What now for Koha: PTFS to acquire LibLime, new Koha newsletter out

Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS) have acquired Liblime, the self-professed “leader in Open Source solutions for libraries”. This is an interesting development in the world of commercial Koha/FOSS support and follows months of controversy over Liblime’s role in the Koha community. PTFS have recently moved into providing commercial support for libraries implementing Koha (although the validity of this has been debated ) but don’t seem to have show a particular affinity for FOSS development previously. The LibLime brand will remain within the PTFS structure to encompass its Koha support division. Library Journal has an interesting article on this acquisition and its implications for LibLime’s ownership of, among other things, the Koha trademark in the US, the Koha.org domain and LibLime Enterprise Koha. The hope is that these Koha assets will be donated back to the Horowhenua Library Trust (HLT), as the Koha community has requested. ByWater Solutions, another key player in the Koha community (who themselves recently joined forces with BibLibre), seem cautiously optimistic about this outcome.The acquisition also includes biblios.net, a promising social cataloguing tool who’s development has faltered a bit recently.

Maybe, just maybe, this shakeup will provide a way out of the controversial forking of Koha but only time will tell.The acquisition is due to be completed by the end of January.

In other (non-commercial) Koha news, the very first Koha newsletter is now out, covering Koha events, news and tips and tricks.