Great Free/Open Source Tools for Libraries

§  Alfresco Labs (now Alfresco Community) -- A Free Open Source Content Management System. Customisable.

§  Audacity -- Free (GPL) audio recording and editing software. Oral history and audio reserves projects; Audacity provides features normally only found in pro commercial audio software. Effects filters remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises from your analog recordings.

§  ClamWin -- open source anti-virus program

§  CUFTS Open Source Serials Management System: CUFTS includes Electronic Resource Management services, an integrated journal A-Z database, link resolving, and MARC records.

§  DansGuardian -- open source web content filtering

§  ht://Dig -- Free (GPL) search engine software. Spider and search your website(s). Configurable and extendable search algorithms, templates, file types, etc. Live implementation: J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte

§  Dimdim -- Free web-based web-meeting software. Can be used for virtual reference service, ask a librarian, virtual information literacy. Co-browsing ability. Free for 20 participants.

§  Drupal -- Free (GPL) [[Content Management Systems (CMS)|Content Management System] framework with lots of features out of the box and tons of third party modules. Ideal to build a library website, some modules allowing to provide an OPAC 2.0 front-end for your ILS. PHP MySQL based.

§  Evergreen Open Source ILS originally created by the Georgia Public Library Service.

§  GIMP GNU Image Manipulation Program. A free image editor, similar in function to Adobe Photoshop.

§  Google Docs & Spreadsheets A web browser-based word processor & spreadsheet application based on the Writely beta product that Google acquired in 2006. With this application, you can publish a document or spreadsheet online. It also allows you to collaborate with anyone who has access to a web browser. You can invite other people to read or edit your document by entering their e-mail addresses on a form.

§  Groovix PAC open source Public Access Computing software with SIP2 authentication, time management, reservations; a complete solution for library public computers

§  Instant Instruction Feedback Forms Instant Instruction Feedback Forms are web-based surveys that are designed to offer librarians a simple way to evaluate their information literacy/bibliographic instruction sessions. These forms are open source software and are available for free download under the GNU General Public License.

§  Joomla A free open source content management system for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. Joomla is licensed under the GPL.

§  Kete - Open source digital library solution.

§  Koha Open Source ILS -- Full-featured Library Automation System, including OPAC, Circulation/Borrower Management, Budget-based Acquisitions, Serials Management, and Reporting/Administrative modules. MARC21 and UNIMARC are supported. Advanced search capabilities, integrated Z39.50 server and client, and self-checkout. Commercial Installation and Support available worldwide frommany vendors. Hundreds of libraries of all sizes and types are using Koha worldwide. The system can support very large collection sizes (tens of millions of records) and is very easy to customize as it's written in Perl, MySQL and uses the Zebra indexing engine for searching.

§  Kompozer web authoring tool, similar in function to Adobe Dreamweaver.

§  Label Templates in OpenDocument Format for Openoffice.org

§  Library a la Carte is an open-source course and subject guide web publishing tool for and by librarians.

§  LORLS Open Source Reading List Management System (Loughborough University).

§  Open Journals System OJS assists with every stage of the refereed publishing process, from submissions through to online publication and indexing.

§  OpenOffice.org Full suite of productivity software that competes with Microsoft Office.

§  Pre-Book: An Open Source PC Reservation System which includes both a Linux server and GPL'd Windows PC Reservation Client Software commercial installation and support available fromUserful

§  PHP Form Solution to ensure easy valuable communication for all types of web projects.

§  PMB Open Source Integrated Library System (ILS) -- Web-based , using PHP, MySQL and ajax. Includes cataloging module (UNIMARC import, Z39.50 connector), circulation , acquisitions, Serials Management and Reporting. OPAC with Simple or Advanced search, category browsing, RSS feeds, web 2.0 functionalities. Available in French, English, Spanish, Dutch. Commercial support available.

§  Prospero An Open Source Internet Document Delivery (IDD) System (The Ohio State University). [NOTE: Development ceased in 2004, although the last release is still available for download and modification.]

§  The Reference Portal The Reference Portal is a departmental intranet that is designed to consolidate web resources, services, and assessment tools for reference librarians. It uses DHTML layers to give librarians instant access to frequently used web resources and allows librarians to record information about reference interactions, workshops, and instruction sessions for evaluation.

§  Scriblio (formerly WPopac) is an award winning, free, open source CMS and OPAC with faceted searching and browsing features based on WordPress.

