Empowering Your Organization Lori Bowen Ayre KohaCon 2009 Plano, Texas

It’s cool that Koha is free and Open Source….

When people work together, amazing things can happen.

Want to be part of the dance?

With an Open Source Library System…

You decide what gets built.

You decide how it works.

You decide how you work.

The last two decades of the ILS Vendor stranglehold is killing us.

“The Vendor” Decades

Why it doesn’t work for us… 1.each is one vendor’s product 2.market too small 3.built on old, nasty code 4.development is years behind need 5.data locked up 6.inflexible – too few customization options

[more]...why it doesn’t work for us 7.RFP process doesn’t ensure libraries make the right choices 8.migration process is so horrific, there is no recourse once a move has been made 9.not Standards compliant

Learned Helplessness

Imagine if people working in libraries actually felt their ideas about how to do things made a difference?

Imagine eliminating “waste” (muda) Muda ( 無駄 ) is a Japanese term for activity that is wasteful, doesn't add value or is unproductive.

Imagine being able to optimize the user experience A Library Product:

Imagine being able to roll out a new service quickly Offer Home Delivery as an option for Holds Let customers choose “text notices” instead of or telecirc Allow customers to freeze an item on their hold queue even if there’s a copy available Others? Yea! My book is ready!

I’m excited about Open Source because we can take back the POWER we have ceded to the vendors

Effective transfers of power require the cooperation of both parties

Open Source Projects Need Active Communities to be Effective Mozilla Lessons Learned Embrace the chaos and organize a chorus Listen to your community Lead your community Let your community play and experiment 37% of the code contributed to Firefox since November ’06 has come from the community

Mozilla and their Contributors Mozilla believes in: 1.identifying and elevating smart contributors; 2.providing an organization and structure to direct contributions; 3.creating small teams, led by strong contributors, and giving them responsibility; 4.giving contributors complete freedom to play and explore, This requires: 1.smart contributors; 2.lots of contributors that are doing something; 3.strong contributors who will take responsibility; 4.creative contributors.

In other words, we have some work to do…..

ILS Vendor Model

OSLS Model

Increase participation What contributors can do… Contribute new code Co-Sponsor development Develop documentation Organize Koha communities Do usability testing Create and test third party add-ins Manage communities of interest (e.g. customers, catalogers, circ staff) Write specifications Conduct user need assessments Optimize workflow Troubleshoot existing code Raise money Beta Test new releases Design screens

Don’t “leave it to the experts”

To be effective contributors, we need to empower our users

Get users excited about a new way of doing things

Users are in the best position to…. Notice inefficiencies Consider what happens upstream Consider what happens downstream Imagine new ways of doing things

Libraries-Community Convergence Framework: Catalyst for Social Change framework for new mode of library practice in which libraries actively engage with community members so that community needs, resources, and programs are developed collaboratively this new mode of practice is democratic and equitable, participatory and sustainable, and contributions are supported in ways that lead to the empowerment of people on the margins and build on their abilities to make meaningful changes in their everyday lives

Empowering your organization…first steps Encourage every user of the library system to think critically about how the software works – give them a voice Provide a mechanism for exploring alternative approaches (what if…..) for getting work done Capture good ideas and get them to your contributors and your developers Pilot test instead of RFP Stop talking about what the vendor can do and starting talking about what we can do

The Beginning