ByWater Solutions explained

ByWater Solutions LLC
Type:	Private
Foundation:	2009
Location City:	Santa Barbara, CA New Haven, CT
Location Country:	USA
Industry:	Computer software
Products:	Koha (Support)
Homepage:	www.bywatersolutions.com

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]}

History

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

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

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]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Starting a Company \PUBLISHER=ByWater Solutions . 4 October 2021.
2. Web site: ByWater Solutions Company Profile . LibraryTechnology.org . 9 December 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111129093501/http://www.librarytechnology.org/bywater.pl . 29 November 2011 .
3. Web site: ByWater Solutions: About Us. ByWater Solutions. 9 December 2011.
4. Web site: Breeding. Marshall. lib-web-cats. 9 December 2011.
5. Web site: Koha Paid Support. Koha. 9 December 2011.
6. Breeding. Marshall. Automation Marketplace 2011: The New Frontier. Library Journal. April 1, 2011. 12 December 2011.
7. ByWater Solutions Listed as an Official Koha Support Company. LibraryTechnology.org. 17 April 2009 . 9 December 2011.
8. Web site: Rogers. Michael. InfoTech Briefs: Credo, EBSCO, Serials Solutions. Library Journal. 12 December 2011. April 28, 2009.
9. Web site: ByWater Solutions: About Us. ByWater Solutions. 9 December 2011.
10. Web site: lib-web-cats. LibraryTechnology.org. 9 December 2011.
11. Web site: America's First Public Koha Library Chooses ByWater Solutions. LISWire. 12 December 2011.
12. Wale. Carla P.. Cloudy with a Chance of Open Source: Open Source Integrated Library Systems and Cloud Computing in Academic Law Libraries. Legal Reference Services Quarterly. 2011. 30. 4. 310–331. 10.1080/0270319X.2011.626324. 59529064.
13. Web site: Rapp. David. Nonprofit Brings Open Source ILS to Libraries in Military Installations. Library Journal. 12 December 2011. 1 August 2011.
14. Morton-Owens. Emily G.. Karen L. Hanson . Ian Walls . Implementing Open-Source Software for Three Core Library Functions: A Stage-by- Stage Comparison. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries. 2011. 8. 1. 1–14. 10.1080/15424065.2011.551486. 56518445.
15. Wale. Carla P.. Cloudy with a Chance of Open Source: Open Source Integrated Library Systems and Cloud Computing in Academic Law Libraries. Legal Reference Services Quarterly. 2011. 30. 4. 310–331. 10.1080/0270319X.2011.626324. 59529064.
16. Web site: Cormack. Chris. ByWater Solutions and BibLibre partner in US. 13 January 2010. 12 December 2011.
17. Web site: Bowen Ayre . Lori . More Breaking News! BibLibre to do Koha development for ByWater Solutions Customers . Open Source Open Libraries . 12 December 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120426050329/http://opensource.califa.org/node/93 . 26 April 2012 .
18. Web site: ByWater Solutions and BibLibre Welcome Nicole C. Engard. LISWire. 12 December 2011.
19. Web site: ByWater Solutions and software.coop Collaborating on Koha EDI Support. software.coop. 12 December 2011.
20. Web site: Six Libraries Partner to Bring DOM Biblio Indexing to Koha. 27 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121016070045/http://bywatersolutions.com/2012/02/02/six-libraries-partner-to-bring-dom-biblio-indexing-to-koha/. 16 October 2012. dead.
21. Web site: Our History. ByWater Solutions. 25 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121014050719/http://bywatersolutions.com/about-us/history/. 14 October 2012. dead.
22. Web site: ByWater Solutions | Discovery and ILS Interoperability | EBSCO . 2015-04-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150403113411/https://www.ebsco.com/news-center/press-releases/ebscos-partnership-with-bywater-solutions-enables-interoperability . 2015-04-03 . dead .
23. News: FOLIO Library Services Platform to Benefit from Services Agreement Between EBSCO Information Services and ByWater Solutions. EBSCO. 2018-04-16.