Yep - you read that right - it’s finally coming!!! Years after the first KohaCon in France, the planning of a US conference has finally begun.

April 16-17th I’m looking to host a Koha innovations and sharing group here in the US. - Plano Texas would be the place. This is a reserved date - more info to come.

This 2 day workshop would have lab access and presentation space. There would be a charge to cover lunch both days and other misc expenses. Any leftover money would be given to the KUDOS users group as seed money.

If you would be interested in attending, presenting or sharing - something that you have done along with sitting in and learning about what other users and what the developers are working on let me know!

dschust1@tx.rr.com

David Schuster
Plano Texas
going live Jan 5th, 2009 as a LibLime customer! - this is open to all koha users and those interested. More information on the schedule to come after I figure out interest.

Read the email and keep up the planning by signing up for the Koha List.

[update] Check out the Koha Wiki for more info. [/update]

Up next in the open source presentation at the Pennsylvania Library Association conference was Joe Lucia. Earlier this year I got to hear Joe talk at VALE and he had much more time then to get his points across - so check out that summary. Joe started his talk by saying that he was going to change his focus from nuts and bolts to deeper view of open source. He said that open source is not about saving money - while that can often be the case, that’s not the argument for it in the long run.

His first claim is that to understand open source you have to understand the concept of the commons - which is a legal concept that goes back to English common law. He pointed us to the writings of Lawrence Lessig who he thinks is a good thinker about what’s happening with ideas and intellectual property in the digital age.

In addition to Lessig’s writing, he recommended that we look at The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler and The Success of Open Source by Steve Weber (which I’m reading right now).

Joe says that we need to take our infrastructure and move it to open source because of what libraries stand for; participatory culture, free flow of information and creation of knowledge.

Joe asks us what open source is - in the most naked sense. It’s software where you can get access to the code and use it and change it (the license says so). But in a cultural sense, I take a piece of code you wrote and then I add to it and then I put it back into the software - you get a community built set of tools that does what that community needs done. The focus in the open source world is on the process used to develop it - not the product. Innovations in process are often much more profound and compelling than the product that comes out of the process (Weber, p.56). In open source the primary focus is on making things better for users - as opposed to making something so that I can own it and you can buy it.

Joe explains how good open source products emerge:

• someone has a need, software is developed to scratch an itch
• you build or extend on work that has already been done
• components are highly modularized - you take small pieces that do things well and put them together
• simple standards and methods link them together
• instead of long complex release cycles (how many years did it take for Vista to come out - and is it stable yet?)
• Linux comes out with releases every month (fixes and features)
• a large community looking at code bugs are patched quicker - faster than the 20 guys who are testing MS

In short, open source is superior because of the way it’s built - the fact that the community is building it for the community - not for commercial reasons.

That said, there are real costs to participating in open source:

• migration costs
• support costs
• investment and development
• maintenance costs

So how do you get there (to switch to open source) in libraries when you have legacies of systems in place that do things we need to do from a business standpoint? Joe says that we all need to make some sort of payment on a monthly basis for technology in our libraries. He thinks that if we figure out how to redirect 1/4 of this money into to the development of open source software we can fund an open source revolution - an idea I like a lot!

Joe calls librarians to commit to a deeper culture of technology resource sharing in our libraries. We should take the risk of cutting off the support costs on our stabler systems so that we can redirect those funds to open source development. We need to understand why this matters to what we do culturally - library leaders need to push this agenda - it can be done and should because the open source mission matches our cultural mission in libraries.

Joe ends by encouraging us! He says that we’re almost there - there may be no system that can do everything you want it to do right now - but the more libraries that contribute the better it will get.

Today I participated in a series of open source talks at the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) conference. After I gave my talk, John Houser from PALINET stepped up. You can view his slides on his blog.

John started with a very important point - you don’t have to install an open source operating system to use open source software - can run on it on Linux, Windows and Mac (depending on the software package).

I always tell people in my open source talks that when they go back to their computers (at home and work) they should switch to Firefox. John backed me up and told everyone to use Firefox because it’s not only better in all ways but more standards compliant than IE. He also advised that once you get Firefox you want to install plugins to get the most out of it. He feels that the best plugin to install is a delicious tool or a furl tool - that way you can bookmark your resources on the web. I’d add to that that you should add Adblock Plus.

John pointed out that we’re seeing public libraries replacing Windows and MS Office with Linux and OpenOffice - saving money in licensing. These libraries are saying that they’re providing better services than they could with proprietary software. He mentioned two library systems in particular, Crawford and Howard.

