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Open Source CD Lending For Public Libraries?
phatlipmojo writes "Bob Kerr has taken what might well be an important step in getting open source software to the masses: donating CDs to public libraries for lending. It's a simple idea, but fraught with complications; indeed, at first, he couldn't give the CDs away to the wary libraries. Mr. Kerr dealt with the complications admirably, and has had a great deal of success getting open source CDs into lending libraries around his home country, as Mr. Kerr's howto PDF and this NewsForge article detail. What kinds of suggestions would Slashdotters make in addition to Mr. Kerr's to help make open source software on public library shelves a widespread reality?"
...he even provides a sample CD cover insert (on the next-to-last page of the PDF file).
Major props to him for taking the time to write up his experiences - both the successful moves and not-so-successful ones as well.
The Army reading list
whoops...that last should be
The for-Windows Open Source Software CD
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Having actual cdroms on a shelf for people to "check out", as it were, is likely a bad idea for a number of reasons. The large volume of cds occupying shelves would be a copy of the old library system, so it would likely be their default method, but it's incorrect, imho; it's a waste of space; it goes against the mighty electronic way. Burning on demand is the way to go because the open source community could ensure that the most recent versions of software are available, and that fresh new content would flow into libraries everywhere, rather than fill up shelves until the place has no more room.
However this just puts the "clutter" of old cd's into the users domain instead of the library's domain, and multiplies the clutter. So instead of the library having, say 4 old copies of some software, you have X amount of users with 4 old copies of some software with a grand total of 4*X useless old copies instead of the library having 4 old copies.
You'd have to disable copying
Photocopiers are available in most libraries, yet this doesn't seem to have created a huge problem with "piracy" of books.
Sure, there are warning posters above them telling people not to violate copyright; if this suffices for printed books and magazines, then why not for CD and DVD materials as well?
My support of Linux has left me with old distributions that I would love to donate to my local library. Probably I ought to do newbies a favor and only donate the newest releases instead of that old RedHat 4.2.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I'm the IT manager at a large public library, and I wouldn't touch this with a ten-foot stack of catalog cards.
We have almost completely stopped circulating CD-ROMs of any sort because the patrons have an expectation that the library will help them make it work, and if you mix initially lousy or just plain old software ("this storybook requires you to install quicktime 2.1") with who-knows-what the patron's got at home, it spells customer service disaster. No matter what kind of a disclaimer you put on it, circulating this kind of stuff would incur far more ill will from clueless patrons than it would benefit any unlikely geek who knows what they're doing but doesn't have access to sufficient bandwidth.
However, I would happily offer burners for public use and make blank media (and our bandwidth) available. That way, they get to keep the disc. Or hand them out at intro to OSS classes. Or mirror some trees. But put them on the shelves? No way. On top of everything else, they'd be outdated before they even made it through cataloging.
Nice idea though.
This is a good idea. Especially if the library has broadband internet access (as many do nowadays). The local LUG could then administer the box by providing updated images to it remotely.
I figure that with just a bit of effort, you could make a small tabletop version of this for under $1000 or so. I mean, all it needs is a cheap system, a burner (preferably without a tray, as they tend to get broken in public places), and a monitor. Form factor could be exceedingly thin with a custom casing for it, esp. if you used an LCD panel for the screen.
Thin and small is good here, because that means it's not taking up space in the library, which would make getting the librarians to agree much easier.
Write some custom software to basically provide a menu of images that the user can pick from (and optionally allow the local LUG to remotely administer the thing), assure the librarian that it's all open source software (which entails explaining OSS to them), get their agreement and assure them that it's no maintainance at all for them (plus let them sell blank CD's/DVD's on a markup, and it'd be done.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The trouble with the idea of putting Linux on the public PCs is that most libraries that have them got them from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the stipulation that they will not put (much) 3rd party software on them. On the one hand, it really sucks, but on the other hand, nobody else was lining up to give libraries free, new computers.
Nice things are nicer than nasty ones.
http://fossile-project.sourceforge.net/ If I had the money, I'd just buy the latest "Linux (insert version number here) Bible" book and CD set and donate it to my favorite local branch every year.
Broadband is still hard to get in rural parts of the US.
Walking/bikeing/driving for 5-10 minutes to pick up a few 700MB isos is still going to be faster for 90% of the people out there for some time to come.
The policy of the United States is worse than bad---it is insane. -- Ludwig von Mises, Economic Policy(1959)
We just dropped off about 300 free CDs at the Berkeley Public Library last week (stop by the Info Desk for a copy), during some recent events. As others have pointed out, libraries don't really want to catalog and manage stuff, nor do they want to worry about broken and scratched CDs. So, give 'em a spindle of 100 burned CDs or DVDs and let these discs walk out the door!
