Providing Services to our Remote Users: Open Source Solutions

Providing Services to our Remote
Users: Open Source Solutions
Nicole C. Engard
Director of Open Source Education
ByWater Solutions
nengard@gmail.com

Outline
• What is Open Source?
• Products for your Library
• Q&A Throughout

What isn’t Open Source?
Common Open Source FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt)

•“Isn’t that insecure?”

•“I don’t want to share my data!”

•“How can it be any good if it’s free?”

•“We don’t have the staff to handle open source.”

•“We’ve never had success with homegrown
systems.”

Comic: Author: Unknown | Year: Unknown | Source: Unknown

What is Open Source?
Open source software is software that users have
the ability to run, distribute, study and modify for
any purpose.

Open source is a collaborative software-
development method that harnesses the power
of peer review and transparency of process to
develop code that is freely accessible.1

Open source draws on an
ecosystem of thousands of
developers and customers all
over the world to drive
innovation.2

1,2 http://connect.educause.edu/display/47941

The Cathedral & The Bazaar
The Cathedral The Bazaar
(proprietary software) (open source software)

•Development •Code developed
occurs behind over the Internet
walls with several
•Source code is others in public
usually not view
provided - kept •Source code open
locked up to all users
•Corporate •“Given enough
hierarchy eyeballs, all bugs
are shallow”

http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/

Open Source Governance
What kind of quality control is there?

•Most open source projects have a release manager or a manager of some
sort who reviews the code and approves it before adding it to the ﬁnal
release

What is the roll of the community?

•The community looks out for the best interests of the
software. They work as the governing body behind all
decisions related to the software. The community decides
what features to develop next and who the managers are.

Open Source Community
•Open source is about more than free software
•Community is crucial to the growth of open source
•Without shared knowledge and collaboration the
project will not grow
•“Critiquing the community is a right reserved for
those who have proved themselves by making
valuable contributions”1
•People who use open source can collaborate and
contribute in many ways with the community Graphic From: http://eaves.ca/
•Write code 2009/07/28/remixing-angie-byron-to-
create-the-next-million-mozillians/

•Write documentation
•Debug
•Educate others

1. Tapscott, Don, and Anthony D. Williams. “Embracing open source culture and
strategy.” In Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything, 82-83.
Expanded Edition. New York, NY: Penguin USA, 2008. www.wikinomics.com/book/.

Open Source Crowdsourcing
“Crowdsourcing has it genesis in the open source movement
in software. The development of the Linux operating system
proved that a community of like-minded peers was capable of
creating a better product than a corporate behemoth like
Microsoft. Open source revealed a fundamental truth about
humans that had gone largely unnoticed until the connectively
of the Internet brought it into high relief: labor can often be
organized more efficiently in the context of a community than
it can in the context of the corporation. The best person to
do a job is the one who most wants to do that job; and the
best people to evaluate their performance are their friends
and peers who, by the way, will enthusiastically pitch in to
improve the final product, simply for the sheer pleasure of
helping one another and creating something beautiful from
which they all will benefit.”

Howe, J. (2008). Crowdsourcing: Why the power of the crowd is driving
the future of business. New York: Crown Business. p.8

Who’s Using Open Source?

•Government Agencies
•All Kinds of Businesses
•Schools (K-colleges)
•Librarians

Open Source in Business
2007 Survey Results

http://www.unisys.com/unisys/news/detail.jsp?id=5100086&pid=&sid=203

Open Source in Business
• In 2010 a survey of 300 large organizations in both the private and
public sector found:
• 50% are fully committed to open source in their business
• 28% say they are experimenting with open source and keeping an
open mind to using it
• 38% expecting to migrate mission-critical software to open
source in next 12 months
• The cost was no longer viewed as the key benefit,
instead:
• 76% cited quality as a key benefit of open source
• 70% cited improved reliability
• 69% said better security/bug fixing

http://newsroom.accenture.com/
article_display.cfm?article_id=5045

Open Source on the Web
Total Active Servers: 10/2000 to 7/2010

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2010/07/16/july-2010-web-server-survey-16.html

Why so popular?
• Reliability through Peer Review
• Freedom to Innovate
• No Vendor Lock-in
• User-centric Development
• Collaborative Environment
• Zero License Fees

Open Source & Libraries
Libraries and Open Source Both...

