The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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EL
37,4
624
Received 15 November 2018
Revised 12 March 2019
25 April 2019
Accepted 18 May 2019
The Electronic Library
Vol. 37 No. 4, 2019
pp. 624-635
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-11-2018-0224
Librarians’ perceptions about
adoption and uses of the Koha
integrated library software in
Punjab, Pakistan
Muhammad Asim
Department of Libraries, National History and Literary Heritage Division,
Islamabad, Pakistan, and
Muhammad Ijaz Mairaj
University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore Pakistan,
Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to find out the reasons of adopting Koha integrated library software, discovers
the problems faced by librarians during its implementation, and gets the perceptions of librarians about the
performances of Koha in Punjab, a province of Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey method was used to collect the data through questionnaire
from the purposefully selected sample (N = 66) of university librarians of Punjab, a province of Pakistan.
Findings – The librarians adopted Koha due to the availability of Web online public access catalog (OPAC),
provision of MARC21 standards for cataloging and its free availability. During implementation, the librarians
were faced with the problems of lack of technical skills, lack of knowledge about the Linux operating system,
shortage of skilled manpower, slow internet speeds and approval from their organization. They highly rated
the performance of the cataloguing, circulation, patron and OPAC modules of Koha.
Originality/value – This research provides a brief picture of librarians’ perceptions about Koha adoption
and satisfaction levels. The findings highlighted the issues and problems faced during the implementation of
Koha. This study will be helpful for librarians in the selection, implementation and usage of the Koha
software in their libraries.
Keywords Koha, Integrated library software, Library open source software,
Library management systems, Library automation software
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
We are living in the information age and information has become indispensable to perform
all day-to-day activities in our daily lives. Nowadays, information is a need as air is needed
for our survival. Information technology (IT) has changed the world into a global village and
has seemingly permeated every facet of life. IT helps us in managing information and has
made it possible to access information constantly. Libraries adopted IT in the early stages of
its development. Software is the one of the most important items in the library automation
process. A computer without software is like a library with neither books nor librarians
(Mahmood, 1999; Mairaj and El-Hadi, 2012).
The Koha integrated library system (ILS) is a fully featured open source software (OSS).
The word Koha derived from the Mãori language of New Zealand and means “gift” or
“donation”. The Katipo Communications company started work on the Koha software on 6 Librarians’
September 1999 at the request of the Horowhenua Library Trust (HLT) of New Zealand. The perceptions
HLT implemented the Koha ILS for the first time on 1 January 2000 and released it under a
General Public License (GNU). GNU is the most well-known and adaptable type of license
about adoption
for obtaining support from a worldwide group and guaranteeing future advancement of the
frameworks. The Koha software is written in the Perl programming language and works on
the Linux, UNIX and Windows operating systems. MYSQL database is used for the data
stockpiling purpose and the Apache Web server is required to serve the Koha modules on 625
the web. Koha is built using library standards and protocols, such as MARC 21 and Z39.50,
ensuring interoperability between Koha and other systems and technologies, while
supporting existing workflows and tools. Koha requires minimum hardware resources
(Sheeja, 2009). Egunjobi and Awoyemi (2012, p. 13) stated that the “online public access
catalog (OPAC) of Koha is web-based and there is no need to install any software on a user’s
machine”. Koha is presently kept up by a group of software suppliers and library innovation
staff around the world. This is living software with upgrades out every day by its
worldwide community (Shafi-Ullah and Qutab, 2012).
Singh and Sanaman (2012) reported that Koha has received many awards including
winner of the “Not for Profit section of the 2000 Interactive New Zealand award”, winner of
the 3 M award for “Innovation in Libraries” in 2000, winner of the public organization
section of “Les Trophées du Libre” in 2003 and winner of the “Use of IT in a Not-for-Profit
Organization ComputerWorld Excellence Award” in 2004. All the basic modules are
available in the Koha ILS including acquisition, cataloguing, patrons, circulation, serials,
reports, etc. Nowadays, the Koha ILS has become the first choice of librarians around the
globe due to its flexibility and provision of library standards.
The beginning of computer use in Pakistani libraries started in the late 1990s. Pakistan
Scientific and Technological Information Center is considered as the first institute in
Pakistan that used a computer for their union catalogue of scientific periodicals (Haider,
1998). IT-enhanced the services and daily activities of libraries in Pakistan. Nowadays, OSS,
especially Koha, has garnered the most popularity due to its free availability particularly in
developing countries, such as Pakistan. Rafiq and Ameen (2010) reported that three libraries
were using the Koha software in Pakistan and 47.8 per cent of librarians were interested in
adopting Koha. Ur Rehman et al. (2012) stated that the first time Koha was used in Pakistani
libraries was in 2006. Khan et al. (2016) reported that ILS are mainly missing in Pakistani
libraries, but that OSS use – especially the Koha ILS – is increasing in Pakistan.

