Open Source Software

Considering open source software
by: Balas, Janet L.

Source:
Balas, Janet L.(2004). Considering open source software. Computers in Libraries, 24(8), Retrieved September 10, 2009 from Ebsco, Education Research Complete Database, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=14195864&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Adopting open source software (OSS) in library automation needs a lot of planning. Librarians need to consult different websites and resources to fully understand open source software. Some of the helpful site that discuss OSS are WebJunction, oss4lib web site, bibliography made by Brenda Chawner, Fedora Project website and UNESCO.

What I have learned?
1. Library automation can ba done using open source software.
2. There are a lot of open source software that can be use by the library example of which are KOHA, MyLibrary and DSpace.
3. Planning is an important part in library automation specially if we are considering the adoption of open source software.

Implication.

As much as possible we, Librarians, want to automate our library. We want to have our catalog, index and almost all our services made available electronically. It is not new to us that in automating the library we need to consider the budget. Budget for the software. Budget for the maintenance of the equipments. Budget for the library system. Budget for software upgrade. In a library with a huge budget this is not an issue, but what about our Baranggay libraries, the public libraries, the public school libraries? Let us not go further, what about the libraries we have in UP? With the small amount of budget we are given each year, the issue on automation may be hard to sustain. In the emergence of open source software we are now given the chance to choose from proprietary software and open source software. We are now give the chance to choose between expensive and free. Let us look at the example given to us by UP LIbraries, we have OSS from the iLib server up to the terminal use to access the OPAC. By using OSS we can save a lot of monetary resources and we can allocate this to other library service or material.


There are a lot of OSS a library can use. What we need is plan carefully in order to use them.