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Discussion: What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary software?
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Auger |
What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary software?
Feb 13 2008, 12:23 PM EST
Libraries cannot function or offer services to their customers without computers and software. My library (Howard County Library) is committed to using Open Source software. We do this primarily because Open Source software puts us, rather than the vendor, in control of the user experience. We use it on the public desktop because it is customer-friendly, feature-laden, fast, stable, secure, and cost-effective. We use it on our staff desktops for the same reasons. As a result, we are able to fully outfit a customer workstation for under $300 (yes, we buy used PCs on eBay) and we run them until the motherboards die. Our six branches, therefore, have some 350+ workstations for the public that each feature, among other options, Internet browsing, video/music streaming and a full office suite. Despite getting heavy use we see two to three help desk tickets per month.We've stopped spending vast amounts on equipment with a three-year obsolescence cycle for ever-bloated software. As a consequence, we have more to spend on additional workstations and materials! Emboldened with our successes on the desktops, we are forging ahead in moving to Koha as our ILS. 3 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you?
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open source koha software
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amydegroff |
1. RE: What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary softwar
Mar 29 2008, 9:09 AM EDT
http://whatiflibs.wetpaint.com/thread/1317308/What+if+we+accepted+open+source+software...We ended up having a good conversation about this on discussions too -- but the message is the same -- the world has changed. We no longer NEED to buy software. I continue to be asked "well, it is a Microsoft world" Yesterday, someone in all honesty (and I don't think any intent to offend) said using open source software was a disservice to children and future workers. I just don't find that to be the reality. I think using more than one application, be it a web browsers (perhaps Safari at school and Firefox at home) and more than one word processing application -- actually forget that why would anyone use anything BUT OpenOffice.org -- keeps your mind a bit more limber -- you are thinking about what you are doing a bit more and not just doing. Do you have to do a few things differently with OpenOffice? Yes. But can you learn to do it -- OF COURSE. Google Solveig Haughland -- goddess of OpenOffice (and a SUPERB example of women in open source world) and DON"T LOOK BACK. Do you find this valuable? |
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Auger |
2. RE: What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary softwar
Mar 29 2008, 7:15 PM EDT
Solveig Haughland will be spending a week with us at Howard County Library in June!
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AnaisRapunzel |
3. RE: What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary softwar
Apr 3 2008, 10:25 AM EDT
I really like Amy's point about how using various applications help keeps your mind more limber. Open source software make sense on so many levels and knowing that you can use it and still interact with others is a HUGE selling point . Interaction with others is why Microsoft keeps its monopoly in the business world -- and has long been my argument for using it even when I know that WordPerfect is a better word processing application than MS Word. Even if it might be a hard battle to get open source applications for web browsers and office applications at work doing it at home makes SOOO much sense. Now I'll just have to learn how to do it myself. BTW does anyone remember one of first open source applications, a game called Llamatron? 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
Conspirator |
4. RE: What if libraries stopped wasting resources on proprietary softwar
May 26 2008, 1:08 AM EDT
I think this comes in as part of the "Dangerous Idea" of an attitude of abundance. Open Source is based - sociologically speaking - on a gift culture. Libraries, too, I think - we are a gift culture. Not to say we can't mount money-making propositions or alternative ideas for funding; but generally speaking, we're not in it for the "get" but for the "give." I think it's high time for libraries to embrace that, stop trying to out-business business, and think of new ways to be an example of the culture of abundance. Open source is decidedly a part of that, in my mind.Many of my colleagues, I know, do not agree with me. They see open source as a "homegrown" system that is "so in the past." They see risk. (And I have to say - as someone who is a cataloger by nature, I didn't think I would ever find anyone more risk-averse than myself.) I also think they are afraid to take responsibility for our own data and our own service, and would rather blame a shoddy legacy system for our problems. But Howard County is proving that we don't need to buy software to provide service. We just need to be willing to take some risks, make some mistakes, have fun, and think for ourselves. I, for one, welcome the idea. Do you find this valuable? |
