		244844

Type	Count
Public	79
Academic	23
School	3
Consortia	0
Special	5

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	8
[2] 10,001-100,000	79
[3] 100,001-250,000	33
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	13
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	5
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2020 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	170		1	1	2		2	7	40	61	56	8	7.84	8
ILS Functionality	170		1	1	2		2	10	45	63	46	8	7.72	8
Print Functionality	169	1	2		1	1	2	5	33	53	71	9	7.95	8
Electronic Functionality	157	4	3	3	3	9	12	18	34	36	35	8	6.77	7
Company Satisfaction	166			2		1	4	6	26	45	82	9	8.10	8
Support Satisfaction	169			1		2	3	6	16	46	95	9	8.26	9
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	166	1		2		2	4	5	21	38	93	9	8.13	9
Open Source Interest	101	13	3			2	8	2	5	6	21	9	7.38	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	173	5	2.89%
Considering new Interface	173	4	2.31%
System Installed on time?	173	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		143006

Type	Count
Public	108
Academic	35
School	5
Consortia	0
Special	5

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	15
[2] 10,001-100,000	99
[3] 100,001-250,000	36
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	11
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	4
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2019 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	129		1	1		1	4	7	22	45	48	9	7.87	8
ILS Functionality	128			1	1	1	5	10	24	52	34	8	7.69	8
Print Functionality	126		1			2		5	13	43	62	9	8.19	8
Electronic Functionality	122	4	1	4	4	5	16	16	19	30	23	8	6.53	7
Company Satisfaction	128		1				2	4	11	42	68	9	8.28	9
Support Satisfaction	128		1				1	5	15	36	70	9	8.27	9
Support Improvement	123				3	8	27	7	13	24	41	9	7.07	8
Company Loyalty	122	4		3		2	4	3	11	21	74	9	7.89	9
Open Source Interest	107	6	3		2	3	4	2	4	11	72	9	7.64	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	130	7	5.38%
Considering new Interface	130	21	16.15%
System Installed on time?	130	124	95.38%

Average Collection size:		2470664

Type	Count
Public	65
Academic	36
School	4
Consortia	0
Special	3

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	14
[2] 10,001-100,000	76
[3] 100,001-250,000	22
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	11
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	4
[6] over 10,000,001	1

2018 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	129				1	2	6	3	32	46	39	8	7.77	8
ILS Functionality	128		1	1		2	5	10	36	50	23	8	7.46	8
Print Functionality	127	1	1			1	3	7	18	46	50	9	7.92	8
Electronic Functionality	121	2		2	4	7	14	19	35	21	17	7	6.56	7
Company Satisfaction	127			1	2	1	4	4	17	33	65	9	8.06	9
Support Satisfaction	125		1	1	1	2	1	4	14	39	62	9	8.09	8
Support Improvement	123	1		2	1	11	19	6	21	26	36	9	7.00	8
Company Loyalty	128	3	1			1	5	6	13	34	65	9	7.92	9
Open Source Interest	113	5		1	1	1	4		2	2	97	9	8.25	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	130	3	2.31%
Considering new Interface	130	8	6.15%
System Installed on time?	130	121	93.08%

Average Collection size:		123904

Type	Count
Public	72
Academic	34
School	4
Consortia	0
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	3
[2] 10,001-100,000	88
[3] 100,001-250,000	27
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	6
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	3
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2017 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	173			1		5	5	10	40	55	57	9	7.75	8
ILS Functionality	172			1		6	9	14	43	62	37	8	7.47	8
Print Functionality	172	2			1	6	3	10	32	60	58	8	7.72	8
Electronic Functionality	164	4	2	7	3	6	22	24	29	46	21	8	6.48	7
Company Satisfaction	171		1		1	2	6	11	27	46	77	9	7.94	8
Support Satisfaction	171		1		1	3	9	11	25	35	86	9	7.93	9
Support Improvement	164	1			3	11	37	14	15	38	45	9	6.93	8
Company Loyalty	169	5	2	4		5	14	8	22	31	78	9	7.41	8
Open Source Interest	158	11	4	1		8	5	2	10	9	108	9	7.53	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	175	10	5.71%
Considering new Interface	175	17	9.71%
System Installed on time?	175	166	94.86%

