ByWater Solutions is a privately owned and funded company founded in California[1] in March 2009 by CEO Brendan A. Gallagher and CRO Nathan A. Curulla,[2][3] which provides implementation, hosting, support, consultation, and development services for open source services including the Koha Integrated Library System.[4][5][6]

ByWater Solutions LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputer software
Founded2009
Headquarters,
USA
ProductsKoha (Support)
Websitewww.bywatersolutions.com

History

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After the founding of ByWater Solutions in 2009, Gallagher began contributing to the Koha community by way of small developmental fixes. ByWater signed their first contract in June 2009.[7][8] Since that time, ByWater has grown to a Koha dedicated staff of 25,[9] and supports over 1,100[10] library sites (including publics,[11] schools, academic,[12] small non profits[13] and special libraries[14][15]) within North America. Since its founding, ByWater has also partnered with other open source software companies worldwide to work on improving the Koha project both with documentation and developments.[16][17][18][19][20]

Origin of the company name

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ByWater Solutions is named after a village in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Bywater is a village which is situated in close proximity to the Shire, the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, who are the two main characters in the story. Bywater was known primarily for the Inn of the Green Dragon, a central meeting place for travelers and adventurers in the story. The Inn was a hub for the collaboration and exchange of news and ideas in the world of Middle Earth, and thus resembles the environment found in Koha and Open Source Software in general. Because of the company's primary dealings with libraries worldwide, the founders thought that it was important to incorporate a literary reference to the name of the company, and being lifelong childhood friends, this literary work has personal value to them both.[21]

Partnerships

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In March 2015, EBSCO Information Services and ByWater Solutions partnered together to allow libraries that use Koha ILS to easily integrate EBSCO Discovery Service.[22] Since then ByWater has expressed their commitment to support the FOLIO Library Services Platform project in partnership with Ebsco.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Starting a Company \PUBLISHER=ByWater Solutions". Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  2. ^ "ByWater Solutions Company Profile". LibraryTechnology.org. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  3. ^ "ByWater Solutions: About Us". ByWater Solutions. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  4. ^ Breeding, Marshall. "lib-web-cats". Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  5. ^ "Koha Paid Support". Koha. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  6. ^ Breeding, Marshall (April 1, 2011). "Automation Marketplace 2011: The New Frontier". Library Journal. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  7. ^ "ByWater Solutions Listed as an Official Koha Support Company". LibraryTechnology.org. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  8. ^ Rogers, Michael (April 28, 2009). "InfoTech Briefs: Credo, EBSCO, Serials Solutions". Library Journal. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  9. ^ "ByWater Solutions: About Us". ByWater Solutions. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  10. ^ "lib-web-cats". LibraryTechnology.org. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  11. ^ "America's First Public Koha Library Chooses ByWater Solutions". LISWire. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  12. ^ Wale, Carla P. (2011). "Cloudy with a Chance of Open Source: Open Source Integrated Library Systems and Cloud Computing in Academic Law Libraries". Legal Reference Services Quarterly. 30 (4): 310–331. doi:10.1080/0270319X.2011.626324. S2CID 59529064.
  13. ^ Rapp, David (1 August 2011). "Nonprofit Brings Open Source ILS to Libraries in Military Installations". Library Journal. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  14. ^ Morton-Owens, Emily G.; Karen L. Hanson; Ian Walls (2011). "Implementing Open-Source Software for Three Core Library Functions: A Stage-by- Stage Comparison". Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries. 8 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1080/15424065.2011.551486. S2CID 56518445.
  15. ^ Wale, Carla P. (2011). "Cloudy with a Chance of Open Source: Open Source Integrated Library Systems and Cloud Computing in Academic Law Libraries". Legal Reference Services Quarterly. 30 (4): 310–331. doi:10.1080/0270319X.2011.626324. S2CID 59529064.
  16. ^ Cormack, Chris (13 January 2010). "ByWater Solutions and BibLibre partner in US". Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  17. ^ Bowen Ayre, Lori. "More Breaking News! BibLibre to do Koha development for ByWater Solutions Customers". Open Source Open Libraries. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  18. ^ "ByWater Solutions and BibLibre Welcome Nicole C. Engard". LISWire. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  19. ^ "ByWater Solutions and software.coop Collaborating on Koha EDI Support". software.coop. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  20. ^ "Six Libraries Partner to Bring DOM Biblio Indexing to Koha". Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Our History". ByWater Solutions. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  22. ^ "ByWater Solutions | Discovery and ILS Interoperability | EBSCO". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  23. ^ "FOLIO Library Services Platform to Benefit from Services Agreement Between EBSCO Information Services and ByWater Solutions". EBSCO. Retrieved 2018-04-16.