Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc.
Dear All, We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money. In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha. I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that: WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY? I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain. You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support. Thanking You. Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Well pointed out and good observation. Perhaps you are yet to realise that in reputed institutions with big budgets, there is a flourishing racket over library automation just like book acquisitions process. During the course of my professional travails, I have come across two organisations where the library heads were found convincing and pressurising their Directors NOT to go for open source but instead pushing the purchase of proprietary automation softwares with great price tags !!! Now, the reasons are obvious... the companies offer fairly good commissions / cuts to librarians if their softwares are purchased. On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 7:44 PM, Vinod Kumar Mishra < vinod_librarian@rediffmail.com> wrote:
Dear All,
We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money.
In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha.
I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that:
WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY?
I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain.
You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support.
Thanking You.
Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela
--
-- *Sharmila Ghosh* http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sharmila-ghosh/4/170/7b3 <https://www.facebook.com/notes/sharmila-ghosh/my-publications/105467056249278> -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear Madam, I am agree and its one of the valid point, that is the reason why you can find different discount % on books in different libraries, more discount less corruption less discount more corruption. So similarly more use of Open source software means more strong library/librarians capability. On Sun, 15 Feb 2015 16:54:51 +0530 Sharmila Ghosh wrote
Well pointed out and good observation. Perhaps you are yet to realise that in reputed institutions with big budgets, there is a flourishing racket over library automation just like book acquisitions process. During the course of my professional travails, I have come across two organisations where the library heads were found convincing and pressurising their Directors NOT to go for open source but instead pushing the purchase of proprietary automation softwares with great price tags !!! Now, the reasons are obvious... the companies offer fairly good commissions / cuts to librarians if their softwares are purchased.
On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 7:44 PM, Vinod Kumar Mishra wrote: Dear All, We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money. In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha. I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that: WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY? I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain. You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support. Thanking You. Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela ---- Sharmila Ghosh http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sharmila-ghosh/4/170/7b3 With regards, Vinod Kumar Mishra, Assistant Librarian, Biju Patnaik Central Library, NIT Rourkela, Mob:91+9439420860 91+6612462103 (O) email: vinod_librarian@rediffmail.com : mishravk79@gmail.com -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear Members. First of all, I congratulate and appreciate efforts of Dr. A. R. D. Prasad, Dr. Sunita Barve, Mr. Vimal Kumar, Mr. Vinod Mishra, Mr. D. P. Tripathi and all others who developed livecd and made our job of library automation much easier. I saved lakhs of rupees of our institute by implementing koha in library. I also developed library website with interactive features with free internet resources. All this is acknowledged but in this one year I have following observations and experiences:- 1. Things are totally different in university and college libraries. In Indian colleges, its “Mass Education” rather than “Quality Education”. 2. Lack of Staff. For 5000 students I am provided with only 5 staff instead of govt. norms of 20 staff. 3. Lack of skilled staff. Most of class III and IV employess in library are aged and computer illeterate. 4. Lack of infrastructure, especially for networked environment. How to orient 5000 students without LCD, internet and sufficient PC/Laptops? Till last month, I was not even having a single PC for 5000 students in library. 5. I got most of the students list almost 2 months after start of academic year. I had to struggle for managing both patron import and collection development at the same time. 6. Lack of IT trained staff. We have 15 IT teachers in our college and all were useless when it came to linux environment. If this is a case with an PG IT teacher what you can expect from an librarian without IT background? 7. Mentality and Attitude of patrons (both teachers and students) has not yet completely changed. They want everything in hand and are reluctant to even search on catalogue and shelves. Problems are not in adopting open source software, but the work culture in which a college librarian has to work. Since they are struggling in their routine job itself, perhaps they are reluctant and also not confidant enough to excute it without the support of vendors. Right from installation to data conversion and patron import, I handled koha without any problem and thus I get frequent request for consultancy, right from librarians to IT companies, but the above listed observations and experiences restrict me. ICT in itself is a full time job and morover its a fast developing sector. Thus, instead of personal consultancy, I feel that organizations like INFLIBNET can come up with better service facilites and flexbile hosting plans for OSS like Koha and Dspace with a nationwide young team of librarians trained with sufficient IT skills to execute the same. Colleges can choose one of the two options:- 1. Koha and Dspace hosted at data centre of INFLIBNET itself. 2. Koha and Dspace installed and preconfigured on servers and purchasing these servers itself with necessary customization and support. Nowadays with softwares like teamviewer, and mobile features like whatsup, personal visit to college can be easily cutdown. This will also help us in standardization and exchange of catalogue data. Moreover, it will be easy for both librarians and college authorities to adopt/subscribe to this technolgy service, since it will be an another product/service of INFLIBNET like SOUL and N-List. Special thanks to Mr. Vinod Mishra who shared his views with us and also gave me an opportunity to share my experiences. As it is rightly said, necessity is the mother of inventions and I am sure, together we all can change and enhance the system. Mr. Mahesh M. Angadi, Librarian, Model College, Dombivli (E). Contact No. 9869120258, (0251) 2470010. On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 7:44 PM, Vinod Kumar Mishra < vinod_librarian@rediffmail.com> wrote:
Dear All,
We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money.
