Chapter 8 Using Open Source pen-source software is too valuable to ignore, ac- But Williams also worries that the Microsoft’s gener- cording to librarian and software developer Dan osity, like the Texas technology grants, won’t last forever, OChudnov, who likens it to the gift of Carnegie li- leaving libraries again stranded with technology invest- braries a century ago. ments they can’t sustain. Citing not just the cost of main- Explaining that you can no more run a library with- taining the technology, but also the training investments out software today than you could run a library without libraries make, Williams points to open source as “the a building in 1900, he says open-source software is “as only viable solution” over the long term, a solution from massive a donation of time, energy, and products you can- which “schools and a lot of community organizations and not afford to turn down today as Carnegie-built libraries individuals will benefit.”4 were back then.”1 But libraries, thanks to Gates Foundation grants and a variety of state and federal programs, have been Low Cost, Low Maintenance given lots of technology over the past decade. Consultant Technology Project Robert Williams’s story of technology funding in Texas is http://lclmt.com familiar to many. The State of Texas passed legislation in 1995 pro- Truly “free” software—GNU General Public Licensed May—June 2007 May—June viding grant funds for public libraries and schools open-source software—doesn’t evaporate when the money for implementing technology (LARGE funding). dries up. But, as Williams discovered, making the leap to So every small library in Texas was able to gain OSS can be difficult for some. And yet, for many others, it state-of-the-art technology, especially for public can be quite easy. access. Unfortunately, that legislation was not ex- John Brice, executive director of the Meadville Public tended, and funding effectively ended in 2003.2 Library, Meadville, Pa., and system administrator for the Crawford County Federated Library System, Crawford That’s when Williams and others in the Texas region- County, Pa., started small in the late 1990s, but found al library systems began to focus on the sustainability of OSS a good fit. “As we became more comfortable rolling www.techsource.ala.org www.techsource.ala.org their technology. Williams founded the Low Cost, Low our own systems we developed the confidence to tackle Maintenance Technology Project to support those efforts, more and more difficult tasks.”5 and the group had just begun to look seriously at open- Aaron Schmidt, with Thomas Ford Memorial Library source solutions when Microsoft donated software licens- at the time, began working with OSS because it was free es to the libraries. Comparing Microsoft products against and easy. OSS based only on acquisition cost, many libraries chose In 2005, the Thomas Ford Memorial Library and to implement Windows-based terminals “because that’s Western Springs Historical Society began work on digitiz- what ‘everyone’ has, wants, and can find help for,” accord- ing their collection of photos of the community of Western Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology ing to Williams.3 Springs, Illinois. The scanning was done in-house, using 28 a “fancy new copy machine/printer/scanner” the library to Google’s maps, he notes “that’s part of the magic of had leased. Aaron Schmidt had assembled the compo- APIs, it’s just a matter of connecting the right pieces.”11 nents to deliver archival TIFF images from the photos, With the success of the first site, Schmidt began work as well as a workflow in Adobe Photoshop to make Web- on a new site cataloging obituaries in the two local papers ready files from those large TIFFs, but the library had no (see figure 3). This site, also built on WordPress, leverages tools to put those images online.6 the application’s searching and browsing features to make Schmidt immediately thought of using WordPress, an it easy for users to explore the 3,100 entries input so far open-source content management application, to display (early 2007). the photos. “WordPress was the obvious choice,” in part because “it is free (in both senses),” and because it was an open-source application, he “figured people had already Western Springs Newspaper Obituary Index solved many of the issues I would face.”7 http://fordlibrary.org/obits The result, online now, represented each of the homes of the community on its own page—one page per street ad- dress—and included all the info the historical society had Schmidt’s a bit shy to admit that he’s also happy about the address, as well as a form for comments. about how the two sites draw considerable Internet traf- fic to the library, a sign of the success the library is having in making the information available. Western Springs History And the community responded with appreciation. www.westernspringshistory.org “We were able to give people in the community a voice,” Schmidt says, pointing to some of the houses in the Western Springs History site and the conversations “Western Springs is an active community, and I know that have sprung up in the comments there (see figure that people would have content to add. I knew they’d have 4).12 In one comment, a patron began, “My grandparents more details than we had in the historical society files,” Rose and Fred Merle owned that house . ,” while other explained Schmidt on the importance of the comments.8 patrons responded with their memories of the place.13 The database-driven architecture also made it easy to And in March 2006, a resident sent in his own history search and explore the site, and because WordPress con- of the town for publication on the site, garnering even tent is easily browse-able, Google and other search engines more comments and history from the community. One can index the content, making it available to users there. former resident discovered the site and offered this: But among the top reasons Schmidt cited for using WordPress was how easy it was to manage. “I didn’t have I just ran into this site, and it was very interest- time to do all of the work,” he admits, so finding an appli- ing. Although I know a different Western Springs ReportsLibrary Technology cation that others could quickly learn and use was impor- (I lived there from 1992 as a newlywed at 4724 tant. WordPress delivered that ease of use, both to public Lawn to 2003 and am now in Hinsdale), I could users and to library and historical society staff posting almost see the town as you have described it. It new content. “‘Email things to the web,’ was how I’d de- scribe it,” according to Schmidt.9 And going from idea to solution was easy too: “All it took was getting the domain and hosting, and I was able to start creating the pages.” Schmidt didn’t need to get approval before starting work, and once it was running, www.techsource.ala.org the administration quickly grew to like the site for the way it strengthened the partnership with the historical society and offered new, interactive services to the community.10 Schmidt also liked the opportunity to experiment. He had originally given the site a custom design, but “grew tired of it,” and later implemented the current theme after he found it among those available as open source. He also built a map, allowing users to see and explore the houses 2007 May—June and streets visually (see figure 2). “Right after this site launched the Google maps API came out and it seemed like a natural fit. So I spent an afternoon figuring out how to best utilize it, and came up with this.” Emphasizing Figure 2: how easy it was to connect the data in the WordPress site Map showing locations of historic houses in Western Springs. 29 sounds like a simpler place in a much simpler been assigned, and download the worksheets,” as well time, and you have answered many questions I as the story of an English teacher who asks students to had about what used to be where.14 continue in-class discussions of their reading online in Moodle.17 Though Schmidt has since moved on from the li- brary, the projects are continuing without him. “Someone with Web skills needed to be around to install WP and Moodle get the site going, but it is easily maintained.” When the http://moodle.org site was first launched, “we spent maybe two hours per week approving comments and making sure things were working,” and now that the staff is up to speed on how it Noting an upcoming requirement from the state that works, they spend less time maintaining it.15 students maintain portfolios of their work, Sheehan says Maureen Sheehan, technology integrator for Sanborn the district is planning to use Moodle as an “e-portfolio Regional Schools in southeastern New Hampshire, also system.” The school system’s earlier leap to open source, found it easy to get started with open source. The school as it turns out, has positioned it well for the new require- system is using Moodle, an open-source learning manage- ments and will save it from having to buy a commercial ment system, or LMS, that helps teachers deliver instruc- product.18 tional content online, as well as offer online class discus- And the price was one of the biggest selling points. sions, tests, and quizzes and allow students to submit “The fact that it was free gave me more confidence,” says homework assignments online (see figure 5).