There are a lot of challenges to making this work truly smoothly (like the cost of putting a nice label on the CD, and troubles with competing DVD formats that don't always read correctly, and who's willing to burn them), but if the goal is to get content "out there," why bother with lending when it only costs a few cents to just give away a CD?
At Gutenberg, we're trying to start a volunteer-based effort that will let anyone request one of our CDs or DVDs via a Web form, then we'll send it to them by postal mail -- free! For a few hours of volunteers' time per month, and minimal costs (donated or reimbursed), why not!
I have seen MANY comments in this thread discussing the concept of donating Linux CDs to libraries.
In the cited articles, the products listed included Freeduc, OpenOffice, Gimp, and others. It was also stated that the software packages were installed and tested on a variety of systems, including Mac OSX, Win9x, Win2k, and WinXP.
OpenOffice, for one, is available for Windows as well as Linux.
This entire article is about OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE. There are OSS products available for non-Linux platforms.
That's all, carry on.
Public libraries are frequently the most parochial in the USA.
... for the purpose of study, use, install, .... Students/community may one day habitually and freely install and upgrade the most current OS/GPL software for personal use.
OS/GPL software has an initial general target audience "The Desktop".
I suggest, in the USA, obtain a LOC ISSN [http://www.loc.gov/issn] listing as an annual "Open Source" software reference on CD/DVD media with an abstract description of a desktop OS Linux distribution with appropriate supporting GPL desktop software for YYYY. Then again a different path may be more appropriate (like a periodical) check under the LOC Cataloging Programs and services [http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir].
Donations of OS/GPL software references (listed in the LOC catalog) to university and community college libraries, in the USA, may be accepted as a gift to the library and checked out by students, professors,
University students are more likely (I think) to discover value in OS/GPL software, and maybe even request the university library obtain the most up to date releases of the Linux kernel and other OS/GPL applications. Well, where would educational institution libraries obtain free (or media cost) OS products for their shelves and loaning to students?
OldHawk777
Reality is a self-induced hallucination.
Authentic People prefer dominion over the moment, a place, and self.
Authentic People plant seeds of human evolution, destiny, and envy.
Primitives will always enviously try to raze the dream and ideal.
_ Plutocrat Tyrants prefer judicial jeopardy to honorable death.
_ Plutocrat Megalomaniacs prefer death before public recognition.
_ Plutocrat Capitalist prefer a debased public to civilization.
_ Trivial Denizens prefer a sullied public to honorable endeavor.
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Author states that it's important to use only pressed CDs for just this reason.
Also, the author is in Scotland and states that broadband penetration is 5 to 10% there, which means 90 to 95% of the population is NOT going to be able to download these in a reasonable manner.
Even in the US, there are large chunks of the population where broadband is not available, even just a few miles out of large cities, sometimes.
- Install only enough software - and hack and recompile the sources, if necessary - for the machine to be able to record from an existing datafile/TOCfile pair on the HDD.
- Don't have a "proper" shell, just a simple menu which gives you a choice of CDs.
- Password-protect the BIOS, so the machine can't simply be rebooted from a CD.
- Assume that a librarian will be able to spot anyone up to no good and deal with them before they do any real damage.
It might even be possible to hack the ide-scsi module so as to make a CD-RW drive emulate a write-only device.Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
In South Australia, we once got
a local library to buy one of the
low-priced, multi-CD-ROM BERKS sets.
('can't find a URL for the UK-based
guy who published those CD-ROM's)
First, there was the question of
whether the disk-set could even
be housed in a library, where
others might use, borrow them.
They apparently have a central
purchasing department to decide
that, based on the license of the
items under consideration.
It took quite a while to decide
to buy a set or two (for several
library branches); it likely cost
more to make the decision than to
buy & ship the sets they eventually
ordered.
Upon receipt, the CD-ROM were placed into
the (no-loan) Reference section.
It took getting them to eMail the
publishers to get the CD-ROM's
shifted into the Loanables section,
but they were not at all quick or
interested in doing that, or even
accepting the publisher's reply eMail
as a definitive answer to their question:
ie would it be consistent with the IP
owner's license to loan these disks.
At least, now that the smoke has cleared,
we can look back & think that
this library has had a chance to
discover & learn a bit about
Open Source materials.
Not to get on your case, but I'm starting to get a little tired of this myth.
:) Believe it or not, the Foundation machines really are a gift. Not just a "here's your free Crack sample" thing.
There are no such strings attached to the Gates Foundation computers. The only requirement is that you provide internet access with them.
We even got an optional "internet server". I told them straight up I would wipe it clean & make it a Debian/Apache/PHP/Squid box to replace the current one. That was cool with them... they just wouldn't support that software. They didn't even blink. Didn't care. As long as it was put to good use, that's what they wanted. Hardware support wouldn't be withheld, either.
I was a little suprised myself, and thought it was pretty cool of them.
There, I said it. The one good thing I have to say about Gates.