Average Collection size:		90943

Type	Count
Public	89
Academic	38
School	14
Consortia	0
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	21
[2] 10,001-100,000	108
[3] 100,001-250,000	31
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	10
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2016 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	124		1		1	1	4	8	25	47	37	8	7.74	8
ILS Functionality	124			2	2	2	3	10	32	52	21	8	7.44	8
Print Functionality	124	3		1	1	1	2	6	28	45	37	8	7.61	8
Electronic Functionality	120	9		3	8	5	8	18	24	30	15	8	6.17	7
Company Satisfaction	124		1	1	1	2	1	10	15	37	56	9	7.94	8
Support Satisfaction	121		1	1	2		4	9	11	41	52	9	7.90	8
Support Improvement	110			2		3	29	6	18	21	31	9	7.00	7
Company Loyalty	120		1	1	1	4	8	6	14	28	57	9	7.78	8
Open Source Interest	109	8	1	1	1	4	4	1	4	8	77	9	7.64	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	125	3	2.40%
Considering new Interface	125	10	8.00%
System Installed on time?	125	121	96.80%

Average Collection size:		85491

Type	Count
Public	75
Academic	28
School	4
Consortia	0
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	16
[2] 10,001-100,000	80
[3] 100,001-250,000	22
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2015 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	152	3	2	1	2		7	11	33	50	43	8	7.43	8
ILS Functionality	152	1	1	2	3	4	5	17	37	59	23	8	7.20	8
Print Functionality	150	2	2	2	4	1	5	4	22	56	52	8	7.61	8
Electronic Functionality	140	8	2	2	4	7	14	22	27	34	20	8	6.35	7
Company Satisfaction	152	3	2	1	3	2	4	12	18	44	63	9	7.62	8
Support Satisfaction	149		2	1	2	4	7	11	21	36	65	9	7.70	8
Support Improvement	145	2		1		9	36	9	12	21	55	9	7.03	8
Company Loyalty	146	7		2	4	5	8	11	10	32	67	9	7.34	8
Open Source Interest	130	10	3		2	7	4	2	3	11	88	9	7.46	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	155	5	3.23%
Considering new Interface	155	16	10.32%
System Installed on time?	155	149	96.13%

Average Collection size:		101914

Type	Count
Public	91
Academic	32
School	6
Consortia	0
Special	3

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	12
[2] 10,001-100,000	100
[3] 100,001-250,000	23
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	13
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	2
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2014 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	116	1		1	1		9	12	30	39	23	8	7.34	8
ILS Functionality	116			3	1	2	6	18	31	35	20	8	7.17	7
Print Functionality	115			1	1		6	9	20	47	31	8	7.69	8
Electronic Functionality	112	3	4	2	4	3	11	14	31	28	12	7	6.43	7
Company Satisfaction	116		1	2		3	6	8	23	30	43	9	7.61	8
Support Satisfaction	115		1	1	1	2	6	12	21	25	46	9	7.63	8
Support Improvement	110	1		1	3	9	24	9	16	16	31	9	6.73	7
Company Loyalty	111	1	3	1	3	6	10	8	9	23	47	9	7.26	8
Open Source Interest	101	6	1	2	2	1	5	1	4	12	67	9	7.65	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	119	7	5.88%
Considering new Interface	119	12	10.08%
System Installed on time?	119	109	91.60%

Average Collection size:		97617

Type	Count
Public	73
Academic	21
School	4
Consortia	0
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	14
[2] 10,001-100,000	72
[3] 100,001-250,000	17
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	9
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2013 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	89			1	1	2	3	8	19	27	28	9	7.61	8
ILS Functionality	89	1		1		2	4	9	29	25	18	7	7.29	7
Print Functionality	89			1	2	1	2	3	15	32	33	9	7.84	8
Electronic Functionality	85	3	3	2	1	3	10	12	17	20	14	8	6.46	7
Company Satisfaction	89		1	1	2	1	3	5	10	25	41	9	7.83	8
Support Satisfaction	88		1	2	1	1	4	3	10	24	42	9	7.84	8
Support Improvement	82	1		1	1		13	8	11	19	28	9	7.30	8
Company Loyalty	88	4	2	2		1	7	1	9	14	48	9	7.48	9
Open Source Interest	78	2	1	1	1	1	6	2	2		62	9	8.00	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	91	3	3.30%
Considering new Interface	91	7	7.69%
System Installed on time?	91	86	94.51%

