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FOSS Resources

What free and open source software is available for libraries? Our Tools list identifies viable FOSS solutions for libraries and provides details on the software as well as its FOSS user and developer communities. When the software is known to be in use in EIFL member libraries, this too is noted. Links to the main project site and the download site are included and each entry is reviewed regularly to keep it up to date.

In addition to the software on the Tools list, there exists a wide range of software tools and terminology associated with libraries and FOSS that are of related interest. Many of these are interpreted and explained on the A-Z glossary of FOSS for libraries list. This list began with suggestions by participants at the 2010 EIFL General Assembly and the list is still growing. If you have any suggestions for inclusion on the A-Z Glossary please contact simon.ball[@]eifl.net

A Choice Matrix for FOSS Digital Repositories has been produced by KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) in the Netherlands with the cooperation of Africa Bwamkuu, the EIFL FOSS Coordinator for Tanzania.

An overview of many different library FOSS tools can be found at the excellent FOSS4LIB website. You can access a recorded presentation about FOSS4LIB or view the slides from the same session.

A site first published in September 2012 showcases a lot of useful information about Koha and Evergreen (but is very USA-centric) http://opensourceils.com/

Access a brilliant introduction to EIFL FOSS and its resources by Evan Njoroge, EIFL FOSS Coordinator for Kenya.

Digital repositories for small memory institutions and Cooperation with Europeana are two open access courses developed by the library at Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Centre in Poland. You can access both courses as a Guest, and both are presented in English. The first course explains all about how to organize and perform digitisation activities in a small memory institution such as a public library or museum. It includes 9 lessons covering step-by-step guidance on topics such as file format conversions and publishing with FOSS tools such as DSpace or Greenstone. The second course teaches 3 lessons around preparing your repository for integration with Europeana. Many thanks to our Poland FOSS Coordinator Tomasz Parkola for sharing this informaton.

Developing a Digital Repository at MPP is a paper written by the EIFL FOSS Project Coordinator Amar Gurung and the EIFL FOSS Country Coordinator for Nepal Dibyendra Hyoju, both from the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya in Nepal. It describes the process of developing a digital repository at MPP using the FOSS software DSpace.

Open Source ILS is an information portal for librarians chiefly covering information about Evergreen and Koha. 

Building a Digital Library at the University of Zimbabwe covers a variety of aspects of the DSpace implementation at that particular library.

Skills for Librarians lists a range of skills that will help systems librarians (the librarians and their staff who install, maintain, and sometimes further develop the IT systems) to be successful in their jobs.

Tips for Engaging with FOSS Communities  includes information about how to successfully interact with the FOSS development community

LTSP HowTo Guide (Linux Terminal Server Project) provides information about how to re-cycle apparently obsolete computers and transform them into high-speed multi-purpose library terminals using open source software.
 
IRC - a beginner's guide provides an overview of Internet Relay Chat or IRC, which is a tool for synchronous or "real time" communication that is used widely by FOSS development communities

EIFL-FOSS News and Events document installation efforts across EIFL Partner Countries. They include details about the projects, best practices, and lessons learned.

In 2005, EIFL commissioned a report from Art Rhyno, Systems Librarian at the University of Windsor, Canada, on 'Open Source Systems for Libraries (PDF)'. Whilst this report is now a few years old, it is still a valuable resource in this area.

Useful Links

The African Digital Libraries Support Network has created national centres in 8 African countries and is working on a variety of projects related to FOSS and libraries. 

Free Software Foundation is the maintainer of the Free Software Definition. Its mission is to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights of all free software users.

Open Source Initiative is the maintainer of the Open Source Definition. It is the community-recognized body for reviewing and approving licences as OSD-conformant.

Library Success is a best practices wiki that provides a range of useful information and resources for librarians.

There are a range of presentations on Slideshare introducing the concept of Open Source to librarians, or describing Open Source tools available for libraries. Some of these are listed below:

Blogs

These are just a few FOSS-related blogs that you may find useful:

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