open source software as freeware

[Eric Lease Morgan]

Andrew K. Pace <andrew_pace at ncsu.edu> wrote about the MyLibrary at NCState
mailing list:

> Not to find fault with the immediate needs of the community, but the
> discussion has seemed much more focused on how the system can be installed,
> and not on how it can be improved.  The early days of the list (way, way back
> in the grand spring of 2000) talked about features and enhancements, and some
> of those suggestions informed development of the product, but as more and more
> folks flocked to the sandbox, mylib-dev took on the flavor of a helpdesk.  I,
> for one, began to lose interest.
> 
> Some of the initial concern for the listserv community was based on the
> distinction between those who would be only interested in the technical
> aspects of downloading, maintaining, and tweaking the software, and those who
> were more interested in the public interface, its services, and use.  I wonder
> whether the listserv is serving either group.  Seems to me, we don't talk much
> anymore about why we want portals; it's more about how we get them up and
> running and how we justify their existence.  Seems to me their hasn't been a
> whole lot of sharing when it comes to development and use of the software,
> either.

(Please excuse the cross-postings.)

To date, a number of institutions have adopted the MyLibrary at NCState portal
software, a user-centered, customizable interface to a library's collection
of information resources implemented as open source software. Pat Leamon
(pat.leamon at kanslim.lu.se) has compiled this list to date:

  1. Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama (http://mylibrary.auburn.edu)

  2. Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire, Université de Lausanne,
Lausanne, Dorigny, Switzerland (http://pcbcu432.unil.ch/mylibrary/)

  3. Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
(http://john.curtin.edu.au/mylibrary/)

  4. Università Carlo Cattaneo (LIUC), Castellanza, Italy
(http://mylibrary.liuc.it/mylibrary/)

  5. Lund University, Lund, Sweden (http://mylibrary.lub.lu.se/)

  6. George Mason University, Virginia, USA (http://mylibrary.gmu.edu/)

  7. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
(http://my.lib.ncsu.edu/)

  8. Wheaton College,  Wheaton Illinois, USA
(http://libweb.wheaton.edu/mylibrary/)

  9. Quinney Natural Resources Research Library, Utah State University,
Logan, Utah, USA 
(http://www.quinneylibrary.usu.edu/lib/myquinney/mylibrary/)

There are a few other implementations based on the original software but
running modifications of it.

The questions are, "Are libraries fooling themselves when it comes to open
source software? Is it a viable option to commercial software considering
the fact that many libraries do not have the technical resources to sustain
or contribute to open source software? Is open source software in libraries
really 'freeware?'"
 
-- 
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame