Top 10: Free Library Management Software

2023. Koha enhanced the Acquisitions module



Free library management software Koha has updated the Acquisitions module that provides a way for the library to record orders placed with vendors and manage purchase budgets. The latest version introduces a modification to the order receive page, allowing users to select and process multiple orders simultaneously. This eliminates the need to reload the page or search for orders again after editing each one. A convenient 'Confirm' button is now available to receive all selected orders at once. This improvement paves the way for additional enhancements, such as implementing default actions on all selected orders. Furthermore, the new version introduces additional fields for order lines in the acquisition module. These fields provide the option to include user-defined information, which can be entered as free text or selected from predetermined lists of authorized values. It is also possible to extract information from the MARC record or create and edit a field within the MARC record.


2023. Judges grant OPALS the 2023 MLA Platinum Award



OPALS has once again achieved the prestigious Platinum Award, a testament to our unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service and product excellence. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the librarians who have shown us their respect and appreciation. The 2023 Modern Library Awards (MLAs) have released their review scores from participating companies in a special supplement to Library Products & Services News. The MLAs are an impartial program that recognizes outstanding products and services catering to the library industry. Companies submitted concise descriptions of their offerings for review. These were then shared with LibraryWorks readers, comprising librarians from public, academic, K-12, and special libraries, who provided their assessments on a 1-10 scoring system. The judges had hands-on experience with the products or services, and companies needed to provide four library references to qualify for submission. It is important to note that the LibraryWorks staff played no role in determining the scores.

2022. Koha adds Electronic resource management



The new version of open-source library management software Koha has added Electronic resource management (ERM) module. This new module adds a mechanism to track the selection, acquisition, licensing, access, maintenance, usage, evaluation, retention, and de-selection of a library’s electronic information resources. These resources include, but are not limited to, electronic journals, electronic books, streaming media, databases, datasets, CD-ROMs, and computer software. Also the new version adds option to require 2FA setup on first staff login, allows storing item values as a template for creating new items, adds ability to create bundles of items for circulation, adds the ability to create ‘saved searches’ for use as filters when searching the catalog.


2022. Evergreen improves interface and notifications



Open-source library management software Evergreen has released the new versio 3.10. This major feature release introduces several notable enhancements, including further Angularization of the acquisitions interfaces, the addition of support for the EDI DESADV message for advance shipment notices, integration with the Bing Maps API for geographic sorting, improved formatting of outgoing emails as HTML, the capability to use Evergreen as an identity provider for OpenAthens, compatibility with Ubuntu 22.04, the introduction of a new experimental Angular interface for circulation and patron management, and the Angularization of various other staff interfaces.