Transcript Bangalore University Library Bangalore – 560 056

Bangalore University Library
Bangalore – 560 056
Transforming Libraries into Learning Centers using
Open Source Technologies
Open Source Technologies in Open Libraries
Dr. P. V. Konnur
University Librarian
Bangalore University
Jnana Bharthi Campus
Bangalore
Dr. H.J.Abidi
Deputy Librarian
Dr.Zakir Hussain Library
Jamia Milia
New Delhi
Open Source
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Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of
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better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory
vendor lock-in.
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“Open Source software is computer
software whose source code is
available under a license that permits
users to use, change, and improve
the software, and to redistribute it in
modified or unmodified form”
--Wikipedia
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distributed peer review and transparency of process.
Advantages
Free Redistribution
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Source Code
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Derived Works
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Integrity of The Author's Source Code
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No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups, Fields or Endeavor
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Distribution of License
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License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
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License Must Be Technology-Neutral
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source code and the right to modify it is very important
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There is no single entity on which the future of the software depends
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No per-copy fees can be asked for modified versions
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It provides a new forum for democratic action
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Why Should Librarians Care About Software Licenses?
Discussions of software license, fair use and copyright overlap
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Creative Commons License for content is an outgrowth of F/OSS
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End User License Agreements (EULA's) limit rights
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Free/open source licenses protect freedom and rights
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You never own commercial software
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Public access can be restricted by EULA's
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Software licenses are a drain on limited library budgets
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Knowledge as information vs. knowledge as property
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What F/OSS to Use?
F/OSS
Web Browser
In t ern et Ex plorer
Mozilla Firefox ; Opera
Word processin g
Microfoft Word
Open Office Writ er
Presen t at ion s
Microsoft PowerPoin t
Open Office Im press
Spreadsheet s
Microsoft Ex cel
Open Office Calc
Dat abase
Oracle; m s sql server
My SQL Post greSQL
Graphics edit in g
Adobe Phot oshop
GIMP
Deskt op Pu blishin g
Qu ark Xpress
Scribu s
In st an t Messagin g
AIM
GAIM
Fin an ces
Qu icken
Gn u Cash; Tu rboCash
PDF Creat ion
Adobe Acrobat
PDF Creat or; Ghost script
Au dio Edit in g
ProTools
Au dacit y
Flowchart in g
Visio
Dia
Vect or Graphics
Adobe Illu st rat or
Sodipodi
Em ail clien t
Ou t look
Thu n derbird; kMail
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Ty pe of Sof t w a re Proprie t a ry
Widely Used Open Source Applications
OS
Firefox
Web browser
Apache
Web server
OpenOffice.org
MS Office alternative
MySQL
SQL server
WordPress
Blogging software
Audacity
Audio file editor
MediaWiki
Wiki software
Drupal
Website content management system (CMS)
Pidgin
IM/IRC
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Linux
User – Burning Questions
• Where do I get help?
• Is this software high quality?
• Is it secure?
• Reliable?
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• Will I save money?
Will I Save Money?
• Maybe, maybe not
invested into the software
• End result: you get more for your money
Where do I Get Help?
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Documentation
FAQ
Project mailing list
– Participation in the community matters here!
Commercial vendor
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• In a more typical scenario not paying a license fee frees up money which is then
Is this software high quality?
Merely being open source, does not guarantee quality
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But, if the project is being actively developed by a community of developers, peer
review will encourage quality
Is it Secure?
Because the code is available for anyone to view, and because of the scrutiny of peer developers,
security problems tend to be discovered quickly…and fixed quickly
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Reliable
You should know the answer by now: Community!
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Look for the stable release
Advantage & Disadvantages
•Advantages
– Speedy innovation
– May be low cost depending on the feature fit and level of support needed
– Secure
– Sometimes more standards-based than commercial products
•Disadvantages
– New skills are often required
– Community involvement takes time
– User interfaces tend not to be very polished
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Open source Technologies – Open Library
Integrated Library Management System
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Learning Management System
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Document Management System
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Integrated Library Management System
Integrated Library Management System
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An integrated library system, or ILS, is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used
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The integrated library management system must have the following modules
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Acquisitions
Serials Management
Technical Processing
Circulation
Online Public Access Catalogue
MIS Reports
the following open source Integrated Library Management Systems are worth to be noted:
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Koha
NewGenLib
Avanti
PHPMyLib
Open Biblio
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to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed.
