How to Make the Most of Open Source

Open Source software has always been a concept that I understood but feel like I have lots of questions about. Yesterday I sat in on the Free and Open Source Software in Libraries program hosted by MaintainIT and was quite pleased with how much I learned. The content was pulled from the Free and Open-Source Software chapter in the newest cookbook, Planning for Success which is just chock full of information.

The discussion was led by Jean Montgomery, Network Administrator for the Upper Penisula Regional Library Cooperative in Michigan.

I was surprised at the number of things I use that are actually open source. Firefox, Java, Flash and ShockWave.... there's a big list at Free and Open-Source Software for Windows .

Open Source ideas from the presentation and sources mentioned during the program.

• Free and open-source software uses license agreement that allows you to view and modify the source code. More information on licensing agreements at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL

PC MANAGEMENT:

• Powerline http://code.google.com/p/powerline/

INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEMS:

• Northeast Kansas Library System KOHA catalog - NExpress http://catalog.nexpresslibrary.org/
• Sharon Moreland's Guest Blog entries http://www.maintainitproject.org/blog/sharon-moreland
• Butte Library KOHA catalog - http://catalogue.buttepubliclibrary.info/

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS/BLOGS/WEBSITES:

• Wordpress websites - My Kansas Library on the Web (statewide) http://www.mykansaslibrary.org/
• Wordpress website - Butte Library www.buttepubliclibrary.info
• edublog - Eastern Maine Community College blog http://emcclibrary.edublogs.org/
• Joomla http://www.joomla.org/
• Odiogo http://www.odiogo.com instantly does text-to-voice for blogs
• Ideafry http://ideafry.com

OPERATING SYSTEMS:

• MaintainIT Library Spotlight article,Marian Wynn using Ubuntu on public computers http://www.maintainitproject.org/spotlight/marian-wynn

ANTI-VIRUS:

• Clam-Win http://www.clamwin.com/
• AVG http://free.avg.com/ (only available for single computer use for home and non commercial use)
• Avast http://www.avast.com/

CONTENT FILTERING:

• OpenDNS http://www.opendns.com/
  
• FreeShield http://www.freeshield.com/
  
• KanGuard content filtering (statewide) http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/libtech/kanguard/

OTHER:

• Flowgram http://www.flowgram.com
  
• CCleaner is a free download that does a really good job of cleaning cache, Temp, browsers, etc in one click http://www.ccleaner.com/
• code4lib discussion list http://www.code4lib.org/
• Library Success stories http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Open_Source_Software
• Open source for beginners http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/beginners.xml
• SourceForge http://sourceforge.net/