The Open Source Movement and Libraries

1
The Open Source Movementand Libraries

• Presented by
• Kim Nalette
• August 28, 2007

2
What is Open Source Software?

• Open source software is software distributed in
  source under licenses guaranteeing anybody rights
  to freely use, modify, and redistribute the code.
• The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit
  corporation that acts as a standards body for
  open source. To use the Open Source Initiative
  Approved License trademark the software must meet
  10 criteria, including Free Redistribution and
  the Source Code.

3
Why Open Source?

• Company Models
• Manufacturing Model (Sale Value)
• versus
• Service Model (Use Value)

4
Software Development Manufacturing Model

• Software is developed by a company for sale
• Price of the software is based upon the
  development costs
• Can lead to little incentive to provide service
  and updates
• Software is only of value as far as it can be sold

5
Software DevelopmentService Model

• Software is developed for use
• Software is free or low cost
• Service is available for a fee

6
Software DevelopmentSome Facts

• 95 of code developed is for in-house use and
  therefore has no sale value
• 75 of a developers time is consumed by
  maintaining and debugging existing code
• Once expended, development costs are sunk costs

7
Software Development Real Life Open Source
Advantages

• Apache Web Server
• Cost Sharing
• Cisco Distributed Print Spooling Software
• Risk-Spreading

8
Software Development Real Life Open Source
Advantages

• Apache Web Server
• Cost Sharing
• Cisco Distributed Print Spooling Software
• Risk-Spreading

9
Open Source Software Used by Phoenix Public
Library

• Linux (linux.org)
• Operating System created by Linus Torvalds in the
  mid 1990s at the University of Helsinki as a
  school project
• EXIM (exim.org)
• Mail server developed by the University of
  Cambridge
• Horde Webmail (horde.org)
• Email client

10
Open Source Software Used by Phoenix Public
Library

• Postgres (postgresql.org)
• Relational database
• Apache Tomcat (tomcat.apache.org)
• Web application server

11
Open Source Integrated Library Systems and Public
Access Catalogs

• Almost every open source product originated
  because when conducting marketplace reviews,
  libraries found that systems that met their needs
  were too expensive or lacked desired features

12
Koha

• Koha.org
• A New Zealand consortium commissioned a company
  to develop a Web-based system for use in its
  libraries
• They determined that the software should be open
  source so that other libraries could use it and
  make further improvements.
• Koha is currently in use in several library
  systems in the several countries

13
eXtensible Catalog

• Extensiblecatalog.info
• Currently being developed by the University of
  Rochester with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon
  Foundation.
• Focused on academic libraries

14
VuFind

• Vufind.org
• Offers faceted results
• Testing at Villanova University

15
Evergreen

• Open-ils.org
• Georgia PINESa consortium of 256 public
  libraries
• Libraries in Canada and the University of Windsor
  have committed to migrating to every green

16
Other Systems

• LearningAccess ILS
• Avanti
• Chopac
• LiBSUITE
• Cinege
• Emilda
• OpenBiblio
• PMB
• Pytheas

17
What can libraries do with open source solutions?

• Low cost to acquire software
• Low maintenance costs with in-house expertise
• Ability to customize application easily and
  quickly with in-house expertise or 3rd party
  development companies
• Portability on most platforms