Dear Friends, I confronted with this query at various occasions. My view towards this topic is follows. We have to consider the truth; no ILS is perfect in all aspects. If we learn in detail, we can find that each ILS (both commercial and open source) has its own strength and weakness. In the case of Koha (version 3.1) acquisition module has only basic features. Current acquisition module may not be suitable for big library system. It does not mean Koha is not good. Open source software development is community dependent and improving day by day with the help of users and developers across the world. Next release of Koha (3.2) will introduce new acquisition module with new features. Another freedom with open source ILS is the free availability. No trial version, you can try full version. You can install two or three popular open source ILS in your test machine and make a detailed comparative study. Go through all modules and try all features in each ILS. Check whether each ILS can match with your functional requirements in your library. Basic functional modules will be same with most of the open source ILS. But you can find certain features are more suitable for the library environment where software developed. Most of the open source ILS projects are originated from different countries. Koha developed for Harowhenua Library Trust, New Zealand, Evergreen developed for PINES consortium in USA and GNUTECA developed in Brazil. In certain cases open source ILS popular in one country may not be ready to use for libraries in other countries. For example PMB open source ILS is popular in France and more suitable for library environment there. NewGenLib genuinely developed for the requirements of Indian libraries and you can find more features suitable for Indian libraries. Health of an open source ILS project depends up on the degree of involvement by users and developers group. Users valuable suggestions are necessary to fix bugs, find usability problems and make more improvements. Koha has more community support than any other open source ILS. Other things we have to consider while selecting open source ILS are availability of detailed documentation, user friendly interface, standards for interchange of data, community and commercial support. -- 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.