Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust chooses Koha supported by PTFS Europe

London,  14th July 2010

The library at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has chosen the Koha open source library management system to replace its existing Unicorn system.  PTFS Europe are carrying out the initial implementation and providing ongoing support.  The system is hosted at the PTFS Europe data centre in Maidenhead.

Koha Library Management System

With Koha, library staff access to the system is completely web-based; acquisitions, circulation, cataloguing, serials and reports are all done through a web browser.  As well as an excellent search engine the OPAC offers a range of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 facilities such as tagging, commenting and public and private lists.   Koha can also integrate with the ArchivalWare digital library as well as other link resolution services.

A key part of the migration is the ability of the team at PTFS Europe who will extract the data from Unicorn and then convert and load it into Koha.  In addition, working with PTFS provides the freedom and functionality of open source software together with the benefits of receiving high quality customer support.

Angela Douglas, Head of Library and Learning Resources said “The Library required a library management system that was flexible and would allow us to make use of web 2.0 and new technologies as they come on stream.  We also wanted a user friendly system both in terms of the needs of library staff and our users. Koha fulfilled all of these needs and more.
We chose PTFS because we had worked with them before and knew them to be reliable, innovative and interested in helping libraries to offer excellent, state of the art services”

Nick Dimant, Managing Director at PTFS Europe said “It is great to be working with the team at the Tavistock once again and also to see another health library join our growing community of users.  The changing economic climate emphasises even more the benefits of the combination of modern technology and value for money that can be achieved by moving to Koha.”

About the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

The Tavistock and Portman is a specialist mental health trust focused on psychological, social and developmental approaches to understanding and treating emotional disturbance and mental ill health, and to promoting mental health. It has a national and international reputation based on excellence in service delivery and clinical innovation, and high quality clinical training and workforce development.  The Trust achieved authorisation as an NHS Foundation Trust in 2006.  The library’s resources at the Tavistock and Portman reflect the multidisciplinary approach of the trust and span all aspects of the behavioural sciences.

About PTFS Europe

PTFS Europe implements and supports the Koha and Evergreen open source library management systems as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America.  PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, ranging from project management, installation, configuration, data conversion, scanning and digitisation and training through to ongoing customer support.

More information on PTFS Europe: www.ptfs-europe.com
Any questions please contact:
Nick Dimant:  nick.dimant@ptfs-europe.com, +44 (0) 7966 571704

###

Koha Library Management System

With Koha, library staff access to the system is completely web-based; acquisitions, circulation, cataloguing, serials and reports can all be done through a web browser. As well as a sophisticated search engine the OPAC offers a range of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 facilities such as tagging, commenting and public and private lists. Koha can integrate with the ArchivalWare digital archiving solution as well as other federated search and link resolution services.

A key part of the project for this new library is to integrate RFID technology with the library system so as to offer full 24/7 self service access to their users.

Helen Edwards, Library Project Manager said, “As a new library with no legacy we are able to move straight to the latest Web 2.0 open source technology. The Koha software is completely free and can be used as we wish without licensing costs. PTFS provide cost effective implementation, hosting and support.”

Nick Dimant, Managing Director of PTFS Europe commented: “We are very proud to have been chosen to help implement the library system for this prestigious and exciting new project. SKOLKOVO is an institution that values forward thinking and innovation and we are pleased to say that this is reflected in their choice of library system.”

About Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO

The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO is an innovative international institution of the future. It is focused on developing the unique leadership and communicative skills required for the new type of manager who will be in demand in the 21st century – the age of human resources. In providing practical knowledge, SKOLKOVO trains business leaders who will apply their professional skills in dynamically developing markets; leaders who will set up and run their own businesses and lead the development of the Russian economy.

About PTFS Europe

PTFS Europe implements and supports the Koha and Evergreen open source library management systems as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America. PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, ranging from project management, installation, configuration, data conversion, scanning and digitisation and training through to ongoing customer support.

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust implements Koha supported by PTFS Europe

London, June 28th  2010

The library at Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has chosen the Koha open source library management system to replace its existing Unicorn system. PTFS Europe are carrying out the initial implementation and providing ongoing support. The system is hosted at the PTFS Europe data centre in Maidenhead.