One of the common myths that I hear a lot is that open source is too hard for libraries to adopt, John points out that open source apps do not necessarily require more skills than proprietary software - some are even easier - like Firefox (over IE). Even Linux is getting much easier to install and comes with a whole set of applications you can use right out of the box. Why not try to install Ubuntu (the easiest to use of the Linux desktop distributions) on an old PC to create a place to play and learn.

The other big myth is that open source isn’t secure. The fact of the matter is that Windows was designed for a single user and security was as add on later. Linux was designed for networked computers and so security is inherent. Any IT professional who doesn’t know that might want to find some continuing ed classes of his/her own (that last sentence added by me).

I’ve been saying for years that librarians should learn some programming skills so that they can participate in the development of their own applications. John mentions that some librarians might respond to that by saying, “I’m the librarian and that’s not what i do …” His opinion (and I agree) is, that to maintain our relevance in the world we should all know how to program to some degree - being able to read a basic script and understand what it does is very very useful. Open source development is a way of resource sharing and that is what we do.

One other note that John added is that as librarians we’re used to answering questions - but we’re not so great at asking them - we need to learn to ask - it’s a real skill. Why? Because if we know what to ask then we can ask for developers to create the tools we want and need in our libraries.

Overall a great talk and a great group of attendees too. Keep an eye out for part 2 which I hope to write up next.

Did you miss OSCon? I did!! But it’s okay because TheTopTenme has posted links to over 100 presentations from the conference.

Amy De Groff, Head of Library Technology Services talked to us about using open source at the Howard County Public Library. Amy started by telling us that she was not going to convince us that open source is a good thing - the other speakers had already done enough of that.

Amy’s library will be entirely open source by September - which is pretty darn awesome!! With open source software there is nothing you can’t do. That said, she reminded us that open source deployment is going to create emotional turmoil - but what change doesn’t?

Before going on, Amy warned us that she was going to talk about dirty underside of our profession and that it may cause discomfort. The truth is that as information professionals we must know it all and that it’s always been this way - and this is the wrong way to think about things.

The library profession can learn from the open source community and the open source community will benefit from the library profession’s commitment and standards of service.

People ask her how she did it - how she changed the library over to open source - her answer of “we just did” didn’t seem like enough for many librarians - but it was good enough for me! The fact is that we spend way too much time debating and meeting and discussing - and not enough time doing! Good job Amy for “just doing!”

Technorati Tags: cil2008, cil08

Kyrille Goldbeck and Dr. Godmar Back of Virginia Tech talked to us about LibX. I (probably like you) have heard of this tool before - but I had no idea how cool and powerful it was!!

LibX was originally developed as a way for patrons to take the library with them on the web as a sort of a “virtual librarian” that guides user to library resources while they use the web. LibX is a Firefox tool and an IE plugin (view screenshots and screencasts via the LibX site).

This handy tool adds a toolbar to your browser where you can search the catalog for your institution. It even lets you add additional lines for advanced searching and choose the fields you’d like to search. When you perform a search, it opens the results in a new tab/window - so that you don’t lose the page you were on. Another (seemingly simple - yet often overlooked) awesome feature is that the search terms you entered in your toolbar come down into the catalog interface so you can alter/re-run the search.

In addition to allowing catalog searches via the toolbar, LibX also integrates itself into various websites. When on Amazon.com each book page has a LibX link to the library catalog (this uses xISBN) that searches for any edition of the book you’re viewing.

You can also highlight the book title or ISBN and right click to see search options in the catalog (and LibX knows which you’re highlighting - title or ISBN and runs the right search).

Next, if you have the tool installed and you visit Barnes & Noble’s site, you’ll see that the ISBN is linked (the dashed underline means that the page has been altered by an external app). If you click that link you’ll be brought into the catalog with results for an ISBN search.

But that’s not all! LibX also searches for articles! You can choose to search Google Scholar and then on the results page the links automatically reformat to go to the library’s databases (if the articles are available) with openresolver links. This works both on and off campus. If you’re off campus, you can reload the page using EZproxy and access the resources from home.

And as if that isn’t enough!! We’re always told to check the references in the articles we’re reading - well LibX makes this super easy! You just open up the PDF file and drag a reference onto the Google Scholar button on the toolbar. A new tab will open with the results!!

How is it that I went through library school without realizing how handy this tool was???