In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha.
I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that:
WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY?
I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain.
You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support.
Thanking You.
Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela
-- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear All, The subject of the mail raises few questions on the implementation of Open Source Software in India. Few months back I was in a loop of mails on success of Open Access Institutional Repositories (IRs) in India. There was some logical questions raised and answered by well known professionals from India & abroad in the field of Open Access. Few points I would like to highlight here from that private discussion which I feel relevant with respect to the below mail as per subject. Does the implementation of Open Source mean "Installation & basic configuration/customization"? or it includes value addition and future upgradation/migration etc. Most of the libraries use only OPAC and/or circulation in KOHA. Some of the features in KOHA is not well defined for a library which wants to use it in a copybook style. Then who will help in these aspects. Since last 15years or more CSIR-NIO library is using computerized Library Management System (menu based to browser based). The current browser based ILMS was developed in-house, using CDS/ISIS database (in Unix/Linux OS), TCL/TK programming language, etc. The software was developed carefully as per the theory of automation to minimize the manual work. When CSIR-NISCAIR initiated a network project (KNOWGATE) in 2013 to make OPAC of all CSIR laboratories public, KOHA software was considered as suitable one. So CSIR-NIO library started exploring the features of KOHA in comparison to current ILMS in 2014. During the process, we contacted few KOHA experts (based on mailing activities in lis-Forum) in India to explore our requirements. But the responses were disappointing. Some could not help on Linux installation and some on the script level. If a commercial service provider can help in modification/customization of the software as per the library requirements then it should not be an issue. Although NIO library is working on script level customization without any help of commercial service support but does not discourage institutes for taking commercial firm service if they do value addition in KOHA. I put this view after realizing the level of IT skills needed to work with KOHA scripts & databases. Is there any expert (non-commercial) who can help in developing the following features? Acquisition: 1. User recommends a document for procurement using the "Your Purchase Suggestions" form. I want duplication check before "submit of recommendations" with OPAC & pervious recommendations. 2. Under suggestion management: a) There should be duplicate checking facility in pending suggestions. b) A mail should generate to a group of users (subject experts) when the status changes form pending to checked. c) Accepted documents TAB should provide option to ORDER (create basket) there than from "Vendor" side. 3. If the basket is created today for a vendor so all the order created for that particular vendor will attached to the same basket. The first statement is true unless the basket is open not closed, if it is closed a new basket would be created for the vendor. 4. Update of Exchange Rates based on Order Date there in the "Accounting Details" 5. Creation of Invoice with a choice of Vendor than the default way. 6. Receiving orders with the right Price Estimate than the Estimated Cost at the time of Order. 7. Order/Cancel of order should be mail based to the vendors We are trying to included few other features (as per the theory of automation) to minimize manual work. So if non-commercial experts can help in such requirements then there is no need of commercial support. धन्यवाद सादर - सत्य Thanking you Regards - Satya ------------------------------------------- सत्यरंजन साहु/ Satya Ranjan Sahu वैज्ञानिक एवं पुस्तकालय मुख्य/Scientist & Head of Library सीएसआईआर - राष्ट्रीय समुद्र विज्ञान संस्थान/ CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography दोना पाउला/ Dona Paula, गोवा/ Goa भारत/ India - 403 004 Phone: 0832-2450275 (O); Fax-91-(0)832-2450601 -------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto:lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of Vinod Kumar Mishra Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 7:45 PM To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in; nmlis@yahoogroups.com; libtech@yahoogroups.com Cc: dptkvs@gmail.com Subject: [LIS-Forum] Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc. Dear All, We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money. In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha. I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that: WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY? I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain. You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support. Thanking You. Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Respected All I have been using Open Source Software (OSS) from last 8 years. I am of the strong opinion that OSS is lacking because users who do customization ( Koha implemented at University library/Management library...) all are not insisting commercial vendors to submit the customized software code to koha community. If major 10-15 libraries who can afford the customization of koha work and submit that coding through vendor to koha community ( Koha Software Team www.koha-community.org) then small libraries will automatically get the new features at no cost. At the time of signing the customization agreement with commercial vendor all the major libraries should insist for the clause of submission of customize coding to software community. I also agree that Koha software community will not accept our entire customize coding but we have to convenience koha community people about its importance. I can proudly say that one of the koha vendor of Vidya Prasarak Mandal, Thane has submitted the libsuite patch to koha community and most of the libraries shifted from libsuite to koha benefited from it. I am always having a track on the information of private company/university giving any funding for koha customization, and I immediately share that type of news to all the library science forums and koha community forums because my aim is not just to share the information but if we all are aware that commercial vendor has got the funding from any company/ university for koha customization then we all can insist the vendor to submit the customize code to community. In India also there are so many commercial vendors who have really done the great job in koha customization but they have not submitted the customize patch to koha community. Success of any open source software depends on its users. Warm Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian *Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research* L Napoo Road | Matunga (CR) | Mumbai- 400 019. Tel: 022-2419 8377 | Mob: 9870 18 9999 Library Portal*: http://elearn.welingkar.org/infowe <http://elearn.welingkar.org/infowe>* On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 6:07 PM, Satyaranjan Sahu <satya@nio.org> wrote:
Dear All, The subject of the mail raises few questions on the implementation of Open Source Software in India.
Few months back I was in a loop of mails on success of Open Access Institutional Repositories (IRs) in India. There was some logical questions raised and answered by well known professionals from India & abroad in the field of Open Access. Few points I would like to highlight here from that private discussion which I feel relevant with respect to the below mail as per subject.
Does the implementation of Open Source mean "Installation & basic configuration/customization"? or it includes value addition and future upgradation/migration etc. Most of the libraries use only OPAC and/or circulation in KOHA. Some of the features in KOHA is not well defined for a library which wants to use it in a copybook style. Then who will help in these aspects.
Since last 15years or more CSIR-NIO library is using computerized Library Management System (menu based to browser based). The current browser based ILMS was developed in-house, using CDS/ISIS database (in Unix/Linux OS), TCL/TK programming language, etc. The software was developed carefully as per the theory of automation to minimize the manual work.
When CSIR-NISCAIR initiated a network project (KNOWGATE) in 2013 to make OPAC of all CSIR laboratories public, KOHA software was considered as suitable one. So CSIR-NIO library started exploring the features of KOHA in comparison to current ILMS in 2014. During the process, we contacted few KOHA experts (based on mailing activities in lis-Forum) in India to explore our requirements. But the responses were disappointing. Some could not help on Linux installation and some on the script level.
If a commercial service provider can help in modification/customization of the software as per the library requirements then it should not be an issue. Although NIO library is working on script level customization without any help of commercial service support but does not discourage institutes for taking commercial firm service if they do value addition in KOHA. I put this view after realizing the level of IT skills needed to work with KOHA scripts & databases.
Is there any expert (non-commercial) who can help in developing the following features?
Acquisition:
1. User recommends a document for procurement using the "Your Purchase Suggestions" form. I want duplication check before "submit of recommendations" with OPAC & pervious recommendations.
2. Under suggestion management: a) There should be duplicate checking facility in pending suggestions. b) A mail should generate to a group of users (subject experts) when the status changes form pending to checked. c) Accepted documents TAB should provide option to ORDER (create basket) there than from "Vendor" side.
3. If the basket is created today for a vendor so all the order created for that particular vendor will attached to the same basket. The first statement is true unless the basket is open not closed, if it is closed a new basket would be created for the vendor.