Koha Library Management System

With Koha, library staff access to the system is completely web-based; acquisitions, circulation, cataloguing, serials and reports can all be done through a web browser. As well as a sophisticated search engine the OPAC offers a range of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 facilities such as tagging, commenting and public and private lists.   Koha can integrate with the ArchivalWare digital archiving solution as well as other federated search and link resolution services.

A key part of the migration is the ability of the team at PTFS Europe who have extracted the data from Unicorn and then converted and loaded it into Koha. In addition, by working with PTFS, Kettering get the best of both worlds – the freedom and functionality offered by open source software together with the benefits of getting high quality support from an organisation with a reputation for delivering high quality customer service.

Heather Buckley, Library Services Manager at Kettering, said, “Koha presented us with a cost effective solution which enabled us to provide access to the Catalogue to our wider community, this had previously been restricted to the hospital Intranet site. We have still yet to experience Koha’s full potential but are satisfied we made the right choice”.

Ian Bays, Project Director of PTFS Europe commented:   “It was a delight to work with the staff at Kettering again. It was a challenge implementing the system in a very short timescale but I feel the project has been a great success.”

About Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Kettering General Hospital is a medium-sized district general hospital which provides a wide range of services to about 300,000 people in North Northamptonshire. It became an NHS Trust in 1994 and a Foundation Trust in November 2008.

There has been a library at Kettering General Hospital since 1897; in 2006 the library celebrated both its 70th anniversary and its move to a new state of the art building spread across two floors. The library has a membership of 3,228 and a bookstock of 19,656. It now also encompasses a quiet room, easy seating area, a dedicated I.T. training suite, a large computer suite and a library garden.

About PTFS Europe

PTFS Europe implements and supports the Koha and Evergreen open source library management systems as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America. PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, ranging from project management, installation, configuration, data conversion, scanning and digitisation and training through to ongoing customer support.

More information on PTFS Europe: www.ptfs-europe.com

Any questions please contact:

Nick Dimant: nick.dimant@ptfs-europe.com, +44 (0) 7966 571704

###

UN Food and Agriculture Organization implements Koha supported by PTFS Europe

London, 24th May 2010

The David Lubin Memorial Library at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome is in the process of implementing the Koha open source Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) to replace various legacy systems.  PTFS Europe is assisting with the data migration, implementation services, software development and providing ongoing customer support.  The system is hosted for the development stage at the PTFS Europe data centre at Maidenhead in the UK.

Koha Library Management System

Stefka Kaloyanova, Project leader of the ILMS project and Information Systems Analyst at the Knowledge Management and Library Services branch at FAO, said:

“The benefits of using open source ILMS under Koha are that it provides integrated web based cataloguing, collection management and search and dissemination.  The open source solution is giving us the freedom to do everything we want with the help of a large development community.

We started with the Serials acquisition and Management Module (SAMS) which is one of the most complex modules of an ILMS, but as part of its development and implementation we also covered other modules (cataloguing, searching, reporting and statistics) that are indispensable for the functioning of SAMS. The experience we have gained with Serials will be very useful for the next phase – the Book acquisition and Management system.

We were able to test the rich multilinguality of Koha and UNICODE compliancy which are essential for an international environment as at FAO.  We expect that the copy cataloguing of a large proportion of the documents will optimize the work of the cataloguers.  Koha gives us better resource management through reporting and statistics produced by the system, international standards usage, common data access and streamlining the workflow.

We are also bringing numerous fixes and the development of new features to the whole Koha community, including:
-    developing the capability to use external thesauri by integrating web services in the cataloguing and search process,
-    a significant number of enhancements to the serials and acquisitions modules and improving the interlinking between them,
-    developing training documentation, presentations and posters facilitating adaptation of the users to the Koha system.”

Nick Dimant, Managing Director of PTFS Europe commented:   “We would like to thank Stefka and the rest of the team at the FAO for their enthusiastic and pragmatic approach to this challenging project which was concluded in about six months.  They are a pleasure to work with and we are looking forward to more collaboration in the future.”

