Koha Controversy

I was reading Marshall Breeding’s Open Letter to the Koha Community this afternoon and it really underscores many points I made in my recent Educause Review piece on Sustainable Software Communities. In addition to my commentary there are many full-length pieces that should be reviewed on this topic as more and more of our community begins to embrace the benefits of open source and community source software. One of these is Brad Wheeler’s piece Open Source 2010 from 2007 and his earlier piece Open Source 2007 from 2004 and if you missed it his 2003 ECAR Paper Aligning IT Strategy to Open Source, Partnering, and Web Services. 

These are great intro readings to the dilemma we see ourselves in now from the perspective of community support for open source software and the general directions for community governance. Makes me think we need a Community Source Software Handbook.

ALI Board Meeting

Today I am in Indianapolis for the Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI) Board Meeting. I am here representing IU for our Interim Dean Carolyn Walters. I am also here to present an overview of the OLE Project Final Report. So far, the meeting is going well and it is always surprising how much academic libraries have in common no matter what size or where they are located.

I really hope my friend Dan Bowell will consider how PALNI can become a part of the OLE Build Project.