Speaker: Stephen Spohn, Consultant for Information Access and Service Assessment Nelinet
Stephen began by asking the question "What is Open Source". He defined open source as defining a software where code is freely available with a freedom to distribute software and modify source code. Open source uses the concept of "copyleft", which is essentially an inversion of typical copyright ideals. Copyleft dictates that open source software can be freely changed as long as it remains perpetually open source.
Steve mentioned some of the open source licensing organizations:
GNU.org
FreeBSD.org
CreativeCommons.org
He mentioned the fact that Creative Commons licensing is convenient in that it spells out all of the terms of the license in "human-accessible" terms, versus the typical legalese of commercial software licensing.
Open source software is usually free of cost, but, as Steve pointed out, one must factor in the cost of time spent to install and maintain the software (which is usually more time consuming than commercial software).
Some of the advantages of open source can make it very beneficial to library enviornments. Steve stressed the fact that open source software should be used only if it meets a specific need in your library, rather than using it because it is merely "cool". There is a certain amount of technical know-how required to fully run the software. A lot of open source applications do have online "playgrounds", where one can try them out before taking the plunge into downloading them.
Most open source programs do have thriving user communities which function in the place of the typical user manuals that come packaged with commercial software. These are most often comprised of wikis and forums. One must make sure that the support community is active before choosing to rely on an open source program, as some programs do fail with the user market, thus rendering them effectively dead (without active support).
Steve showed us Moodle, an open source course management system for online education. Moodle is a fine example of an open source program that functions as an alternative to more common, commerical programs such as Blackboard and WebCt which effectively serve the same purpose. He suggested a few open source alternatives to common programs used in libraries:
Firefox for web browsing
HTML-Kit for web design
Linux systems for thin-client workstations
Open source modifying means that programs are constantly being tweaked and refined by an active community of users. These users create patches, fixes, and add-ons which help the program to continuously grow.
Steve ended by asking us to view open source software as an opportunity. By using open source we can reject the status quo of outdated software given to us by vendors. This in turn allows us to make a real contribution to our profession and society as a whole.
Showing posts with label discovery software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discovery software. Show all posts
Friday, May 9, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Beyond the Next Generation: Library Catalog with WorldCat Local Tuesday May 6, 4:20pm
Beyond the Next Generation: Library Catalog with WorldCat Local Tuesday May 6, 4:20pm
Jan Ison, Exec. Director, Lincoln Trail Libraries System. Implementation of OCLC’s WorldCat Local in the Lincoln Trail Libraries System in IL.
www.ltls.org/ Try our new catalog: http://lincolntrail.worldcat.org/
They need to manage so much.
Illinois is big! Academic libraries, School libraries, public libraries, special libraries AND the State Library
GIGANTIC BIB DATA INCLUDES:
· Obviously Books
· Images: Illinois Digital Archive – Digital Harvest
· E-resources and digital content collections are huge!
· Audio/Video
· E-Books : overdrive etc.
Problem: Illinois has information silos, and
Could have chosen Endeca, VUfind, but they looked around and wanted to: leverage OCLC holdings AND facilitate Interlibrary Loan. One of their criticisms of the previous situation was the fact that the link from discovery to delivery was circuitous.
Current online catalogs are
Why WorldCat Local?
· Common OPAC interface
· Next Generation Catalog
· Opportunity
· Statewide E-Resource Purchases
· Integrated Interlibrary Loan
· Illinois holdings for most resources already in OCLC
·
Advantages of OCLC’s WorldCat in the opinion of Lincoln trails
Google-like search box
Locally branded
Retrieves print, non-print, electronic
Faceted to focus on author, content format or date
Some of the characteristics of OCLC NEXT GENERATION CATALOGS
· They are currently using a link resolver, however, OCLC is working on a link resolver to directly access fulltext authorized electronic subscriptions.
· They use some Social networking tools
· Customized, shareable saved lists
· Citations provided
Unique features
· Moves management of the database to the network library.
· Moves from discovery to delivery. Librarians like to search, Users like to find.
· Integrates into URL link resolvers.
ILLINOIS presented multiple system problems: There were:
· 4 iLS
· 3 Link resolvers
· Works with 3 Resource Sharing operations.
Required to play in LINCOLN TRAILS WorldCatLocal
· Your library collections MUST be in WorldCat
· Illinois uses summarized.
· eSerials holdings need to be linked in OCLC - thru NELINET or consortium – FREE
· Must index OCLC numbers in ILS
· You MUST turn on interlibrary loan.
DEVELOPMENT
25 multi-type libraries participated at first.
Illinois developed a simple branded interface. All search boxes look the same.
Search boxes can be located in the library’s home page or wherever.
They integrate Syndetics book jackets
Top of display from OCLC, bottom is at the item level
Relevancy ranking defaults to the local library
Facets are to the left.
4 levels of relevancy – First three are
· Home collection
· Lincoln Trails libraries
· All Illinois libraries
· All Worldcat
AUTHENTICATION
At first OCLC couldn’t authenticate outside the library, so Jan huffed that they own EZProxy. They’d better. This is a work in progress.
LINK MANAGERS
They used OCLC Link Manager for access to databases with full text. Currently libraries are using SFX and Serials Solutions, however, universal link resolution should be possible.