Average Collection size:		100698

Type	Count
Public	53
Academic	21
School	3
Consortia	0
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	5
[2] 10,001-100,000	57
[3] 100,001-250,000	16
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	6
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2012 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	63					1	1	5	14	25	17	8	7.78	8
ILS Functionality	63			1	1		2	4	18	27	10	8	7.48	8
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	63				1	1	1	2	12	11	35	9	8.11	9
Support Satisfaction	63		1		1			2	14	12	33	9	8.05	9
Support Improvement	59		1	2		4	5	5	6	13	23	9	7.27	8
Company Loyalty	61				2	2	2	2	8	8	37	9	8.02	9
Open Source Interest	57	2				1	2	2	3	2	45	9	8.21	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	65	0	0.00%
Considering new Interface	65	1	1.54%
System Installed on time?	65	59	90.77%

Average Collection size:		148035

Type	Count
Public	40
Academic	11
School	3
Consortia	0
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	4
[2] 10,001-100,000	44
[3] 100,001-250,000	9
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2011 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	59			1		1	3	3	13	23	15	8	7.61	8
ILS Functionality	59		1			1	3	9	17	17	11	7	7.25	7
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	59			2			1	1	8	18	29	9	8.07	8
Support Satisfaction	59			1			2	3	7	11	35	9	8.17	9
Support Improvement	56	1					11	6	4	9	25	9	7.43	8
Company Loyalty	59	2				2	2	3	3	9	38	9	7.98	9
Open Source Interest	49	2			1	1	2	2		3	38	9	8.06	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	62	0	0.00%
Considering new Interface	62	5	8.06%
System Installed on time?	62	59	95.16%

Average Collection size:		104566

Type	Count
Public	42
Academic	7
School	3
Consortia	0
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	7
[2] 10,001-100,000	34
[3] 100,001-250,000	8
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2010 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	37						1	2	12	8	14	9	7.86	8
ILS Functionality	0											0	0.00
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	37								4	14	19	9	8.41	9
Support Satisfaction	36								3	14	19	9	8.44	9
Support Improvement	37						1		3	10	23	9	8.46	9
Company Loyalty	37								2	6	29	9	8.73	9
Open Source Interest	37										37	9	9.00	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	40	1	2.50%
Considering new Interface	40	1	2.50%
System Installed on time?	40	36	90.00%

Average Collection size:		57706

Type	Count
Public	26
Academic	8
School	1
Consortia	0
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	4
[2] 10,001-100,000	28
[3] 100,001-250,000	5
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	1
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

1 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2009

0 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2008

0 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2007

2022 : gen: 7.92 company 8.22 loyalty 8.02 support 8.20

2021 : gen: 7.94 company 8.18 loyalty 8.04 support 8.14

2020 : gen: 7.84 company 8.10 loyalty 8.13 support 8.26

2019 : gen: 7.87 company 8.28 loyalty 7.89 support 8.27

2018 : gen: 7.77 company 8.06 loyalty 7.92 support 8.09

2017 : gen: 7.75 company 7.94 loyalty 7.41 support 7.93

2016 : gen: 7.74 company 7.94 loyalty 7.78 support 7.90

2015 : gen: 7.43 company 7.62 loyalty 7.34 support 7.70

2014 : gen: 7.34 company 7.61 loyalty 7.26 support 7.63

2013 : gen: 7.61 company 7.83 loyalty 7.48 support 7.84

2012 : gen: 7.78 company 8.11 loyalty 8.02 support 8.05

2011 : gen: 7.61 company 8.07 loyalty 7.98 support 8.17

2010 : gen: 7.86 company 8.41 loyalty 8.73 support 8.44

Comments

Although our migration has been less than smooth; indeed, it is infested with bugs, we still do not regret moving to Koha and leaving Horizon. (Type: Public)

