Open source plans
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Open source plans
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February 2008 PLN Challenge
- edited by Walt Crawford, published February 5, 2008
If you spent time in the exhibits at the ALA 2008 Midwinter Meeting, you may have noticed a considerable increase of activity in one particular area: Open source software and systems based on open source software.
We asked the PLN Challenge Panel to comment on their own plans and recent experience.
Here’s the question:
- What current plans or recent experiences do you have related to open source software?
Joe Lucia
- Villanova University
- Lucia commented on this in a post on the NGC4LIB (next-generation catalogs for libraries) list on November 16, 2007, a post that also serves as an answer to this question.
I think that open source software development can and should be a huge boon to the library community, What most frustrates me in a general sense is the degree to which in libraries--our human capital and our financial resources--are tied to commercial software that rarely meets our needs well. That is old news. The issue is how to break free of the inertia that keeps us in a technologically paralyzed state.
I have initiated a number of conversations within the mid-Atlantic region about the very real potential for a shift of those investments from commercial software support (and staff technical support for commercial products) to a collaborative support environment for open source applications facilitated by our regional network (in this case PALINET, where, in the interest of full disclosure, I currently serve as board president).
It is frightening for many to contemplate the leap to open source, but if there were a clear process and well-defined path, with technical partners able to provide assistance through the regional networks, I suspect some of the hesitancy to make this move, even among smaller libraries, might dissipate quickly. Within PALINET, for instance, we have a small regional public library system that has successfully made the transition to Koha and has been able to re-direct funds that used to go into software support to local initiatives. There's also a public library that has transitioned its public computing environment to Linux, at considerable savings and with reduced support & acquisition costs for technology. The success models are there and developing best practice frameworks and implementation support methods that will scale will not be rocket science.
These are small test cases but I think they prove the concept. Evergreen is clearly a project on a much larger scale that is working. And it seems to be driven by the same economies I am trying to describe here. I look at my own technology budget and think about how much we expend annually for inferior commercial software. Then I ask myself what if I could find even just a handful of regional partners to pool funds and initiate a support & development consortium for Evergreen (as one obvious choice). I can easily envision a collaborative group of academic libraries identifying a million dollars of "liberated" software support funds within a year.
What will it take to break this logjam? Is it intensive, informed outreach by people like myself to other directors? Is it credible tech support offerings from organizations such as regional consortia for open source applications? Is it both of these and more? If we look beyond money to personnel, the option looks even better. Let me suggest some numbers. What if, in the U.S., 50 ARL libraries, 20 large public libraries, 20 medium-sized academic libraries, and 20 Oberlin group libraries anted up one full-time technology position for collaborative open source development? That's 110 developers working on library applications with robust, quickly-implemented current Web technology--not legacy stuff. There is not a company in the industry that I know of that has put that much technical effort into product development. With such a cohort of developers working in libraries on library technology needs--and in light of the creativity and thoughtfulness evident on forums like this one--I think we would quickly see radical change in the library technology arena. Instead of being technology followers, I venture to say that libraries might once again become leaders. Let's add to the pool some talent from beyond the U.S.--say 20 libraries in Canada, 10 in Australia, and 10 in the U.K. put staff into the pool. We've now got 150 developers in this little start-up. Then we begin pouring our current software support funds into regional collaboratives. Within a year or two, we could be re-directing 10s of millions of dollars into regional technology development partnerships sponsored by and housed within the regional consortia, supporting and extending the work of libraries. The potential for innovation and rapid deployment of new tools boggles the mind. The resources at our disposal in this scenario dwarf what any software vendor in our small application space is ever going to support. And, as is implicit in all I've said, the NGC is just the tip of the iceberg.
Yes, we'd need to establish sound open source management protocols and we'd have to guard against forks and splintering of effort that might undermine the best possible outcomes. But I keep thinking about how successful Linux has been, with developers around the world. Surely librarians and library technologists could evolve a collaborative environment where we'd "play nice" and produce good results for all.
Let me add one more point. Libraries are committed to the notion of the "commons." Libraries are in fact one of the last best hopes for the preservation of the intellectual commons. That value system should extend to the intellectual work we do on our access systems. We should reclaim the domain of library technology from the commercial and proprietary realms and actualize is as part of our vision of the commons. I think there's a clear path to that end. We are also congenital collaborators. Can you think of any other group of institutions that share their stuff the way we do through ILL? So how can we marshal the courage to make open source technology happen in more than a few isolated library environments?
BTW, we at Villanova are looking seriously at migration module by module over the next year from commercial applications to open source solutions in every area where this is a viable option. I intend to put my money where my mouth is. VuFind is the first (necessary) step.
- Joe Lucia has more to say on this topic. You'll find it at From open stacks to open source, which originally appeared in Villanova's April 2007 library e-newsletter.
Pamela Snelson
- Franklin & Marshall College
F&M uses a hosted version of DSpace for our institutional repository. This is working well and I assume that I would follow this model for additional open source software applications. I love the idea of open source software but at a small college I don't have staff resources to devote to running, updating, tweaking, etc software. For me, it will be consortial applications that catch my interest.
Cindy Czesak
- Paterson (NJ Public Library
I am intrigued and enticed by the concept of exploring an open source solution for the Library in which I work--but cannot imagine how we could implement it. I am in a public library in a city of 150,000, but we share a computer consortium in our county with 16 other municipalities. We value working cooperatively, because none of us could serve our constituents very well standing alone.
However, the concept of planning and evaluating for a transition like this seems incredibly daunting to me--and I operate from one of the larger libraries. We have no dedicated IT staff in house; despite the fact there is a staff at the consortium, it is a very lean operation requiring them to be more reactive than proactive. Unlike some academic settings with which I am familiar, there is no IT department outside of the Library for me to consult with, either. Open source remains a dream, which I hope we can one day implement, after we disentangle ourselves from the system on which we now rely.
- Addendum to original submission: After an email exchange with Walt Crawford, I am realizing just how little I know about open source software. That demonstrates that either I am a confirmed aging administrator who only has a passing awareness of technological evolution or that I am clearly working in a situation without adequate technological support and am grasping at whatever I can find. You pick!
Related articles
- Why look at open source now? - PALINET's John Houser provides a current commentary on why open source is of growing interest to libraries.
- Future catalogs: food for thought - Eric Lease Morgan provides challenging possibilities for future catalogs, possibilities that seem likely to require open source to achieve.
- Open source and the wisdom of crowds - Jamie LaRue asked a group of library leaders which technology trends would affect libraries the most over the next few years. The answers? Open source for libraries, open source in general, and mobile devices.
- Private equity and open source - The Library Leadership Network Peer Panel discusses the influx of private equity into library-related firms--and how open source might offer alternatives.
- ILS migration - An open source revolution? - Glen Holt returned from the 2007 ALA Annual Conference believing that an ILS revolution has begun.
Your turn: Talk about it
What are your plans or recent experiences with open source software? Add them here or on the Talk page, or email them to Walt Crawford for editing and inclusion.
