Open Source Programs for
the Reference Librarian
When your budget is more limited
than your vision
LITA Open Source Systems Interest
Group
Open Source Systems Interest
Group

Our interest group meeting is on Monday
from 1:30 – 3:30 in the Loews New Orleans,
Beauregard Room
Presentation Goals



To encourage Reference / Instruction
Librarians to build collaborative partnerships
with Systems people
To promote the use of Open Source in
libraries and encourage development /
modification of Open Source for libraries
To introduce and review a number of Open
Source products that might be useful for
Reference
What is Open Source?




Free redistribution
Source code open and distributed, enabling
modification
Modifications of the source code and
derivations are encouraged
Peer Review model – Many developers
improving and modifying products
Things to keep in mind



Just because Open Source is “free” doesn’t
mean that it doesn’t require staff time to
implement and maintain it
Many Open Source programs require
particular operating environments and
additional software (e.g. UNIX, Linux, PHP,
MySQL, etc.)
Using Open Source requires Systems
support
Important Sites



http://www.opensource.org
http://sourceforge.net
http://www.oss4lib.org
Presenters



Ranti Junus, Systems Librarian at Michigan
State University – iVia [http://ivia.ucr.edu]
Teria Curry, Distance Librarian at Johns
Hopkins University – LibX [http://libx.org]
Kirsten Allen, Reference/Instruction Librarian
at American University – Jabber
[http://www.jabber.org] and Gaim
[http://gaim.sourceforge.net]
Presenters Cont.


Mary Evangeliste, Information Commons
Training Coordinator at University of Arizona
– MediaWiki
[http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki]
George Harmon, Systems Librarian at Florida
State University – JabRef
[http://jabref.sourceforge.net]
iVia virtual library software
an open source internet portal and
virtual library system
-Ranti Junus, Systems Librarian
Michigan State University
what is iVia

a software package for building virtual libraries of
Internet resources.

use it to build a database of meta data records,
either manually or by employing its many record
building, meta data assignment and focused
crawling tools.

the virtual library itself is searchable and
browsable through a standard Web browser.
iVia developer

developed by the INFOMINE Project at the
Library of the University of California, Riverside
as the engine for the INFOMINE Scholarly
Internet Resource Collections
(http://infomine.ucr.edu/).

free software, distributed under the terms of the
GNU General Public License.

http://ivia.ucr.edu
infomine
(http://infomine.ucr.edu)
search & browse

simple search

advanced search: various options for search
and result display

results: relevance ranking by default

title

author, subject (LCSH), subject discipline

keyword

description

full text
browse – keyword: all
categories
browse – keyword: by category
search - advanced
search – by category
search – advanced: search
options

origins


resource access


expert created or expert + web robot
fee based, free, both
type of resources (data sets, electronic
journals, gov.documents, etc.)
search – advanced: result
options



result display

title only

title and short paragraph
ranking

relevancy

by title: alphabetical, ignoring stop words (The,
A/An)
number of results per page
search – advanced: options
search – by category: options
search result – all categories
search result – by category
search result – settings
meta data
meta data
back end – administration

categories creation - manual

import records from OAI-PMH and MARC

remote service capability

automatically assign meta data service to URL

expert-guided crawler service to find new
resources

delete or replace a set of results
'Adders' website tools


to help librarians discover and describe
Internet resources

adding and editing records

suggestions for a new record

url checker
to build Internet portals and virtual libraries
Adders homepage
(http://ivia.ucr.edu/manuals/iVia/5.0.0/adders_manual/adders_homepage.shtml)
systems & software installation

apache web server

mysql database

linux operating system; iVia is tested on
debian, redhat, and suse

latest version: 5.0.0 pre 25 (as of June 20th,
2006)

straight forward installation using their
installation scripts
where to find

download from their site
(http://ivia.ucr.edu/download/)

extensive manual – read carefully!
(http://ivia.ucr.edu/manuals/)
LibX: A Firefox
Extension for Libraries
Teria Curry, Distance Librarian
Johns Hopkins University
LibX: Background

LibX is a localized Firefox extension that
provides direct access to your library's
resources via the Firefox browser

Joint project of the Virginia Tech Newman
Library and the VT Department of Computer
Science.

For more information go to www.libx.org
LibX: System Features






Host code at libx.org server or institutional
server
Toolbar installed on Client-side
Direct access to OPAC
Direct access to OpenURL Resolver
Integration of Google Scholar
Support for embedded cues
From a Reference Point-of-View




Great for digital Natives
Toolbar can be customized to meet user
needs
Bridges the Internet to the Library
Directs users back to full-text content
Open Source
Chat Programs
Kirsten Allen
Reference and Instruction Librarian
American University
Jabber
Open Source Consumer IM Service
Gaim
Open Source Multi-protocol IM Client
Jabber

www.jabber.org

Jabber is set of streaming XML protocols;
runs on Windows, Linux, MacOS X

Jabber clients can chat with commercial IM
clients including Yahoo, MSN, Google talk
and AOL; requires setting up gateways/
transports on specific jabber servers
Jabber continued...

