KohaCon25 Programme
Te Hokinga Mai | Coming Home: Celebrating 25 Years of Koha
17-23 November 2025, Te Whanganui-a-Tara | Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
Conference Days: 17-19 November 2025
Day 1: Monday, 17 November 2025
Te Tīmatanga | The Beginning
08:00 - 09:00 | Registration
09:00 - 10:30 | Pōwhiri at Te Herenga Waka marae Traditional welcome ceremony including morning tea
10:30 - 11:30 | Opening Keynote: Creating Ethical and Indigenous AI Peter-Lucas Jones
11:30 - 12:15 | Empowering Future Information Professionals: A Case Study on Using Koha in University Information Management Programs Catherine Barnes, University of South Australia
12:15 - 12:45 | ‘Those who build the house, are also built by the house.’ Koha, community, and how to amplify our contributions in the open source ecosystem Craig Murdoch & Alex Buckley, Auckland University of Technology & Catalyst IT
12:45 - 13:45 | Lunch Break
13:45 - 14:30 | Bridging the Development Gap Lisette Scheer & Jason Robb, ByWater Solutions & South East Kansas Library System (SEKLS)
14:30 - 15:00 | From catalogues to community - the journey of Koha in Germany Katrin Fischer, Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg (BSZ)
15:00 - 15:30 | Whaowhia te kete mātauranga (fill the basket of knowledge) Wainui Witika-Park, Catalyst IT
15:30 - 16:00 | Afternoon Tea Break
16:00 - 17:00 | In Data We Trust, In Analysis We Thrive: A Summary of BWS Support Tickets from 2024 Lisette Scheer, ByWater Solutions
17:00 - 17:30 | From Legacy to Automation: Transforming a Brownfield into the Future Ryan Henderson, Open Fifth
Day 2: Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Te Tupuranga | Growth and Development
09:00 - 09:15 | Morning Welcome
09:15 - 10:00 | Keynote: An Introduction to Ngā Upoko Tukutuku Dale Cousens
10:00 - 10:20 | VuFind: One organisation, one system, many uses! Alex Buckley & Craig Murdoch, Catalyst IT & Auckland University of Technology
10:20 - 10:50 | Morning Tea Break
10:50 - 11:20 | Store Bibliographic Data in SQL Tables Mark Hofstetter, HKS3
11:20 - 11:45 | Walk the talk: Putting our values into action and finding new ways of working Matthew Banks, Auckland University of Technology
11:45 - 12:05 | Presenting digital assets provided by a IIIF server in Koha Mark Hofstetter, HKS3
12:05 - 13:05 | Lunch Break
13:05 - 13:20 | Success with Koha Acquisitions: problem solving, flexibility and the benefits of open source collaboration Judith Gust, Auckland University of Technology
13:20 - 14:05 | Koha quiz
14:05 - 14:35 | Dispatches from KOhio: CCPL’s first two years in the Koha community Kristi Krueger, Cuyahoga County Public Library
14:35 - 15:05 | What I’ve learned from testing bugs David Nind
15:05 - 15:35 | Afternoon Tea Break
15:35 - 16:05 | Lightning Talks: Talks from the Koha community Sign up here
16:05 - 16:45 | Koha and France: success story Laurence Rault, Matthias Meusburger, Paul Poulain, BibLibre
16:45 - 17:15 | Delete your Koha data! (safely) Aude Charillon, Open Fifth
Day 3: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Te Tirohanga Whakamua | Looking Forward
09:00 - 09:15 | Morning Welcome
09:15 - 10:15 | Keynote: Digital Sovereignty and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Kirikowhai Mikaere
10:15 - 10:45 | Contributing to Koha’s documentation David Nind
10:45 - 11:15 | Morning Tea Break
11:15 - 11:45 | Implementing bibframe in Koha Laurence Rault, Matthias Meusburger, Paul Poulain, BibLibre
11:45 - 12:25 | Building for the next 25 years Andrew Auld and Jonathan Field, Open Fifth
12:25 - 13:25 | Lunch Break
13:25 - 13:45 | Foundations for the Future Andrew Auld and Brendan Gallagher, Open Fifth and Bywater Solutions
13:45 - 14:30 | Maximizing Efficiency and Streamlining Workflows with Koha Acquisitions 2.0 Jonathan Field & Jessica Zairo, Open Fifth and ByWater Solutions
14:30 - 15:00 | A story shared, a future shared: Weaving Palestinian stories into NZ libraries Simon Christiansen & Meena Al-Emleh, Wellington City Libraries
15:00 - 15:30 | Afternoon Tea Break
15:30 - 16:00 | Perspectives on technology from libraries in Aotearoa Kathryn Tyree, Catalyst IT
16:00 - 16:30 | 25 Years of Koha: Celebrating Our Community Retrospective presentation and testimonials
16:30 - 17:30 | Conference Closing and Poroporoaki Formal closing of the conference days and farewell
18:30 - 20:30 | Closing reception and awards
Cultural Day: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Te Ahurea | Culture and Connection
Explore Wellington’s creative scene, libraries, and natural beauty with morning activities, afternoon adventures, and an evening cricket & BBQ at the beach!
