[LIS-Forum] Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc.

[Dr Francis Jayakanth]

Dear All, Mr. Nikesh has summed up the ongoing discussion on the above subject, quite aptly. 

Couple of mails/replies pertaining to the above subject, including the original posting, were not in good taste, especially the allegation aspect of the mails. Making allegations on a public forum like the lis-forum is not a done thing. In future, such mails will not be circulated on the lis-forum and no further correspondence on the matter with the moderator will be entertained. 

Coming to the adaption of OA source software for library services and activities, the need of the hour is empowerment of fellow professionals and students of the profession. How long a two-member team of experts on the open source software for library applications be able to sustain their services? Software, be it open source or not, will be constantly evolving and new breed of software will be emerging from time to time.  It is practically impossible for small groups of experts to be able to provide long-term and reliable support for the entire community.  This is not undermine the efforts of Mr. Vinod, Mr. Tripathi, and several others who are striving to encourage the libraries to use open source software, where applicable.  Their efforts and services are commendable and highly appreciated.  They should, however, realize that for long-term sustainability of library services based on open-source platforms, fellow professionals should equip themselves. This does not require one to learn computer programming and other IT skills. In my opinion the essential skills that one needs to be reasonably comfortable with in deploying open source software for library applications are the operating system concepts, and basics of RDBMS and WWW technology. Merely acquiring the said skills is not going to make anyone an expert in the open source software domain. The key to be able to implement and sustain open source software  is the perseverance in learning the nitty-gritties of the software one is trying to implement. 

With best wishes,

- Francis, IIMB, Bengaluru-76


-----Original Message-----
From: lis-forum-bounces at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto:lis-forum-bounces at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of mailman at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:30 AM
To: lis-forum at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc.

From:    "nikesh" <nikeshn at gmail.com>
Date:    Wed, February 18, 2015 12:30 pm

Dear friends,

My humble opinion is that there should not be much controversy on this issue. It is the discretion of the Librarian to decide whether to go alone with OA community support or through a service provider depending on his requirements. I believe It is not good to force anyone one to take support from Somebody only and otherwise tag them as corrupt people. They may have there own requirements and looksfor  future support options through agreements. Let them decide.  Heartiest congrats to Library professionals who extends free service which is indeed great service to our community which would help in propagating OA culture.

Thanks

*Nikesh *

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