Numerous clients to choose from
(http://www.jabber.org/software/clients.sht
ml)

Can set up in-library system using own
server or can connect to Jabber public
servers (www.xmpp.net)

Installation requires knowledge of
institution’s network infrastructure
Pros/Cons of Jabber

Use by millions guarantees protocols are
continually improved

Not recommend for libraries without
systems support familiar with XML

Advertising free – works with other
commercial services
Gaim

gaim.sourceforge.net

Allows users to open multiple IM clients in
one interface and monitor chat sessions
concurrently; AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber
and more

Runs on a Windows, MacOS X, and Linux
Gaim continued…

For libraries looking to provide IM
reference service using multiple IM clients

Easily installed on computer; new beta
versions available at website

Supports many of the features included in
other IM clients; plug-ins available for other
features
Pros/Cons of Gaim

Products free of advertising

Being updated by programmers

Does have some bugs –
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/win32/index.php#bugs
Using the software behind
Wikipedia to create a dynamic
reference F.A.Q. and social
networking space.
Mary F. Evangeliste
Training Coordinator-Information Commons
Undergraduate Services Team
University of Arizona, Main Library
MediaWiki
James A.H. Murray, Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, in his
"Scriptorium" (ca. 1880).
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol22/vol22_iss2/Oxford_Dictio
nary_Online.html
My dilemma-Training for Information
Commons- complicated and messy…





open almost 24/7
over 250 computers
over 50 different software programs
including Photoshop, dream weaver,
Illustrator etc.
over 400 databases
over 20 students and 15 staff members
NEED CONSTANT TRAINING!
What we use now: The Enquirer
Limitation: Dreamweaver




only one contributor
no shared knowledge
no social aspect
difficult to get students engaged
Advantages :WikimediaReference F.A.Q.






all staff and student can contribute
web based –updates from anywhere at any
time
no master file, but always archived
no software needs
share training modules without fear of edits
could create dynamic announcement for
training with images
Example of Wiki: advantages
Advantages :social networking




use protected area of wiki for social
exchanges
updates on campus
more cultural and academic information
photos, image galleries
Possible cons:





hard to make new pages
first creator would need to anticipate future
needs
unless it is replacing something-hard to get
buy in
age old problem-do the categories mean
anything
Definite purpose and use
Open Source Software in use at
U of A
Open Sesame
TomCat
Apache
GIMP
Firefox
Thunderbird
In the Future
Wiki software
Institutional Repository
Java servlet engine
Web Server
Uses beyond
Photoshop
Web Broswer
Email similar to Outlook
Open Source Bibliographic
Citation Software
A overview of Jabref Citation
Manager
George Harmond, Systems Librarian
Florida State University
Downloading Jabref



Download from http://sourceforge.net/projects/jabref/
Project Home Page: http://jabref.sourceforge.net/
Prerequisite software required: An installed Java
engine



Recommended - the Java JRE from
http://java.com/en/about/brand/pcoem/
Many IT departments pre-install Java on computers before
the user gets the computer.
Some IT departments will not allow the loading of software
unless approval is given – Please follow your policies !!
Documentation – where to get
help for using Jabref


Documentation can be forund at:
http://jabref.sourceforge.net/
The same documentation can be found under
the Help menu in the Jabref menu bar
What is Jabref?

From the Jabref site: “JabRef is an open
source bibliography reference manager. The
native file format used by JabRef is BibTeX,
the standard LaTeX bibliography format.
JabRef runs on the Java VM (version 1.4.2 or
greater), and should work equally well on
Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.”
The Good Things




Jabref runs in the Java Environment – Java is non
OS-platform specific (Runs on Windows, Linux Mac
OS, etc)
Open Source – Free for download and use. You can
download as many copies of the software as you
want/need to. There are no per-computer licensing
restrictions.
Jabref recognizes formats for several of the major
database vendors, including ISI, CSA, INSPEC,
Jstor, Medline, Ovid, SciFinder.
Recognizes RIS and Endnote formats.
The Bad News





Jabref runs in the Java Environment –
Jabref does not have Z39.50 capability
Does not recognize the MARC format.
Creating new Import filters requires a real
working knowledge of Java programming.
Does not print References – uses export to
print.
Using Jabref





Jabref organizes citations for you
Allows the user to choose how citations are
displayed
Imports citations from a number of scientific
and social sciences databases
Will export in several formats
Works (Limited) with OpenOffice.org 2.x
Jabref does NOT


Print citations directly from the Jabref
program
Does NOT work directly with Microsoft word
(eg. Like Endnote)


However you can export in RTF format ot the
clipboard and paste directly into Microsoft or
OpenOffice documents. File->Export->HarvardRTF
Does support export to OpenOffice.org spreadsheet
as a CSV
Continued….




Put in something about Biblioscape the freeware
citation manager
Right click to export to clipboard in HTML, XML, and
RTF format. Can use to paste into Word docs.
Do CSA, INSPEC, ISI , JStor, Medline, Ovid,
REPEC, RIS, Refer, Endnote, Scifinder,
Silverplatter,
What formats are supported? APA ALA ETC?? NO –
You have to set things up in your own style.