Practical Open Source Software for Libraries

Open source refers to an application whose source code is made available for use or modification as users see fit. This means libraries gain more flexibility and freedom than with software purchased with license restrictions. Both the open source community and the library world live by the same rules and principles. Practical Open Source Software for Libraries explains the facts and dispels myths about open source. Chapters introduce librarians to open source and what it means for libraries. The reader is provided with links to a toolbox full of freely available open source products to use in their libraries.

• Provides a toolbox of practical software that librarians can use both inside and out of the library
• Draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience with open source software both in and out of the library community
• Includes real life examples from libraries and librarians of all types and locations

Nicole C. Engard is the Director of Open Source Education at ByWater Solutions. Her primary role is to educate librarians about open source software with a focus on the Koha Integrated Library System. Prior to this she worked in both Special and Academic Libraries and attended Juniata College where she received her BA in Literary Studies and Computer Programming and Drexel University where she completed her MS in Library and Information Science. In addition to her daily responsibilities, Nicole has been published in several library journals and keeps the library community up to date on web technologies via her website "What I Learned Today." (www.web2learning.net). Some of Nicole's previous publications include articles in Computers in Libraries, ONLINE Magazine, and the Journal of Hospital Librarianship and columns in Collaborative Librarianship. She is also the editor of Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data (http://mashups.web2learning.net) published in 2009. For her innovative uses of technology in libraries, Nicole was named one of Library Journal's Movers & Shakers in 2007.