§  Sphinx A free full-text search engine, distributed under GPL version 2. A standalone search engine, meant to provide fast, size-efficient and relevant full-text search functions to other applications. Sphinx was specially designed to integrate well with SQL databases and scripting languages. Currently built-in data sources support fetching data either via direct connection to MySQL or PostgreSQL, or using XML pipe mechanism (a pipe to indexer in special XML-based format which Sphinx recognizes).

§  Squid Squid is a caching proxy for the Web supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. It reduces bandwidth and improves response times by caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages.

§  SquidGuard is a combined filter, redirector and access controller plugin for Squid.

§  SubjectsPlus is a free and open source tool to help you manage several interrelated parts of your library website: Subject or Course Guides; A-Z List of Databases; FAQs; Suggestion Box (aka TalkBack); Staff List.

§  Turn 1 PC into 10 -- open source Groovix SLIM multi-user software from Open Sense Solutions which enables you to run multiple screens, keyboards, and users from a single PC.

§  Turn 1 PC into 2 -- Free (not open source) 2 user version of Userful's Desktop Multiplier software which enables you to run multiple screens, keyboards, and users from a single PC.

§  VLC -- Free (GPL) cross-platform media player/streamer with support for a large number of formats and more.

§  WordPress is a free and open source blog publishing/CMS application

§  WUBS Open Source Resource Booking System (Loughborough University).

Soure: http://www.libsuccess.org

Library and Information Science: A Guide to Online Resources

Online Repositories and Full-text Resources While many scholarly library and information science publications are still available only in print or through subscription databases, there are a growing number of free online repositories and other full-text resources available on the Web. This page highlights major sources of Web-based, full-text content in the field. Online Dictionaries IFLA Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations and Useful Links A glossary of major library terms and abbreviations prepared by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' Section on Bibliography. Multilingual Glossary of Terms A glossary of library science terminoloy designed specifically for English as a Second Language (ESL) users. TheLanguage Table lists each term in English followed by the equivalent term as written in six other languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Arabic). Compiled by members of the Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries' Instruction Section. Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science (ODLIS) A major resource for terminology used in all types of libraries. With more than 4,000 terms and cross-references, the dictionary's content has been carefully selected and includes terms from publishing, printing, literature, and computer science where, in the author's judgment, they are relevant to both library professionals and laypersons. Online Repositories Trove Australia's major online repository, Trove provides information about millions of resources collected by Australia’s libraries, universities, research repositories, and cultural institutions. Materials that can be found, many of which have been digitized, include books, theses, reports, research articles, raw data sets, book chapters, conference proceedings, maps, and audio-visual materials. CaltechAUTHORS An archive of the papers and publications of the professional staff at Caltech. Browse byResearch Group to find publications in the field of library and information science. CiteSeerX CiteSeerX is a scientific literature digital library and search engine that focuses primarily on the literature in computer and information science. More than 1.5 million documents and 30.8 million citations are available. Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) A directory of more than 2,600 academic open access repositories, including more than119 related to library and information science. E-LIS: E-prints in Library and Information Science E-LIS is an open access archive for scientific or technical documents, published or unpublished, on librarianship, information science and technology, and related areas. More than 16,000 documents are currently available. ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) ERIC provides free access to more than 1.4 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials and, if available, includes links to full text. Issues from a number of library science journals are indexed, including Library Media Connection,Library Journal, and Library Trends. ERIC is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES). OAIster OAIster is a union catalog of millions of records representing open archive resources. OAIster includes more than 30 million records representing digital resources from more than 1,500 contributors. OCLC Research Publications Repository This repository contains works produced, sponsored, or submitted by OCLC Research. In general, the works are research-oriented and are in the subject area of library and information science. Many items describe OCLC Research projects, activities, and programs and were originally published by OCLC, while others are from peer-reviewed scholarly journals. PubMed Central Includes publications from the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, the Medical Library and Historical Handbook, and the Journal of the Medical Library Association, which are relevant for many librarians outside of the field of medical librarianship. Social Science Research Network e-Library: SSRN e-Library Includes more than 350,000 abstracts of scholarly papers and 285,000 open source documents in the fields of information systems, accounting, economics, financial economics, corporate governance, health economics, entrepreneurship, management, legal scholarship, cognitive science, political science, and humanities. Use SSRN'sAdvanced Search page to conduct a search for publications related to library and information science, or browse its classification codes by subject (e.g., Information Services; Computer Software). Free Databases elibraryUSA eLibraryUSA provides full-text access to a number of subscription databases, includingAcademic OneFile; Britannica Library; Digital Literacy; Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) with Full Text; Teacher Reference Center, and others of interest to library science students and professionals. To access these databases, you must be a member of an Information Resource Center (IRC). IRCs are designed to provide authoritative information to foreign government officials, journalists, researchers, and others with a professional or scholarly interest in the United States. Once you identify the nearest Information Resource Center to you, contact it directly to find out how you can become a member. See eLibraryUSA's Frequently Asked Questions for more information. Google Scholar Search for scholarly literature in the field of library and information science and other disciplines. Sources include peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Some publications are available for free; others can be purchased online. JSTOR - Early Journal Content JSTOR's Early Journal Content (EJC) includes nearly 500,000 freely accessible articles published in the United States before 1923 and in other countries before 1870. Content from the more than 200 journals in EJC includes materials related to library and information science, including issues of Bulletin of the American Library Association (nowAmerican Libraries) from 1907-1922. Users may choose to browse the free Early Journal Content or use the Advanced Search option to search across all content and limit results to “Only content I can access.” See JSTOR's EJC video tutorial and FAQ for further details. JSTOR's EJC is also available through the Internet Archive. JSTOR - Register & Read JSTOR's Register & Read program allows scholars and researchers free access to articles from a selected list of JSTOR publications. Currently, approximately 1,200 journals from more than 700 publishers are part of the program. Free registration is required to search Register & Read content, and access is limited to three articles every two weeks. Titles of interest include Bulletin of the American Library Association,American Libraries, and MELA Notes. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) A freely searchable database for anyone interested in libraries and information management. This database provides coverage on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Full-text articles from LISTA are available to members of an Information Resource Center through eLibraryUSA. ROI and Investment Bibliography A bibliography of more than 400 items, some available online, that explore the value of libraries. Includes accounts of individual library assessment projects, general discussions of conceptual approaches to assessing library value and return on investment, and descriptions of specific methods for evaluating the positive outcomes of providing a wide variety of library resources and services. Online Periodicals Directory of Open Access Journals, Library and Information Science Provides access to more than 140 free, full-text periodicals in the field of library and information science. College & Research Libraries (C&RL) A complete archive of C&RL issues from its beginnings in 1939 through the current issue. Online Books See this guide's Frequently Asked Questions related to full-text books at the Library of Congress andother sources for online books.

