Comments on: Thinking about Open Source

By: Bess Reynolds

Bess Reynolds — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:12:51 +0000

In our environment, a private law firm library, open source is not an option. However we work very closely with our ILS provider encouraging them to develop the product the way we want it to work. We have partnered with them on new modules and gotten them to work with third party vendors when they needed extra resources.
For example we have an e-journal management system that checks in electronic newsletters harvested from a mailbox, attaches the latest copy to the bib record for preview inthe OPAC, and mails itself to the routing list.
Also the library director and I are on the Advisory Board for the vendor. They hold regular meetings with us and even preview products and new developments and solicit our recommendations. The vendor seems to respect our opinions and we feel that we are getting a product that works for us in our environment, so we do feel that we are contributing to the creative process and not just accepting the product as is.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:20:12 +0000

An excellent blog entry. It’s not a matter of big, bad corporations–it’s a matter of the products being shaped by the people using them. It’s good for the product, and good for the workers who use them.

Librarians often created their own in-house reference products (“files”), until commercial indices and abstracts took over. The result has been a short shrift in the creation of local information sources–we have been happy to outsource this vital function to third parties, and become database jockies. We should create products in our own field, and widen the amount of information for which we create tools. Opensource is, as you say, really a debate over whether we are dumb consumers or active, professional creators.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:37:47 +0000

Oops. But they drank brandy Alexanders, right? (Clearly I am a little weak on history…)

By: Daniel Ransom

Daniel Ransom — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:03:43 +0000

“This has been true since some guy in a toga put holes in a wall to store the papyrus”

Well, not to get pedantic (something someone always says right before getting pedantic…), but the toga was a very specific Roman robe, made of a single cloth and worn by Senators and patricians. The bibliophylaxes of Alexandria predated the rise of Rome and were of Greek descent – tunics and robes, perhaps, but never togas!

Sorry. Sometimes the Roman history major in me peaks out. I like to look both forwards and backwards .

By: Thinking about the Free Range Librarian Thinking about Open Source | Libology Blog

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:38:02 +0000

[...] Schneider has been Thinking about Open Source. This is a good thing, as she tends to do a great job exploring the interrelationships between [...]