After over sixteen years of using the Millennium library management system (LMS) from Innovative GMIT Libraries migrated to Koha, an open source library management system. The change came as quite a surprise to me, when the consortium went to tender, Sierra, Innovative’s big sister was in my vision; in essence an 'upgrade' to Millennium. Alas, this was not to be, in April 2017 Koha went live in GMIT's four Campus Libraries. It was the end of an era for Millennium, an era for me that felt like a life time. Millennium served its purpose well over the years, having all the key components of a respectable library management system, support from iii meant any problems were, in the most, quickly addressed. Mailing lists, forums, user groups, including the Irish innovative user group meant there was always somewhere to go for information and support. Can you become institutionalised to a LMS? I believe so. The idea of moving away from the very familiar to something totally new, totally different is never easy. Yes, Millennium had upgrades and enhancements regularly over the years but the functionality, usability and the familiar typically remained the same. Nevertheless, we were moving on, moving to the unknown. Koha had been in circulation for some time, it is widely used throughout the world, yes, I had heard of Koha but had never needed to use or evaluate it. In retrospect perhaps if I had not of been so sure that Sierra was moving in I may have investigated Koha in advance of the successful tender announcement. Alas, there is no looking back, Koha is here and we must welcome it with open arms... stay tuned for highlights and headaches!
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