• Believe that information should be
freely accessible to everyone

• Give away stuff

• Beneﬁt from the generosity of others

• Are about communities

• Make the world a better place

-- Horton, G. http://tinyurl.com/3jvumn

Common questions libraries have:

• Is there support? Do I have to
know how to program?
• Do I have to skimp on features?
• Isn’t Open Source risky?
• Can I do it myself?

Support for Open Source
Is there support?
• ByWater Solutions
• BibLibre
• Equinox
• YourLibrarySite
• And more!
Do I have to know how
to program?
• Local Students
• Freelance Developers

Do I have to skimp on features?
• Open Source developers follow
the rule of “Release early and
release often”

• Users vote with their dollars and
time

• Freedom to develop on your own

• Developers love their products
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/programwitch/
2505184887/

Isn’t Open Source Risky?
• Casey Coleman, chief information
officer for the GSA (U.S. General
Services Administration), said in a
speech ... that the GSA heavily relies
on open source to drive down costs,
increase flexibility of IT dollars, and
reduce risk. ʻYou get much more
transparency and interoperability, and
that reduces your risk,ʼ she said.
• US Department of Defense memo
encourages the use of open source
• http://news.cnet.com/ with many reasons “including cost
8301-13505_3-9921115-16.html advantages, reduced risk of vendor
lock-in, better security, and increased
flexibility. It says that the positive
aspects of open source software
should be given consideration during
procurement research.
• http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/
2009/10/dod-military-needs-to-think-harder-
about-using-open-source.ars

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmcharlt/3805445236/

Isn’t Open Source Risky?
For a total 284 days in 2006 (or more than nine months out of the year), exploit code for
known, unpatched critical flaws in pre-IE7 versions of the browser was publicly available on
the Internet. Likewise, there were at least 98 days last year in which no software fixes from
Microsoft were available to fix IE flaws that criminals were actively using to steal personal
and financial data from users.

In a total of ten cases last year, instructions detailing how to leverage "critical"
vulnerabilities in IE were published online before Microsoft had a patch to fix them.

In contrast, Internet Explorer's closest competitor in terms of market share -- Mozilla's
Firefox browser -- experienced a single period lasting just nine days
last year in which exploit code for a serious security hole was posted
online before Mozilla shipped a patch to remedy the problem.

Quote: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/
internet_explorer_unsafe_for_2.html
Image: http://www.seo-quotient.com/firefox-v-internet-explorer-v-safari-web-browsers/

Risk of Proprietary Software
• “Closed-source efforts often suffer from
ﬂaws and problems which the original
development team never anticipated.
Lack of inspection of the code by other
programmers can mean that
inappropriate design constraints and
other errors might not be discovered
until the code is already in use.”

Pavlicek, Russell. Embracing insanity :
open source software development.
Indianapolis IN: SAMS, 2000. p. 33.

Software is Risky!
All software has risks, you need to evaluate open source the same way
you do proprietary systems.

Several Levels of Risk to consider:

• Software security issues
• Open source is just as secure if not more secure than proprietary
systems because of its transparency
• Evaluate open source software no differently than you do other
software!

• Company mergers and acquisitions
• Because you own the code to your system you are not
tied to one support source and will never be left without
support

Can I do it myself?
• Absolutely, with the right
in-house skills

• Linux server
management

• Web programming
• Perl / PHP / MySQL
• Systems knowledge

When asked what Open Source apps they use at work,
977 librarians and library workers answered as follows

http://opensource.web2learning.net/archives/category/survey-results

When asked why they chose and open source app,
977 librarians and library workers answered as follows

http://opensource.web2learning.net/archives/category/survey-results

The ones you’ve heard about
• Firefox
• www.firefox.com
• OpenOffice
• www.openoffice.org
• Linux / Ubuntu
• www.ubuntu.org