MARC 21 Format for Bibliographgic Data

This online publication provides access to both the full and concise versions of the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data. The "full" bibliographic format contains detailed descriptions of every data element, along with examples, input conventions, and history sections. The "concise" bibliographic format contains abridged descriptions of every data element, along with examples. The full and concise versions are identified in the header of each field description.

Changes to the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data that resulted from Update No. 21 (September 2015) are displayed in red print. The date located in the header of the full version of each field indicates the last month and year of update.

MARC 21 Bibliographical DATA

Resource Description and Access (RDA) in 10 Easy Steps

Resource Description and Access (RDA) is the successor to the cataloging rules, AACR2. RDA completely revamps the structure of the cataloging instructions by closely following the entity-relationship model used to construct databases. However, as complex as these changes are, they can be reduced to ten easy steps. Join in on a walkthrough of the new structure. A demonstration of how a simple book can be cataloged with RDA helps catalogers understand the new structure and makes it easier to navigate RDA and find related instructions for other resources.
RDA in 10 Easy Steps

Ranking of Library and Information Schools

An advanced degree in library and information studies is vital for future librarians who wish to work in schools, government agencies, hospitals and more. These are the top schools for a master's degree in library and information studies. Each school's score reflects its average rating on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), based on a survey of academics at peer institutions. ( Library and Information Studies Rankings Methodology)