Review of the literature

The Koha ILS is the first OSS and a very famous and commonly used software in the
libraries of the world. Koha has extensive features, which made it popular among library
professionals. Keast (2011) examined the adoption of the Koha open source library
management system (LMS) in Australian special libraries. He reported that due to the Koha
software now remote users of the library are able to get access from anywhere and save
energy and time. Kumar and Jasimudeen (2012) stated that the Koha software has become
popular and is the best choice for automation in any type of library. Libraries adopted the
Koha ILS due to its free availability, provision of desired functions, global customers,
technical and online support, availability of the Z39.50 protocol, compatibility and
integration with other technologies and global access to information (Makori and Osebe,
2016; Rahman and Rahman, 2016; Titilola Bayero Abdussalam and Ajisafe Saliu, 2014).
Rahman and Rahman (2016) conducted a case study on the establishment of the central
library and e-resource center at Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and
EL they determined that the Koha software was selected for bibliographic information due to
37,4 the fact that it was free of cost.
Khan et al. (2016) elaborated the process of implementation and data migration from the
LMS to Koha in the Government College University (GCU) libraries in Lahore. They found
that the LMS software was non-MARC based and non-Unicode software, and it did not
support the Urdu font while the GCU libraries contained more than 100,000 books in the
626 Urdu language. Therefore, the library staffs decided to adopt the Koha ILS software in a
meeting. House (2016) conducted a case study on the implementation of the Koha ILS at
Deutsche Schule Charlotte in the USA and he reported that the library decided to adopt the
Koha software due to its fast check-in, check-out and better inventory control system.
Ponelis and Adoma (2018) conducted a study on the diffusion of open source ILS in
academic libraries in Uganda, Africa. They found that Koha is the most adopted software in
academic libraries in Uganda. The libraries, which were using proprietary ILS were now
considering the Koha ILS due to its free availability and because it required less cost for
maintenance. Kampa and Kaushik (2019) evaluated the adoption of OSS and their impact on
the adopting libraries of institutions of national importance in India. They found that 18.4
per cent of the libraries were using the Koha ILS for the purpose of library automation.
Moreover, the total cost of ownership was quite low compared to commercial software, such
as VTLS, LibSys and Alice for Windows. They stated that all the libraries planned to
replace their proprietary software with Koha.
Yang and Hofmann (2010) compared the features of the OPAC of three software
including Koha, Evergreen and Voyager. They said that the Evergreen and Voyager
software were only showing information about a journal’s holdings while Koha was linked
to the journals in the ProQuest database. They discovered that only Koha’s OPAC provided
faceted navigation search. Singh and Sanaman (2012) conducted a comparative analysis of
Koha and NewGenLib. They reported that the Koha software had more characteristics than
NewGenLib.
Macan et al. (2013) studied open source solutions for libraries. They compared the
functions and characteristics of the Koha and ABCD software in depth in their study and
found that Koha had more range of modules than ABCD, especially those connected with the
next generation library catalogue. Pruett and Choi (2013) explained the comparison between
open source and proprietary software. They compared two OSS, Koha and Evergreen, with
two proprietary software, Symphony and Voyager, qualitatively and reported that Koha
and Evergreen had all the necessary modules of automation and both were more economical
software due to being free.
Joy (2014) compared the modules of Koha and LibSys to know, which software efficiently
fulfilled the requirements of library automation in Kerala, India. He found that Koha and
LibSys both performed the functions efficiently with minor limitations. However, the
