10. Open Source in Libraries – Opportunity or Threat?
| Main Author: | Markku Heinäsenaho |
|---|---|
| Format: | Proceeding poster eJournal |
| Bahasa: | eng |
| Terbitan: |
, 2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/3602898 |
Daftar Isi:
- Libraries are dependent on software products in many ways. Sometimes, we need to make little changes in order to fit them to our purpose. However, past experience has shown that this can be very expensive and/or time-consuming. In trying to find our way around the black-box systems we have resorted to hacking, which has brought about even more complexity. The need for customisation stems, of course, from the technological paradigm shift of the recent past. The rise of the network has transformed the workflows of libraries and given birth to a new set of requirements. Ironically, the systems that we have come accustomed to calling ‘Integrated Library Systems’ have little or no association with these emerged workflows. We have ended up with a wide array of disintegrated systems dealing with acquisition, discovery, link resolving, knowledge bases, digital collections. Managing the resulting complexity has required from us a focus shift away from end user needs and into solving ICT-related problems. While the vendors have been slow in their response, the library community has been forced to act on its own and develop technical skills. Against this backdrop, it is easy to understand why open source is gaining popularity among libraries. For most libraries professional software development is a relatively unfamiliar domain of activity. We are enthusiastic about the possibilities of open source but sometimes, in my experience, this enthusiasm suppresses the equally important discussion about the responsibilities involved. Because of their almost infinite complexity, information systems are fundamentally unstable and in constant need of maintenance. In order to facilitate this, there are countless best practices for developing, testing, integrating, publishing and maintaining information systems. Needless to say, all this is very well known by the software industry. And yet, most of the software in daily use, some of it produced by the world’s most advanced firms, is a constant source of dissatisfaction to us. Having said that, the decision whether to allocate resources to software engineering and ICT management should not be made lightly. This does not, however, mean that we should be overly pessimistic about the potential of benefitting from open source. The point is merely that there are many things that need to be considered before taking this step. The purpose of this poster is to discuss these considerations.