Open Source

Jerry Yarnetsky :: Reference-web librarian

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library

Free Lunch or Free Kittens?

Our library has been working with OSS for a number of years and were slowly expanding what we do with OSS.

Im here to share our experiences and tell you a bit about OSS.

Open Source Software is interesting in that it can be a free lunch.

It's free and can save your library money.

Yet, choose carefully because even free software costs time and effort. As such bad software can be like having a crazy kitten in your house.

What is Open Source?

Why is it important?

How to judge OSS.

Overview of the market.

How we use OSS at MJCPL.

Cant share it.

Cant change it.

Can't open files.

Can't see the code.

Can't tell where it's going.

Commercial
Software

My nephew, our family's designated Linux geek, said commercial software is like trying to work on a car with its hood welded shut.

Proprietary software is a closed process.

You rarely know where theyre heading.

You rarely know what bugs theyre working out or if they even recognize the bug.

If you find something that works you cant share it with friends.

You cant change it to suit your needs.

You cant use it on more computers than you paid for.

Often you cant open software from competing software.

It's getting to the point where I'm calling it can'tware.

Case study: Microsoft all but gives away its Office Suite. You can use it on your public access computers, but you cant use it on staff computers.

Free to use

Free to change

Free to share

Free to choose support

Open Source
is free...

The license stipulates the softwares free status.

You are free to use it, free to change it, and free to improve it in almost any fashion you desire as long as it remains free.

No license police or digital rights management. You can use it. Your patrons can use it.

You can work with others to improve it. This collaborative process often results in quality work due to the peer review model.

You can rip it, burn it and redistribute it.

Open file formats are mandatory.

Development is often an open, collaborative process. You can go to the website and see the roadmap and debugging work.

It's collaborative not only between developers, but also between developers and users. Because of this atmosphere, bugs can often receive fixes much quicker than commercial products.

Our budgets are crimped.

Patrons want more services.

How do we keep pace?

We're between
a rock &

hard place

Why is this important to libraries?

Libraries are between the rock and the hard place of finances and technology.

Budgets are tight. Tax relief and the recession may crimp our budgets further.

License fees and library expenses continue to climb.

At the same time, patrons want more services.

As a result we are in a precarious position.

I dont believe the Internet will put us out of business. However, the Internet is setting the pace of innovation and innovating at the speed of Google is difficult.

Between a lack of knowledge, initiative or funding we can find ourselves stuck in the Middle Ages when our patrons want the future.

Lowers the bar to adoption

Allows experimentation

Free to share with patrons

Gives life to old computers

Provides better security

Open source
is your free
lunch

OSS lowers the bar to adoption

Why spend several hundred for Publisher just to start a library newsletter?

Why spend thousands just to start a digital history project?

Free software allows your staff and patrons to experiment and succeed at a much-reduced cost.

The software is free to deploy as we see fit.

We can add stations without paying additional fees.

We can grow along with patron and staff demand without being trapped by our budget.

We can share with our patrons and fellow librarians

Is there software your patrons learn to love? Give them a copy.

Were allowed to distribute OSS. Make disks of OSS for loaning.

Breathe new life into older computers

The Linux operating system can be run smoothly on much older machines than Windows. We're using our oldest machines for our OPAC kiosks. They run wonderfully on Linux.

No viruses and malware to bring your system down. Security problems occur when people can take advantage of hidden hooks. It's hard to hide in plain sight.

Software is a tool.
Find the right one.

Good software fulfills a need.

Does it further your mission?

Does it get the work done?

Software is simply a tool. Find the right one.

Think about software on both a macro and micro level.

Macro

Does the software and the project further your librarys mission and technology plans?

Micro

People may play with software, but continued use comes only from fulfilling a need.

Corollary: It has to work. When it comes crunch time, patrons and staff just want to get their work done.

If two products present themselves to answer the same need the one that makes the job more intuitive will likely win (the exception being the reality or perception of an industry standard).

Sometimes you have to experiment to find the right tool.

Go with
the flow

Software will change.

Make suggestions.

Training is key.

Facilitate discovery.

Be willing to change.

Obviously youll go from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

But also, the unfamiliar will continue to change because OSS is often in development. Processes can change and features will be added.

OS Software often becomes available during the testing period. Are you willing to deal with and report bugs? If not wait for stable releases.

Ideally offer your feedback. Often an email can change the course of open source software.

You have to find a method of communicating change.

Communicating with your users is key. For staff this could be meetings, mentoring, email or a staff blog. One-on-one or group tutoring for patrons works in addition to usual PR methods can work for patrons.

Help your users take an attitude of play and discovery.

One fun idea Ive read is to have a technology petting zoo where everyone can experiment with the latest tech.

Look at
support & developer community

Are support forums active?

Are questions answered quickly?

Do pros use the system?

Is software updated regularly?

Is there institutional backing?

Look at available support

Support often comes via online forums frequented by fellow users and software developers.

Are the forums active?

Are questions being answered in a timely fashion.

If no, you might look elsewhere.

There are companies that provide support to open source.

LibLime for instance support the Koha and Evergreen ILS systems.

Look at the development community

For an open source program to thrive there has to be decent developer buy-in so you ask similar questions.

Is there a sizable developer community?

Are the forums active

Is the pace of development lively?

Are there regular updates?

Does the community have institutional backing?

Installation requirements.

Training.

Migration.

Mission critical services.

DRM and plug-ins.

Stuff to
consider as you evaluate

Recognize shortcomings

Some hardware that requires Windows.

Some websites, such as online banking require Internet Explorer.