I believe that because the open source company we selected after a rigorous RFP process that because the ILS company had 68 new customers the support was stretched too thin. The company could not grow fast enough to accommodate. (Type: Academic)

Until we get high speed broadband, any web-based systems are not going to perform as well as proprietary programs installed on a local server. (Type: Public)

We have only been using Koha for less than a month so other than commenting on Bywater support these questions are hard for me to answer. I will have more experience with the ILS in next year's survey. (Type: Public)

I feel that the KOHA ILS still lacks some basic functionality in terms of patron interface and staff functionality, specifically the accounting module/charging patrons for lost books and creating financial reports. My patrons and I both find the patron interface difficult to use and understand. This has gotten better over the 6 years we've used KOHA but I still believe this lack of intuitive design is a barrier for most patrons. I am very happy with Bywater's migration services and would be happy to recommend them to others. (Type: Public)

In response to the question, Where does the library direct most of its ILS support issues?, I chose ILS vendor even thought I don't consider Bywater Solutions the vendor for Koha. But they are our ILS support company, so I thought that was the closest correct answer to the question. (Type: Academic)

We have been very pleased with Koha as implemented and supported by ByWater Solutions. However, it only houses our print book collection, not our digital resources. We use our website and a CMS (Expression Engine) to manage those. (Type: Special)

We have been using Koha from Bywater. The last "upgrade" not only did not improve things that we heard were going to be better, but broke the system so that it is much less useful. While I loved the idea of "open source", in fact we are paying a lot for a marginally useful system. In particular, none of our Overdrive titles show up in the catalog, we have constant problems with checkins, overdues no longer show in red, and when we are checking out, new checkouts show at the bottom of the list, so that it is hard to know which have actually gone through. The servers are very slow, and we have had several occasions when they do not work at all. (Type: Public)

We are migrating in December 2014 to Apollo. These answers are in relation to our installation of Koha as supported by ByWater. (Type: Public)

There have been bugs with each upgrade of our open sources software but they get resolved right away. (Type: Public)

Koha is an excellent product. 1/3 of the cost for maintenence than other ILS support vendors. Customization, Support, and product far superior to any ILSes we have used in the past. I highly recomment Koha supported by ByWater for any library thinking of migrating from another vendor! (Type: Public)

We already have an open source ILS Koha, hosted by Bywater Solutions and have been very pleased with the system, migration, and customer support (Type: Academic)

Koha is growing very rapidly in features. This is causing some problems with how well the features are working. Our vendor, ByWater Solutions is increasing it's customer base so much that they have a hard time giving the level of customer service we have come to expect. (Type: Public)

I am a new director and some of the answers may be wrong in the interpretation of the question. (Type: Public)

Koha is an open sourse ILS (Type: Public)

Overall -- very satisfied with both the software and the support vendor. (Type: Public)

We use Bywater Solutions Koha. It works very well. Though without our own programmers it sometimes can seem like working with a typical vendor. (Type: Public)

[...] (Type: Public)

Koha is an Open Source ILS. (Type: Public)

The Koha ILS is great. Its interface presents a very easy learning curve for anyone familiar with using popular websites such as google, amazon, ebay, etc. It being open source means that the community can customize it, and we have benefited from this. I can't imagine us moving to another ILS. As far as our vendor, ByWater Solutions, they are great. Their service request system is simple to use. They respond to issues quickly. An added bonus, is that they have Nicole Engard on staff, the writer of the Koha manual. I can't stress enough how confidence inspiring it is to me to have some of my support issues handled by her. (Type: Public)

Koha is a constantly evolving organism. Improvements are being made all the time. The community really does respond to the needs of its constituency. With that being said, there is still a long ways to go until Koha is an equal with the likes of Innovative Interfaces. But then, you get what you pay for, and Koha through ByWater is the right amount of "Bang for the buck" for us. ...and things keep getting better and more robust. ByWater does a great job for us and I hope they keep it up. I also hope that some of the cataloging functionality in Koha will soon be improved so I can better manage our e-resources (batch deletions and edits specifically) [I've heard rumors that something might be in the works.] (Type: Academic)

We recently switched to Koha by ByWater Systems and we've been very pleased with the process. Their tech support has responded to our questions quickly. (Type: Academic)

