We Love Open Source Software … No, You Can’t Have Our Code

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

2. Simple application: Citation Builder 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 K-State Libraries Dale Askey

4. Our Open Sources ‘Issues’ • Perfectionism • Dependency • Quirkiness • Redundancy • Competitiveness • Misunderstanding 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 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 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 K-State Libraries Dale Askey

8. Sharing our code? K-State Libraries Dale Askey

9. Sharing our code, part II 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. 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 K-State Libraries Dale Askey

12. “Big challenge” on display 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.’” 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 K-State Libraries Dale Askey

15. Misunderstanding • The world only goes round by misunderstanding. - Charles Baudelaire 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" 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 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 K-State Libraries Dale Askey

19. Many thanks • Dale Askey • Kansas State University • daskey@ksu.edu K-State Libraries Dale Askey