Bangalore University Library Bangalore 560 056 Transforming Libraries

Bangalore University Library Bangalore – 560 056 Transforming Libraries into Learning Centers using 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 a. Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. • better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. “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 Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Advantages a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. Free Redistribution Source Code Derived Works Integrity of The Author's Source Code No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups, Fields or Endeavor Distribution of License Must Not Be Specific to a Product License Must Be Technology-Neutral source code and the right to modify it is very important There is no single entity on which the future of the software depends No per-copy fees can be asked for modified versions It provides a new forum for democratic action Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Why Should Librarians Care About Software Licenses? a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. Discussions of software license, fair use and copyright overlap Creative Commons License for content is an outgrowth of F/OSS End User License Agreements (EULA's) limit rights Free/open source licenses protect freedom and rights You never own commercial software Public access can be restricted by EULA's Software licenses are a drain on limited library budgets Knowledge as information vs. knowledge as property Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

What F/OSS to Use? Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Widely Used Open Source Applications Linux OS Firefox Web browser Apache Web server Open. Office. org MS Office alternative My. SQL server Word. Press Blogging software Audacity Audio file editor Media. Wiki software Drupal Website content management system (CMS) Pidgin IM/IRC Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

User – Burning Questions a. b. c. d. e. Will I save money? Where do I get help? Is this software high quality? Is it secure? Reliable? Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Will I Save Money? a. Maybe, maybe not b. In a more typical scenario not paying a license fee frees up money which is then invested into the software c. End result: you get more for your money Where do I Get Help? a. Documentation b. FAQ c. Project mailing list a. Participation in the community matters here! d. Commercial vendor Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Is this software high quality? a. Merely being open source, does not guarantee quality b. 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 Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Reliable a. You should know the answer by now: Community! b. Look for the stable release Advantage & Disadvantages a. Advantages a. Speedy innovation b. May be low cost depending on the feature fit and level of support needed c. Secure d. Sometimes more standards-based than commercial products b. Disadvantages a. New skills are often required b. Community involvement takes time c. User interfaces tend not to be very polished Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Open source Technologies – Open Library a. Integrated Library Management System b. Learning Management System c. Document Management System Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Integrated Library Management System

Integrated Library Management System a. An integrated library system, or ILS, is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. b. The integrated library management system must have the following modules a. Acquisitions b. Serials Management c. Technical Processing d. Circulation e. Online Public Access Catalogue f. MIS Reports c. the following open source Integrated Library Management Systems are worth to be noted: a. Koha b. New. Gen. Lib c. Avanti d. PHPMy. Lib e. Open Biblio Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Koha a. b. c. d. oldest among the lot and used by a large user community developed in New Zealand by Katipo Communications Ltd deployed in January of 2000. Koha has most of the features that would be expected in an ILS, including: a. Simple, clear interface for librarians and members (patrons) b. Customizable search c. Circulation and borrower management d. Cataloging module with integrated Z 39. 50 client e. Full acquisitions system including budgets and pricing information (including supplier and currency conversion) f. Simple acquisitions system for the smaller library g. Ability to cope with any number of branches, patron categories, items, currencies and other data h. Serials system for magazines or newspapers i. Reading lists for members Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

New. Gen. Lib a. b. c. d. e. developed by Verus Solutions Pvt Ltd and the Kesavan Institute of Information and Knowledge Management in Hyderabad, India. New. Gen. Lib version 1. 0 was released in March 2005 9 th January 2008, New. Gen. Lib was declared Open Source Software under GNU GPL Licence by Verus Solutions. Software Modules. a. Acquisitions b. Cataloguing c. Serials management d. Circulation e. Administration f. OPAC g. End-of-day process (daily scheduler) reports. Features. a. Multilingual Support b. Supports international standards such as MARC-21, AACR-2, UNICODE, XML and Dublin Core. c. better consistency, accuracy and completeness of records and the possibility of exchanging records between libraries. d. Allows the attachment of digital objects such as full text in PDF or MS-Word, image files, sound, video clips, etc. , to catalogue records. e. use the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) f. Allow multilingual data entry, storage and retrieval in Indian languages. Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Learning Management System (LMS)

Learning Management System (LMS) a. Transform a library into a Learning center is a Learning Management System. b. many open source Learning Management Systems available. The best among the lot is Moodle. c. Moodle – a. designed using sound Pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities and courses with opportunities for rich interaction. b. Moodle is actually an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. c. Features - an e-learning platform, plus some original innovations (e. g. its filtering system). d. promotes a social constructionist pedagogy (which includes collaboration, activity-based learning, critical reflection, etc). e. suitable for 100% online classes as well as supplementing face-to-face learning f. simple, lightweight, efficient, compatible, low-tech browser interface g. Course listings show descriptions for every course on the server, including accessibility to guests. h. Courses can be categorized and searched - one Moodle site can support thousands of courses i. Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings, journal entries etc) can be edited using a capable, embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Functionality Modules. a. Site management b. User management a. Enrollment b. Roles c. Course management a. Assignment Module b. Chat Module c. Choice Module d. Forum Module e. Glossary Module f. Lesson Module g. Quiz Module h. Resource Module i. Survey Module j. Wiki Module k. Workshop Module Technical specification a. Support - Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Net. Ware and any other system that supports PHP a. Database – Any Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Content Management System

Content Management System a. co-operative authoring of content in an organization. b. The Library facilitating such an activity contributes to Knowledge Management in an organization. c. open source Content Management Systems: a. Drupal b. Jhoomla c. Word Press Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Drupal a. Drupal is an open source modular framework and content management system (CMS). b. allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. c. Features: : a. Search Engine Optimization b. Content Creation c. User Interaction d. Security e. Content is fully indexed to support search f. Multi-user content creation and editing g. Open. ID support h. RSS Feed and Feed Aggregator Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

Conclusion Thus by using Open Source Technologies Libraries have a greater 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. Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary

References a. b. c. d. e. f. g. The following web sites are referred to prepare the article: http: //www. opensource. org/ http: //sourceforge. net/ http: //www. koha. org/ http: //www. verussolutions. biz/web/ http: //moodle. org/ http: //drupal. org/ Ban gal ore Uni ver sity Libr ary