Once the Koha software has been downloaded and installed, it is not ready to use. While a commercial ILS will generally be delivered to you ready to use, you will have spent many hours with the vendor describing your library, your data, your cataloging practices, etc., so that the vendor can configure the software and make it useful to you. (At least that is what should happen if all goes well.) In the case of Koha, there is often no vendor involved, so you should be prepared to configure Koha yourself. This can be a very long and involved process (so this chapter is by far the longest chapter in this book), but it is not technically difficult -- unless you want to do some sophisticated customizing!

When Koha is first delivered to the librarian(s), the technicians that have installed it will have set it up with two web addresses: one for accessing the Online Public Access catalogue (OPAC), and one for accessing what is generally called the "Intranet." The Intranet address is the one that will be used by the librarians to get to the Koha programs they will use to manage library circulation, cataloging, etc. Often the OPAC and the Intranet addresses are almost the same, the only difference being an additional ":8080" at the end of the Intranet address. So, for example, the OPAC address might be something like "http://www.mykoha.org," while the Intranet address will be "http://www.mykoha.org:8080."

Whatever the addresses may be, the first thing the librarian will do is open a web browser and type in the given web address for the Intranet. If everything is installed correctly, the librarian should see a screen inviting him/her to login to Koha.

Figure 1.1. Koha Intranet Login Screen

As with the web addresses for connecting to Koha, the librarian should have received the Koha administrator login name and password from whomever installed the software. If no other login name was chosen, "kohaadmin" is installed by default (but there is no default password, so you must get that from the person who performed the installation).

Once you have completed the login, you come to the main page of the Koha Intranet.

Figure 1.2. Koha Intranet Main Page

Although it is tempting to scroll down through the list of functions and start playing with Koha, please don't -- we have work to do! Before Koha is ready to use, you need to choose "Parameters" from the list of functions and tell Koha some important things about your library.

The Parameters page is one of the busiest pages in all of Koha, with a long list of system parameters that must be set before you can use Koha (followed by a list of tools). Some of them have been set in the process of installing the software, but can be changed now if necessary.

Figure 1.3. Top of the Koha Parameters Page

Don't let this list overwhelm you -- we will deal with each item individually and in some detail. The process of setting parameters will take some time, however, varying from a few hours to a few days, depending on how much time you will need to think about and organize your system data. Time spent in making wise decisions at this point will be amply rewarded in time saved later.

Despite the fact that the screen says, "Fill these tables in the order they appear," we are going to skip to the bottom of the list of parameters and start with "System preferences."