My first book has been published! While the book is called Library Mashups, there are several open source examples I want to point out.
Learn more about the book on the official book site.
David Schuster has been working hard to get the videos from KohaCon up on the Internet Archive site. For now you can see two videos there:
MySQL with Joe Atzberger and Using MarcEdit with Koha - David Schuster.
Keep an eye out for more down the road.
Technorati Tags: kohacon09
I received this message today about a series of 6 case studies of libraries making the switch to open source systems:
For the past year, 6 libraries from Malawi to Nepal have been learning a great deal about free and open source software (FOSS) integrated library systems (ILS). Case studies of their investigations, successes, and learning points are now available. The participating pilot sites in this project range from the relatively small (50,000 to 70,000 volumes) to the very large (more than 4 million volumes). They also stretch from libraries with a single systems librarian to libraries with an entire IT team. This project was not merely about installing and using a FOSS ILS; it was about learning to engage with FOSS development and support communities. It’s all about participation. We are delighted to report that the technical leads from each pilot site (and the teams they managed, where those existed) have taken engagement seriously. So much so that eIFL.net libraries are now regular contributors to the Koha http://www.koha.org/ and Evergreen http://www.open-ils.org/ ILS development and support communities. With the publication of these case studies we hope many more libraries within the eIFL.net community will take up the challenges and opportunities that come with FOSS in libraries.
This is a project that somehow stayed out of my radar, but I’m very happy to hear about it now and get to explore the 6 case studies.
I vaguely remember seeing mention of Firefox adding collections a while back, but I didn’t pay it much notice. Today I was doing my research on Firefox and saw what a collection really is!
Firefox collections are lists of add-ons put together by Firefox users! I did a search for library to see what librarians were recommending as Firefox add-ons and found a bunch I hadn’t heard of before. What a great way for us to share our knowledge with each other!
A few collections that I took note of were:
Don’t see a collection that meets your needs? Add one!! I love open source 
Found via Library Web Chic:
Packt Publishing which publishes some wonderful books on open source software. In addition, the sponsor awards for open source CMSs. Nominations are now for their open source CMS awards. There are several different categories in which CMSs can be nominated. For more information check out the award page on Packt’s website.
We have until September 11, 2009 to place our votes for our favorite CMS.
This is pretty awesome:
After weeks of controversy concerning a possible closure of the service, URL shortener Tr.im just announced that it’s open sourcing its code, handing ownership of its domain name over to a community nonprofit organization and making clickthrough data freely available from now on, in real time.
I wonder if this will make Tr.im more or less appealing than TinyURL and bit.ly.
I just read this post by Thomas Brevik and I have to say I have never thought of sending a resignation letter to a vendor But I love the image!!
Today I sent the resignation letter to our current ILS-vendor. The point of NO return has passed:-)
It promted another round of “OMG why am I doing this?” It is in many ways a leap of faith. We are the first library in Norway to switch to Koha, the translation is still not completely done and who knows what bugs and surprises we will get when we go live sometime in October. This would of course be true independent of the system we switch to, commercial or open source. The important thing for me, who initiatet the whole thing, is that with Koha we are looking forward, we will get more features than our current ILS can deliver or develop in the forseeable future, and we introduce the concept of open source into the norwegian library systems marketplace.
So this is my call to you to resign from your current ILS and give Open Source a shot!!
Okay, so I’ve never used the products that William Shields mentions in his blog post, but the theme still applies. One of the biggest worries about open source is the lack of documentation. I attended a conference last year where one of the attendees asked the speaker about documentation and open source - her concern was that there wasn’t enough documentation for many of the products she wanted to use. Of course I had to follow up after her and say that Koha has amazing documentation (no - I’m not saying that cause I wrote the manual - there are actually a lot of docs that I didn’t write for Koha as well). Anyway, William Shields expresses his frustration with lack of documentation on open source products:
RTFS
This one is predictable. Some will argue that the source code is sufficient documentation. Bollocks to that. While at some point it is inevitable you will end up reading or stepping through the source code of any framework or library you use for any non-trivial purpose, the fact that you have the source code is no substitute for high-level documentation that describes the overall architecture and design principles as well as how to get started and how to do common tasks.
DIY
Another popular defence of poor OSS practices is you can get involved and do it yourself. While theoretically true it is typically completely impractical. For one thing, before you can document something you have to know it. How do you learn it without reading the (non-existent) documentation?
I’m with him on this - it’s bollocks! Not everyone using open source is a programmer - some are just average folks and they need documentation - documentation written in English (or their native language) not programmerese. For that reason, I try to only recommend products that have readable documentation
My husband thinks I’m nuts because I love keeping catalogs of our books, movies, music, etc etc. I use LibraryThing for my books - and love it to bits, but if you want to catalog your other collections you might want to try out some of these open source applications that I found on OStatic:
Learn more here.
What’s your full name (middle name too)?
Maria Elena Laude
What is your official Job Title?
Application Support Librarian
Did you (or do you) have a nickname?
Not that I can share in public.
What’s your favorite color?
Blue
What’s your favorite food or meal?
Sushi - The Tampa Roll
What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?
CHOICE.
Are you a dog or a cat person?
Big Dog, definitely.
Do you have any pets?
I’m on the road too much to have any pets that would still be around when I get home!
Why did you want to work with LibLime?
Because of Marc Roberson :-) But seriously, because the company is doing exciting things with technology and has broken out of the mold (and moldiness!) of big “Corporate America”.
What did you know about open source before taking on this job?
Not much. But I sat next to and had a delightful conversation with Eric Raymond last year!
What have you learned since taking the job?
I have learned how to use a Mac for the first time in my life. And I’m learning that open source requires some patience and acceptance of how dynamic development can be, and that sometimes you have to be a little flexible.
What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?
New developments should be supported for both Firefox and IE. There are just too many libraries out there using IE to ignore it.
If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?
I would like to get more resources devoted to Koha. The possibilities are endless if the resources were available. The software is great now, but imagine all the little tweaks and enhancements we could build into Koha if more money and people were available for development. We would put all those “other vendors” right out of business.
What are your top three favorite websites?
What would you do if you won the lottery?
After paying off my debts, I would love to open a non-Starbucks coffee place. But this would be a 24-hour coffee and wine bar, with plenty of seating areas and wireless access (of course!), live music, subdued lighting. A place you can go in the morning for your caffeine, and in the evening for your nightcap!
Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?
Organized. I’m so organized that sometimes I delete things and realize I should have kept them!
Anything else you want our readers to know about you?
I’m not your typical librarian. But then again, I don’t think any of us at LibLime are!