Rank	School name	Score
1.	University of Illinois—​Urbana-​Champaign  Champaign, IL	4.6
2.	University of North Carolina—​Chapel Hill  Chapel Hill, NC	4.5
3.	University of Washington  Seattle, WA	4.4
4.Tie	Syracuse University  Syracuse, NY	4.3
4.Tie	University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor  Ann Arbor, MI	4.3
6.Tie	Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—​New Brunswick  New Brunswick, NJ	4.0
6.Tie	University of Texas—​Austin  Austin, TX	4.0
8.	Indiana University—​Bloomington  Bloomington, IN	3.9
9.	Simmons College  Boston, MA	3.8
10.Tie	Drexel University  Philadelphia, PA	3.7
10.Tie	University of Maryland—​College Park  College Park, MD	3.7
10.Tie	University of Pittsburgh  Pittsburgh, PA	3.7
13.	Florida State University  Tallahassee, FL	3.6
14.	University of California—​Los Angeles  Los Angeles, CA	3.5
15.	University of Wisconsin—​Milwaukee  Milwaukee, WI	3.4
16.	University of Wisconsin—​Madison  Madison, WI	3.3
17.	University of Tennessee—​Knoxville  Knoxville, TN	3.2
18.Tie	Kent State University  Kent, OH	3.0
18.Tie	University of Alabama  Tuscaloosa, AL	3.0
18.Tie	University of South Carolina  Columbia, SC	3.0
21.	University of North Texas  Denton, TX	2.9
22.Tie	University of Kentucky  Lexington, KY	2.8
22.Tie	University of North Carolina—​Greensboro  Greensboro, NC	2.8
24.Tie	University of Oklahoma  Norman, OK	2.7
24.Tie	University of South Florida  Tampa, FL	2.7

School Library

Ref: The Columbia Encyclopedia,
Sixth Edition. 2001-05.


library school

educational institution providing professional training for librarians (see also library). Librarians were trained by apprenticeship until the late 19th cent. The first school for training librarians was established by Melvil Dewey in 1887. The success of this institution, combined with a shortage of librarians in a period of growth and expansion, led to a proliferation of such schools, many of which were inadequate. With the formation of the Association of American Library Schools in 1915, standards of accreditation were established and maintained. A number of university schools of library service were established in the 1920s, many of them funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
In 1999, 56 U.S. and Canadian institutions offering training in librarianship were accredited by the American Library Association. These schools require a minimum of five years’ study beyond the secondary level: The four years of undergraduate study constitute a general education in the humanities and natural and social sciences; the fifth year is in professional study at the graduate level and leads to a master’s degree. The first school to confer the doctoral degree in library science was the Univ. of Chicago. Some of the schools are part of a university (as at the Univ. of Illinois); others are at independent undergraduate institutions (e.g., Pratt Institute). As libraries adopted the use of computer databases and on-line catalogs, the schools added a broader range of courses in information science and technology in order to acquaint future librarians with a variety of media.
The first library school outside the United States and Canada was founded at the Univ. of London in 1917. In many underdeveloped countries, university library schools have been established by grants from UNESCO and other sources, employing at the outset European- or American-trained staff. This staff is replaced as soon as possible with local personnel. Although the number of non-American library schools has steadily increased, many foreign librarians are still trained in the United States.

Library

The Columbia Encyclopedia,
Sixth Edition. 2001-05

library


a collection of books or other written or printed materials, as well as the facility in which they are housed and the institution that is responsible for their maintenance. Modern libraries may contain a wide range of materials, including manuscripts and pamphlets, posters, photographs, motion pictures, and videotapes, sound recordings, and computer databases in various forms.

The Modern Library
Modern libraries, in addition to providing patrons with access to books and other materials, often publish lists of accessions and may maintain a readers’ advisory service. Interlibrary loan services, lecture series, public book reviews, and the maintenance of special juvenile collections are other important recent developments. Three systems of book classification are widely used to facilitate access to library collections: the Dewey decimal system of Melvil Dewey, the system of Charles Ammi Cutter, and the Library of Congress system (see catalog). Since the 1930s public library systems have had several technological tools at their disposal, including microphotographic techniques for copying, computer data banks enabling the storage of far more information and the search of indexes and catalogs far more quickly than ever before, and computer networks that provide instant access to materials in libraries throughout the world and to the Internet and its increasingly rich resources.
Major university libraries in the United States must work to meet an enormous demand for research materials and spend nearly $5 million a year for books and related supplies such as binding materials. Preservation of pulp-based paper, which becomes brittle after a few decades, has become a major drain on library resources; many libraries will no longer acquire books that are not printed on acid-free paper. Such libraries typically have private endowments as well as receive federal and state support. Other libraries throughout the world operate on far smaller budgets, frequently with severe financial handicaps. 3
The architectural design of modern public libraries in the United States has placed the highest priority on functionalism. Outstanding examples of library construction include the central housing for collections in New York City (1911), Los Angeles (1926; major renovation 1993), Baltimore (1932), and San Francisco (1996) and university buildings at Columbia (1896; no longer a library) and Harvard (1915). Modern buildings tend toward modular construction and smaller, separate housing for special collections.
See also library school.

