1. eIFL Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) Library-in-a-Box Presentation delivered by Arnold Hirshon on behalf of eIFL-FOSS Presentation based upon information provided by Bess Sadler, Art Rhyno, and Rima Kupryte ICOLC Montreal 23 April 2007

2. eIFL a consortium of library consortia of 48 developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to lowering the financial, technological, legal and political barriers that hinder the access to information in poor, developing, and transition countries eIFL Programs E-resource negotiations and licensing Library consortium building and development Open Access awareness raising and advocacy eIFL-IP (Intellectual Property): libraries and copyright issues Professional development and knowledge sharing Open Source Software for Libraries

3. Why Are OSS Alternatives Needed? Economic Software licensing fees must be paid in foreign currency, but countries with depressed currency values often find this to be impossible, e.g., Zimbabwe As grant funding runs out (e.g., in Malawi, which had a 5-year Japanese grant to support vendor costs) the library can be worse off than before the grant because there no sustainability for the systems Technical Proprietary ILS software was developed for North American and Western European libraries is often not well suited to eIFL countries, e.g.,  the software and the upgrades are too expensive  software is closed-source  interfaces, documentation, training, and training materials are often not available in local languages  all of the expertise in how to write and maintain the software is available only to programmers in technologically developed countries, and developing countries do not build the expertise to maintain systems themselves  there may be insufficient financial incentive to support languages or character sets that are not considered to be major, e.g., Georgia

4. Free and Open Source Software-in-a-Box  Tactical Technology Collective (TTC) model of NGO-in-a-box* software  Started in 2003  Recognize that many non-profit organizations will deploy OSS because of the overwhelming task of choosing and implementing software  TTC and NGO-in-a-box provide: a set of peer reviewed and selected Free and Open Source software (F/OSS) tailored to the needs of non-government organizations software, implementation scenarios, and relevant support materials technical service providers and support staff with box-sets of tools and materials aggregated around specific themes networks of established experts who can act as topical and regional editorial teams that actively recommend and select tools and materials around a given topic http://www.ngoinabox.org http://www.ngoinabox.org/system/files?file=ngo-in-a-box-ConceptPaper2.pdf

5. F/OSS Library-in-a-Box Initial Goals To provide an easily distributed and installed integrated library system To provide a fully internationalized interface and documentation To employ the source-camp model to plan migration and build community of expertise and support To enable member countries to leap-frog in their use of technology and provide a high-quality product with next- generation features (e.g., faceted browsing, data visualization)

6. eIFL F/OSS: How TacticalTech.org is an eIFL partner  TacticalTech asks a team in a new region to gather and then asks them to express their needs and then launch the development project using local, not external, tech staff  Encourage local team to take on the technical parts of the entire project Evergreen and Koha are leading candidates for Library-in-a-Box  Will use an application/selection process  May implement in two rounds, one in the first round, and the other in the second Develop entire bundle (installation tools, documentation, and migration tools) using source camp model for iterative development

7. Benefits for eIFL Countries and Member Libraries Will make ILS affordable For many libraries, this is their only option Will enable financial savings for purchase of software Will build in-house, in-country expertise Will generate an opportunity to employ in-house expertise to create jobs for local developers Will strengthen cooperation among eIFL libraries and emerging development communities in eIFL countries ILS will support local languages and character sets

8. Current Plans and Status Conduct a features comparison and gap analysis of current open-source ILS systems, using Open Business Readiness Rating (BRR) to assess open source software using a standardized model  Results to be presented at IFLA in August 2007 Recruit country coordinators from eIFL countries to  provide input and feedback, and  coordinate eIFL-FOSS activities within each country Plan to develop three pilot sites over three years in English-speaking countries in Africa, Arabic-speaking Middle East, and Northern Africa In Russian-speaking Eastern Europe will seek volunteers and choose the locations based upon: (1) the desire to migrate to an OSS ILS, (2) an existing plan for migration, (3) local staff expertise, and (4) availability of local resources and infrastructure Hire a software development company to develop Library-in-a-box and work with pilot countries Apply for funding and pursuing strategic partnerships Choose sites for pilot migration programs and source camps Later 2007: contracting for software development

9. Tentative Timeline First six months Establish eIFL-FOSS infrastructure (e.g., website, mailing lists, etc.) Select eIFL-FOSS country coordinators from all eIFL countries Evaluate existing open source ILS systems Consult with open source community and stakeholders to produce gap analysis and software specifications Establish criteria for the selection of pilot installations Within eighteen months Contract with software development agency to produce library-in-a-box software Begin English-language document development Select first pilot installation Begin testing alpha release Work with pilot libraries on migration strategies Within two years Initial pilot project (in English) Third year Use feedback from first pilot migration to develop beta and final releases in English and pilot releases in Arabic and Russian Print and package deliverable versions of library-in-a-box in English, Russian, and Arabic Establish infrastructure to prepare for more translations of software and supporting materials

10. eIFL OSS Advisory Board Bess Sadler (eIFL-FOSS co-chair) bess.sadler@eifl.net Tigran Zargaryan (eIFL-FOSS co-chair and eIFL country coordinator, Armenia) tigran@flib.sci.am Irakli Garibashvili (eIFL Country Coordinator, Georgia) igar@hotmail.com Marek Tuszynski (Tactical Technology Collective) marek@tacticaltech.org Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (founder of First Monday, Programme Leader of FLOSS at UNU-MERIT) Art Rhyno (University of Windsor, Canada) arhyno@uwindsor.ca Ed Summers (Library of Congress) ehs@pobox.com

11. Further Information eIFL Rima Kupryte rima.kupryte@eifl.netrima.kupryte@eifl.net Program Directors Elizabeth (Bess) Sadler, Head of Technical and Metadata Services for Digital Scholarship, University of Virginia bess.sadler@eifl.net Tigran Zargaryan, eIFL country coordinator, Armenia tigran@flib.sci.am Other summary descriptions of Library-in-a-Box http://odyssey2007.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/beth-sadler-open-source-ils-and-library-in-a-box/#more-19

12. Technology Sandbox A safe place for library staff to experiment with new technologies Currently Available OSS Applications  NELINET WordPress Blogs  NELINET MediaWiki Wikis  NELINET Harvester2  NELINET DSpace Applications in development  Evergreen ILL module  Open URL linking solutions  Student portfolio management  Course management http://forums.nelinet.net/sandbox/  Members only service (password required)  Access provided to eIFL countries  Considering further co- development with selected regional networks mentioned in brief