October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 1 We Love Open Source Software … No, You Can’t Have Our Code

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 2 Simple application: Citation Builder

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 3 Polite Requests  Take nothing personally; think of this as a cathartic self-critique  No audible expressions of disgust or exasperation  Place chuckable objects in a secure place

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 4 Our Open Sources ‘Issues’  Perfectionism  Dependency  Quirkiness  Redundancy  Competitiveness  Misunderstanding

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 5 Perfectionism  It is through Art and through Art only that we can realize our perfection; through Art and Art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of hack programmers and commercial software. - freely adapted from Oscar Wilde

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 6 Dependency  Discontent is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will. No, I will not be taking any questions. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, perhaps

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 7 The Dependency Pathway  Library X creates cool software  Library Y sees it, wheedles code, installs it, falls in love, and shares this love with the world  Library Y, along with libraries A-W, as well as Z, all come knocking for support  Library X may wish they hadn’t made it quite so cool

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 8 Sharing our code?

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 9 Sharing our code, part II

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 10 Quirkiness  The continuity which accompanies the quirkiness of history that produced the original condition is an accepted part of the human condition; for absent that quirkiness, man would not be on earth in an evolutionary sense to enjoy it. -David Jablonsky  I have no idea how/if this relates to software.

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 11 Redundancy  How, why, did this unnecessary business begin? Why does anyone want to read about it—this redundant human madness which men accept as inevitable? - Margaret Anderson

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 12 “Big challenge” on display

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 13 Open Library Environment  “this project appears to be reinventing the wheel”  “… rather than building an entirely new system, have the project members considered adding functionality to an existing open-source ILS like Koha? I’d be interested in knowing more about ‘what’s missing.’”

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 14 Competitiveness  The university is no longer a quiet place to teach and do scholarly work at a measured pace and contemplate the universe. It is big, complex, demanding, competitive, bureaucratic, and chronically short of money. - Phyllis Dain

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 15 Misunderstanding  The world only goes round by misunderstanding. - Charles Baudelaire

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 16 ITSO CUL  Integrated Tool for Selection and Ordering for Cornell University Libraries  Shareware preferred over open source: "not only for the benefits to those in the audience who wished to use the program, but to Cornell by reducing their administrative costs and responsibility for the program"

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 17 What can we do?  Find a way to share software that’s accessible to non-technical librarians  Put a license on our code and get it out there, anywhere, no extra strings attached  Commit to the necessary human investment  Reward staff for contributing to the software community  Reprioritize internally to make all of this happen

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 18 What can we do?  Please ignore what I’m saying  The real solution is to hire Mark Leggott as your director

October 2, 2008 K-State Libraries Dale Askey 19 Many thanks  Dale Askey  Kansas State University 