If you’re wondering how you can get this for your institution, it’s actually pretty easy!

Originally, institutions had to contact Virginia Tech to ask them to create the toolbar for them - but now you can use LibX Editions and create your own toolbar in minutes. Keep in mind that some manual customization will be required to make this toolbar meet your library’s needs.

That said, Editions has had a great impact on the usage of LibX. This tool allows anyone to build a LibX edition, share it, copy it, modify it and distribute it. All in the spirit of open source!

Conclusions

I wish I was still in school so I could use this tool all of the time - for now I’ll have to settle for using it when researching blog posts

Technorati Tags: cil2008, cil08, libx

Glen HortonGlen Horton talked to us about how libraries can give back to open source.

Libraries and open source are fundamentally related - both …

• believe that information should be freely accessible to everyone
• we like to give away stuff
• we benefits from generosity of others (part Glen is going to talk about)
• are about communities
• make the world a better place

One of the ways libraries can give back is to create open source software. In a lot of the cases of open source projects they could have been kept in the libraries that developed them but instead they opened them up to share with others.

If you’re asking, “but Glen .. what if we don’t have a developer?” - you can give back in many other ways.

Teach open source software like this video on edubuntu for libraries.

You could document open source - like I’ve been doing for the last few months. Don’t assume that you’re the only one that can benefit from it - share what you write just in case there are others like you out there.

You can debug open source by reporting bugs to authors and on support forums. You can identify usability issues or if something isn’t working quite right - instead of dealing with these things (which we’re all used to doing) you can share it with the community to make the product that much better.

“But glen - what if we don’t use open source software?”

You can promote open source - just because you’re not using it internally, doesn’t mean your patrons won’t benefit from it - add links to it from your site. Or pass out CDs or sell flash drives with open source on it. Check out portableapps.com.

Open source or die

It’s a strong statement - but it goes back to open source and libraries being linked at the core. Glen points us to the number of sessions on this track (a pretty high number if you look at all of the speakers sharing time slots) and he bets that it’s going to be more next year.

Open Source Desktop

Next up, Julian Clark who uses open source for nearly application on his computer.

Why?

• a lot of people say it’s free - but it’s free as in kittens
• control and customization
• security - with os implementation the security is the same as what you’re running on your servers
• changing marketplace
  • people are becoming less satisfied about what’s being offered
  • windows vista example - people went back to xp because they were unhappy causing ms to keep supporting xp

When is the best time to change?

• no set formula - every library operates differently
• a good idea is when you’re ready for a major upgrade (when you buy new desktops or upgrade your ILS)
  • you’re going to have major changes imposed upon you either way
• another time is when you have reduced funding in your library

To do this…

Assess the hardware

• full hardware inventory
• not all hardware will be oss-friendly (wireless connectivity may be an issue)

Assess the software

• what do you really need/use for productivity?
• what can’t you live without?
• think function, not brand (don’t think you need ms word - think you need a word processor)
• not everything is “ready for prime time”

Assess the organizations

• who runs IT?
• expertise on staff?
• local culture

Where should you start?

• start with your desktop - what apps do you have on your desktop? What do you use most?
• keep in mind that there are some apps that may not have a viable os option

Options for support

Third party support

• can be purchased directly
• does not always require on-stop shoppings
• allows for faster initial setup
• initial setup and maintenance do not need to be very hands on

In-house

• local needs can best be understood
• better integration with local initiatives
• wealth of institutional knowledge

Selling it

• consider your audience
• quantifiy things
• re-allocating resource savings
• be positive

Technorati Tags: cil2008, cil08, open source

I love listening to Marshall Breeding present - it always makes me feel better to know that someone can talk faster than me Marshall started his talk by showing us the lib-web-cats advanced search which allows you to search for libraries running specific systems. He did remind us to keep in mind that the systems shown are the ones that have made a commitment to a system (may not be live yet).

Broad Trends

Open source is highly used in the general IT arena with examples like Linux and Apache. If you believe the blogosphere, open source is going up up up - but it’s not necessarily true - Microsoft is also gaining a footing - showing that they are all good options. You need to make your decisions with all the facts in hand.

Open Source

Did you know that your general library infrastructure is open source? z39.50 is open source! And Index Data has been making tools based on this protocol for a long time (the Yaz toolkit is the main z39.50 tool being used).

