Philippines
Koha and Library Automation in the Philippines
Koha installed, migrated, hosted and supported online for schools, colleges and universities across the Philippines: one catalog for campuses on different islands, in English and Filipino, with an OPAC that carries your school’s own look.
What we hear
The problems libraries here bring us
“Our records are in an old system that will not export them, so we are afraid to switch.”
“A brownout or a typhoon takes our library server down, and the catalog with it.”
“Our campuses are on different islands, and each one keeps its own separate catalog.”
“Our Koha OPAC still looks like the default, and students hardly use 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.
English and Filipino, side by side
Koha has a Filipino translation next to English for staff and patron screens. Titles in Filipino, Cebuano, Ilocano or any other Philippine language are catalogued in Unicode and found the way readers type them, ñ included.
Out of the old system, records checked
Where the old software cannot export MARC, 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. Books that exist only on cards can be encoded by our team.
One catalog for every campus
Each campus is a branch with its own shelves, staff and loan rules, and students search all of them at once. Because the catalog is hosted, a brownout on one campus does not take it down, and staff and students use it on mobile data.
Across the country
Set up the way Philippine libraries work
| What | How we set it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Time zone | Asia/Manila (UTC+8) | One zone for the whole country, with no clock change |
| Currency | Philippine peso (PHP) | Fines, fees and purchases in pesos |
| Languages | English and Filipino screens; records in any Philippine language | Readers search in the language the book is in |
| Campuses | A branch per campus, one catalog | Students on one island find the books on another |
| Call numbers | Dewey (DDC) or Library of Congress | Spine labels and shelves stay the way your staff work |
| Records | MARC21, with Z39.50 copy cataloging | Download records for most books instead of encoding them |
| Where you start | Old software, Excel, a shelf list or cards | Brought in and checked against your accession register |
| Reports | Circulation, daily use, collection and new acquisitions | Evidence for an accreditation visit, downloaded in minutes |
| OPAC | Your school’s colours, logo and links | A catalog students recognise as yours, on any phone |
| How we work | Online, scheduled in your time zone | Setup, training and support by video, on any island |
Schools, colleges, universities, public and special libraries. Everything is delivered online.
Included
What we look after
Every campus, one catalog
Branches on different islands, searched together.
Records brought across
From old software, Excel or cards, checked before you switch.
English and Filipino
Both interfaces, and records in every Philippine language.
Works on mobile data
Staff and students use it from a phone, even when the campus is down.
Backups you keep
Automated backups, plus a full copy of your data you can download any time.
Reports for accreditation
Circulation, use and collection reports, ready for the visit.
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, Filipino or Cebuano, 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 support libraries in the Philippines?
Yes. Installation, migration, hosting, staff training and support are all done online and scheduled in Philippine time, so it makes no difference which island your library is on.
Our old library software will not export our records. Can we still move?
Yes. We take whatever it can produce (reports, a shelf list, a spreadsheet) together with your accession register, rebuild the records as MARC21, and reconcile the counts with your staff before you switch. Books that exist only on catalog cards can be encoded by our team, and most books with an ISBN are downloaded over Z39.50 instead of typed.
Can our OPAC look like our school website?
Yes. Your logo, colours, links and opening hours go on the catalog, and on Koha Cloud you choose from several catalog designs, so students recognise it as yours. It works on any phone.
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 campuses?
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.