First, let’s establish an area of technology where there is
very important growth happening, and that is in “open-source software.” For those unfamiliar with OSS, it’s software
that is freely available to anyone; free to download, free to distribute, free
to use, free to view, free to modify, free to adapt, and free to improve. If you’ve ever heard someone say “nothing in
life is free,” they stand corrected by this community of collaborators with altruistic
motivation. When everyone from end-users
to senior enterprise developers from a variety of fields are all working
together and information is shared freely, you end up with highly sophisticated
products that are solely geared toward service quality rather than marketing,
branding, and profit seeking. In a
library industry context, OSS is like the Wikipedia of software systems and application
development. If you would like to read
more about OSS in the context I am about to explore further, see the “Evergreen OSS FAQ.”
So how are libraries taking advantage of this digital
parallel to their cornerstone fundamentals?
By scrapping their subscription and leased services in favor of adopting
systems built on OSS backbones.
This puts more of the control in your own administration’s hands and can
save a fortune in your budget. Not only
can you dictate how the software and modules will be utilized to accommodate your
patrons, but you can also request modifications and improvements from the community
at rates much faster than typical software applications. OSS is also much more secure than proprietary
software because you have so many eyes on the code. This makes keeping checks and balances much easier. With the additional budget,
you can improve other services and public offerings. While the progression to an open source
system is filled with advantages technologically, it’s also exceedingly
responsible as businesses and organizations from the private to the public
sector are continuing to seek cost cutting opportunities. Specific to the library industry, this
migration supports core philosophies while allowing you to not only tighten
your spending, but also create new services with the residual budget.
What OSS solutions should be considered then? Evergreen, formerly “Open-ILS,” is an OSS
package developed by a dedicated community of IT professionals and library
industry workers. It contains modules
for circulation, cataloging, discovery, as well as a fully functional back end
for the library management including staff client, reporting, and policy
configuration. Since the software is
also scalable, it is used in small libraries as well as major, nationally
recognized libraries with huge endowments.
CentOS is another enterprise level solution, except as a Linux
distribution, it would suit your general information technology
requirements. CentOS offers a vast and
growing developer community, user community, production efficiency, and issue
resolution.
If you are still curious about OSS and how the effects are being felt in various industries, check out Jonathan Feldman's article, Open Source: Why Are You Still Waiting?
The library I work for is making the switch from our current library management system to Evergreen. You bring up some great points about why other library systems might also consider making this kind of change. In addition, to the service being completely customizable it includes the type of web applications users are accustomed to, for example spell-checking and suggested alternatives. Also, patrons searching for materials have access to more information such as the book covers and reviews, because Evergreen allows for this type of integration within the catalog.
ReplyDeleteI am supportive of the switchover, but some of my colleagues are concerned that we do not have the staff knowledge within our organization to really modify Evergreen in a way so that it suits our patrons’ needs. I believe the Seattle Public Library has done a nice job of tailoring Evergreen and making the interface more attractive.
I am disappointed that Evergreen does not have a means for relevancy ranking, for example accounting for an item’s popularity. I believe when we talk about social media and emerging technologies this is something our patrons are anticipating, because they are conditioned to searching in this manner because of Google. For example, if I type in Dexter I expect to get the popular TV series, not the book Double Dexter (this is an actual example when you use our current catalog). In the future, I would like to see relevancy ranking as an added feature.
Sources
Weber, J. (2006). Evergreen: Your Homegrown ILS. Library Journal, December 2006, Vol. 131 Issue 20, p38, 4p
Yang, S. & Hoffmann, M. (2010). The Next Generation of Library Catalog: A Comparative Study of the OPACs of Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager. Information Technology & Libraries, September 2010, Vol. 29 Issue 3, p141, 10p
I appreciate the thorough discussion about Open Source Software. The article by Jonathan Feldman was a passionate cry for at least consideration of OSS as an option. His view was interesting and I wondered how many people in his governmental agency are using OSS. It would be helpful to see if research has been done on the cost of training a full staff to effectively use OSS as opposed to the savings in software costs. I find the thought of open source software enticing for the cost savings, but cringe when I imagine retraining a staff, spanning age and experience ranges, to use it efficiently. His most salient point may have been that the natives are coming, and these digital natives will be using the cloud and won't be detered or hindered by computer trappings. In fact, they are saavy and able to use their phone screen better than the older generation use a laptop. This thought is enough to make me sit up straighter and pay rapt attention to OSS. I understand that forecasting trends is always a tricky business. But, I know that budget slashes are here and now and software that is free and adaptable to work needs is worth more than a second look. Digital natives are a restless bunch, not cowed into submission by the name of Microsoft.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great work on this blog. I also liked the poll you included on future library services. Great idea.