‘‘ T


HERE was a time not many years ago when choosing an open source software system in a library or the wider organisation would


have been considered risky, brave or possibly even foolhardy. Now, however, we live in a world where open source software pervades every aspect of our electronic lives whether it is the android operating system, Wordpress on the web, the React and Redux tools that were used to build Facebook, Moodle in learning organ- isations, Apache Solr, MySQL, Shibboleth, Linux... the list goes on and on.


Open Source


But what exactly is open source software? To­answer­this­question,­you­first­need­ to think about the ‘proprietary model’ of software development and sales. Indi- viduals and companies develop software to meet particular needs, package it and then­sell­it­–­either­as­a­one-off­‘boxed’­ product or, more commonly these days, with a renewing licence so you can get the benefit­of­bug­fixes­and­enhancements.­ Development of the software is only done by the individual or company that created it­and­is­often­influenced­by­available­ resources and corporate priorities. The open source model is almost the opposite. The original software might be developed by an individual or a group of developers interested in solving a particu- lar problem. However, they then publish the entire codebase and put in place pro- cesses so that other developers can start to contribute to the ongoing development of the software. Users are also encour- aged to contribute which means that the


Many more library users, faced with being unable to visit their local library, have tried downloading eBooks for the first time.


The library is open


Jonathan Field, Managing Director at PTFS Europe Limited explains open source and how it is accommodating library demands ranging from data security to cutting costs


software often evolves as the user-base evolves. It also means that, in a successful open source project, there can be many more developers contributing to the soft- ware than initially created it – particularly if so-called support companies emerge to help end users install and manage the software. The direction of the software is also­influenced­by­the­libraries­that­use­it­ rather than companies developing it.


Challenge


Our choice at PTFS Europe to start installing, hosting and supporting open source software in libraries back in 2007 has meant that we have seen the ever wider adoption of systems like the Koha LMS and the FOLIO library services platform across all sectors. We work with academic institutions, public libraries, the health­service,­multinational­law­firms,­ governments and specialist libraries of every kind. One challenge they all share is choosing systems that are comprehensive and yet easy to use both for users and staff,­whilst­delivering­value­within­ever­ tightening budgets. Open source solutions respond to this partly by the inherent value of being ‘free’ software – albeit most libraries using open source software will buy in the services of a support company to help with installation, hosting and ongoing support – but in the libraries market, open source software has been developed to provide a menu of applica- tions and functionality to choose from. Whether­it’s­offering­enhanced­analytics­ and dashboarding of your data or pro- viding a bolt-on eRM solution, running a parallel enquiry management system or adding an inter-library loans module,


Jonathan Field is Managing Director of PTFS Europe.


the open nature of these solutions makes integration possible and workable. A trend we have seen across public and also health libraries, exacerbated by nigh on­12­months­of­confinement­in­2020,­is­ the accelerated need for eBooks and eBook integration. Open source discovery tools like the Aspen Discovery Service now focus much more on covering both print and electronic, including the electronic lending of material. They can pull services from providers such as OverDrive, RBDigital and EBSCO all together in one place. Many more library users, faced with being unable to visit their local library, have tried­downloading­eBooks­for­the­first­ time. It is therefore critical to see eBook stock in the library catalogue but also to enable easy lending of these e-resources. Discovery is hugely important in directing end users to the appropriate resources and exposing all the resources available. Aspen Discovery, like other discovery platforms, is designed­to­offer­recommendations,­ratings­ but also access to resources that may be held outside of the library, for example, the archives or a local history web site.


23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44