About the David Lubin Memorial Library

The David Lubin Memorial Library at the FAO maintains one of the world’s finest collections of resources on food, agriculture and international development.  The Library has over one million volumes; the journal collection contains approximately 13,000 titles of which 1,450 are electronic. The heavily used working collection consists of FAO documentation and publications produced by FAO, non-FAO books and serials in FAO subject fields, a comprehensive reference collection and specialized Branch Library collections in Fisheries and Forestry. The library also includes the IIA Institutional Memory and Rare Books collection.  The David Lubin Memorial Library is part of the “Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (OEK)” division of FAO. It offers extensive reference and information services, tours and briefings, inter-library loans and the reproduction of FAO documents.
You can visit the library site at: http://www.fao.org/library/library-home/en/

About PTFS Europe

PTFS Europe implements and supports the Koha open source library management system as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital library solutions in North America.  PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, including installation, configuration, data conversion, software development and training through to ongoing customer support.

More information on PTFS Europe: www.ptfs-europe.com
Any questions please contact:
Nick Dimant:  nick.dimant@ptfs-europe.com, +44 (0) 7966 571704

###

PTFS Europe welcomes the announcement of “Harley”, a new release of Koha available for immediate download

11th May 2010

PTFS Europe today welcomed the announcement by LibLime (a division of PTFS) of “Harley”, a new release of the Koha library management system available for immediate download. This release includes over 60 new detailed items of functionality. Dynix and Horizon libraries in particular will recognise many of the features on this list; a reflection of the growing number of Dynix and Horizon libraries moving to Koha. Some of these features are supported by few other systems.

The speed with which PTFS developed, tested and delivered these enhancements is a testimony to the capability of PTFS and Koha to respond quickly to detailed user requirements and then share these enhancements with the broader user community.

More information at http://www.liblime.com/news with detailed release notes and an FAQ list to be found at  http://koha.org/download

Harley provides a host of new Koha features including:

About PTFS Europe

PTFS Europe is implementing and supporting the Koha open source library management system as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America. PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, ranging from project management, installation, configuration, data conversion, scanning and digitisation and training through to ongoing customer support.

More information on PTFS Europe: www.ptfs-europe.com

Any questions please contact:

Nick Dimant:  nick.dimant@ptfs-europe.com, +44 (0) 7966 571704

About LibLime, a division of PTFS

LibLime is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries.  Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, The PTFS LibLime Division educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. The PTFS LibLime Division then facilitates deployment of Koha in libraries by providing outstanding consulting, development, implementation, and support/hosting for libraries of all types and sizes.  PTFS is also the developer of the world’s leading content management software, ArchivalWare, and specializes in meeting library personnel staffing requirements, digitization, and metadata keying services. For more information, see http://liblime.com or http://ptfs.com or http://archivalware.net

###

The MARC Utilities is a self-contained executable program which offers an array of catalog tools to manage, convert and analyze MARC-based data. It is written in Perl-TK, and is a great add-on to any MARC cataloger’s (or database administrator’s) toolset. The MARC Utilities is a free release and is available to anyone who wishes to download it from the Liblime or PTFS websites:

ptfs.com/integrated_library_sys/index.aspx

MARC Utilities was created in 2004, by PTFS ILS expert, Rashid Faraby, who needed a fast, efficient MARC editing tool primarily to help him in his daily tasks as a Sirsi Unicorn library system administrator. Some of MARC Utilities features include:

• Edit text/mnemonic files.
• Convert MARC to mnemonic/Text, SIRSI ASCII, Dublin Core, XML, and CSV.
• Convert mnemonic/Text-formatted files to MARC.
• Convert mnemonic/Text-formatted records to MARC directly from the editor.
• Enhanced editor and search feature with a string history to recall previous searches.
• Perform MARC queries to filter and extract MARC data.
• Dedupe MARC records and extract unique/duplicate records.
• Add a MARC field.
• Identify and remove duplicate MARC fields.
• Find and replace specific field strings (including indicators and subfields).
• Remove MARC records.
• Apply constant data to a range of MARC records.
• Apply 949 MARC Data on the fly.
• Validate MARC records and identify errors.
• Check MARC data integrity.
• Analyze MARC data to study a collection of records.
• Split large MARC files into smaller documents.
• Check for 856 broken links.
• Filter list user and item reports for export to CSV format.
• Find and purge old SIRSI reports.
• Export report results to the editor.

