Migrating from Innovative Interfaces' Millennium to Koha: The NYU Health Sciences Libraries' experiences

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explain the circumstances, methods and outcomes of the New York University Health Sciences Libraries' (NYUHSL) migration from their previous Integrated Library System (ILS), Innovative Interfaces, Inc.'s Millennium, to the open‐source ILS Koha.

Design/methodology/approach

Over the course of three months, the NYUHSL installed, tested, and configured Koha to match with its existing policies and procedures. Migration was performed at the close of the fiscal year, to reduce the amount of acquisitions data to migrate, as well as for contractual reasons. Training was purchased from a Koha support vendor, ByWater Solutions. After migrating, the staff of the NYUHSL identified areas of improvement for Koha, and began discussing how to implement enhancements.

Findings

The paper identifies several areas of development for Koha, including electronic resource management, course reserves, and cataloging client enhancements. It proves that a migration from Millennium to Koha can be done very quickly, if the library is properly motivated.

Originality/value

This paper provides libraries considering the move to open‐source with a real‐world success story, as well as many factors to consider. In particular, libraries considering the move from Millennium to Koha stand to benefit from the NYUHSL's experiences.

Citation

Walls, I. (2011), "Migrating from Innovative Interfaces' Millennium to Koha: The NYU Health Sciences Libraries' experiences", OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 51-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650751111106564