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LibLime is a commercial entity providing implementation and development services around the open source Integrated library system Koha. LibLime was founded in 2005, as part of Metavore Inc. and purchased by Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS) in 2010.

History

LibLime was founded in 2005 by Joshua Ferraro, a systems administrator who helped spearhead the migration project of moving the Athens County Public Libraries in Ohio to use OpenSource software called "Koha", a system generally considered to be the earliest open-source ILS still in production. LibLime and Ferraro soon became involved in further developing the product, and Ferraro was elected as the official Koha Project Release Manager for version 3.0.0.

In 2006, LibLime acquired the assets of Skemotah Solutions, another US-based Koha support company.

In March 2007, LibLime acquired the Koha division of Katipo Communications Ltd - the original developers of Koha. Assets involved in the acquisition included existing support contracts with libraries that contracted with Katipo, copyrights on the original Koha source code, and the koha.org domain and Website.

Koha 3.0.0 was released in August 2008 three years after the release of version 2.2.0 (Jan 6 2005).

In July 2008, LibLime acquired select assets of partner CARE Affiliates, Inc. Assets involved in the acquisition included existing support contracts for OpenTranslators and Masterkey, as well as copyrights and trademarks related to OpenTranslators.

In January 2009, the company launched ‡biblios.net, a free cataloging service.

In 2009 a dispute arose between LibLime and other members of the Koha community. The dispute centred on LibLime's apparent reluctance to be inclusive with the content of the http://koha.org/ sites and the non-contribution of software patches back to the community. A number of participants declared that they believed that LibLime had forked the software. A separate web presence, source code repository and community was established at http://www.koha-community.org/ .

In March 2010, LibLime was purchased by PTFS, a US Federal Government contractor.

The dispute with the Koha community deepened in November 2011 when it was reported that LibLime had applied to New Zealand's Ministry of Economic Development for a trademark of the name 'KOHA'. The Horowhenua Library Trust, who originally had Koha developed, has objected to LibLime's proposal, saying that "the Trust had created something really good, and given it away to the world, and that now LibLime wants to take it".

Products

LibLime KOHA open-source integrated library system: A LibLime variant of Koha based on Koha 3.0. Announced May 2011.

LibLime Enterprise KOHA integrated library system: A LibLime variant of Koha based on Koha 3.0. Announced Sept 2009.

Programs and projects

Koha open-source integrated library system

Koha is a full-featured open-source integrated library system licensed under the GNU General Public License.

LibLime's historical contributions to the project included handling release management and quality assurance. Through the integrated Zebra software (from Index Data, a Danish company), Koha provides advanced search options: full support for Boolean and hierarchically-nested queries; searching by language, year, and library-defined types; sub-type limits based on audience, content, and format which utilize coded values in the MARC record. Also available are re-sort and Amazon-style 'refine by' options. Additionally, users can sort their results by popularity, author, title, date published; narrow search results by branch, subject, or series title; and even limit to currently available items. LibLime developed the integration between Zebra and Koha.

Other major contributions of LibLime to Koha included:

• Koha's Amazon.com module
• Koha's original Z39.50 Server
• MARC21 Authorities support in Koha
• implemented proper handling of MARC8 encoded data

‡biblios.net

‡biblios.net is a free cataloguing service.

Koha with Class

Building on the success of a pilot program at Texas Woman's University in 2006, LibLime's Koha with Class initiative provides library school classrooms with hosted installations of Koha, free of charge. The project has a very active following with dozens of college and universities participating.

References

1. "Library Technology Guides - Liblime". Retrieved 2011-01-31.
2. Breeding, Marshall. "Library Technology Guides - Automation History". Library Technology Guides. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
3. "LibLime Corporate Chronology". Retrieved 2011-12-21.
4. "LibLime Acquisition by PTFS Marks a New Era for Koha (archive.org version)". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
5. "Koha 3.0.0 git tag". Retrieved 2011-02-01.
6. "Koha 2.2.0 release announcement". Retrieved 2011-02-01.
7. "LibLime to Acquire Care Affiliates". Retrieved 2008-07-29.
8. Joann Ransom (2009-09-14). "Library Matters: Liblime forks Koha". Library-matters.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
9. "Blog Archive » Koha and LibLime and the letter and the spirit of open source". librarian.net. 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
10. "LibLime To the Koha Community: Fork You! « Tennant: Digital Libraries". Blog.libraryjournal.com. 2009-09-15. Archived from the original on 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
11. "The Koha fork and being the change you want to see". Librarians Matter. 19 September 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
12. "PLA 2010 Conference: After False Start, PTFS Finally Acquires LibLime". Schoollibraryjournal.com. 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
13. "PTFS Contract Vehicles". PTFS. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
14. "PTFS". PTFS. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
15. "Small library fights US corporation over software patent". stuff.co.nz. 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
16. "LibLime KOHA". Archived from the original on 2013-02-18. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
17. "commit-number of LibLime KOHA fork from Koha codebase". 23 May 2011.
18. "LibLime releases LibLime Koha Version 4.2".
19. "LibLime Enterprise KOHA".
20. "LibLime Enterprise KOHA press release".
21. "Zebra". Index Data. 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
22. "LibLime Launches Koha with Class". Retrieved 2007-03-08.
23. "Future Librarians Learn using Koha". Retrieved 2007-03-08.
24. "Koha with Class library management system classes participating". Retrieved 2007-03-08.

• Free software companies
• Privately held companies based in Maryland