4. Update of Exchange Rates based on Order Date there in the "Accounting Details"
5. Creation of Invoice with a choice of Vendor than the default way.
6. Receiving orders with the right Price Estimate than the Estimated Cost at the time of Order.
7. Order/Cancel of order should be mail based to the vendors
We are trying to included few other features (as per the theory of automation) to minimize manual work. So if non-commercial experts can help in such requirements then there is no need of commercial support.
धन्यवाद सादर - सत्य
Thanking you Regards - Satya
------------------------------------------- सत्यरंजन साहु/ Satya Ranjan Sahu वैज्ञानिक एवं पुस्तकालय मुख्य/Scientist & Head of Library सीएसआईआर - राष्ट्रीय समुद्र विज्ञान संस्थान/ CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography दोना पाउला/ Dona Paula, गोवा/ Goa भारत/ India - 403 004 Phone: 0832-2450275 (O); Fax-91-(0)832-2450601 --------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of Vinod Kumar Mishra Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 7:45 PM To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in; nmlis@yahoogroups.com; libtech@yahoogroups.com Cc: dptkvs@gmail.com Subject: [LIS-Forum] Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc.
Dear All,
We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money.
In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha.
I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that:
WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY?
I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain.
You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support.
Thanking You.
Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela
-- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear All, I agree that if you need any customization in Koha at scripting language level than you can go for paid service if it is not available on voluntary support basis, but in most of the cases i have seen people are using the default feature and investing huge amount on just installations and training which can be done by community support. So my view is open source solutions should be initiated by library by the help of librarians rather that going blindly to commercial support. I agree that under terms and condition libraries should mention that patch should be shared to community without any charge because many features are common to all libraries and venders are selling the same patch for which they have been already paid. Thanking You. On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 4:22 PM, Sandeep Bhavsar <sandeep.bhavsar@gmail.com> wrote:
Respected All
I have been using Open Source Software (OSS) from last 8 years. I am of the strong opinion that OSS is lacking because users who do customization ( Koha implemented at University library/Management library...) all are not insisting commercial vendors to submit the customized software code to koha community. If major 10-15 libraries who can afford the customization of koha work and submit that coding through vendor to koha community ( Koha Software Team www.koha-community.org) then small libraries will automatically get the new features at no cost. At the time of signing the customization agreement with commercial vendor all the major libraries should insist for the clause of submission of customize coding to software community.
I also agree that Koha software community will not accept our entire customize coding but we have to convenience koha community people about its importance. I can proudly say that one of the koha vendor of Vidya Prasarak Mandal, Thane has submitted the libsuite patch to koha community and most of the libraries shifted from libsuite to koha benefited from it.
I am always having a track on the information of private company/university giving any funding for koha customization, and I immediately share that type of news to all the library science forums and koha community forums because my aim is not just to share the information but if we all are aware that commercial vendor has got the funding from any company/ university for koha customization then we all can insist the vendor to submit the customize code to community.
In India also there are so many commercial vendors who have really done the great job in koha customization but they have not submitted the customize patch to koha community.
Success of any open source software depends on its users.
Warm Regards
Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian
*Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research* L Napoo Road | Matunga (CR) | Mumbai- 400 019. Tel: 022-2419 8377 | Mob: 9870 18 9999 Library Portal*: http://elearn.welingkar.org/infowe <http://elearn.welingkar.org/infowe>*
On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 6:07 PM, Satyaranjan Sahu <satya@nio.org> wrote:
Dear All, The subject of the mail raises few questions on the implementation of Open Source Software in India.
Few months back I was in a loop of mails on success of Open Access Institutional Repositories (IRs) in India. There was some logical questions raised and answered by well known professionals from India & abroad in the field of Open Access. Few points I would like to highlight here from that private discussion which I feel relevant with respect to the below mail as per subject.
Does the implementation of Open Source mean "Installation & basic configuration/customization"? or it includes value addition and future upgradation/migration etc. Most of the libraries use only OPAC and/or circulation in KOHA. Some of the features in KOHA is not well defined for a library which wants to use it in a copybook style. Then who will help in these aspects.
Since last 15years or more CSIR-NIO library is using computerized Library Management System (menu based to browser based). The current browser based ILMS was developed in-house, using CDS/ISIS database (in Unix/Linux OS), TCL/TK programming language, etc. The software was developed carefully as per the theory of automation to minimize the manual work.
