I do not want to take sides regarding the views of Prof. Laxman Rao's and Mr. Ravindra Kale's postings on Lis-Forum. There is no doubt that INFLIBNET has spent many years of honest effort and expense in building, distributing and supporting SOUL via training, etc. Only the libraries who have used SOUL can comment on how useful or friendly, etc., it is.

However, I would like to emphasize that the world over (including in the commercially oriented west), libraries are seriously moving towards open source solutions and the development of an open library environment via a project (www.oleproject.org) that is funded by the Mellon Foundation and under the leadership of Duke University and others. Other examples of the move towards open source solutions is the project of the eXtensible Catalog project (http://www.screencast.com/users/eXensibleCatalog). Evergreen, Koha are good examples of successful open source projects, both well funded and now commercially supported.

In India too the Kesavan Inst. of Information and Knowledge Management (www.kiikm.org) together with a software company, Verus Solutions Pvt. Ltd., has championed the cause of open source via NewGenLib, the first Indian open source library management system (LMS). NewGenLib has been downloaded by more than 9000+ instns., worldwide and there is a growing community of users. Quite a few organizations in India have supported hands-on workshops on NewGenLib. Already two versions of the software have been released and a new version (3.0) is due for release this year. All components of NewGenLib's layers are open source ones.

I might also add the following information:

The new version (3.0) will have a Rich Internet Application (RIA) front-end and OPAC.
We are in the process of signing an agreement with OCLC which will allow NewGenLib libraries to access WorldCat via an Application Programmers Interface (API) (and leverage WorldCat's social web features) expanding access to libraries implementing NewGenLib.
The new version will have many customizable features and better support to web services of vendors such as Amazon, Google (e.g., Google Book Search, Google Scholar).
KIIKM is committed to providing domain support and advice to ensure that NewGenLib is aware of new trends and technologies and applies relevant ones wherever possible.
Data conversion, training and ongoing support services to open source NewGenLib users are provided at nominal costs and all support services are customer-specific and optional depending on their needs.

I honestly believe that in a diverse world both SOUL and NewGenLib have a place but what is more important is the freedom that libraries must have to choose what they will use to automate their libraries.

KIIKM and Verus Solutions are always open to collaboration with INFLIBNET or other organizations in India and abroad.

Haravu

Trustee, Kesavan Inst. of Information and Knowledge Management