circulation module of Koha performed the functions more adequately than LibSys. He
further disclosed that Koha facilitated various searching methods, including keyword, field
wise and Boolean, more adequately while LibSys facilitates these search methods with
minor limitations. Roy and Kumar (2017) compared the Koha with NewGenLib to inform the
librarians about the best software for their library. They reported that both software were
web-enabled but that Koha had more characteristics than NewGenLib. They added that
Koha required little hardware and had an easy installation process. Furthermore, it had
more advanced database features as compared to NewGenLib.
The libraries encountered many challenges during the implementation of Koha. Koha is
Linux-based but many librarians do not have a proper knowledge about the Linux operating
system. Zico (2009) reported the challenges that the librarians faced during the
implementation of Koha at the BRAC University library, such as inadequate technical Librarians’
expertise, lack of coordination and data migration. Some libraries were using other software perceptions
before the implementation of Koha and data migration was the main problem for them.
Walls (2011) reported that data conversion and migration of patron records were the main
about adoption
challenges encountered during the implementation of Koha at the New York University of
Health Sciences’ library. Omeluzor et al. (2012) discussed the problems faced during the
implementation process of the Koha ILS at Babcock University library, Nigeria, which
included: lack of supervision, lack of motivation from management, erratic power supply 627
and insufficient manpower. Shafi-Ullah and Qutab (2012) conducted a case study at
Pakistan legislative assembly libraries to elaborate on the process of data migration from
library automation management program to Koha. The findings of the study showed that a
shortage of funding, untrained staff, a lack of interest from the professional associations/
groups and the reluctant behaviour of librarians to adopt new technologies were the major
issues while adopting Koha. Makori and Osebe (2016) explained the impact of Koha on
information management organizations in Kenya. They discovered that these organizations
were facing bad financial situations and Koha provided them more sustainable solutions.
Koha had an excellent impact on their organizations in the sense of providing the right
information at the right time. Todd (2018) elaborated the process of data migration from the
Millennium ILS to Koha at the Northern Marianas College library. He highlighted problems
faced during the data migration process, which included no prior training, minimal support
from IT staff, shortage of skilled manpower and no support from the organization. He stated
that due to a lack of skilled manpower and lack of experience this project was completed in
two months.
Internationally, comprehensive studies have been conducted on the Koha ILS and most
of them were case studies with the personal experience of the researchers. In Pakistan, some
comprehensive studies have been found on OSS, which partially discussed the Koha ILS.
Only two case studies (Khan et al., 2016; Shafi-Ullah and Qutab, 2012) were found on Koha in
Pakistan and there is a dire need to conduct a comprehensive study on Koha. This study
explores why professionals in Pakistan are adopting Koha and which kinds of problems
occurred during the implementation of Koha. This study will help those library
professionals, who want to implement Koha in their libraries. This study will fill the
literature gap on the topic and provide librarian perceptions and experiences during the
adoption and use of Koha in Pakistani academic libraries in the province of Punjab.

Objectives
This study aims to investigate academic librarian perceptions during the adoption and use
of the Koha ILS in Punjab, a province of Pakistan. To this end, this study intended to
achieve the following objectives:
 to discover the reasons for adoption of the Koha ILS;
 to identify the problems encountered during the implementations of the Koha ILS;
and
 to record librarian perceptions about the performance of the Koha modules.