DRM-based media oft-requires Windows or Mac OS X.

Plug-ins, such as Flash, come slower to Linux. There are also some buggyness with 64-bit software as well.

It may be harder to switch if you are hooked on specific functions of commercial software.

Are mission critical services being
sacrificed in the switch?

Do you have the expertise in house to run the software?

Learning a new software package takes time.

Dont go in over your head without a commitment to learn. Sometimes its best to stay within your knowledge in order to make greater gains.

Case study... Fedora-Commons

Firefox for browsing

Pidgin for chat. 16 protocols.

Thunderbird for email

Filezilla for FTP

Songbird for music

OSS for the Internet

There are hundreds of OSS programs for all operating systems including Windows and Mac OS.

Let's hit some of the highlights.

Internet

Firefox is a great browser. The upcoming version is super fast, but the killer feature is the ability to easily install extensions. My fav is web developer toolbar. It observes web standards and is very secure compared to Internet Exploder. The downside is some websites, such as online banking require Internet Explorer.

Pidgin for chat. The advantage of OS here is it communicates with 16 different protocols. Being cross platform is great for chat-based reference.

Thunderbird for email- Already great for general use. The upcoming version aims to compete better with Outlook.

Filezilla for FTP.

Open Office Microsoft Office

GIMP Photoshop

Scribus InDesign

Inkscape Illustrator

OSS creative equivalents

Office and Graphics

The best known is Open Office which comes complete with word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, drawing and math equation software.

GIMP, Scribus, Inkscape are equivalents to

Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

I've used Adobe products for years as a newspaper designer so for me attempting the transition has been rough. The capabilities I miss in the design programs are with typography.

LAMP server
for dynamic websites

Linux OS

Apache web server

MySQL database

Programming language

On your server

This is where our library has focused. Soon, all our online endeavors will be open source

We start with a LAMP a server running on Linux, Apache, a MySQL database and PHP. There are a multitude of programs that can run in this environment.

Content management

Websites and blogs

Digital projects

Wikis and forums

Try & compare

opensourcecms.com

wikimatrix.org

cmsmatrix.org

Web Applications

Content management is a huge category.

There are dozens of programs for blogging, content management, digital projects, wikis, forums, task management and a lot more that work on a LAMP server.

Once your server is prepared, installation of these programs have become simpler over the years. Once you have information about your database, installation often only takes minutes. WordPress blogging system is famous for it's one minute installation.

Many will install easily on inexpensive off-site hosting companies such as 1and1, Dreamhost and LIShost.org.

Find it...

Opensourcecms.com is a great website because you can try them out to.

Wikimatrix.org and cmsmatrix.org allow you to compare the features of various installations.

Modular development.

Dozens of distributions.

Open source better security

Try a Live CDs.

Linux

Linux

There are dozens of distributions of Linux. Each has strengths lacking in another.

The core functions of Linux can be combined with other software packages to create a solution that fits every need from running servers to running linux off a usb drive.

Ubuntu is the recent favorite for consumers. Live CDs allows you to try the system without installing it.

Security isn't perfect for any system, but Linux comes out well because it is open source. When thousands of people review the code errors become evident. This is important because malicious code most often takes advantage of hidden weaknesses.

Easier to use.

Package management.

Peripheral discovery.

Linux needs tweaking.

Proprietary stumbling blocks.

Linux
Usability

Linux is really getting to the point where non-geeks can use it.

Installation has become much better.

Method of adding software and keeping the system and software up to date is wonderful and easily surpasses anything on Windows or Mac.

Discovery of peripherals has become much better, but some still don't work with Linux. Our library's Xerox WorkCentre may as well be a brick to Linux.

The desktop is similar enough to Windows that most people can pick up its use readily.

Its being used heavily at several libraries in the nation. Notably Howard? County, Maryland. Meade County Penn.

Tweaking needed.

Linux often needs tweaking to fits your needs. This is a pro and con. If you're a newbie it can be confusing.

When I installed Ubuntu on my library computer, I had to dive into the settings to deal with weird things like file privileges with our content server and thumbnail previews

Two LAMP servers.

Textpattern for website.

Roundcube for webmail.

OPACs run on Linux.

SquidGuard for filtering.

MJCPL is using...

Two web servers

One is FreeBSD and the other is Debian Etch.

Both have MySql, Apache and PHP.

I've been using Textpattern for our websites. Powerful CMS, but could use better image management.

Roundcube is finally in stable release.

Our OPAC kiosks are running on Linux.

Our filtering system uses squidGuard.

KohaZoom ILS

Omeka for digital collections

Open Office and Ubuntu

OS Creation Station

Coming down the pike

Our big task this month will be migrating from Sirsi to KohaZoom. They are currently in beta so we'll have a lot of bugs to work through, but usability is so much better than Sirsi. Integrating our website and OPAC will be much easier.

We will migrate our digital collections from ContentDM to Omeka. Still in development, but looks wonderful.

I'm experimenting with Ubuntu on my personal computer.

Pro: Great speed, general ease of use, package management is wonderful.

Cons: Have to learn a whole new set of quirks. Xerox only recently released a driver for our printer.

A few of us are starting to use Open Office. It has settings that allows you to open and save in .doc format, which helps with interoperability.

May your
software be
as mellow as
this fellow

Thank You!

Presentation and links...

www.yarnetsky.net/

projects/opensource

jerry@yarnetsky.net

information@mjcpl.org

Open Source Software : Free Lunch or Free Kittens?Jerry Yarnetsky :: information@mjcpl.org

4 April 2008

ILF District 6 Conference, Madison, Indiana

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