Palinet 2007 - Offering Superior Services with Open Source Solutions

Open Source Solutions Offer Superior Service

Howard County Library

nearly 5 million annual circulations

over 2 million visits annually

large, active, engaged customer community

300 customer computers

250 staff computers

Why open source?

Howard County Library uses a wide range of open source computer software in order to:

provide customers with internet and computer access

expand access to library collections and services

contain hard costs for software licenses and computer hardware

Why choose open source? CNET October 2, 2007

What does open source mean?

Access to source code

Freedom to make changes

Rich user / developer community

minimal costs; free of costs but not cheap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOnFdMf0RU

Who creates open source software?

Communities

groups are successful

Developers

Benjamin Keen

http://www.benjaminkeen.com/

Anyone in this room

What are open source solutions?

Apache

Firefox

OpenOffice

GAIM

Linux

How do you migrate to open source?

Watch and listen to what folks need

monitor help desk

review change requests ignoring proper names

ie: a request for Access is really a request for a database

Add first – take away later

OpenOffice on current operating system

Firefox along side other web browser

Ubuntu machines along side a Microsoft machine

Orient first, train only if needed

prior to first orientation, determine key uses of application

train to that list

ie: If staff use word processing for evaluation writing, show how to do an evaluation in OpenOffice Writer

Review existing documentation; augment if needed

What has Howard County Library done with open source?

LAMP

LuMix – Firefox

OpenOffice

Groovix

LAMP... L inux A pache M ySQL P HP

LuMix: Lu is Salazar Mi ke Ricksecker

initial open source offering

custom kernel on 250+ PACs ( P ublic A ccess C omputers)

deployed 2004

Firefox 0.9 with Open Office, XPDF for document viewing

OpenOffice

word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database

given to staff along side MS Office 97

encouraged migration

available on all customer machines

will be only option for all by April 2008

Groovix P ublic A ccess C omputers

OpenSense Solutions, Inc. -- Michael Pardee

extensive functionality available on all

Firefox Opera GAIM Open Office RealPlayer Mplayer

300 PACs Dell GX 150s (5 years young)

2-3 help desks tickets a month – system-wide

What have other libraries done with open source?

University of Vermont Bailey Howe Library

42 workstations on 11 SLIM machines

Mead Library, Sheboygan WI

SIP2 authentication

users login with same barcode/pin as self check units

Time quotas and guest passes

custom computer reservation system

What will Howard County Library do next with open source?

Ubuntu

Paperless purchasing and accounting

HRIS

Koha

Mobile Mobile Mobile

Ubuntu

all staff computers are being moved to Ubuntu

we’ve started with willing staffers

migration complete in Summer 2008

we’ve left all XP machines in place; renamed them HACs (Horizon Access Computers)

purchased HPs for Ubuntu install --- all staff machines will be same hardware and same image

Paperless purchasing and accounting

accounting process 60 invoices a week

many are received in the Central offices and sent to branches

goal is to image them and store images in local database – users will approve payment via web based interface

Human Resources Information System

HR process managed manually, using spreadsheets and mail merge to generate forms

specifications being developed

open source options of which we are currently aware:

OrangeHRM

Koha

open source integrated library system

staff and customer interface are web based

kids catalog, faceted searching, frbr, etc

April 2008 launch projected

Mobile... appliances... staff.... services

OpenMoko?

roving computers

micro chips in staff?

Sage observations

Discomfort is not part of our ’world;’ and change can cause discomfort

Lack of consensus on computers and the ’role’ they play in service

Limited computer skills among staff– even among those you assume ”get it”

What can you do ?

Consider what you need

survey, talk, survey again

try

approach software with an open mind

know that any ’problem’ will be perceived to be software-related; remember most are user-caused

lean into discomfort

What can you do?

Research

Eric Hebert, of Degree Tutor, has some ideas

Talk to key vendors

Open Sense Solutions, Mike Pardee

http://opensensesolutions.com/

LibLime, Joshua Ferraro

http://www.liblime.com/

How can you do this?

Start with us

http://www.hclibrary.org/oss2oss.php

use our surveys

http://www.hclibrary.org/training/GroovixFAQ.htm

learn Open Office from us

What has Howard County Library accomplished by this work?

Fiscal responsibility

$3000 Groovix support contract for 300 computers

$10 / computer for all software: os, apps, security

Extended services

all customer computers offer:

screen magnifiers and word processing

We are presenting at PALINET!

Thank you for your interest

Howard County Library

Amy Begg De Groff

[email_address]

OpenSense Solutions

Mike Pardee

[email_address]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa1RCg-Ccp0

Palinet 2007 - Offering Superior Services with Open Source Solutions

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