India
Koha Support and Library Automation in India
Koha installed, migrated, hosted and looked after online for school, college and university libraries across India: from SOUL, LibSys, e-Granthalaya or an accession register, in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and the other languages you catalogue in.
What we hear
The problems libraries here bring us
“Koha was installed once on a desktop in the library, and when that PC failed we found there was no backup.”
“Our records are stuck in SOUL, LibSys or e-Granthalaya, and the export does not give us clean MARC.”
“Our Hindi titles were typed years ago in an old font, and in a new system they show as gibberish.”
“Power cuts and patchy internet keep taking our library server down, and nobody on campus can fix it.”
How we set it up
Configured for where your library is
Whether we install a new Koha, migrate you onto one, host it, or support the Koha you already run.
Indian languages, in Unicode
Koha’s translations include Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Assamese and Urdu, next to English. Titles typed in old non-Unicode Hindi fonts are found and converted to Unicode before import, so they display, sort and search correctly; anything we cannot convert is listed for your staff.
Out of SOUL, LibSys, e-Granthalaya or Excel
Where the old software will not export clean MARC, we take its reports and registers, rebuild them as MARC21 records with your accession numbers as barcodes, and reconcile the counts with your staff before you switch. Patrons and open loans come across too.
Looked after, not installed and left
With Koha Cloud there is no server on campus to lose power: backups, security patches and upgrades are ours, and staff work from any browser, including on a phone over mobile data. If you keep your own Koha, we support it and set up backups that are tested by restoring them.
Across the country
Set up the way libraries in India work
| What | How we set it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Time zone | Asia/Kolkata (UTC+5:30) | A half-hour offset is where a server on the wrong clock puts due dates a day out |
| Currency | Indian rupee (INR) | Fines, membership fees and purchases in rupees |
| Languages | English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Assamese, Urdu | Staff and patron screens in the languages your readers use |
| Printing on Koha Cloud | Devanagari, Bengali and Assamese, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Urdu | Slips and spine labels print the script, not empty boxes; other scripts are tested before go-live |
| Old Hindi fonts | Converted to Unicode during migration | Records typed in a legacy font become searchable text |
| Call numbers | Dewey (DDC), or your Colon Classification numbers kept as written | Shelves and spine labels stay the way your staff already work |
| Where you start | SOUL, LibSys, e-Granthalaya, NewGenLib, Excel or a register | We bring in what you have, checked against your accession register |
| Reports | Issue and return, daily use, accessions and new arrivals | Downloadable evidence for an accreditation or inspection file |
| How we work | Online, in Indian working hours | Setup, training and support by video, wherever the campus is |
Schools, colleges, universities, public and special libraries. Everything is delivered online.
Included
What we look after
Backups that restore
Automated backups, plus a full copy of your data you can download any time. No single PC to lose.
Out of old software
SOUL, LibSys, e-Granthalaya, Excel or a register, brought in and reconciled.
Hindi and more
Legacy-font Hindi converted to Unicode; Tamil, Bengali and others catalogued in script.
Scripts that print
Devanagari, Bengali, Gurmukhi and Tamil on slips and labels on Koha Cloud.
Reports for your file
Circulation, usage and accession reports to download for an accreditation visit.
Works on a phone
Staff and students use the catalogue from a phone browser, even on mobile data.
More in Koha Cloud, not in standard Koha
Tamper-evident records
Every book’s movements and every fine, payment and waiver in an append-only history. Any change is detected and flagged.
Audit-ready recordsGate register and footfall
Members and walk-ins check in and out; time spent, peak hours and daily trends are reported.
Visitor managementMembership plans
As many paid plans as you sell, with freezes, grace days, study-only passes and renewals.
Membership plansPartner-library loans
Lend to and borrow collections from libraries outside the system, with agreements, deposits and due dates tracked.
How partner loans are trackedAI built into Koha Cloud
Advanced library automation, with an AI assistant for your staff and readers
Koha Cloud is more than hosting. On any plan, your library can add an AI assistant inside the librarian panel that catalogues, audits and reports alongside your staff. Write to it in Hindi, English, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu or Marathi, and it answers in the same language. It proposes; a librarian approves every change.