When CSIR-NISCAIR initiated a network project (KNOWGATE) in 2013 to make OPAC of all CSIR laboratories public, KOHA software was considered as suitable one. So CSIR-NIO library started exploring the features of KOHA in comparison to current ILMS in 2014. During the process, we contacted few KOHA experts (based on mailing activities in lis-Forum) in India to explore our requirements. But the responses were disappointing. Some could not help on Linux installation and some on the script level.
If a commercial service provider can help in modification/customization of the software as per the library requirements then it should not be an issue. Although NIO library is working on script level customization without any help of commercial service support but does not discourage institutes for taking commercial firm service if they do value addition in KOHA. I put this view after realizing the level of IT skills needed to work with KOHA scripts & databases.
Is there any expert (non-commercial) who can help in developing the following features?
Acquisition:
1. User recommends a document for procurement using the "Your Purchase Suggestions" form. I want duplication check before "submit of recommendations" with OPAC & pervious recommendations.
2. Under suggestion management: a) There should be duplicate checking facility in pending suggestions. b) A mail should generate to a group of users (subject experts) when the status changes form pending to checked. c) Accepted documents TAB should provide option to ORDER (create basket) there than from "Vendor" side.
3. If the basket is created today for a vendor so all the order created for that particular vendor will attached to the same basket. The first statement is true unless the basket is open not closed, if it is closed a new basket would be created for the vendor.
4. Update of Exchange Rates based on Order Date there in the "Accounting Details"
5. Creation of Invoice with a choice of Vendor than the default way.
6. Receiving orders with the right Price Estimate than the Estimated Cost at the time of Order.
7. Order/Cancel of order should be mail based to the vendors
We are trying to included few other features (as per the theory of automation) to minimize manual work. So if non-commercial experts can help in such requirements then there is no need of commercial support.
धन्यवाद सादर - सत्य
Thanking you Regards - Satya
------------------------------------------- सत्यरंजन साहु/ Satya Ranjan Sahu वैज्ञानिक एवं पुस्तकालय मुख्य/Scientist & Head of Library सीएसआईआर - राष्ट्रीय समुद्र विज्ञान संस्थान/ CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography दोना पाउला/ Dona Paula, गोवा/ Goa भारत/ India - 403 004 Phone: 0832-2450275 (O); Fax-91-(0)832-2450601 --------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message----- From: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in [mailto: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in] On Behalf Of Vinod Kumar Mishra Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 7:45 PM To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in; nmlis@yahoogroups.com; libtech@yahoogroups.com Cc: dptkvs@gmail.com Subject: [LIS-Forum] Free service seems indigestible by many LIS professionals for Koha, DSpace etc.
Dear All,
We(myself and Mr. D.P. Tripathi)have taken initiative to implement open source software like Koha, DSpace, Joomla etc. in libraries and time to time motivating for the same to library professionals. I was thinking i am doing the great job free of cost but when i saw today a Tender of renowned Institute for Just installation of Koha, data migration from SOUL/Current ILMS and little training to staffs, i shocked and realize that real heroes are those people who have given opportunity for the same and successfully they are running Koha. They have expended Just on our TA/DA and honorarium as per government rules and saved Lakhs of Public money.
In present case although i proposed the institute for the same task and given example of a renowned near by library where we have did the job and Koha is running successfully but even though they opted for the Commercial firm service which could be easily done by us in a much better way than any commercial firm. I do not know why they opted for the same and what is lacking from our side, however one can avail community support for installation/training on Koha and if desire later they can avail commercial support (AMC) for maintenance, by this method also they can save lakh of money on initial implementation of Koha.
I would simply like to ask a question from such Professionals that:
WILL YOU TAKE SAME DECISION IF YOU HAVE TO INVEST MONEY FROM YOUR OWN POCKET? OR WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FACED IN INVITING ANY CAPABLE EXPERT FOR THE SAME TASKS FROM LIS COMMUNITY?
I would like to request all leaders/Decision makers of the LIS community to avail such services from LIS community it will not only save money but strengthen our library profession and reputation as well as you will be called as a good leader and decision maker in LIS domain.
You may visit http://mishravk.com/ for LIS related other activities and free support.
Thanking You.
Vinod Kumar Mishra Assistant Librarian NIT Rourkela
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participants (6)
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Mahesh Angadi -
Sandeep Bhavsar -
Satyaranjan Sahu -
Sharmila Ghosh -
Vinod Kumar Mishra -
vinod mishra