Other open source options:

• Federated search - LibraryFind and Masterkey
• OCLC offers some stuff - typically older stuff that they want other people to take care of now
• Digital repositories - Fedora, DSpace, and Keystone

Next Marshall listed some open source discovery products - AKA - next gen catalogs:

• Vufind - based on Apache Solr search toolkit — toolkits make it accessible for relatively small development shops to create this stuff
• Extensible catalog - University of Rochester and the Melon Foundation
• fac-back-opac
• Scriblio - based on WordPress

Open Source in the ILS Arena - Products and Trends

It used to be bold and risky to move to an open source ILS. This move however led to a bunch of projects that are now products. That said, Marshall wants to make sure that people have the best information available to them when they make these decisions - he’s not an open source evangelist he’s a technology evangelist.

3 of the 4 open source ILS that were around in 2002 are now defunct so when Marshall wrote that the open source ILS it was still a distant future - it was true.

… then the world changed.

In March 2007 the world had changed, but open source is a minority player. In March 2008 open source is a real option out there, but you need to use the same criteria you use when choosing a closed source system.

Now, April 2008 the open source ILS has launched into the mainstream - there is a lot of room for optimism and there is going to more and more of this over time.

The ILS market is an industry in turmoil with mergers and acquisitions left and right causing disruptions and business decisions to narrow options. This has fueled the open source movement by providing libraries with additional options.

Open Source v. Traditional Licensing

So what side is Marshal on? He says both sides! He wouldn’t want to see a world where one or the other is the only option and thinks they complement the each other. Each library has it’s own personality and can use that in choosing their systems.

Recommendations for making a choice:

• avoid philosophical preference - make choices as business decisions instead
• which best supports the missions of libraries
• which approach helps libraries become better libraries?

Specifics

Koha

• first open source ILS
• Koha + Index Data Zebra = Koha Zoom
• 300+ libraries
• while there are a lot of small libraries - there are also some biggies signing up now
• the system has grown up to a level where it can handle these big libraries
• has the interface we want - facets, clean, book jackets

Evergreen

• developed by the GA public library system
• small dev team
• June 2004 - dev begins
• September 2005 live production
• streamlined environment - single shared implementation, all libraries, follow the same policies,
• one library card
• by far the most people using it are the GA PINES consortia
• it’s a big difference between supporting 250+ small libraries and supporting a big library system (so it will make a difference when the Atlanta area switched)
• has interface we want - facets, clean, book jackets

OPALS

• going gangbusters in the public school system
• created by Media Flex
• south central org of (school) libraries

NextGenLib

• ILS designed for the developing world
• originally traditionally licensed, introduced in 2003
• transition to open source in January 2008
• 122 installations (India, Syria, Sudan, Cambodia)

Learning Access ILS

• turnkey open source ILS
• designed for under-served rural public and tribal libraries
• defunct?? - has been trying to get in touch with these people - but can’t (email bounces)

There is also lot of commercial involvement these days:

• Index Data (founded 1994)
• LibLime (founded 2005)
  • small but growing
  • total of 20 FTP - hiring industry veterans exiting from traditional ILS companies
• Equinox (founded 2007)
  • contracts to GA PINES library system
• Care Affiliates (founded 2007)
  • recently formed founded by Carl Grant
• Media Flex (longstanding company)
• Duke is working on a proposal to create an open source ILS
• …there are others afoot

Issues

Explosive interest in open source is being driven by the disillusionment with current vendors. Given this, Marshall makes the point that the open source ILS would be where it is if it wasn’t for what was happening on the other end of things. Open source allows for more flexible systems and lower costs (however, Marshall still feels that total cost of ownership is the same between the two over the long haul). With open source libraries are less vulnerable to the mergers and acquisitions that are happening in the proprietary world.

Cost Issues

• cost shifted - no license fee
• hardware
• vendor support
• hosting
• conversion
• local technical support
• development costs
• open source vendors should come up with a total cost of ownership report to show us that open source is really cheaper

Open source risk factors

Marshall still thinks that open source is a risky alternative because of a dependency on community organizations and commercial companies to provide development and support services. I’d argue that this is a reason that open source is less risky - with a community of developers and support services you’re more likely to find someone to help you out if your vendor goes under. That said, Marshall admits that the other side is risky too!

All that said the interest in open source (and the market share) is relatively low.

Conclusions

What he’s looking for is a new system (aren’t we all) - built for how libraries are today. This is not an open source system that does what our systems already do today. In short, we have a long way to go on both fronts - both open and closed source.

Technorati Tags: cil2008, cil08, open source