For the first time, the Philippines hosted this year’s Koha International Conference (KohaCon) on June 19 to 21, 2017 at the Ayala Museum through the support of the Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL), a user of the Koha Integrated Library System (ILS).

KohaCon is an annual international users’ conference on Koha ILS, the world’s first free and open source ILS. KohaCon is aimed at sharing and exchanging experience in new functionalities, training and bug squashing, promoting collaboration to enhance the use of open source ILS and to encourage new developments in Koha. The previous KohaCons were held in France (2006), Texas (2009), New Zealand (2010), India (2011), Scotland (2012), Nevada (2013), Argentina (2014), Nigeria (2015), and Greece (2016).

KohaCon17 was organized by the Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines (ASLP) and Koha ILS Philippines Volunteers led by Eugene Espinoza, one of the country’s Koha specialists and FHL’s Consultant for Koha. A Hackfest followed on June 22 to 23 at the Asian Institute of Management, wherein attendees were able to participate in Koha development which includes testing of the new version and new features, and interact with Koha developers.

Koha, a word which means “gift”’ in Maori language (New Zealand), is a gift to the library community, being a fully featured, scalable library management system that can be freely adopted by libraries and information centers worldwide. Originally created in 1999 by the Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, development for continuous improvements is sustained through the support of libraries, companies, and an active Koha community committed to provide the most robust integrated library system. As an open source software, Koha enables libraries big and small to utilize an integrated library system solution minus the high price tag of commercially available alternatives. KohaCon is one of the many ways where the library and information technology communities converge and adapt to new technologies to improve library and information services.

KohaCon17 was attended by almost 200 library and information technology professionals from here and abroad. Speakers from France, Turkey, Pakistan, Australia, Spain, and the Philippines shared their experience and expertise in utilizing Koha ILS and open source solutions in various types of libraries and information centers, including academic and research libraries, special libraries, and public libraries. FHL’s own Koha ILS journey was shared by Cecil Ayson, FHL Librarian. FHL’s online catalog powered by Koha can be accessed at https://opac.filipinaslibrary.org.ph.