Research methodology
The target population of this study is the librarians of academic libraries from the Higher
Education Commission recognized public and private sector universities and Degree
Awarding Institutes (DAIs) in the province of Punjab, a province of Pakistan. A purposeful
EL sample of 22 universities and DAIs using Koha were selected. All the librarians (66) working
37,4 in the selected universities and DAIs libraries were included in this study for data collection.
In total, 38 respondents were from the public sector university libraries and 28 were from the
private sector.
A questionnaire (Appendix) was used to collect the data from the target population. Due
to the absence of a standardized instrument, the questionnaire was developed in light of the
628 literature reviewed. Expert opinions were taken and suggestions were incorporated into the
questionnaire. To check the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s alpha reliability
analysis test was used on all relevant sections of the questionnaire. The Cronbach value
showed that the average correlation coefficient of 50 statements was 0.866. A structured
questionnaire was prepared on Google Docs and a link was distributed through e-mail. The
questionnaire was also prepared in the MS Word format for collecting data from those
respondents who were unable to give their responses through Google Docs.

Data analysis and interpretation

According to the data collected, 22 university/DAI libraries were using the Koha software in
the province of Punjab. Most of the libraries adopted Koha during the years from 2012 to
2014 and the majority of the respondents had one-three year (s) experience of using Koha.
All the libraries installed Koha on the Linux operating system. A majority of the
respondents (53.0 per cent) were not involved in the process of installation and some
respondents (40.0 per cent) were never involved in the process of data migration from their
legacy system to Koha. Most of the librarians (74.2 per cent) answered that their libraries
were using other software before the adoption of Koha.

Demographics
The results (Table I) demonstrated that the majority of the respondents were male 50 (75.8
per cent) of whom 45 (68.2 per cent) possessed a Master’s Degree in library and information
science (LIS). The dispersion of the respondents by age showed that a large majority of the
respondents 20 (30.3 per cent) were in the age group of 26-30 years, followed by 18 (27.3 per
cent) in the age group of 41 years and above. The results revealed that most of the
respondents belonged to public sector universities 38 (57.6 per cent) as compared to private
sectors 28 (42.4 per cent).

Variables Items Frequency (%)

Gender Male 50 75.8

Female 16 24.2
Qualification MLIS/MLS 45 68.2
MPhil 18 27.3
PhD 3 4.5
Age 26-30 20 30.3
41 and above 18 27.3
31-35 15 22.7
36-40 10 15.2
Table I. 21-25 3 4.5
Demographics University/DAIs Public 38 57.6
(N = 66) Private 28 42.4
Reasons for koha adoption Librarians’
The librarians’ opinions were collected on the reasons for adopting Koha through a five- perceptions
point Likert scale. The mean scores of the opinions on the reasons of Koha adoption are
given in Table II. The findings indicated that six statements received a mean > 4.00 while
about adoption
one statement got a mean = 3.93. The availability of a Web OPAC (mean = 4.53, SD = 0.661,
SE = 0.081), the MARC 21 standard (mean = 4.46, SD = 0.661, SE = 0.081), the free
availability of Koha (mean = 4.45, SD = 0.705, SE = 0.086) and multilingual support (mean =
4.40, SD = 0.554, SE = 0.068) were the main reasons for adopting the Koha ILS in their 629
libraries.
An independent sample t-test was used to examine the universities (public and private)
variances on reasons for Koha adoption. The results in Table II revealed a significant
difference of opinion for one statement. The librarians of private sector organizations
significantly agreed that “Popularity of the Koha ILS among professional’s community” (p =
0.00) was the major reason for Koha adoption. Six statements had no significant difference
between public and private sector universities and DAIs, which indicated that the reasons
for Koha adoption were almost the same.

Problems during the implementation of Koha

The findings shown in Table III indicated that all the statements unanimously received a
mean > 3.00. Librarians faced problems during the implementation of the Koha software
including a lack of technical skills (mean = 3.89, SD = 0.994, SE = 0.122), a lack of
knowledge about the Linux operating system (mean = 3.77, SD = 0.989, SE = 0.121), a
shortage of skilled manpower (mean = 3.72, SD = 0.734, SE = 0.904) and a need for good
internet access to provide optimum benefits (mean = 3.63, SD = 1.017, SE = 0.125).

