Planning for Open Source in Cooperatives and Consortia

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Planning for Open Source in Cooperatives and
Consortia

• By Monica M. Schultz
• PLS IT Director
• John D. Boggs
• PLS Database Manager

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Introduction

• Monica Schultz and John Boggs
• Who is PLS (Peninsula Library System)?
• Consortium of 9 jurisdictions. Members include 32
  public libraries and 3 community college
  libraries
• Why is PLS giving a presentation in Open Source
• Evergreen evaluation
• Submitted California state grant for 08/09 to
  evaluate implementation of open source

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What is Open Source

• Software application where the source code is
  made available and permits users to use, change,
  and improve the software, and to redistribute it
  in modified or unmodified form. It is very often
  developed in a public, collaborative manner.

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Is Open Source free?

• Yes and No
• Hardware no
• Hosting no
• Software application - yes
• Client licenses - yes
• Additional modules yes
• Support and maintenance no
• Development yes no

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Benefits of Open Source

• Development
• The Open Source community attracts very bright,
  very motivated developers, who although
  frequently unpaid, are often very disciplined and
  some of the brightest developers
• Customize the source to the organizations needs
• Develop application and APIs
• Develop when the organization requires it not
  when the vendor provides it
• Reliability
• Bugs, exploits and vulnerabilities are easily
  tracked due to access to the code

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Benefits of Open Source

• Stability
• OSS does not rely on revenue
• No need for constant vendor forced upgrades which
  create unstable applications
• Upgrading and maintenance effort will always be
  needed. Putting the choice in the hands of the
  users rather than the suppliers is hard to
  criticize.
• Audit Ability
• IT is not forced to believe a vendor when a claim
  is made about an application.
• Claims of qualities such as security, freedom
  from backdoors, adherence to standards and
  flexibility of future changes (If the source code
  is not available those claims remain simply
  claims).

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Benefits of Open Source

• Cost
• Zero purchase price
• Near-zero vulnerability to viruses eliminating,
  data loss and downtime due to virus attacks
• Claimed lower vulnerability to security breaches
  and hack attacks reducing systems administration
  load
• Claimed ability to prolong life of older hardware
  while retaining performance
• Protection against being required to fit your IT
  strategy to the cash needs of your software
  supplier
• Flexibility
• Collaboration with other libraries

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ILS Open Source Applications

• Evergreen  Developed by Georgia for Georgia
  Pines, which is a public library network of more
  than 275 libraries.
• Koha  Developed in NZ for a public library, not
  a consortium but a library trust with 4 branches.

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Current ILS vendors

• Equinox  Founded by Evergreen developers
• Liblime  At least one of the founders worked on
  implementation of Koha at Athens County Public
  Library

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Library Systems using/evaluation OSS

• Athens County Public Library in Ohio First Koha
  implementation in the States.
• Georgia Pines developer as well as implementer,
  includes more than 275 libraries
• Santa Cruz Planned implementer, public library
  with about 10 branches
• King County Investigator, County library system
  with 44 library branches
• PLS Investigator, library consortium with 32
  public library jurisdictions and 3 community
  college libraries, comprising a total of about 35
  branches.

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Koha _at_ Athens County
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Evergreen _at_ Georgia Pines
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PLS Evaluation of Evergreen Fall 2007

• Circulation
• most well-developed module includes off-line circ
  capability
• Cataloging
• Can add single records easily
• Batch loading very technical
• Acquisitions and Serials
• In development
• Web Opac
• Clean interface
• FRBRization available

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Implementation of OSS

• Hire a Project Manager to be dedicated solely to
  this project
• Evaluate the ILS currently in place
• Modules
• Features
• Roadblocks
• SLA
• Add hard and soft cost with the current ILS (
  Support, maintenance, new modules, enhancements,
  staff time)
• Make a list of your current wish list
• Surveys
• Staff interviews
• Make a list of all current and near future
  projects
• Are the resources available to move forward with
  a project of this size

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Implementation of OSS

• IT staff
• Evaluate the current IT team
• Technical Skills (be realistic, no wishful
  thinking)
• Number of technical and library members in the
  team
• Can one of the IT members support the new
  hardware and software (remember this will be Unix
  or Linux )
• Can your current ILS DBA support the OSS ILS?
• Will you need to hire a programmer for ongoing
  development of the project? Or will you contract
  out with the chosen vendor?

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Implementation of OSS

• Vendor
• Interview available vendors
• Technical staff is to be involved in every
  discussion with all vendors
• References
• PM is to request a project plan from vendor
• Focus groups for staff and patrons using the
  chosen ILS

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Implementation of OSS

• Hosting
• Funds
• Does the organization have funding to support the
  current ILS and OSS for at least 1.5 2 years
• Keep in mind additional development is likely to
  be required to meet your current needs or wish
  list
• Server Hardware ( 5,000-10,000) - depending on
  system infrastructure
• In house programmer (California salary 90K-120K
  per year benefits) do not go the cheap route,
  this is where you want quality

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Implementation of OSS

• Time line
• Be realistic and plan for 1.5 2 years for
  completion of project in order to have a smooth
  rollout
• Socialize the idea with all staff
• Development
• Training
• Post implementation

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Return on Investment

• Collaboration with other library systems
• Staff time
• Hardware lifecycle
• Flexibility
• Third party applications
• Services offered to patrons and staff
• No additional cost for new modules or yearly
  maintenance
• Not locked to a specific vendor

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Questions?