Desktop Publishing
• Works on most operating systems
• Professional page layout
• Comes with a combination of
"press-ready" output and new
approaches to page layout
• Supports professional publishing
features, such as CMYK color,
separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF
creation
• Non-Latin script handling in PDFs
• Several translations

http://www.scribus.net/

Photo Editing

• Works on most operating
systems
• Supports photo retouching and
image creation
• Includes a customizable interface
and plugins for extended functionality
• Supports most photo formats
• Available in several languages

http://gimp.org

Web Development
systems
• WYSIWYG editor
• Integrated ﬁle management
with FTP
• Support for forms, templates, and tables
• HTML editing interface
• Tabbed editor
• No ofﬁcial support anymore, but works great out of the box

http://nvudev.com/

FTP

• Available for client and server
• Client works on most operating systems
• Server is Windows only
• Drag and drop interface
• Available in several languages
• Can filter by filename
• Allows for remote file editing

http://filezilla-project.org/

Web Conferencing
systems
• Runs right in the web browser
• Secure (data encrypted by
HTTPS)
• Meetings can be conducted
either in conjunction with an enterprise’s existing
teleconferencing service, or utilizing WebHuddle’s optional
voice over IP

https://www.webhuddle.com/

Web Conferencing
• Works on most operating systems
• Comes in open source and enterprise editions
• No software downloads for meeting hosts or
attendees (runs in your browser)
• Share your desktop, slides, chat and voice
• Broadcast via webcam and voice over IP
• Open source version meant for developers,
tech enthusiasts and for other non-critical
environments

http://www.dimdim.com/

Instant Messaging

• IM with multiple logins at once
• Supports ﬁle transfers
• Shows typing notiﬁcations
• Allows for custom away messages
• Windows only
• See Adium for Mac

http://www.pidgin.im/
http://www.adiumx.com/

Screencasting
• Works on WindowsXP only
• Records actions on your
screen
• Multi-Language support
• Records audio from system speakers
• Features include the ability to:
• Add System Time Stamp To Video
• Add Caption To Video
• Add Watermark To Video

http://camstudio.org/

Screencasting
• Works on Windows only
• Record software demonstrations and
tutorials.
• Include
• Voice
• Webcam
• Text
• Publish in Flash, view on our website or
yours.
•Receive ratings,
comments and share with
others.

http://www.webinaria.com

Online Surveys
• Install on your own servers
• WYSIWYG HTML Editor
• User-Management
• Creation of a printable survey version
• Free with no limits on number of surveys or responses
• Multi-Lingual Surveys in more than 50 languages
• Integration of pictures and movies into a survey
• Anonymous and Not-Anonymous survey
• Open and closed group of participant surveys
• Optional public registration for surveys

http://limesurvey.org/

Content Management
• Easy to install and customize
• Allows for user permissions
• Plugins for events calendar, blogs
wikis, page history and much more
• Thousands of pre-made themes
• Built-in search engine
• Can run an entire library website or
intranet

http://joomla.org
http://www.joomlainlibrary.com
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-free-joomla-extensions-live/

Advanced Content Management
•More advanced interface and installation process
•Expandable with Modules
•The Drupal community has contributed many
modules which provide functionality that extend
Drupal core
•Extensive online help
•Both the content and the presentation can be
individualized based on user-deﬁned preferences.
•Role based permission system
•Runs 3x as many sites as the next CMS*

http://drupal.org
http://listserv.uic.edu/archives/drupal4lib.html
* http://tomgeller.com/content/drupal-runs-three-times-many-top-sites-next-cms

Library Content Management
• Developed and used by librarians!
• MaiaCMS includes modules for:
• announcements
• change password
• form administration
• front page management
• job opening page management
• mass mailer generation (e-mail)
• promotion management
• remote patron authentication
• scheduled task management
• site management

http://sourceforge.net/projects/maiacms/

Content Management
• Easy to install and
customize
• Allows for detailed user
permissions
• Plugins for events calendar, widgets, photo galleries and
more
• Thousands of pre-made themes
• Includes content management functionality
• Built-in search engine
• Support multiple authors and blogs
• Can run an entire library website or intranet
• Found on nearly 3 times as many big sites as
Drupal*
http://wordpress.org
http://wp4lib.bluwiki.com
* http://tomgeller.com/content/drupal-runs-three-times-many-top-sites-next-cms

