Koha in the Maldives
by Aminath Riyaz

Koha is making waves in the Maldives library sector. A few personnel from the Maldives library and information sector have been exposed to Koha briefly during the last few years, at the short term training programs hosted by the SAARC Documentation Center, New Delhi, India.
Koha made a loud enough impact in the Maldives with the formation of DLNetSA (Digital Library Network of South Asia) in July 2010. This was followed by a “training of trainers” workshop on Koha held in Male’, Maldives, organized by the Maldives Greenstone support Network and facilitated by resource persons from HealthNet Nepal. A trial database was hosted by HealthNet Nepal at http://115.187.27.13.

With online support of HealthNet Nepal, Maldives Library Association (MLA) is introducing Koha to the libraries in the Maldives. As a first step, the MLA will be setting up Koha in four libraries selected strategically from different parts of the island nation. More information about this pilot project is available at https://infomalias.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/computerise-your-library. The interest shown by the library sector is overwhelming. This is not unexpected, as there are only a few libraries in the country with even an online library catalogue. The only library known to be using an integrated library system at present is the Maldives National University Library.

The MLA is very enthusiastic about this endeavor and is very thankful for the support from HealthNet Nepal, University of Waikato, and the Maldives Greenstone support Network. This project is a huge step for MLA given the small group of Library and Information Science professionals in the country.

Source: Koha Newsletter (ISSN 2153-8328), Volume 2, Issue 2: February 2011

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