Evolution
The earliest known library was a collection of clay tablets in Babylonia in the 21st cent. B.C. Ancient Egyptian temple libraries are known through the Greek writers. Diodorus Siculus describes the library of Ramses III, c.1200 B.C. The extensively cataloged library of Assurbanipal (d. 626? B.C.) in Nineveh was the most noted before that at Alexandria. The temple at Jerusalem contained a sacred library. The first public library in Greece was established in 330 B.C., in order to preserve accurate examples of the work of the great dramatists. The most famous libraries of antiquity were those of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I, which contained some 700,000 Greek scrolls. The library at Pergamum, founded or expanded by Eumenes II, rivaled those at Alexandria.
The first Roman libraries were brought from Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria as a result of conquests in the 1st and 2d cent. B.C. Caius Asinius Pollio established (c.40 B.C.) the first public library in Rome, but the great public libraries of the Roman Empire were the Octavian (destroyed A.D. 80) and the Palatine (destroyed c.A.D. 190) and the more important Ulpian library, founded during the reign of Trajan. In addition to these public collections, there were many fine private libraries by the time the Roman Republic was ended in 27 B.C. Of these there remain only fragments of one at Herculaneum.
The early Christian libraries were in monasteries; the Benedictines amassed a fine collection at Monte Cassino. The Romans had brought book collections to the British Isles, but important early monastic libraries were founded in York, Wearmouth, Canterbury, and elsewhere in England and Ireland by Anglo-Saxon monks. Some of the finest manuscript illumination was produced in these libraries. On the Continent, St. Columban and other missionaries founded monastic libraries in the 6th cent. Most of the ancient Greek and Latin texts that have survived until modern times were preserved in medieval European monastery libraries.
The Arabs in the 9th to 15th cent. collected and preserved many libraries, and the Jews and the Byzantines also developed fine libraries during the medieval period. In the 14th and 15th cent. Charles V of France, Lorenzo de’ Medici, and Frederick, duke of Urbino, all formed fine libraries; part of the Urbino library is now in the Vatican Library. In the 15th cent. the Vatican Library, the oldest public library in Europe, was formed. In 1475, Platina, as its first librarian, made a catalog that included 2,527 volumes. In 1257 the Sorbonne library at Paris was founded, and in 1525 the erection of the Laurentian Library in Florence, designed by Michelangelo, was begun. Many of the great university libraries (e.g., Bologna, Prague, Oxford, and Heidelberg) were opened in the 14th cent.
In the United States a circulating library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, was chartered in 1732 on the initiative of Benjamin Franklin. A public library had, however, been opened in Boston as early as 1653 (see Boston Public Library). Other early subscription libraries included the Boston Athenaeum, the New York Society Library, and the Charleston (S.C.) Library Society. In 1833 the first tax-supported library in the country opened at Peterborough, N.H. The American Library Association was formed in 1876, and this organization spurred improvements in library methods and in the training of librarians.
Libraries in the United States and Great Britain benefited greatly from the philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie, who gave more than $65 million for public library buildings in the United States alone and strengthened local interest by making the grants contingent upon public support. Among the innovations of the late 19th cent. were free public access to books (involving elaborate classification schemes) and branch libraries or deposit stations for books in many parts of cities; in the early 20th cent. traveling libraries, or “bookmobiles,” began to take books to readers in rural or outlying areas.

Notable Libraries
Among the chief modern public and university libraries are the Bibliothèque nationale and the Mazarine, Paris; the British Museum, London; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the Vatican Library, Rome; the Ambrosian Library, Milan; the Laurentian Library, Florence; the Russian State Library, Moscow; the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. (see under Huntington, Henry Edwards); the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the New York Public Library; the libraries of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and other major American universities; and the Newbery and John Crerar libraries in Chicago.
There are several sorts of libraries in the United States and elsewhere that exist apart from the public and university systems. Three major categories of these are private libraries, usually housing special collections, e.g., the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City of rare books in the humanities and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (see under Folger, Henry Clay); presidential libraries, which contain the papers of past presidents not held in the Library of Congress, e.g., the Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Ga., the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kans., the Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Mich., the Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Fremont, Ohio, the Herbert Hoover Library, West Branch, Iowa, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library at the Univ. of Texas, Austin, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Boston, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y., and the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Mo.; and industrial libraries formed by many corporations to house research works relevant to their business.