OPAC
• Blacklight OPAC
• Allows for indexing multiple types of objects from the repository
with separate metadata standards
• Allows for searching of bib records alongside digital library items
• Friendly interface
• RSS Feeds for search results
• Facetted Searching
• Cover images
• Speedy/Friendly search engine

http://rubyforge.org/projects/blacklight/
http://blacklight.betech.virginia.edu/

OPAC
• Currently only works with Voyager
• More ILS support to come
• Faceted results
• Save lists
• Zotero integration
• Persistent URLs
• Author biographies
• Similar items searching
• Browsable

http://vuﬁnd.org

CMS & OPAC in One

•CMS and OPAC with faceted searching and
browsing features
•Leverages WordPress to offer rich content
management features for all a library’s content
•Free and open source
•Represents library catalogs in an easily
searchable, highly remixable web-based
format

http://about.scriblio.net

CMS & OPAC in One
•SOPAC (Social Online Public Access Catalog) is a module for the
Drupal CMS that provides true integration of your library catalog
within Drupal while allowing users to tag, rate, and review your
holdings.
•Faceted browsing
•Ability to remove search limiters
•Saved searches
•Integrated renewals, holds placement, and ﬁne payment
•Ability to customize the user experience via the administrative
control panel
•100% customizable interface via the Drupal template
system

http://thesocialopac.net

Community Digital Library
• Library can contain:
• Images
• Audio recordings
• Video recordings
• Documents
• URLs of web resources
• Community built / collaborative effort between librarians and
patrons
• Great for genealogy and local history

http://kete.net.nz/

Online Exhibitions
• Professional-looking exhibit sites that showcase
collections
• Dublin Core metadata structure
• Multiple themes
• Plug-ins for geolocation and bi-lingual sites
• Web 2.0 technologies, including:
• Tagging
• Blogging
• RSS feeds

http://omeka.org/
http://nycdigital.org/

Integrated Library System
• Installs to your desktop
• Offers the following functions
• Cataloging
• Circulation
• Patron Management
• In development
• Acquisitions
• Serials
• Software available for free
• Support available at reasonable prices
• Data is yours!

http://open-ils.org

Web-Based ILS
• Fully web-based ILS
• Offers same features as the proprietary ILS
• Cataloging
• Circulation
• Patron Management
• Acquisitions
• Serials
• Software available for free
• Support available at reasonable prices
• Data is yours!

http://koha-community.org

Play Time
•Start downloading
and installing
applications that will
make things more
efﬁcient (and possibly
affordable) for you.
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/nengard/
3253133986/

Portable Play
•Can’t install software on your work
computer?
•Try PortableApps:
•Install on your USB drive and use
many of these open source
applications without installing to
the hard drive

http://portableapps.com

Local Play
•Don’t have access to a web server?
•Try BitNami:
•Free, easy to setup wikis,
blogs, forums and many other
web applications that you can
run locally or in the cloud.
BitNami makes deploying
server software a simple and
enjoyable process.

http://bitnami.org/

Additional Links
•Top 50 Programs that Drive You Crazy & their OS Alternatives:
http://tinyurl.com/2xju2m

•OSS Watch, open source software advisory service:
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk

•Open Source as Alternative
http://www.osalt.com

•Open Source Software and Libraries Bibliography
zotero.org/groups/
freelibre_and_open_source_software_and_libraries_bibliography

•Nicole’s Delicious bookmarks:
http://delicious.com/nengard/opensource
•Open Source Living
http://osliving.com

Open Source Blogs
•The Open Road •ZDNet Open Source
http://www.cnet.com/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-
openroad/ source

•Open Ended from Ars Technica •New York Times - Open
http://arstechnica.com/open- http://open.nytimes.com
source •OSS & Libraries (Yahoo! Pipe)
•The H Open Source http://tinyurl.com/5aohv9
http://www.h-online.com/open/

Online Reading List
• Open Source: Narrowing the Divides between Education, Business, and Community
http://connect.educause.edu/display/47941

• Open Source Software in Libraries
http://infomotions.com/musings/ossnlibraries/

• The concepts of Free Software & Open Standards: Introduction to Free Software
http://ftacademy.org/materials/fsm/1#1

• We Love Open Source Software. No, You Can’t Have Our Code
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/527

• A Primer on Risk
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6611591.html

• Nicole’s Zotero Library
http://www.zotero.org/nengard/items/collection/1796131

Print Reading List
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an
Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond

• Embracing Insanity: Open Source Software Development by Russell Pavlicek

• The success of open source by Steve Weber

• The open source alternative: Understanding risks and leveraging
opportunities by Heather J. Meeker

• Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution by Chris DiBona, Mark Stone,
and Danese Cooper

• Practical Open Source Software for Libraries by Nicole C.
Engard (http://opensource.web2learning.net)

Thank You
Nicole C. Engard
nengard@gmail.com
Upcoming Book:
opensource.web2learning.net
Slides: http://web2learning.net >
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Providing Services to our Remote Users: Open Source Solutions

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