The debate on NewGenLib v/s SOUL is simply not
necessary because I feel both are meant for different segments of LIS
market. SOUL was developed by INFLIBNET years back under the aegis of UGC
to support academic Library community which at that time was unable to invest in
proprietary LMS. The initial College edition of SOUL was costing
merely Rs.15,000/- (until recently) when proprietary standalone LMS was
costing Rs.1 lac. There are more than 1600 SOUL installations in
India. Just think of them ! What should they do ? Get
free-upgrade of SOUL 2.0 (with moderate costs of installation) or go for
NewGenLib/Koha which is free and open source. SOUL 2.0 has added
many more facilities to its previous version. It's web-based, many
International Standards have been adopted and it is SIP2/NCIP compatible
too. Now think of those smaller libraries which have only couple of staff,
what should they do ? Use readily available upgraded LMS or switch over to
free, open source NewGenLib or Koha - for which neither they have expertise nor
time to devote.
All of us those who are adopting Open Source
software know very well that it needs substantial
staff-time-investment - may it be for data migration, customising each function
to suit to one's needs or even fixing small problem of default
currency. Open Source LMS is only a powerful engine, but
whether one can make a racing car out of it or not depends upon
availability of the workshop facilities, latest tools and machinery, research
staff to support and designing team to take care of its dynamics.
Therefore I would not blindly support Open Source just because it is almost
free compared to proprietary LMS - but would strongly advocate use of SOUL 2.0
by those who would like to concentrate more on user-services than breaking their
heads in customising Open Source LMS.
SOUL 2.0 is a step towards upgrading efficiency
of LIS community as a whole at very negligible input costs. Those who feel
the SOUL 2.0 rates are high should enquire for rates for proprietary
LMS in the market, and also how much would it cost to customise Open
Source with facilities which are offered by SOUL
2.0.
I have yet not come across any fully operational
Open Source LMS in any of the large Libraries in India. Many open source
agencies claim that each and every module/facility can be customised,
e.g. Template designs, RSS Feeds, Blogs, Federated Search, scheduled auto e-mail
generators, Customised Reports, MIS stats, Online Reservation facility, built-in
SIP2/NCIP, Video-streaming facility through web-OPAC, importing records from web
catalogues, exporting records in variety of formats, remote log-ins, Serials
Management etc., but when it comes to practical implementation, it takes
months together to mould them to match needs of the organisation.
Therefore I will never ever
criticise indigenous LMS like SOUL. It is/was developed for
specific cause/purpose and not for competing with proprietary LMS or
to discourage use of Open Source LMS. We all should recommend it to
all those who are short of resources and do not have time/expertise to customise
freely available open-source.
Would certainly welcome your views
Happy LMSing !
satish deshpande
formerly Head British Council Library
Ahmedabad