Calm at the center of the distributed whirlwinds

Keynote at the 2013 Koha Conference in Reno, Nevada, USA. Includes an update on Koha 3.14 and thoughts on maintaing serenity in the face of the ferment of Koha development.

Transcript

1. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Calm at the centers of the distributed whirlwinds Galen Charlton 16 October 2013 KohaCon 2013
2. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Circles and cycles • Let's embrace the codename for the upcoming major release of Koha... Pi! CC licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Paul Smith: http://flickr.com/photos/psmith/2190712270/
3. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Hurricane Bud by the NASA Earth Observatory (used per CC-BY)
4. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) What patrons can look forward to • A new OPAC theme • Course reserves • OverDrive integration • More secure password hashing • Schema.org microdata
5. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA)
6. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) What librarians can look forward to • HTML5 offline circulation • Patron lists • Z39.50 search of authority records • Ability to merge authority records • DOM indexing for UNIMARC • Ability to move orders
7. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) More things for the librarians • Look up items by keyword or title during circulation – Look Ma, no item barcodes! • More options for lost item fine policies • Serials enhancements
8. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) What sysadmins can look forward to • Improvements to the management scripts • More hooks for OPAC customizations • System preference overriding • Translation fixes
9. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) What developers can look forward to • DBIx::Class • More and better tests – Database-dependent tests coming into their own – Search testing • More Template Toolkit plugins
10. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) What cats can look forward to CC licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Lindsey Turner: http://flickr.com/photos/theogeo/563051619/
11. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Stability and instability • Imagine a perfectly stable Koha... • Imagine a perfectly unstable Koha... – Let's pause for the folks who have been active in the project for years to stop shuddering
12. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Innovation and conservation • Koha is not done yet! • Folks hate having stuff taken away from them
13. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) The lifecycle of a feature • Idea • Resistance • Iteration • Acceptance • Iteration • Conservation • Destruction
14. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Distribution • Well, yes, of course • But it's an ever-present challenge • A single purpose ramifies
15. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Multiplicity of place • The mission that Koha supports is more or less the same... • But the whys, wherefores, and means, not so much • This both helps and hinders
16. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Multiplicity of perspective • Public, academic, consortium • And just plain odd • Traditional vs. new
17. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Multiplicity of size • Who charges their friends overdue fines? • Special libraries • Consortia • National libraries • Keepers of the metadata kitchen sink
18. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Diversity of project • You may have heard of Evergreen • And others...
19. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Boundaries • Koha can be most things for most libraries • That doesn't remove the need for judgment • The word “no” must be used at times • Quality • Production means something
20. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) The eye of the storm • Our mission binds us together • Even in our differences • Gratitude
21. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Brass tacks with gears • Continuous integration • Automated testing • Workflow analysis
22. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA)
23. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Squishy brass tacks • Community • Communication • Consilience • Negotiation
24. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Bored brass tacks? • Patch review • QA • More testing • Where, o where, is the janitor?
25. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Brick-like brass tacks • Wherein the metaphor explodes • Out of many small pieces is a wall made • Incrementalism vs. saltation
26. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Structural brass tacks • You can't keep a good metaphor down! • Module maintainers
27. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Creative tensions • Expedience vs. the unknown future • Generality vs. specificity vs. nothing • Security vs. the panopticon • Delegation vs. centralization • Funded vs. unfunded • Unity of vision vs. pipelines
28. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Approaching storms • Ending the tyranny of MARC – Linked Data – MARC still has its place • Koha's place in the ecosystem • Growth
29. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Core • Koha is for libraries – What is a library? • Koha is for libraries, viewed broadly as possible • Koha is for people • Koha is by the people • Koha is excellent • … and can be made more excellent
30. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Serenity • We're all in this together • We're all in this together • Messiness happens, but can be transitory CC licensed ( BY SA ) flickr photo by Jônatas Cunha: http://flickr.com/photos/jonycunha/4402158857/
31. KohaCon 2013 Copyright 2013 Galen Charlton (CC-BY-SA) Thanks! Galen Charlton Koha 3.14 Release Manager gmc@esilibrary.com