Variables Mean SD SE Sig.

Availability of a Web OPAC 4.53 0.661 0.081 0.66

Koha provides MARC 21 standard for cataloguing 4.46 0.661 0.081 0.49
Free availability of Koha 4.45 0.705 0.086 0.65
Koha provides multilingual support 4.40 0.554 0.068 0.11
Availability of the Z39.50 standard 4.25 0.846 0.104 0.81
Popularity of the Koha ILS among profession’s community 4.19 0.684 0.084 0.00
Easy installation process on the Linux operating system 3.93 0.857 0.105 0.60 Table II.
Reasons for koha
Notes: 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly agree adoption (N = 66)

Variables Mean SD SE Sig.

Lack of technical skills 3.89 0.994 0.122 0.15

Lack of knowledge about the Linux operating system 3.77 0.989 0.121 0.53
Shortage of skilled manpower 3.72 0.734 0.904 0.42
Need good internet access to provide optimum benefits 3.63 1.017 0.125 0.29
Approval from the organization 3.57 0.993 0.122 0.83
Complex procedure of data migration from legacy systems 3.56 0.978 0.120 0.74
Table III.
Shortage of finance for hardware requirement 3.54 0.947 0.116 0.26 Problems during the
implementation of
Notes: 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly agree Koha (N = 66)
EL The results of an independent sample t-test showed that the opinions of public and private
37,4 sector librarians were not statistically significant about the challenges during the
implementation of Koha. This is indicative of public and private sectors are both facing
almost the same problems in Koha ILS implementation in their libraries. Generally,
librarians in Pakistan have a poor background in IT and limited opportunities are available
for librarians to learn about Koha. Some professionals and associations are conducting
630 workshops on Koha but the majority of the librarians are unable to attend these workshops
due to a fee being charged for the workshops, busy duty hours, lack of permission and/or
financial support from their organizations. Therefore, they try to learn about Koha on the
job or at the time of implementation.

Performance of the Koha modules

The results in Table IV showed that three modules of Koha received a mean score > 4.00
while three got a mean < 4.00. The librarians’ highly rated modules included circulation
(mean = 4.21, SD = 0.774, SE = 0.095), OPAC (mean = 4.19, SD = 0.684, SE = 0.084),
cataloguing (mean = 4.09, SD = 0.695, SE = 0.085) and patron (mean = 3.92, SD = 0.686,
SE = 0.084). The modules of acquisition and serials received less mean as compared to the
other modules. This shows that librarians had concerns on the performance of both of these
modules. However, overall, they were satisfied with the performance of the modules. The
opinions of the public and private sector librarians were not statistically significant on
the performance of the Koha modules, which indicated that librarians of both sectors (public
and private) have almost the same opinion about the performance of the Koha modules.

Discussion
The core aim of this study was to record academic librarian perceptions about the adoption
and uses of Koha in Punjab, a province of Pakistan. Most Pakistani libraries are using
locally developed software. These software did not have the facilities of MARC 21, Web
OPAC, Z39.50 and compatibility with the Urdu language. Librarians are interested in using
the software, which has these standards to obtain maximum benefits for their libraries.
MARC 21 and Z39.50 help librarians to achieve easy and fast cataloguing. Web OPAC shifts
the workload from librarians, as users can see the status of their required library reading
materials while sitting at home or any other place. The biggest problem of the locally
developed software is compatibility with the Urdu language, as Pakistani libraries have
major collections in the Urdu language. On the other hand, a majority of Pakistani libraries
are not in a position to purchase commercial software due to limited budgets. Koha is
available without any fee and has all the abovementioned standards, therefore, Koha is most
popular among Pakistani LIS professionals and they are implementing it in their libraries.

Variables Mean SD SE Sig.

