Nigeria
Koha Support and Library Automation in Nigeria
Koha installed, migrated, hosted and looked after online for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and schools across Nigeria: a catalogue that stays up when the light goes, records brought out of old software, and the reports your accreditation visit asks for.
What we hear
The problems libraries here bring us
“Our Koha server runs on the generator, and when the diesel runs out the catalogue goes down with it.”
“A vendor installed Koha, collected the money and has not answered the phone since.”
“Our records are still in X-Lib, Library Plus or WinISIS, and nobody knows how to get them out.”
“Accreditation is coming, and we have to show the library is automated and actually used.”
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.
No server to keep on the generator
With Koha Cloud the server, power, backups and upgrades are ours, so a power cut on campus no longer takes the catalogue down. Staff and students use it from any browser, including on a phone over mobile data, and it is light enough for a slow connection.
Out of X-Lib, Library Plus, WinISIS or Excel
We take what the old system can export, or its reports and your accession register, map it field by field to MARC21, load it into a test system and reconcile the counts with your staff before you switch. Books with an ISBN get full records downloaded instead of retyped.
Looked after, not installed and left
Upgrades, security patches and tested backups are ours, and support answers by email and video in your working hours. If you keep your own Koha in the ICT unit, we support it there, upgrade it and train the staff who run it.
Across the country
Set up the way Nigerian libraries work
| What | How we set it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Time zone | Africa/Lagos (UTC+1) | One zone for the whole country, with no clock change |
| Currency | Nigerian naira (NGN) | Fines, fees and purchases in naira |
| Languages | English screens; records in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and English | Tone marks and dotted letters (ẹ, ọ, ṣ) kept and searched |
| Power and internet | Hosted, light pages, works on mobile data | The catalogue stays up when campus power does not |
| Where you start | X-Lib, Library Plus, CDS/ISIS, WinISIS, Excel or an older Koha | Brought in and checked against your accession register |
| Call numbers | Library of Congress or Dewey | Spine labels and shelves stay the way your staff work |
| Records | MARC21, with Z39.50 copy cataloguing | Download records for most books instead of typing them |
| Reports | Circulation, daily use, collection, new acquisitions | Evidence for an accreditation visit, downloaded in minutes |
| Members | Students, staff and external readers, each with their own rules | Matriculation numbers can be the library card number |
| How we work | Online, in Nigerian working hours | Setup, training and support by video, from Lagos to Maiduguri |
Federal, state and private universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, schools and special libraries. Everything is delivered online.
Included
What we look after
Stays up in a power cut
Hosted Koha means no server on the generator and no diesel bill for the catalogue.
Out of old software
X-Lib, Library Plus, CDS/ISIS or Excel, mapped to MARC21 and checked.
Support that answers
Upgrades, patches and tested backups, with a team that replies in your working hours.
Reports for accreditation
Circulation, use and collection reports, ready for the visit.
Works on mobile data
Students search and see their loans from a phone, on a slow connection.
Your staff trained
Live online sessions for cataloguers, circulation staff and the systems librarian.
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 English, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa, 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 Nigeria?
Yes. Installation, migration, hosting, upgrades, staff training and support are all done online in Nigerian working hours, so it makes no difference which state your institution is in.
Will the catalogue work when there is no power on campus?
With Koha Cloud, yes: the server is ours, not in your building, so a power cut on campus does not take the catalogue down. Students and staff on a phone or a laptop with mobile data carry on using it. The desk computers still need power and internet to issue and return books.
Can you move our records from X-Lib, Library Plus or WinISIS?
Yes. We take what the old system can export, or its reports and your accession register, map it field by field to MARC21, load it into a test system and reconcile the counts with your staff before you switch. WinISIS and CDS/ISIS export ISO 2709 files, which map cleanly.
Can Koha give us reports for an accreditation visit?
Yes. Circulation, daily use, collection and new-acquisition reports download in minutes, and your online catalogue link shows the library is automated and in use.
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 staff 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 for universities
Does Koha scale to an academic library with several branches?
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.