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Giving Homegrown Software Its Due
Head of Information Technology Column for November 2006 Something rather exciting happened this fall in the world of the integrated library system. (That���s somethin��� coming from me, eh?) After considering giving it a brief announcement in the ���Quick Clicks��� section, or a slightly longer treatment in the occasional ���Open Source Watch��� section, I decided that this really deserved a little something more. On September 5, 252 public libraries in Georgia���s Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) went live with Evergreen, a homegrown and open-source ILS. Impressive. Very few people out there would accuse me of being the biggest fan of open-source software. Many would call me biased toward vendor-based solutions. I will admit to a preference for a staffed help desk, documentation, and contractual obligations that assure some level of perpetual development and upgrades. But I am not a developer; I run an IT department, so much of my outlook comes from a strong desire to keep things running all the time. I credit my friend and colleague Dan Chudnov, creator and maintainer of OSS4LIB, for smacking me upside the head with a simple observation. ���Software is software,��� he once said. ���There is good software and bad software, whether or not it���s open source.��� Truth is, I think I always thought of it this way without realizing it. I scrutinize the development priorities and sustainability of open-source software in much the same way I would any piece of vendor software. The vendor���s advantage is the relative prowess of its development staff and (usually) some longevity; the OSS advantage is allowing more eyes to actually see the software code and then determine whether or not it���s any good. One sturdy tree I will also admit to being more intrigued than fascinated by the Evergreen project when I first heard about it in 2004. Like many others, my first reaction was ���good luck.��� Part of me still wishes that a more open version of what I consider to be commodity software could have been available on the market, so that open-source developers would not have to spend so much time building basic functionality and could concentrate on the truly unique features of their development efforts. Nevertheless, building a system for 252 libraries in over 100 counties is no small endeavor. The fact that they completed the project relatively quickly, and with an array of features not offered by many off-the-shelf systems, is also very impressive. ���I���m delighted with where we are after only three weeks on Evergreen,��� PINES Program Director Julie Walker said. ���When I visit our libraries, the staff love the software, and they are using it as if they���ve had it for years, which is a testimony to Evergreen���s intuitive design and a development process that was based on their suggestions and ideas.��� The patrons seem pleased as well. Kathryn Ames, director of the Athens Regional Library, noted, ���Several patrons felt great anticipation ahead of Evergreen���s release and now that they���ve used it, they are quite impressed and happy with its ease of use and functionality.��� A homegrown system also provides easy access to developers. ���Staff are seeing the advantages of having direct access to the development team,��� said Walker. ���As they request changes, they often see them appear in a matter of days, or even hours.��� There is also a new kind of vendor on the scene. It should be noted that open-source software and vended software are not always mutually exclusive; open software and closed, or proprietary, software would be a better distinction. LibLime specializes in open-source software for libraries, including Koha, the first open-source ILS, which began development in 2000. West Liberty (Iowa) Public Library migrated to Koha in March; other small libraries have chosen Koha as a cost-effective, entry-level integrated system. LibLime was also awarded a contract from PINES to play a part in software testing and quality assurance for the Evergreen project. A forest of hybrids I was grasping for a tree metaphor, but maybe open-source software is a bit more like the electric car: Everyone wishes for its success and that it could replace gas-powered autos entirely-much like wishing that open-source software could completely replace closed software. Lest we forget, however, the electricity (like open-source development efforts) has to come from somewhere. The more likely scenario, it seems to me, is a hybrid world of automation: Vendors open up their system just a bit more so that open-source and locally developed software can play a larger part in the overall systems architecture of libraries. I still think it is safe to say that the library automation space is headed for more consolidations, buyouts, and mergers, and that determining whether these changes are good for libraries in the long run remains difficult. While I remain somewhat skeptical about the potential reach of an open-source ILS, how the open-source community reacts to the wake of future sea changes will be interesting. Carl Sagan once said, ���If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe.��� In many respects, the ILS is still the center of the library automation universe, and Evergreen is certainly a new invention. The Evergreen Design Team
Evergreen Technology
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