Dear Friends, I prepared this post workshop note to inform you all about the experiences and thoughts while attending International Workshop on Koha 3.0 organized by Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore in association with OSS Labs. It is nice to hear that open source ILS is becoming popular in India. Earlier days open source ILS were available with minimum functional features and not capable to implement in big library environment. Now popular open source ILS are mature with advanced features and ready to use in any library with small or big collection. Most of the open source software’s works best with Linux operating system; this is the basic reason keep Indian librarians a distance away from free ILS. In this workshop candidates got an opportunity to learn in detail how to install Linux in computers without disturbing existing Windows installation. OpenSuse Linux installation felt easy. OpenSuse is very user friendly Linux distribution and have graphical interface for all operations. It is high time to include Linux and open source technology in Library Science syllabus. Candidates showed little bit difficulty, while Koha installation in Linux. But the effort was challenging. Basic knowledge in Linux is necessary to maintain an open source ILS in Library. Candidate’s generic doubts on open source ILS tackled well in the debate sessions. Savitra Sirohi and his colleagues from OSS Labs handled the sessions with professional touch. They answered candidate’s queries in light of their experience as professional Koha service provider. Presence of Mr. L.J. Haravu, Chief Domain Specialist, NewGenLib was remarkable. He helped to clear many doubts raised by candidates on open source ILS scenario. I know that, it is difficult to learn everything about Koha within limited time. And I would like to see such events as a good occasion to get inspiration to learn open source ILS. In my experience self learning is the best to get acquaint with new trends in library technology. All learning materials are available from Koha website. Community generated detailed installation notes and simple user guides are the main features of Koha documentation site (www.kohadocs.org). In my opinion, help groups for open source ILS should be form after every workshop. I extent my thanks to Dr. Khaiser Nikam for organize this international workshop on Koha with professional fervor. -- Vimal Kumar V. Asst. Librarian Asian School of Business Technopark, Trivandrum-695 581 Web: www.vimalkumar.co.nr Blog: http://vimalkumar.oksociety.in OK Society Volunteer. http://oksociety.in --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I have learnt" -Patrick White -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.