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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?"
Hmm...
This could do well in association with a local User Group of some sort, methinks.
Getting a bunch of people together to organize the CD labeling, DVD-cases instead of jewel cases, etc could help spread the cost and work around, as well as creating a perfect "next step" for the people checking out the software - a user group basically waiting for them.
I especially like the quote: Forcing anyone to do something they don't want to do just breeds resentment.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
I suggest to Mr. Kerr, that he consider BYOCD (bring your own CD). Users could burn their own cdroms from a plethora of projects that meet a particular library criteria, for quality and safety.
It might be smart for libraries to offer two methods for achieving this:
1) Library burns cds on demand for a small fee.
2) Users burn cds themselves.
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.
Stop gaps could be issued at the base system, to prevent abuse, and this would be much easier if the product was electronic.
...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
...just to make sure what went out is what came back in. :-)
(Admittedly I have not yet read the article he may well have covered this.)
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
A project for your local Linux group: Take an old machine with a burner and donate a Linux kiosk to the library. Install enough hard drive space to hold ISOs of recent versions of the most popular distros. Make an intuitive menu for selecting a distribution to burn and then just have the user insert CDs after that. The library could sell blank CDs or users could bring their own..
Create an Event out of it.
... now you're talking!
Encourage people to bring their PCs and have them installed/configured with various FOSS stuff like OOorg.
Combine this with a programme to train young people in IT and you have your enthusiastic staff.
Use the library as the place where these two meet.
Turn it into a para-religious experience: "Born Again Penguins", as people dip the parasite-ridden carcinogenic carcasses of their old WinXP boxes into the holy water of Linux and come back home with a brand new box.
Mix it with booze and music.
Move it from the library to a spacious converted warehouse.
Add a coffee bar and wireless hotspot.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
I was checking around the stacks at my local library and saw that they had a Learn Linux book (Yah!) but the installation CD was for RedHat 6.2 (Uhoh..) I was very tempted to slip a recent install into the book along with a card explaining it.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I'd predict that even if all the hurdles of convincing a library to maintain an OSS CD library were jumped, the library itself would suffer the same fate as technical books at most local libraries.
The technical books themselves take so long to procure because of the multiple(albiet not vast) layers of red tape that by the time they end up on the shelves, they're flirting with being out of date (just as new tech books flirt with being out of date before even hitting the store shelves).
I can't think of any open source project that isn't regularly patched, and because of this constant progression, I can't see a CD library being up to date, ever. It would require an individual or group of individuals who would simply cost too much to justify having them in the first place to maintain it.
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.
I tried to get one system into our local town library. The director of the library flatly refused to even consider the proposal to have a linux workstation in the library.
Essentially, even if volunteer-maintained and/or no maintenance required(think Knoppix), she said that they were Windows, and Windows only, and that was because that's what the Minuteman Network supports(the Minuteman Network is a nice little corporation that's making money off the local town libraries.)
Despite being exceptionally polite, she wouldn't even examine the proposal, and complained about issues I had addressed already- in the proposal, if she had bothered to read it.
Please help metamoderate.
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)
Quite frankly, with open source material and high speed connections at many libraries, I doubt that trying to convince them to find a way to catalog and loan out open source software is the way to go. Some better steps would be to get rid of, or at least repair, the annoying software they install on their systems so that you could at least download files to a pen drive or hard drive attached to the USB port. Another nice addition would be a CD writer or two in the library (these things are so cheap now they are often "free after rebate" items, certainly a public library could afford a couple). They might even make a modest profit if they also offered blank media at a small cost. This could encourage people to get the open source sofware right for them, not old copies of dated stuff on the shelfs or worse stuck away in a drawer somewhere or "lost".
Of course, I'm not sure that very many people who would use the public library as a source of open source software would not have the high speed access already, but if the original claim is that open source software should be available through the library I think there are better ways to go than to convince them to put a few CD's in their collection.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
My dad could install and use Windows, but he could not install use Linux (that would be any distribution you care to name).
Bullshit, troll. My dad can't install Windows, Linux, OS X, or any other system you care to throw out. He can, however, click links and type. Since that's all you need to be able to do browse the web and send email (which is all he needs a computer for) he can use ANY properly configured systems.
What sort of advanced work does your father, the average computer user, do on a computer that would require him to use Windows, anyway? I'm dying for this answer, since logging on, browsing the web, and sending email is, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same on all the systems.
This isn't just an assumption - I have weaned my parents slowly off Windows and onto Linux, and they don't know the difference, or care. So why? I don't have to troubleshoot their machine nearly as much, because things just work the way I set them up the first time.
Maybe, as you say, Linux simply isn't ready for the desktop or the unclued user, but that only works under the assumption that the Office monopoly must be maintained, and the unclued user is setting the entire machine up themselves (and how likely is that for the average Windows user, again?) A configured Linux box is just as easy to use as a configured Windows machine.
Damn, I ranted back to a troll. You win, you liar.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
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!
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.