The amazing staff at NEKLS have done it again! They have already contributed to the Koha community with their amazing NExpress website, but now they have added training videos into the mix!! Make sure you check out their videos and their other training materials and subscribe to their site!
Make sure you keep an eye on these open source webinars this spring:
Thursday Dates, 2-3pm, CST
- 3/12 - SOPAC
- 3/19 - Mobile Applications
- 3/26 - WordPress as a CMS
- 4/2 - Bitnami Sandboxes
- 4/9 - LibraryThing for Libraries
- 4/16 - LibX
The registration page still has last season’s dates on it - so keep an eye on the blog for information about registering.
I just finished reading a great article in EDUCAUSE Review titled Open Source: Narrowing the Divides between Education, Business, and Community. Jim Whitehurst has a great explanation for why we should be teaching our students on and about open source software (so great, I wish I had come up with it first 
)
We live in an increasingly global community. Gone are the days when working for a company in an office meant serving a small geographic area from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Today’s graduates will work in a matrix environment where projects cut across organizational and geographic boundaries, requiring cooperation and communication. Open source uses the power of collaboration to provide students with hands-on learning and to equip students with an expanded skill set that is very attractive to businesses.
Open source better prepares students for the business world by exposing them to real-world problems and encouraging learning through the completion of real tasks. Open source amplifies a “hands-on” approach to learning by connecting students to a community of users in an effort to solve problems. Open-source developers don’t rely on textbooks; they rely on the knowledge base of other developers with whom they connect through community forums, building off of one another’s ideas to create a solution that is eventually shared with all. To this extent, open source better prepares students for future job experiences and allows them to complete, while they’re still in school, work that’s being used by the global open-source community.
Open source also teaches students useful skills that can be applied across other coursework and classes. Students have the opportunity to work with many more code bases in open source than are found in traditional student projects. This strengthens skills in collaboration, project management, and testing and encourages a well-rounded computer science education, making students more marketable in the business world.
Make sure you read the entire article and send it on to the decision makers in your institution. Jim touches on many points that are right in line with my ideals and the ideals of libraries in general.
It’s not too late to register for my PALINET workshop next week:
Make sure you mark your calendars, invite your colleagues, and share info about this event with all of your library friends:
Date: Mon, Nov 24, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 hour
Host(s): Brenda HoughWhy are some libraries making the decision to use free and open-source software? Popular reasons include: it’s free! It’s customizable. You are vendor-independent. Security and reliability are also cited as benefits by users.
Is open-source software right for your library? How can you get started? Join this FREE webinar to learn more.
I found a new blog this week and some webinars that may be of interest to you. Check out Library Open Source Webinars and their series of webinars:
Sign up now, mark your calendars and pick your favorite topics for this series of weekly webinars offering fun and informative stuff good for libraries. Here’s the line-up that’s filling out with more great speakers everyday:
11/4 Intro and Overview - Casey Bisson
11/11 OPACs/ILSs
11/18 Drupal in Libraries
Thanksgiving hiatus
12/2 Social Library and it’s Tools - Tasha Saecker
12/9 Plinkit and “Library web sites for all” - Darci Hanning
12/16 Google Sites and Apps for non-profitsRegister now for individual webinars at $25 each, or for the whole series at the bargain rate of $100 for 6, at: http://www.wils.wisc.edu/events/opsource_reg.html
This from one of my mailing lists:
OLE Project participants will host a webcast to share information about the project and invite comments and questions. The webcast will be held Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 3pm-5pm EST. This webcast is free or charge and open to anyone. Please register in advance at:
http://survey.oit.duke.edu/ViewsFlash/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=showform&pollid=CIT!OLEWebcast
A more detailed agenda and information about logging into the webcast will be posted within the next week.
Learn more about the OLE Project here.
If you’re in they Cherry Hill area next week you might want to come to my class:
August 13: Tech Talk: All Grown Up: Open Source for Libraries: “Open Source” - a term you may have heard thrown about at conferences and on mailing lists - but what does it mean? This session will not only define the term “Open Source” but will show librarians exactly how it can be used within their libraries.
Learn to separate the myths from the facts, learn about the tools that are available to your libraries and most importantly learn about how open source can free you from the costs associated with many proprietary library products. Click here for complete details and registration form.
PALINET is offering two awesome classes on open source. Why so awesome? Well, students will leave the second class with a used computer which will have been set up as a patron station with all open source software! The intro class is available online for anyway, but you have to be near (or come to) Philadelphia for the hands-on workshop. Check out their full descriptions:
- 4/14 - No Geeks Required: Open Source Public Workstations, Options and Issues (Online)
- 6/3 - No Geeks Required: Open Source Public Workstations, Options and Issues (Online)
- 6/24 - Implementing Open Source Public Access Workstations (PALINET Philadelphia)