Pat Eyler
Us old timers will remember Pat well, but the newer members of the community will not have had the opportunity to meet him. Pat was the first Koha Kaitiaki, and did a huge amount to promote Koha and to foster a strong community. Pat first became involved in Koha in April 2002, and became the 8th person to commit code to Koha. In May 2002 Pat was elected Kaitiaki, some of the neat things he did in that role were
- A monthly newsletter, which Nicole has now resurrected
- Wrote and had published a 3 page article on Koha for the linux journal, published both online and in print.
- Was first point of contact for press
- Wrote the first scripts to allow koha to create RSS feeds
- Hung out on irc answering hundreds of questions.
There is little doubt in my mind, that without Pat Koha would not have made such inroads in the US. I know that Pat spent quite a bit of time talking with Stephen Hedges when Athens County Public libraries were first looking at Koha.
Pat thank you for all the work you put in. We think of you often
Kōrerorero 
Is there still a Kaitiaki? How is this person chosen? Is their role explicitly outlined?
I realized I could probably dig and find the answers to these questions…
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HLT has been elected to represent the community, so the Koha sub committee of Horowhenua Library Trust is the current Kaitiaki, there were 2 before it. Pat, and Rachel, both elected in community meetings.
No the role is not explicitly outlined, as with every role, Release Manager, Documentation manager etc they serve at the mercy of the community.
It’s something some entities new to the FLOSS world don’t quite understand, you can’t control a GPL’d project with an iron fist, people will just fork and leave, You have to build consensus constantly, and that is a real strength.
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Thanks! I wonder if the non-Kiwi’s understand who/what a Kaitiaki is…
I love these profiles, and I admire and respect your community-mindedness.
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