Koha
oldest among the lot and used by a large user community
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developed in New Zealand by Katipo Communications Ltd
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deployed in January of 2000.
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Koha has most of the features that would be expected in an ILS, including:
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Simple, clear interface for librarians and members (patrons)
Customizable search
Circulation and borrower management
Cataloging module with integrated Z39.50 client
Full acquisitions system including budgets and pricing information (including supplier
and currency conversion)
Simple acquisitions system for the smaller library
Ability to cope with any number of branches, patrons, patron categories, item
categories, items, currencies and other data
Serials system for magazines or newspapers
Reading lists for members
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NewGenLib
developed by Verus Solutions Pvt Ltd and the Kesavan Institute of Information and Knowledge Management in Hyderabad, India.
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NewGenLib version 1.0 was released in March 2005
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9th January 2008, NewGenLib was declared Open Source Software under GNU GPL Licence by Verus Solutions.
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Software Modules.
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Acquisitions
Cataloguing
Serials management
Circulation
Administration
OPAC
End-of-day process (daily scheduler) reports.
Features.
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Multilingual Support
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Supports international standards such as MARC-21, AACR-2, UNICODE, XML and Dublin Core.
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better consistency, accuracy and completeness of records and the possibility of exchanging records between libraries.
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Allows the attachment of digital objects such as full text in PDF or MS-Word, image files, sound, video clips, etc., to
catalogue records.
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use the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
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Allow multilingual data entry, storage and retrieval in Indian languages.
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Learning Management System (LMS)
Learning Management System (LMS)
Transform a library into a Learning center is a Learning Management System.
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many open source Learning Management Systems available. The best among the lot is Moodle.
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Moodle –
• designed using sound Pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online
learning communities and courses with opportunities for rich interaction.
• Moodle is actually an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning
Environment.
• Features - an e-learning platform, plus some original innovations (e.g. its filtering
system).
• promotes a social constructionist pedagogy (which includes collaboration, activitybased learning, critical reflection, etc).
• suitable for 100% online classes as well as supplementing face-to-face learning
• simple, lightweight, efficient, compatible, low-tech browser interface
• Course listings show descriptions for every course on the server, including accessibility
to guests.
• Courses can be categorized and searched - one Moodle site can support thousands of
courses
• Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings, journal entries etc) can be edited
using a capable, embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor
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Functionality Modules.
ᘬ Site management
ᘬ Enrollment
ᘬ Roles
ᘬ Course management
ᘬ Assignment Module
ᘬ Chat Module
ᘬ Choice Module
ᘬ Forum Module
Technical specification
ᘬ Glossary Module
• Support - Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X,
NetWare and any other system that supports PHP
ᘬ Lesson Module
ᘬ Quiz Module
ᘬ Resource Module
ᘬ Survey Module
ᘬ Wiki Module
ᘬ Workshop Module
• Database – Any
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ᘬ User management
Content Management System
Content Management System
co-operative authoring of content in an organization.
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The Library facilitating such an activity contributes to Knowledge Management in an
organization.
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open source Content Management Systems:–
Drupal
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Jhoomla
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Word Press
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Drupal
Drupal is an open source modular framework and content management system (CMS).
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allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety
of content on a website.
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Features::–
Search Engine Optimization
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Content Creation
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User Interaction
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Security
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Content is fully indexed to support search
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Multi-user content creation and editing
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OpenID support
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RSS Feed and Feed Aggregator
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Conclusion
freedom in using the software without any restrictions on “How it has
to be used?”. They also have the liberty to migrate, upgrade and
update without any hassles. The Open Source is used synonymous
with Free, which is absolutely wrong. At times the initial
implementations cost of Open Source technologies is costlier than
proprietary ones, but their running costs are usually very low
compared to proprietary software. Open Source may synonymously
used with the word Freedom.
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Thus by using Open Source Technologies Libraries have a greater
References
The following web sites are referred to prepare the article:
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http://www.opensource.org/
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http://sourceforge.net/
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http://www.koha.org/
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http://www.verussolutions.biz/web/
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http://moodle.org/
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http://drupal.org/
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