Yes - you read that title correctly! How awesome is that??

Argentina’s congress is actively considering a bill that would require all government offices to use open-source software. It’s partly a cost-saving move, and partly a way to bring the Argentine government into compliance with its software licensing

Found via The Open Road.

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

It’s about time that United States elite academic institutions finally got around to not only using open-source software, but also teaching it.

This from Matt Asay at CNET. I read the article he’s talking about while at Borders earlier this month, but couldn’t find a copy in my local library or on the databases they subscribed to, so I was just waiting for someone else to mention it so that I could provide you all with a link. The article is titled “Open Source: Salvation or Suicide?” and can be found in the April 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

The article follow a business woman as she considers going open source with her gaming product. It’s a very interesting look at open source from the eyes of a business owner and then a few experts from Harvard weigh in as well.

If you can find a copy of this article at your library it’s well worth a read.

This video has been around the web for a while - but I haven’t posted it here yet. If you haven’t seen the Open Source ILS song, you need to!

Back in March I wrote about the Next Generation Academic Library System Symposium at VALE:

• From Open Stacks to Open Source
• Evergreen Open Source Library System
• Koha Open Source Library System
• Q&A
• WALDO & the Koha Open Source ILS
• PINES & the Evergreen Open Source ILS

Now the videos are available online:

• Introduction - Taras Pavlovsky, David Pinto. Open Source Overview - Joe Lucia, Villanova University. Evergreen Open Source Library System - Bob Molyneux, Equinox. (Windows media video file)
• Koha Open Source Library System - Joshua Ferraro, LibLime. Panel Discussion: Lucia, Molyneux & Ferraro. (Windows media video file)
• Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia, Georgia PINES. (Windows media video file)
• Evergreen Acquisitions - Dan Scott, Laurentian University. Q & A - Lucia, Molyneux, Ferraro, Stromquist, McKinney de Garcia, & Scott. (Windows media video file)
• VALE OLS Study Group – Report on Evergreen Test Installation - Edward Corrado. Next Steps for VALE - Taras Pavlovsky, The College of New Jersey & Richard Sweeney, NJIT, Co-Chairs VALE OLS Taskforce (Windows media video file)

You can find Powerpoint files and podcasts at the VALE page.

Technorati Tags: open source, libraries, valenj

I first heard about Omeka at Code4Lib:

Omeka is a web platform for publishing collections and exhibitions online. Designed for cultural institutions, enthusiasts, and educators, Omeka is easy to install and modify and facilitates community-building around collections and exhibits. Omeka is free and open source.

Well, now there is a new release:

Omeka 0.9.1 is our first release since the initial public launch on February 20, 2008. It fixes 20+ bugs, and we highly recommend that all users upgrade their existing Omeka installations. The API hasn’t changed since the 0.9.0 release, so existing themes and plugins should continue to work after the upgrade.

Sounds like a pretty big release. I don’t have any collections or exhibitions to publish online - but I’d love to hear how others are using this tool.

I just received an announcement about a neat new open source project.

PaperWorld3D is a mix of two open source project which is PaperVision3D on the frontend and Red 5 on the backend. It is released by the guys behind Influxis and Red5Server who is Trevor Burton and John Grden. The whole idea is to create quickly a 3D Massively Multiplayer Online Game for the Adobe Flash 9 player. The project works with modules and xml for configuration. It also have a platform for tracking and managing players and their avatars. The whole thing works on UDP protocol so the server is always right on the pace for all the players who’s logged on the server session.

From the website:

PaperWorld is many things - it lets you create multi-user applications, yes, but it also gives you the tools to create large games, quickly, localise them to a particular language or region, and manage everything in your workflow - so your designers don’t need to code, and your coders don’t need to design, and anyone with a basic knowledge of xml can edit a config file and setup or edit a game quickly without having to recompile and deploy.

Sounds pretty nifty! Learn more.

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)

While this article is about schools and not libraries - I think the two organizations have a lot of similarities. The article titled: School districts serve up lessons in Linux by Andrew Hendry appeared on the Computerworld site in January:

School districts in the US and Canada find Linux and open source offers better support, cheaper setup costs, and improved educational value

I think this is great! Not only does open source save these schools money, but it also teaches kids about open source!