View full Cultural Day programme and details →
Activities Include:
- Morning: Choose between Wētā Cave Tour or Te Papa & Wellington City Libraries Tour
- Midday: Craft beer crawl through Wellington’s best breweries
- Afternoon: Choose your own adventure (Zealandia, Cable Car, Mount Victoria, and more)
- Evening: Community cricket and barbecue in Eastbourne
Sign up for Cultural Day events →
Working Together Days: 21-23 November 2025
Day 4: Friday, 21 November 2025
Ngā Mahi Tahi | Working Together - Hackfest Day 1
Venue: Level 7, Catalyst House, 150 Willis Street
09:00 - 09:30 | Welcome and Introduction to Working Together Days
09:30 - 10:30 | Bugs for Beginners Workshop led by Katrin Fischer, Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg (BSZ)
10:30 - 11:00 | Morning Tea Break
11:00 - 12:30 | Uniting Forces: Combining the Strength of Developers and Educators Workshop led by Jessica Zairo, Nick Clemens, Lisette Scheer, ByWater Solutions
12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch Break
13:30 - 15:00 | Implementing bibframe in Koha Workshop led by Laurence Rault, Matthias Meusburger, Paul Poulain, BibLibre
15:00 - 15:30 | Afternoon Tea Break
15:30 - 17:00 | Community Tools Workshop Exploring tools and workflows for community collaboration
16:00 | Special BoC (Beverage O’Clock) Catalyst’s Friday tradition, special for KohaCon25
18:00 | BYO Dinner at Great India Bring wine from your region, or enjoy bottles provided for the table
20:00 | Karaoke Night
Late | After-party at Loosie’s Kitchen
Day 5: Saturday, 22 November 2025
Mahi Auaha | Creative Work
09:00 - 09:15 | Morning Welcome
09:15 - 10:30 | User Experience Design Sprint Collaborative workshop on improving Koha’s interface
10:30 - 11:00 | Morning Tea Break
11:00 - 12:30 | Translation and Internationalization Workshop Supporting Koha’s global community
12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch Break
13:30 - 15:00 | Editing the manual Workshop led by David Nind
15:00 - 15:30 | Afternoon Tea Break
15:30 - 17:00 | Plugin Development Workshop Creating and sharing Koha plugins
18:00 - 20:00 | Informal Social Gathering Location to be announced
Day 6: Sunday, 23 November 2025
Te Mutunga | Conclusion and Future Plans
09:00 - 09:15 | Morning Welcome
09:15 - 10:30 | Community Roadmap Workshop Planning Koha’s future development priorities
10:30 - 11:00 | Morning Tea Break
11:00 - 12:00 | Accessibility Workshop Making Koha more accessible for all users
12:00 - 13:00 | Lunch Break
13:00 - 14:30 | Project Presentations Sharing outcomes from Working Together Days
14:30 - 15:00 | Afternoon Tea Break
15:00 - 16:00 | Looking Forward: Koha Community Initiatives Planning for ongoing collaboration
16:00 - 16:30 | Poroporoaki | Farewell Ceremony Farewell and closing of KohaCon25
Notes
- The conference talks will be held at the main conference venue MCLT103 Lecture Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Campus.
- Working together sessions will be held at Catalyst house, 150 Willis Street, Wellington
- Presentations will be live-streamed for global participation.
- Morning and afternoon tea will be provided daily.
- Lunch will be provided during the 3 conference days
- The programme is subject to change based on speaker availability and organisational requirements.
Special Events
- Wednesday Evening: Closing Reception and Awards - Celebrating the conclusion of the conference days (18:30-20:30)
- Thursday: Cultural Day - Choose from Wētā Cave tours, library visits, craft crawl, and evening cricket & BBQ in Eastbourne
- Saturday Evening: Informal Social Gathering - Relaxed networking opportunity
Acknowledgements
KohaCon25 is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors:
- Pounamu Sponsors: ByWater Solutions, Catalyst IT, Biteca, Open Fifth
- Tūhua Sponsors: Auckland University of Technology (AUT), LMSCloud
- Pāua Sponsors: Bob and Irma Birchall
Submissions Overview
The KohaCon25 programme includes 28 submissions from presenters around the world:
- 24 Conference Talks (17-19 November)
- 4 Workshop Sessions (21-23 November)
- Presentation lengths ranging from 15 to 60 minutes
Nau mai, haere mai ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara, ki Aotearoa | Welcome to Wellington, New Zealand