Specifically, what do you know about open source integrated library systems?
Before I attended a D.C. Chapter event on open source integrated ILS this week, I knew very little. But the presentation by Patrick Jones from PTFS made things a lot clearer for me!
Open source software is created not for a profit, but to use it and share it. It follows the GNU licensing model, which means, according to Jones, that you don't charge for the software and share back with the community any improvements or further developments. What might be best of all is that there are none of the licensing restrictions that come with commercial software. It doesn't matter how many seats or copies or locations....
The costs for open source relate to development--improvements,
customization--not the software itself (which, remember, is FREE!).
Of course, what comes with that is technical support that is provided
through communities, not from the software provider...unless you work
with one of the companies that provide services for open source
ILS. The main providers are PTFS, LibLime (Koha only), and Equinox (Evergreen only).
There are several open source integrated library systems, but the main two (and the two that were focused on in the presentation) are Koha, which is Web-based and offers modules for cataloging, circulation, serials, acquisitions, an OPAC, and system admin, and Evergreen. Evergreen has some local software and some Web-based parts, and does not have acquisitions or serials modules.
If you're interested in further reading on open source ILS, take a look at this paper by Richard W. Boss, updated in December 2008, which goes into detail about the ins and outs of open source software and includes some case studies.
