The First meeting of Koha-Ecuador will count with the participation of international experts.

Yachay Tech University, through its Library, will organize of the First Koha-Ecuador Meeting. The event will take place on July 26 and 27, 2018 at the Library facilities. The meeting hopes to bring together library staff and documentation centers across the country to discuss the integrated Koha library management system. It will host speakers from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador with extensive knowledge of this management system. The event aims to provide an alternative to libraries and documentation centers that don’t have a management system of this type.

Koha is the first integrated management system for free software libraries. It allows users to manage a fairly broad range of features: from procurement and budget management to stock inventory. Koha was put into use for the first time in 2000, at the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, the institution for which it was created.

During the event, general talks about Koha will be held to present a general overview and the status of this system and the international community. In addition, the event will have practical presentations of projects and concrete experiences, where the diversity of those working with Koha in Ecuador will be analyzed. Finally, attendees may choose to attend one of four participatory workshops:

• 1st workshop: Are you thinking of using Koha? We tell you what we have learned from our experience.
• 2nd workshop: Under the umbrella of Koha: integration of libraries, supports and web applications. Experience of a collaborative work
• 3rd workshop: Collaborate with other open source communities and evolve your library management software.
• 4th workshop: Application of standards in the use of the Marc format.

Although the event was organized directly by the Yachay Tech Library, it has the support of Ebsco, Proquest, Jtor and Fusionsolutions. The organizers hope to promote this meeting again in the future, providing a space for interested parties to share their experiences under the use of the system. The event has a cost of 50 USD and will have the issuance of a certificate of participation at the end of the meeting. This event is a replica of an event held in Europe to discuss the software based on the experiences of experts and users.