The current landscape for open source library systems could be characterised as a hand full of companies, often populated by open source enthusiasts and evangelists, with a handful of staff supporting a couple of handfuls of contracts with libraries to install/enhance/support either a Koha or Evergreen system.  The largest and most well known player in the sector being LibLime who say that they have “helped hundreds of libraries around the globe upgrade to open source.”

The ethos of the open source community is all about sharing innovation, code, resources, and ideas for the benefit of all.  The usual business model for these companies is for them to be contracted to create and locally enhance an instance of the software at a library.  It is usual for any enhancements to the system that are paid for by the contracting library, to be contributed back to the source code for the benefit of the whole community.

In comparison with the rest of the library world, supported by the traditional, closed source, vendors, the open source sector is still fairly small.   The question I put to the Gang this month was “Can the open source sector scale?”.  Will it be able to grow in it’s current form to become a significant alternative to the commercial vendors?

To help Carl Grant, Frances Haugen, and Marshall Breeding kick the topic around, we were joined by Brendan A. Gallagher, CEO of  ByWater Solutions.

Brendan’s introduction describing how a small company operated in this market formed the basis for a wide ranging discussion.  We touched on the motivations of those involved with open source systems, and whether there is a fundamental conflict between being a significant member of a community, and the operational realities of running a successful commercial organisation.   When comparing the successes of the wider open source world such as Mozilla and Linux, with comparative niche of library software there were key differences around size and leadership.

Latterly we moved on to external influences such as the current economic climate, and the evolution of the ILS market place away from what are the ILS systems today.  Another enlightening conversation around the virtual Gang table.

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The Mashup, where data from one or more sites is brought together to add value to the data on another site, is only four years old. Google Maps, the basis for so many of these was released in February 2005.  The iconic early example  being HousingMaps.com which brings together [mashes up] data from Craigslist.org and displays it on a Google Map.  Nevertheless in those few short years the mashup has become an established part of the web, and libraries are not immune from the trend. Links out to Google Book Search, WorldCat, and many other ways of enriching the library interface are not that uncommon an addition  to OPAC and other library interfaces.

As this month’s Gang – Tallin Bingham, Marshall Breeding, Nicole Engard, and Frances Haugen -  discuss, it is not just about adding interesting widgets to our interfaces.  These mashups depend on data being reliably available from within the library system and other external services in a form that is easy to understand and consume.  The mashup phenomena has spread so quickly because they are so easy to produce and the library world needs to follow that trend by agreeing some conventions  for the exposure of data – biblographic, usage, statistical, etc. – in a way that it easy for others to consume.  Many of the most successful mashups use data in a way that the publisher’s of that data did not initially envisage.

During the conversation the following were referenced:

• The Juice Project
• Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data – Edited by Nicole Engard
• SOAPAC – The Social OPAC

Competition  This month’s show launches the Library 2.0 Gang Mashup Idea competition.  To enter you need to send in your idea for a library mashup.  It can be as simple or complex as you like.  The only restriction being that it must include library data or functionality somewhere within it.  The best three, as judged by Nicole Engard and myself, will each receive a copy of the Library Mashups book she has edited.  Closing date is August 31st, send your entries to librarygang@talis.com.

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Festive holiday time is a good time to look back at the year almost ended and to then attempt to predict what will be in the next year.  It’s no different for the Library 2.0 Gang.

In this month’s show Talin Bingham, Carl Grant, Nicole Engard and John Blyberg congregate around the virtual log fire and exchange their views on the significant events for libraries, and the technologies that influence them, that occurred in 2008.  From new commercial product releases and the ongoing march of Open Source, to issues around openness and licensing, it has been a significant time.

Drawing on the themes that have emerged over the last twelve months the gang then speculates on what will be grabbing our attention and influencing our world in 2009, which could prove to be even more significant.

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Unless you have been living under a stone for the last few months, the turmoil in the world financial markets can not have escaped your notice, but how will this, and the inevitable recession that we are heading in towards, influence libraries and their suppliers?

Is the library world insulated from it?  Does it mean that open source become more popular because it is perceived to be cheaper, or less because there will be less funding for those involved?  Does it mean that pressure to purchase add-on components as against full systems will increase?  What pressures will there be on the vendors both traditional and open source?  Does this mean that libraries will become more or less significant in their communities?  Is this an opportunity or a crisis or both?

Joining gang members Marshall Breeding and Carl Grant to discuss this, our guest this month is Talis CEO and avid Bloomberg watcher, Dave Errington.

The conclusion seems to be that it is definitely a crisis for the world economies, but this first recession in an online world could be an opportunity for libraries if they are willing to grasp it.  Take a listen and see if you agree.

During the conversation Carl references a Chronicle of Higher Education, Tech Therapy, podcast about the culture clash between librarians and IT in the academic environment.  You can listen to that podcast by following this link.

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All are agreed that the purchasing of a library system is not an insignificant undertaking, but in these times of rapidly changing 2.0 technology and open source systems, are the current procurement processes still fit for purpose?

To help with the discussion we are joined by two guests this month who are both veterans of many tender processes:

• Karen Reece Sales Manager, Talis.
• Rob McGee Founder and President of RMG Consultants Inc.

Gang members Carl Grant and Marshall Breeding join in the discussion about the frustrations of the procurement process and how it may or may not be applicable.  There again, the process does lead to contractual rigor, but is it at the expense of stifled innovation.?

To help the discussion along Rob McGee has provided a couple of his white papers on the subject:

• Request for Proposals for Integrated Library Systems [pdf]
• Information Technology Strategic Planning for Libraries [pdf]

Although coming from differing points of view, the gang and our guests agreed on one piece of advice for libraries – make friends with your purchasing department, involving them fully in preparing requirements with vision.

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Open Source Software has been around for many years.  Open Source components have been used to develop library systems since the late 1990’s.  Koha, acknowledged as the first fully open source library system was launched by its New Zealand based developers in 2000.   The growing interest around open source, stimulated by Koha, was given a significant boost when Georgia Public Libraries launched Evergreen in September 2006.

We have two guests this month:

• Karen G. Schneider, Community Librarian for Equinox Software, the support organisation which grew out of the Evergreen project.
• L J Haravu Chief Domain Specialist, Verus Solutions Pvt., Ltd., Hyderabad India, the software company behind NewGenLib the Open Source library system successfully spreading across India and the Middle East.

Stimulated by the success of the organisations represented by our guests, the gang for this month – Nicole Engard, Talin Bingham, Andrew Nagy, Marshall Breeding, and Carl Grant – go on to discuss how Open Source Library Systems, and the open approach behind them, have changed the way all system suppliers both commercial and Open Source are delivering their systems and engaging with their customers.

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