1. Taking the Plunge
Open Source Software for Libraries
Talk at the Online Information Show, Dec 1st 2011
by Gerhard Bissels and Matthew Edmondson
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11

2. Have you ever used
Open Source Software?
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Cost: implementation and ongoing support (no license, competition between support
contracts)
Support: no risk of software being discontinued
Versatility: code can be changed or added to

3. What is Open Source
Software?
• Source code in the public
domain
• License allows to
• to study
• change/improve
• distribute
• Written in collaborative
manner
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11

4. The First OSS LMS
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Koha @ Horowhenua public library, New Zealand - the library that first wrote Koha, and gave
it to the world as a ‘gift’ (Koha is the Maori word for ‘gift’)

5. The First OSS LMS
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11

6. The First OSS LMS
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Koha in use at a US public libaries’ consortium

7. The First OSS LMS
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Koha in an academic environment

8. The First OSS LMS
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Koha in a specialist library

9. Why Open Source
Software?
• Cost
• Support
• Versatility and Adaptability
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Excursion: how GB came to explore OSS as part of a leaner way of running a library (financial
difficulties at CAMLIS) -, but also in order to gain flexibility of future development

10. Cost
• Licensing
• Implementation
• Hosting
• Maintenance
• Support
• Versatility and Adaptability
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
No license
Competition between vendors/support providers
Software can be adapted to the changing needs (see later)

11. Support
• Choice of support provider(s)
• From 100% in-house to SAAS
• Support contract recommended
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Library is not tied to any one provider, and can even split support and development tasks
between several contractors (e.g. development of different functionality)

12. Versatility
• Your last system migration - ever!
• Have LMS developed as your needs
change
• Cost of additional functionality is often
shared with other libraries
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Once an OSS system is in place, change of requirements can be accommodated through
adaptation of software - much cheaper than a system migration, and much less stressful!

13. OSS Library System
• Horowhenua (NZ) 1999
• Various Web 2.0 facilities (tagging, RSS feeds)
• Customizable search
• Circulation incl. self-issue
• Full acquisitions system including budgets and pricing information
(including supplier and currency conversion, EDI)
• Ability to cope with any number of branches, patrons, patron categories,
item categories, items, currencies and other data
• Serials module
• Reading lists for members
• Can be integrated with other software, e.g. authentication
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Koha in use in hundreds of libraries worldwide - mature system

14. Beyond the LMS
• ERM (Electronic Resource Management), incl. link
resolver
• Discovery
• E-publishing (Open Journals System, Repository)
• VLE
• Authentication
• On-line shop
• ...
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
OSS offers alternatives to many library software applications, or even dominates (e.g. there
are no proprietary repository packages)!
OSS allows integration of applications (e.g. one authentication across all packages; on-line
shop links from Koha OPAC)

15. Beyond the LMS
• Lower cost of OSS allows libraries
• to afford additional software
• to afford software earlier
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11
Lower initial investment - libraries an afford to implement packages such as ERM before
they’ve got into a pickle

16. Library Co-op &
Software Coop
• Library software
• Outsourcing of services (e.g.
management of on-line resources)
• Consultancy
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11

17. Demos at library.coop
• library.coop
© 2001 Library Co-op LLP. Company registered in England and Wales no. OC366378
Tuesday, 6 December 11