Universities
A Library Management System for Universities
Koha for universities with a central library, faculty and department libraries and more than one campus: one catalogue, acquisitions against real budgets, journals, theses and self-check, hosted and upgraded by us so your IT team does not have to.
What we hear
The problems university libraries bring us
“Our central and faculty libraries each run their own catalogue, and students search four places.”
“Acquisitions are tracked in spreadsheets, and we never know what is left of each budget.”
“Our Koha is several versions behind because an upgrade means a weekend of downtime.”
“Theses and research papers sit in a separate system that nobody links to the catalogue.”
How we set it up
Set up for how a university library works
Whether we install a new Koha, migrate you onto one, host it, or support the Koha you already run.
One catalogue, every library
The central library, faculty and department libraries and every campus become branches of one catalogue, each with its own staff, opening hours and loan rules. Holds are sent between branches, and students search everything at once.
Acquisitions, journals and budgets
Each faculty gets its own fund, orders come from suggestions or vendor lists, and invoices are received against them, so what is left of a budget is always known. Journal subscriptions predict the next issue and flag the ones that do not arrive.
Theses, research and self-service
Theses and research outputs go in Koha Cloud’s institutional repository, or your DSpace or EPrints is harvested into catalogue search. Course reserves, SIP2 self-check and RFID gates are set up and tested before go-live.
What you get
Everything a university library needs
| What | How it works | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Libraries | Central, faculty, department and campus libraries as branches | One search for the whole university |
| Patrons | Students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors, each with their own rules | A professor and a first-year borrow differently |
| Acquisitions | Funds per faculty, orders, invoices | Budgets you can see, all year |
| Journals | Subscriptions, predicted issues and claims | Missing issues chased before the year ends |
| Course reserves | Per course, on short loan | The reading list books stay available |
| Theses and research | Our repository, or DSpace and EPrints harvested | Research found in the same search as books |
| Self-check and RFID | SIP2 | Your kiosks and gates keep working |
| Copy cataloguing | MARC21 over Z39.50 | New books catalogued in minutes |
| Interlibrary loans | Between your libraries and with partner libraries | Readers get books you do not own |
| Upgrades | Done by us on Koha Cloud | No weekend lost, no version left behind |
| Reports | Use, collection and acquisitions spend | Numbers for the library committee and accreditation |
Public and private universities, institutes and multi-campus colleges. Already running Koha? We support and upgrade the one you have too.
Included
What we look after
Every library, one catalogue
Central, faculty and campus libraries searched together.
Budgets you can see
Funds per faculty, with orders and invoices against them.
Repository in search
Theses and research found next to the books.
SIP2 and RFID
Self-check kiosks and gates connected and tested.
Upgrades done for you
Patches, upgrades and tested backups on Koha Cloud.
Multilingual collections
Records in any script, searched as readers type them.
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, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, French or Spanish, 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 universities ask us
Can our central and faculty libraries share one catalogue?
Yes. Each library becomes a branch with its own staff, opening hours, loan rules and collections, and students search all of them at once. Holds can be sent between branches, and each library still sees only its own desk work.
Can theses and research papers appear in catalogue search?
Yes. They can go into Koha Cloud’s own institutional repository, or a DSpace or EPrints repository you already run is harvested into catalogue search, so a reader finds a thesis next to the books on the same subject.
We already run Koha. Can you upgrade and support it?
Yes. We upgrade a copy first, check it with your staff, and only then upgrade the live system. Or move to Koha Cloud, where upgrades, patches and tested backups are ours.
How is it priced?
A university is usually larger than Koha Cloud's published Basic plan, so you get a written quote based on your libraries, items and patrons. Migration, training and support for a Koha you run yourself are quoted too.
Related reading
Background reading
Koha for universities
Does Koha scale to an academic library? An honest look.
Read the guideKoha union catalogs
One search across a group of libraries.
Read the guideKoha SIP2 integration
Self-check and RFID with Koha.
Read the guideKoha in your region
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.