READIT - 2009 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
READIT - 2009 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
READIT - 2009 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
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Proceedings of <strong>READIT</strong>-<strong>2009</strong>, Kalpakkam - 603 102, 29-30 Dec <strong>2009</strong><br />
IMPACT OF OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS TO LIBRARIES<br />
M. Natarajan<br />
NISCAIR,14, Satsang Vihar Marg, New Delhi -110067.<br />
Email: m_natarajan@hotmail.com<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
The changing environment of libraries and the Web due to the in<strong>for</strong>mation communication<br />
technologies enhances the service availability and the users interaction towards the services are enhancing<br />
gradually. This article deals with the open source software and solutions towards library activities. Defining the<br />
open source and emphasizing the need <strong>for</strong> open source are discussed in detail. It explains the concept of Library<br />
2.0 and the open source movement along with Web 2.0 developments in the world. It mainly discusses the open<br />
source solutions to library activities like library automation, digital library creation, OPAC, content<br />
management activities. Unesco developed the open source solutions <strong>for</strong> educational purposes are also discussed<br />
the major areas of activities like the development tools, provision of open course content and the development of<br />
standards and licensing tools. As the technology enables new activities, the library professionals are supposed<br />
to develop professional skills. Concluded with the open source usability problems and professionals are advised<br />
to take the changing environment and satisfy the user community.<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
Libraries are changing. Funding limits and customer demands are trans<strong>for</strong>ming<br />
staffing levels, service models, access to resources, and services to the public. Open source is<br />
a development method <strong>for</strong> software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and<br />
transparency of process. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation <strong>for</strong>med<br />
to educate about and advocate <strong>for</strong> the benefits of open source and to build bridges among<br />
different constituencies in the open-source community. Traditionally, a program is defined as<br />
a set of instructions which tells a computer what to do. For most proprietary, or closed<br />
source, programs (such as Windows, WordPerfect, Oracle, Quicken, etc.), the source code is<br />
not available <strong>for</strong> users or programmers to alter. This means that if a user encounters a bug in<br />
the closed source program, they will not be able to fix it themselves, but must rely on the<br />
software vendor to fix the error.<br />
The open source movement has its roots in the 1970s, and is continuing to grow in<br />
popularity (Raymond, 1999). Closed source programs continue to suffer security and<br />
per<strong>for</strong>mance vulnerabilities and skyrocket in prices. Most open source programs, however,<br />
can be downloaded and run <strong>for</strong> free, although many companies, such as Red Hat and SuSE,<br />
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