Liblime released the MARC Utilities editor in the hopes that this library freeware tool will make MARC data conversion easier for library staff and ILS database administrators. Liblime invites all users to let us know if you have any comments or suggestions on enhancing or adding more functionality to MARC Utilities.

About LibLime

LibLime is a provider of open-source library solutions. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions–solutions tailored to each library’s needs. For more information, see www.liblime.com.

Bethesda, MD—March 15, 2010—Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc.  (PTFS), an industry-leading library solutions provider and developer of the ArchivalWare digital library and content management software, has acquired LibLime, the global leader in open-source software solutions for libraries.

“PTFS has supported ILS solutions for 15 years, so the acquisition of LibLime and the addition of their Koha customer base is logical expansion for PTFS.  With our in-depth knowledge of both the bibliographic and digital collection arenas, we are in an excellent position to bring the necessary technologies to libraries.  We will make the Koha Open-Source ILS more cost-effective for libraries struggling to keep pace with commercial pricing during tough economic times.  We welcome the opportunity to partner with all of these new customers to advance the capabilities of Koha,” stated John Yokley, PTFS CEO.

This acquisition expands PTFS’s existing U.S. and European open-source library solutions business. In addition, it will accelerate PTFS’s Digital Library System (DLS) initiative, an integration between the Koha ILS and ArchivalWare.  The DLS solution will provide libraries and information centers with a next generation solution by providing a single toolset to manage all of their collections – print and digital.

The first order of business will be to transition the existing LibLime customers into PTFS’s support center.  PTFS will focus on enhancing customer support for the LibLime contracts acquired and will immediately assign additional resources required to accomplish this task.  PTFS will also take over all existing development projects already under way at LibLime – including the multi-year Westchester Academic Library Director’s Organization project which is adding rich academic functionality to the Koha platform; and the Madison, Wisconsin-based South Central Library System project which will significantly increase Koha’s support of public library workflows in a consortial environment.  PTFS is excited to work with all of the sponsoring organizations to expand the Koha platform.

PTFS pledges to enhance and maintain the www.koha.org  site as the focal point for the world’ s Koha activities– the place to find the latest information on Koha support, documentation, news, and downloads.

Combining the PTFS and Liblime Koha operations will bring nearly 150 organizations totaling over 700 libraries into the PTFS Koha customer support group.  The acquisition establishes PTFS as the world’s largest company providing open-source ILS solutions for libraries.

About PTFS, Inc.

Founded in 1995, PTFS is a library centric company and is the developer of the ArchivalWare content management software. PTFS has provided commercial ILS systems integration, implementation, and support since its inception.   In 2008, PTFS entered the open-source library marketplace in 2008, developing, implementing, and supporting Koha ILS solutions.  Providing digital library and content management solutions for over a decade, PTFS is experienced in executing complete turn-key solutions as well as on-site library staffing and consulting services. For more information, see www.ptfs.com.

Contact:

Rbangs@ptfs.com

PTFS and LibLime made a joint statement on January 13, 2010 announcing plans for a sale of LibLime to PTFS. However, PTFS and LibLime could not agree upon financial terms and have agreed not to proceed with the acquisition.

About PTFS, Inc.

Founded in 1995, PTFS is a library centric company and is the developer of the ArchivalWare content management software. PTFS has provided commercial ILS systems integration, implementation, and support since its inception. In 2008, PTFS entered the open source library marketplace in 2008, developing, implementing, and supporting Koha ILS solutions. Providing digital library and content management solutions for over a decade, PTFS is experienced in executing complete turn-key solutions as well as on-site library staffing and consulting services. For more information, see www.ptfs.com.

About LibLime

LibLime is the world’s leading provider of open-source library solutions. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions–solutions tailored to each library’s needs. For more information, see www.liblime.com.

For further information, contact:

Richard Bangs, PTFS: rbangs@ptfs.com; Joshua Ferraro, LibLime: joshua.ferraro@liblime.com