There are a lot of programs related to free and open source software at the Annual meeting of the American Library Association this year, but I am particularly looking forward to the LITA preconference on migrating to open source library systems, which I helped organize along with the LITA Open Source Systems Interest Group. The main speakers are:
- Terry Reese, Gray Family Chair for Innovative Library Services, Oregon State University, who will be presenting on MarcEdit.
- David Lindahl, Web Initiatives Manager, University of Rochester, who will be discussing the XC project, evaluating open source with users in mind, migrating and managing metadata, and interoperating the ILS with other open source software.
- Brenda Chawner, Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, who will discuss the Kete community digital archive platform and building communities to contribute to open source software.
I will also be presenting on techniques for loading data into open source ILSs, and I know that a number of people with experience working with and migrating to open source library software will be present to share their expertise.
The preconference will be in the Monroe Room at the Hilton Washington and will run from 9 to 4:30 on Friday, 25 June 2010. It is a paid preconference of LITA, but I will be blogging it and sharing the thoughts and insights of the speakers and participants with the world. As far as I know, if you will be attending ALA, it is still possible to register for the preconference.
But wait! There’s more! There is another LITA preconference on Friday. related to F/OSS software, the “Open Source CMS Playroom” which will be lead by Karen Coombs from OCLC and Amanda Hollister from LISHost. For more details, check out the LITA events page.
I found out today that Craig Lowe, the incoming mayor of Gainesville, used to work as a programmer for the Florida Center for Library Automation, so his election is even better news for libraries in Gainesville and Alachua County than I had thought. Craig has been on the library governing board for a while, but it is nice to know that he has direct experience to bear. (Yes, I voted for him.)
On Wednesday, two committees of the Florida state legislature recommended removing funding for the Florida State Aid to Public Libraries program. This is the second time in as many years that this has happened. To compound the problem, the elimination of state aid would also mean that Florida libraries would no longer qualify for some forms of federal aid.
While a handful of library systems in Florida are independent taxing districts and could (painfully) weather this, elimination of state aid would mean that a lot of rural and city libraries would have to close branches, cut hours, and lay off library staff. Many rural libraries are already operating on shoestrings.
Do you live in Florida? Call your state representative and senator today and ask them to vote to continue funding for state aid to Florida libraries. Also, please ask them to stop this proposal from becoming an annual tradition. No brinkmanship with our libraries, please!
Update 2010-04-28: State aid has been restored! [PDF link] Can we not play this game again next year?
I’ll be attending the following programs during ALA Annual this year.
Friday, 27 June
- 10:30 to 12:00: Old Records, New Records, New Interfaces (ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Interest Group)
Saturday, 28 June
- 13:30 to 15:30: Metadata Mashup: Creating and Publishing Application Profiles (ALCTS) or There’s No Catalog Like No Catalog (LITA)
- 16:00 to 18:00: Getting Ready for RDA and FRBR (ALCTS) or Science Fiction and Fantasy: Looking at IT and the Information Rights of the Individual. Hmm, RDA or Cory Doctorow? Decisions, decisions…
Sunday, 29 June
- 08:00 to 12:00: Creating the Future of the Catalog and Cataloging (ALCTS and LITA).
And where did I leave Hermione’s hourglass?
10:30 to 12:30: The Open Library, Promise and Peril (LITA)- 13:30 to 15:00: Top Technology Trends (LITA)
- 15:30 to 17:00: Koha Interest Group Meeting (leaving early)
Monday, 30 June
- 10:30 to 12:00:
Legal Issues in Developing Open Source Systems for Libraries Understanding Free/Open Source Software Licenses, Project Forms, and Project Governance Options
- 13:30 to 15:30: Open Source Systems Interest Group (LITA)
Other than that, I’ll be variously at the LibLime booth, in meetings, or hacking Koha.
I was a math major in college, but it was my student job at the college library that ended up setting the current direction for my career and life. I started out filing update pages for the Standard Federal Tax Reporter (and sometimes reading it!). I worked for most of the departments at the library at various points in time, and ended up as a junior systems administrator.
Towards the end of my undergraduate career, the library changed its ILS, and I wrote most of the code to extract and migrate the library’s data from the old system to the new one. After college, I started working for the vendor of the new ILS. I have spent the last nine years migrating data, programming, moving from Chicago to Anchorage to Tallahassee to Chicago, finding love and kitty cats, and watching and experiencing the trials and travails of the library automation industry.
I changed jobs recently, and am now coding for and supporting an open source integrated library system, Koha.
I plan to blog about library automation, open source software, metadata and the many headaches inspired by it, and anything else I happen to think of.