Customer service has always been prompt and courteous. The question regarding whether it has gotten better or worse was hard to answer, because the customer service has been great since we first contracted with Bywater. (Type: Public)

Bywater Solutions have done a great job in transferring us from Athena to Koha during July-August, 2014, and we are very satisfied with their maintenance of our system on their servers as well as their swift, efficient responses to our many queries since we "went live" with Koha on August 25. (Type: Public)

ByWater Solutions has great customer support. (Type: Medical)

So far, so good. I have just released it to the staff (users) and they seem happy with it. (Type: Corporate)

We are using Koha ILS that is designed for use with multiple branches, not independent members of a consortium. The functionality far, far surpasses anything Follett (prior vendor) has ever offered and improvements are constantly being made. However, sometimes upgrades introduce new bugs and that can be very frustrating. Also, this "group" Koha system can be very difficult for circ desk staff/volunteers that are not very tech savvy. It has been my observation that Bywater responds quickly to any problem that can be addressed. (Type: Public)

Koha is okay from the opac side although the default display is weirdly bad (eg. do I really need to ask for subfields to be displayed for X00 tags?) and the search engine is extremely poor. On the cataloging side, it is a huge pain to work with. (Type: Theology)

Koha's reporting is awful. Difficult to use and not efficient. Since last update, it is very slow. (Type: Academic)

Cataloging new materials with this system can be tricky. For example, the format types displayed on the front end do not match the options available on the back end's cataloging tool -- and the back end only offers four options (books, CD-ROMs, continuing resources, and web resources). This has made it difficult to catalog DVDs. (Type: Academic)

The biggest challenge with the Koha ILS is the functionality of the acquisitions module. Luckily, ByWater is supportive and help us work through the glitches there. In terms of electronic resource management Koha doesn't provide that. We use EBSCO's ERM product for managing those resources. (Type: Academic)

I recommend ByWater Solutions to any library that is considering a hosted Koha implementation. Their customer service and dedication to the development of the ILS is really top-notch, and they definitely care about their customers' wants, needs and feedback about Koha. (Type: Medical)

Just migrated to [...] Koha [...] in September 2014 - They upgraded the system in October 2014. (Type: Public)

Switching to open source community Koha from the proprietary PTFS/Liblime koha-based ILS was a great improvement. The migration through Bywater Solutions went quite smoothly. Because of our terrible experience with the Liblime product, we would have switched to a commercial ILS if our library could have afforded to do so. Open-source Koha works much better than our previous system, but it lacks some of the features and search precision which is available in most traditional ILS systems. (Type: Academic)

Koha is a good ILS, but the search functionality is not up to our needs. We know that at some point int he not too distant future Zebra will be replaced with Elastic Search, and we are looking forward to this. For a special research library, the current search functionality is frustrating. As to service, during our migration I was concerned ByWater might be overextended. They insisted they are not. We did not get good timely responses to our inquiries. This is an oddball library, and ByWater's "trust us - we know how to do this, so do it our way" approach didn't work well for us. We needed a different process, and we could not get it. I discussed this at length after migration with ByWater, and I think they understood my complaints and took them to heart. Didn't help us, of course, but I hope it helps someone else. (Type: Museum)

Bywater Solutions has lagged the last year in addressing development requests. We had 2 that were in hiatus for a year. But I did not follow up or push the issue forward once the request was submitted. (Type: Consortium)

Koha is an excellent ILS for a library of this size, but it would be helpful if we had a dedicated tech person who could work more closely with ByWater to fix bugs, etc. when they come up. I think that there's a language gap between programmers and non-programmers, and we don't always communicate very effectively. The everyday functioning of the ILS is wonderful (if slow). Trying to make changes is where I run into trouble. It can be difficult to figure out how to do things in Koha on your own and it can be difficult to find help with the little things that come up. For example, I was trying to add authorized values to the Location field and it took me the better part of a day to figure out how to do it or where to look for help on how to do it. (Type: Public)

[...] Our support vendor is Bywater and they are excellent. (Type: Public)

System is JUST being implemented and has not yet been used "live." (Type: Academic)

ILS

Library Technology Guides is a service provided by Marshall Breeding, independent consultant, author, and speaker.