MORE NEEDED Digital Content Access
Open Content Alliance titles do appear – Open Content needs to be ranked very high; as high as locally accessible materials.
THIS AND THAT
· Jan raved about the Cite this item features
· Clickable information on the author, in different languages etc. Gave example using Mark Twain.
· Patrons can post reviews. She would like them to capture Amazon reviews or LibraryThing.
NEXT STEPS
· Conduct User surveys
· Add local indexes (e.g. newspaper indexes developed locally)
· Home delivery for ILL
· Authentication using EZProxy
· Get all the pilot sites up
PROBLEMS
Takes longer than expected
Every library has a different idea of relevance and how to implement
Many Silos, fiefdoms .
Implementing delivery presents logistical changes.
FIND JAN’S PRESENTATION
http://www.slideshare.net/ put in worldcat local as a tag
SEE THE SITES
You may view the most recent implementations of WorldCat Local at any one of the following sites:
http://lincolntrail.worldcat.org/
http://mattoonlibrary.worldcat.org/
http://centralmc.worldcat.org/
http://hoopestonpubliclibrary.worldcat.org/
Brenda
Jan Ison, Exec. Director, Lincoln Trail Libraries System. Implementation of OCLC’s WorldCat Local in the Lincoln Trail Libraries System in IL.
www.ltls.org/ Try our new catalog: http://lincolntrail.worldcat.org/
They need to manage so much.
Illinois is big! Academic libraries, School libraries, public libraries, special libraries AND the State Library
GIGANTIC BIB DATA INCLUDES:
· Obviously Books
· Images: Illinois Digital Archive – Digital Harvest
· E-resources and digital content collections are huge!
· Audio/Video
· E-Books : overdrive etc.
Problem: Illinois has information silos, and
Could have chosen Endeca, VUfind, but they looked around and wanted to: leverage OCLC holdings AND facilitate Interlibrary Loan. One of their criticisms of the previous situation was the fact that the link from discovery to delivery was circuitous.
Current online catalogs are
Why WorldCat Local?
· Common OPAC interface
· Next Generation Catalog
· Opportunity
· Statewide E-Resource Purchases
· Integrated Interlibrary Loan
· Illinois holdings for most resources already in OCLC
·
Advantages of OCLC’s WorldCat in the opinion of Lincoln trails
Google-like search box
Locally branded
Retrieves print, non-print, electronic
Faceted to focus on author, content format or date
Some of the characteristics of OCLC NEXT GENERATION CATALOGS
· They are currently using a link resolver, however, OCLC is working on a link resolver to directly access fulltext authorized electronic subscriptions.
· They use some Social networking tools
· Customized, shareable saved lists
· Citations provided
Unique features
· Moves management of the database to the network library.
· Moves from discovery to delivery. Librarians like to search, Users like to find.
· Integrates into URL link resolvers.
ILLINOIS presented multiple system problems: There were:
· 4 iLS
· 3 Link resolvers
· Works with 3 Resource Sharing operations.
Required to play in LINCOLN TRAILS WorldCatLocal
· Your library collections MUST be in WorldCat
· Illinois uses summarized.
· eSerials holdings need to be linked in OCLC - thru NELINET or consortium – FREE
· Must index OCLC numbers in ILS
· You MUST turn on interlibrary loan.
DEVELOPMENT
25 multi-type libraries participated at first.
Illinois developed a simple branded interface. All search boxes look the same.
Search boxes can be located in the library’s home page or wherever.
They integrate Syndetics book jackets
Top of display from OCLC, bottom is at the item level
Relevancy ranking defaults to the local library
Facets are to the left.
4 levels of relevancy – First three are
· Home collection
· Lincoln Trails libraries
· All Illinois libraries
· All Worldcat
AUTHENTICATION
At first OCLC couldn’t authenticate outside the library, so Jan huffed that they own EZProxy. They’d better. This is a work in progress.
LINK MANAGERS
They used OCLC Link Manager for access to databases with full text. Currently libraries are using SFX and Serials Solutions, however, universal link resolution should be possible.
MORE NEEDED Digital Content Access
Open Content Alliance titles do appear – Open Content needs to be ranked very high; as high as locally accessible materials.
THIS AND THAT
· Jan raved about the Cite this item features
· Clickable information on the author, in different languages etc. Gave example using Mark Twain.
· Patrons can post reviews. She would like them to capture Amazon reviews or LibraryThing.
NEXT STEPS
· Conduct User surveys
· Add local indexes (e.g. newspaper indexes developed locally)
· Home delivery for ILL
· Authentication using EZProxy
· Get all the pilot sites up
PROBLEMS
Takes longer than expected
Every library has a different idea of relevance and how to implement
Many Silos, fiefdoms .
Implementing delivery presents logistical changes.
FIND JAN’S PRESENTATION
http://www.slideshare.net/ put in worldcat local as a tag
SEE THE SITES
You may view the most recent implementations of WorldCat Local at any one of the following sites:
http://lincolntrail.worldcat.org/
http://mattoonlibrary.worldcat.org/
http://centralmc.worldcat.org/
http://hoopestonpubliclibrary.worldcat.org/
Brenda
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