“Free Beer” for Libraries? - Getting Results with Open Source Solutions SNRG 2011 @ FM Michelle Suranofsky Mark Canney Lehigh University Philosophy of “Free” or Open Source Software “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.” —Richard Stallman, Founder of the Free Software Movement Philosophy of “Free” or Open Source Software The Open Source Licensing Model (GNU.org) defines four essential freedoms: • • • • The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0). The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. Values of Open Source - Freedom - Transparency - Extensibility - Collaboration - Innovation Strength in numbers! Successes of Open Source Operating Systems: Linux, Symbian, GNU Project, NetBSD. Servers: Apache, Tomcat, MediaWiki, Drupal, WordPress, Eclipse, Moodle, Joomla Programming Languages: Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby Client software: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Songbird, Audacity, 7-Zip Digital Content: Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Project Gutenberg Viability of Open Source for Libraries What are ‘hidden’ costs and considerations? Is there really “Free Beer”? -Infrastructure -Development -Support The Lehigh experience with Open Source: A pragmatic approach Lehigh Libraries has taken a pragmatic path of considering, on a case-by-case basis, feature-laden OSS for various needs: Discovery: VuFind Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit Web Presence: Drupal CMS Open Source Discovery: VuFind • • • • • • • Faceted results Live Record Status “More Like This” Enriched Content Browse for Resources Organize: save and tag! Social Features: Tag & Comment • Friendly URLS - items, searches Open Source Discovery: VuFind • Very active user community • Proven Technology Examples of implementation abound • Level of Maturity (code & the project mgt) • SirsiDynix Development Community Open Source Discovery: VuFind Implementation Customization Need: Configure Search Types Open Source Discovery: VuFind Implementation Customization Need: Combine serial & journal items into one category Open Source Discovery: VuFind Implementation Customization Need: Dewey Decimal Enabling Open Source Discovery:VuFind Implementation - Custom Coding Open Source Discovery: VuFind Implementation Custom Coding Open Source Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit The XC NCIP Toolkit allows clients to interact with an ILS for authentication requests, live circulation status lookups, and circulation requests. XC uses the NCIP standard protocol to accomplish this. Open Source Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit NCIP Web Services implementation written in Java Open Source Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit • • • • Lookup User Check In Item Check Out Item Accept Item Open Source Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit The Code Has been open sourced... Open Source Connectivity: The eXtensible Catalog (XC) NCIP toolkit • • • • Active development community Extremely responsive to my questions Proven Robust Open Source Connectivity: NCIP Go-live Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS 10,194 Modules 1,147 Themes 8,737 Developers (as of 6/14/11) . • web-based adminstration, updating • user community is strong, vigorous • modular and extensible (a slim powerful core, extensible through custom modules) • low resource (minimal, widely-available server-side requirements) • dynamic presentation of content Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS The Drupal Technology Stack The Drupal Aquarium • • • Nodes - any piece of content Taxonomies - used for categories, organization Views - use node attributes to build presentation Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS Dynamic content with nodes, taxonomies, views: Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS The Lehigh experience with Drupal: • Costs: implementation woes, steep learning curve, custom coding • Benefits: collaborative updating, in-page editing, reusable nodes, taxonomies, dynamic content, social features, powerful modules, integration with digital content ... Outcomes: Discovery and Empowerment! Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS Brief Tour of our Drupal site ... Open Source Web Presence: Drupal CMS Where is the Drupal Community? • Online and Local Groups: groups.drupal.org • Events and Meetups • Chat (IRC): irc.freenode.net • Planet Drupal: blog aggregator • Forums: http://drupal.org/forum • Mailing Lists • Drupal4Libraries! DRUPAL4LIB@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU, groups.drupal.org/libraries, drupal4lib interest group (LITA), Drupallib: http://drupalib.interoperating.info/ Conclusions about OSS: "Free Beer"? • • • • • Landscape of OSS is rich, diverse and maturing Philosophically a good fit for libraries Key Benefit: Community, Collaboration! Offsetting costs in terms of infrastructure, development, support Pragmatic approach may be best Questions? Experiences to share? "Stay thirsty my friends!"