Review of 'Librarys Facilitate Open Access to Information with Open Source Software'

Burger T. N. (2007, January 22). Libraries Facilitate Open Access to Information with Open Source Software. Retrieved May 12, 2007, from http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/01/10/167250

Tina posted this article at 'www.linux.com' on Jan 2007. She asserts that open source software and libraries share some common features such as being free to use and the open access to information. But until recently, the use of open source software in libraries was still slow, due to the lack of relevant supports for developing highly specialized library software. However, this is changing, because of the development of some mature open source software for libraries, such as Koha. Koha is a full-featured open source library management system developed by Katipo Communication of New Zealand for Horowhenua Library Trust. Koha is a Maori concept describing a gift given as a sign of thanks and respect. This article introduces three stories about three libraries using Koha as their libraries' management system. These three libraries are: Crawford County Federated Library, Nelsonville Public Library, and Near East University Library. All of them have successfully implemented using Koha for their libraries. Koha fits in very well in their libraries; it is free, flexible, fast, and provides the ability to organize union-catalogues. It can also create the most advanced search engines to the libraries. It is customized, and each of the libraries can control their development lifecycles. The libraries don't need an IT staff to manage software and develop software features, and the software features are those staff and patrons really want and need. Open source can save time and money. It is a good idea to switch on open source for the library market. This article is an excellent case study for people implementing open source software for library management systems.