An evaluation of implementing Koha in a Chinese language environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate issues of different scripts in the same record (in MARC21 and Chinese machine-readable cataloguing (CMARC)) and Chinese internal codes (i.e. double-byte character set) when implementing Koha. It also discusses successful efforts in promoting the adoption of Koha in Taiwan, particularly the contributions from Koha-Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach – A Koha CMARC/MARC21 testbed was set up to discuss issues of multi-scripts and Chinese internal codes when implementing Koha, and to determine to what extent the various features of CMARC, which are not present in MARC21, such as linking fields, can be supported in Koha and what is required to implement them if they are not available.
Findings – In contrast to western characters, Chinese internal codes cause extra work, as special programming for character conversion is required when working with Koha. This situation is commonly seen in Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea. This paper recommends implementing CMARC, MARC21 or even any other type of MARC format in Koha with strong commercial-level support.
Practical implications – Koha-Taiwan serves Koha Chinese users around the world. A successful Koha-Taiwan could be a model around the world.
Originality/value – In recent years, the concept of implementing an open-source library management system has been coming to the fore. In Taiwan, the local-based commercial library system covers more than one quarter of the library system market in academic libraries because the company provides better tailor-made support, mainly in scripts and multiple internal codes, than do western-based commercial library systems. Evaluations and conclusions from this paper will be useful to countries where multi-scripts and double-byte character sets are issues.

Financial support for this research from the National Science Council, Taiwan, under the grant NSC 96-2413-H-036-001 and from Tatung University, Taiwan, under the grant B98-W03-084 is gratefully acknowledged. Editor's note – an earlier version of part of this paper was presented by Naicheng Chang and Yuchin Tsai at the World Library and Information Congress in Milan, Italy in August 2009.