Copy cataloguing from every source
Give it an ISBN or a title. It searches your own Z39.50 and SRU servers in the order you rank them, then Google Books and Open Library, and brings back the 10 best matches, each labelled with its source. You pick one; the record is drafted for you to confirm.
DDC numbers and author marks
Suggests a Dewey number and a Cutter-style author mark worked out from cataloguing rules and your library’s own convention, for one book or every record missing one. A librarian approves each change.
Catalogue health score
40 checks rolled into one score out of 100: missing marks, invalid ISBNs, likely duplicates, records with no copies. It ranks the worst problems first, tracks the score over time, and fixes them in reviewed batches.
Stock audits and registers
Accession register, stocktake summary, missing items, item history, holdings as of any date and reconciliation, asked for in a sentence instead of built as a report.
Reports on request
Most-borrowed titles, dormant stock, overdues, fines, branch comparisons: 28 ready reports, asked as a question and saved for next time.
Patrons search in plain words
On your public catalogue a reader can type “books on climate change in Urdu published after 2015” or “Agatha Christie novels on the shelf right now”, and the AI turns it into a catalogue search with the right filters.
The same assistant also runs the circulation desk, acquisitions, patron registration, labels and your library's public website by chat, within each staff member's own permissions.
Koha Cloud pricing
Hosted Koha from $30 a month
Or $300 a year, saving $60. Up to 5,000 titles and 10,000 copies, 5 staff and 1,000 patrons, with hosting, a subdomain, data migration, the public catalog, cataloguing, circulation, acquisitions, administration and training. The same price in every country; larger libraries get a tailored quote.
Not ready to change your library system? Put just your catalogue online from $10 a month, from your spreadsheet, SLiMS export or register.
Already running Koha?
We support and fix the Koha you have, on your own server, and train your team in live sessions.
Koha supportMoving to Koha?
From another library system or a spreadsheet, validated and reconciled before go-live.
Koha data migrationYour team needs training?
Private live sessions for your staff on your own Koha, in your working hours.
Koha staff trainingFAQ
What libraries in the country ask us
Do you provide Koha support in India?
Yes. Installation, data migration, hosting, staff training and ongoing support are all done online, in Indian working hours, so it makes no difference which state or town your library is in.
Can you move our data from SOUL, LibSys or e-Granthalaya to Koha?
Yes. Where the old software exports MARC, we clean and import it. Where it does not, we take its reports and your accession register, rebuild them as MARC21 records with your accession numbers as barcodes, and reconcile the counts with your staff before you switch. Patrons and open loans come across too, with a list of anything that needs a person to decide.
Our Hindi records were typed in Kruti Dev or another old font. Can they be fixed?
Yes. Text typed in a legacy Hindi font is stored as Latin letters that only look like Devanagari in that one font, which is why it shows as gibberish anywhere else. During migration we convert it to Unicode, so titles and authors display, sort and search correctly, and we list any record we could not convert for your staff to check.
Can Koha run on Windows?
Koha itself runs on Linux, not on Windows, which is why many libraries end up with a fragile install on a spare PC. With Koha Cloud nothing is installed at all: staff and students use it from any browser on Windows, a Mac or a phone, and the server, backups and upgrades are ours.
Can Koha give us reports for an accreditation visit?
Yes. Issue and return records, daily use, accessions, new arrivals and overdue lists come out as reports you can download and attach to an accreditation or inspection file, and your public catalogue link shows the library is online.
How is it priced?
Koha Cloud's Basic plan has a published price in US dollars, the same in every country, with the first three months free and training included. Installation on your own server, data migration and support are quoted.
Related reading
Background reading
Koha data migration
Moving your records out of an old system or a spreadsheet.
Read the guideKoha and MARC21
Fields and frameworks, including vernacular script.
Read the guideKoha backup and restore
A backup that actually restores, and how to prove yours does.
Read the guideOther regions
By type of library
Our services
Get a quote
Talk to us about your library
Tell us where you are and what you run today. We reply in your working hours.