I worked in an Academic Library for a while (and was a student working in HR while an Undergrad) and I know how hard it was to get the HR systems to work with the library systems - wouldn’t it be easier if everything was open source?? Well this article makes it look like academia finally has a viable open source option for their financial systems.

While the open source movement has taken off in course management systems, with Moodle and Sakai as alternatives to the dominant Blackboard, the administrative side of the house has been almost entirely corporate. While some colleges use home-grown systems, the norm has been to use any of a number of vendors for systems that allow colleges to manage and report on budgets, billing and many other functions crucial to running a college. These administrative software systems cost millions of dollars to install and manage, and any malfunctions can be hugely frustrating to institutions.

Last week, in a move that could lead to a shake-up of the industry, Colorado State University and San Joaquin Delta College both went live with the first large-scale installations of full financial systems produced by the Kuali Foundation, a consortium of colleges that have pooled resources to create open source systems that could compete with corporate offerings. The University of Arizona is well on its way to following, as is Michigan State University. Cornell University is planning for a likely conversion. Indiana University has been involved from the beginning and has tested many modules, which are expected to expand. The University of British Columbia is also expected to be using Kuali soon.

Read the entire article and make sure to share it with all of your friends and colleagues in Academia

ALA is right around the corner and so it’s time to tell you what will be going on in the LibLime booth (#1134)

Saturday, July 11th

• 10:00 a.m. – We Give Back: LibLime’s Contributions to the Library Community
  Learn more about LibLime’s open-source business model and what the impact is on the library community. LibLime’s CEO, Joshua Ferraro, will review three ways that LibLime ‘gives back’: ‡biblios.net, Koha with Class and LibLime’s Koha Community Contributions.

• 1:00 p.m. – Mission Possible: the LibLime Data Migration Process
  Extraction, field mapping, normalization, oh my! LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents an overview of the process of migrating to Koha through LibLime.

• 3:30 p.m. – Koha Demo: OPAC
  An introduction to Koha’s next-generation OPAC. LibLime’s Application Support Librarian, Maria Laude, presents Koha’s OPAC, including some of the new customer-sponsored enhancements and third-party integration.

Sunday, July 12th

• 9:30 a.m. – 4,000 Users and Growing! ‡biblios.net
  ‡biblios.net is a FREE browser-based cataloging service with a data store containing over thirty-five million records. Records are licensed under the Open Data Commons, making the service the world’s largest repository of freely-licensed library records!

• 2:00 p.m. – Coming Soon!
  A sneak peek at the new functionality that will soon be available to LibLime’s customers. LibLime’s Senior Business Analyst, Daniel Sweeney, gives an overview of customer-sponsored projects including a new acquisitions solution, improved consortial support, and academic functionality.

• 3:30 p.m. – Koha Demo: OPAC
  An introduction to Koha’s next-generation OPAC. LibLime’s Application Support Librarian, Maria Laude, presents Koha’s OPAC, including some of the new customer-sponsored enhancements and third-party integration.

Monday, July 13th

• 9:30 a.m. – We Give Back: LibLime’s Contributions to the Library Community
  Learn more about LibLime’s open-source business model and what the impact is on the library community. LibLime’s CEO, Joshua Ferraro, will review three ways that LibLime ‘gives back’: ‡biblios.net, Koha with Class and LibLime’s Koha Community Contributions.

• 1:00 p.m. – Koha Demo: Staff Side
  An introduction to Koha’s staff modules. LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents on Koha’s Circulation, Technical Services and Administrative functionality.

• 3:00 p.m. – Coming Soon!
  A sneak peek at the new functionality that will soon be available to LibLime’s customers. LibLime’s Senior Business Analyst, Daniel Sweeney, gives an overview of customer-sponsored projects including a new acquisitions solution, improved consortial support, and academic functionality.

Tuesday, July 14th

• 9:30 a.m. – Koha Demo: Staff Side
  An introduction to Koha’s staff modules. LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents on Koha’s Circulation, Technical Services and Administrative functionality.

• 11:00 a.m. – 4,000 Users and Growing! ‡biblios.net
  ‡biblios.net is a FREE browser-based cataloging service with a data store containing over thirty-five million records. Records are licensed under the Open Data Commons, making the service the world’s largest repository of freely-licensed library records!

Biblibre has announced a demo of their SOPAC/Koha installation on their blog. The post was in French, so I’ll summarize for you.

You can access their very awesome demo online at: http://demo.sopac.biblibre.com/. It is important to remember this is just a test install for us to test and for them to play with - so if you have comments as you poke around, be sure to contact them and let them know what you learned.

Technorati Tags: sopac, koha

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Michele Marie Maenpaa

What is your official Job Title?

Data Migration Specialist

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Not really.

What’s your favorite color?

Red

What’s your favorite food or meal?

I don’t really have one. I like all food that is fresh, properly prepared and locally grown or raised.

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

shoot.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Neither, I have a fondness for Holstein cows.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, Fish, because they do not cause allergies.

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

I was looking to learn something new and be part of the modern age of computing.

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

Just what my son discussed at the kitchen table of what he was doing in his spare time. I have picked up lots, I can now intelligently participate in his discussions of open source.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

To remove the item 952 tags from marc blob in the biblioitems table.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source
application would you like to develop?

An easy to use quilting design website that works with colour.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• For better or For worse comics

• the weather website
• quilting websites

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Pay off debts, go on a nice vacation, take classes on colour theory, create a quilting studio with lots of windows and a quilting design wall.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

An in between person, I start and end the week with a clean desk but during the week it is a mess.

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I am a quilter.