Circulation 4.21 0.774 0.095 0.10

OPAC 4.19 0.684 0.084 0.07
Cataloguing 4.09 0.695 0.085 0.11
Patron 3.92 0.686 0.084 0.96
Table IV. Acquisition 3.39 0.958 0.118 0.19
Performance of the Serials 3.25 0.864 0.106 0.61
koha modules
(N = 66) Notes: 1 = Poor; 2 = Average; 3 = Good; 4 = Very good; 5 = Excellent
The results are similar to Keast’s (2011) and Kumar and Jasimudeen’s (2012) studies that the Librarians’
reasons to convert to Koha were non-availability of library standards in proprietary legacy perceptions
systems and the free availability of Koha. Khan et al. (2016) also found that the Government
College University libraries in Lahore adopted Koha due to the availability of multilingual
about adoption
support in Koha.
Pakistani librarians encountered many problems during implementation, which included
a lack of technical skills, a lack of knowledge about the Linux operating system, a shortage
of skilled manpower, slow internet speeds, approval from the organization and complex
631
procedures of data migration from legacy systems. Librarians in Pakistan are facing these
problems because they have limited opportunities to learn about Koha. Although there are
some organizations and professionals conducting training workshops on Koha, mostly
librarians are unable to attend these workshops due to busy duty hours and payment of the
fee for these workshops. The duration of most workshops is two to three days, which is
insufficient to gain expertise in Koha. There is a need to conduct cost-free workshops and
seminars on Koha because few organizations in Pakistan allow their librarians neither to
attend workshops nor do they financially support attendance. Library schools should step
forward and train students about Koha during the Master’s degree programs and also send
their students for a subject practicum in those institutes where the latest technology, such as
Koha, has been implemented so that they can lessen the number of problems that they may
encounter later at the time of Koha implementation in their own libraries.
This study also explored how satisfied academic librarians were with the performance of
the cataloguing, circulation, patron and OPAC modules of Koha while indicating that they
had concerns about the acquisition and serials modules. Almost certainly the Koha
acquisition and serials modules need improvements but the use of both modules is very low
in Pakistani libraries. The librarians were nervous and hesitant to give information about
their library budgets on software. It was also observed that the resource person during
workshops only shortly discussed both of these modules. These trends should be overcome
so that Pakistani academic librarians grow more familiar with their library budgets and
increase necessary skills on these modules.

Conclusions and recommendations

The research has found that the main reasons for Koha adoption were the provision of a
Web OPAC, there’s free availability of Koha, Koha provides multilingual support and
Koha’s availability of both the MARC 21 and Z39.50 standards. The findings of the study
revealed that the major challenges during the implementation of Koha were a lack of
technical skills, a lack of knowledge about the Linux operating system, a shortage of skilled
manpower, slow internet speeds and approval from the organization. The results of the
study demonstrated that respondents were satisfied with the performance of Koha’s
modules in general but expressed that the acquisition and serials modules needed
improvements. The findings showed that Koha possessed all required functions/features
but academic librarians must increase their knowledge about the Linux operating system,
the installation process, data migration and use of Koha’s modules. The findings of this
study lead to the following recommendations:
 Pakistani libraries with inadequate library budgets should adopt Koha in their
libraries.
 Library professional associations should arrange workshops, seminars and short
courses on Koha on a regular basis and at the lowest fee possible, and should
encourage librarians to attend.
EL  The library and information science schools should include Koha as part of the
37,4 course outline of the Master’s level degree.
 The voluntaries should create online tutorials and pages on social media where
anyone may discuss their problems regarding Koha.
 Many librarians do not read the Koha manual. They should read the manual
carefully to use Koha most efficiently.
632  Regular users of Koha should upgrade to the newest version of Koha so that they
can benefit from the new features added by the Koha management team.
 Librarians should test the stability of the Koha version on a test machine before
final implementation.
 The librarians or the person handling the server should create back-ups every day
to avoid data loss.

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Corresponding author
Muhammad Asim can be contacted at: asim.mphillisdol@gmail.com
EL Appendix. Questionnaire
37,4

634
 Librarians’
perceptions
about adoption

635