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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of free and open source (FOSS) geographic information system (GIS) software within the broader contexts of the open source software movement and developments in GIS, and pose the question of whether libraries and academic departments should consider adopting FOSS GIS.

The process of creating a basic thematic map was used to test six FOSS GIS software packages, as it is a multi‐step process and a good example of a common task GIS users would want to perform. The test demonstrates what the process of creating a thematic map using FOSS GIS involves and how it compares to proprietary software like ArcGIS.

Each of the individual FOSS GIS packages had their own particular strengths and weaknesses and some performed well for thematic mapping. The FOSS packages generally were weaker compared to ArcGIS in terms of support for various projection and coordinate systems, joining attribute data to GIS files, and automatic labeling, but their advantage is that they were free in terms of cost and licensing restrictions. When coupled with plug‐ins and helper applications the viability of the FOSS GIS packages increased.

There is little published research to date on the capabilities and applications of FOSS GIS despite the fact that it is a growing movement. This research provides a practical, application‐based overview and critique of FOSS GIS.

This paper seeks to present the results of an analysis of 20 free and open source ILS platforms offered to the library community. These software platforms were subjected to a three‐step analysis, whereby the results aim to assist librarians and decision makers in selecting an open source ILS, based on objective criteria.

The methodology applied involves three broad steps. The first step consists of evaluating all the available ILSs and keeping only those that qualify as truly open source or freely‐licensed software. During this step, the correlation between the practices within the community and the terms associated with the free or open software license was measured. The second step involves evaluating the community behind each open source or free ILS project, according to a set of 40 criteria in order to determine the attractiveness and sustainability of each project. The third step entails subjecting the remaining ILSs to an analysis of almost 800 functions and features to determine which ILSs are most suited to the needs of libraries. The final score is used to identify strengths, weaknesses and differentiating or similar features of each ILS.

More than 20 open source ILSs were submitted to this methodology, but only three passed all the steps: Evergreen, Koha, and PMB. The main goal is not to identify the best open source ILS, but rather to highlight from which, of the batch of dozens of open source ILSs, librarians and decision makers can choose without worrying about how perennial or sustainable each open or free project is, as well as understanding which ILS provides them with the functionalities to meet the needs of their institutions.

This paper offers a basic model so that librarians and decision makers can make their own analysis and adapt it to the needs of their libraries.

This methodology meets the best practices in technology selection, with a multiple criteria decision analysis. It can also be easily adapted to the needs of all libraries.

Although the new J-ISIS software from UNESCO, based on Berkeley DB and Lucene technology, complies with some of the technical requirements as seen necessary for digital library applications, an easy way of building collections so far was not available. The purpose of this paper is to give a report on some necessary DL technological requirements, such as the capability to deal with any metadata structure and alphabets and full-text indexing of documents of any length, and how J-ISIS can deal with these, as well as on the production of the DL interface for digital library applications based on Tika technology.

A brief comparison is made with a well-established DL software, i.e. Greenstone Digital Library, regarding the concepts and performance.

While using a quite different architecture and approach, the test shows that J-ISIS can process the documents faster and with more economical storage efficiency, inviting UNESCO to invest more into it in order to allow incorporation of some more advanced features like Greenstone's capability to process intra-document segments and images, but also to allow for new exciting features for digital libraries such as interactivity.

The research is based on the J-ISIS prototype implementation of digital library technology and could only be tested on a limited set of documents.

Librarians interested in building digital library collections, esp. when doing this integrated with their library systems and catalogs, have a viable new option now within the FOSS-market.

This is the first description on J-ISIS for digital libraries.

This paper aims to study the open source integrated library management systems, i.e. Koha and NewGenLib, to inform librarians about what considerations to make when choosing an open source integrated library management system (ILMS) for their library.

The paper provides a detailed comparative analysis of both types of software, i.e. Koha (3.2.4) and NewGenLib (3.0), which are undertaken in the study. The methodology used for the study is “Evaluation method” which is followed with the help of structured evaluation checklist prepared after the thorough study of reference tools, reference statistical data available and related literature. Both types of software are evaluated and compared qualitatively and quantitatively.

Both types of software are web‐enabled and support library automation. Koha has more specific characteristics of open source ILMS. Koha needs to upgrade, modify and improve its features. Koha requires very little hardware and is easy to install. Koha has advanced database features. NewGenLib has better functionality of modules than Koha. More formats and standards are supported by Koha. Digital library functionality of NewGenLib is more specific in terms of technology, data structure and programming. Also NewGenLib provides more user help and support whereas Koha provides more user‐friendly downloads and a documentation facility. NewGenLib has more enhanced features which are significant for ILMS while selecting software for automation.

The comparative analysis of the open source ILMS done in the study will help librarians in making necessary considerations while choosing an open source software for the library.

The paper presents a detailed evaluative study carried out using a comprehensive checklist designed for the study.

Free and open source software (FOSS) brings many benefits to digital preservation; however it is not “free”. If the context in which free and open source software tools are created and employed is examined, it becomes clear that: the sustainability of any software (FOSS, custom or commercial) to ensure the preservation of the digital heritage will depend on careful assessment of, and provision for, the costs (implicit and explicit) entailed in the production and continued employment of these tools. The purpose of this paper is to focus on FOSS and archiving of the digital heritage.

Portico, a not‐for‐profit digital preservation service, explores the costs of FOSS based on its experiences as a working archive with an extremely long time horizon.

There are considerable benefits to FOSS, including its openness and the broad‐based testing of it in real‐world situations. FOSS tools can provide considerable cost savings over proprietary tools. However, FOSS is neither free to use, nor to create, nor to maintain. Digital preservation organizations must inventory not only the FOSS tools in the preservation arsenal, but the network of sustaining tools (FOSS and otherwise), documentation, and “tribal knowledge” that make these tools effectively usable. The risks to sustainability of this network of resources must be assessed, and determine what it will cost to keep them viable. Strategies will have to be considered and implemented for providing the means to sustain these resources. An engaged community of use is the best guarantor of the vitality of any FOSS tool. As that community wanes, it becomes even more essential to capture the significant properties and domain knowledge about that tool. Creators of new software in the digital preservation space have a particular obligation to provide and maintain information about the significant properties of that software.

The paper shows how Portico brings its practical experiences integrating multiple FOSS tools to bear on an analysis of the costs to creating and maintaining these tools over the long‐term.

WHEN I changed the then beautiful town of Bournemouth for the undoubtedly attractive one of Croydon, having almost unaccountably become sub‐librarian there in 1904, I found myself among a set of what proved to be rather remarkable people. “A smart young fellow,” had been my first chief's description of my new one, Louis Stanley Jast, and in the economy of words he was wont to use, this meant much. Of course, before I went for the interview, I tried to gather something of L. S. J. He was versatile, I was told, and volatile, a poet, orator, traveller, one who could not suffer fools with proverbial gladness, who expected you to look him straight in the eyes, where he certainly looked you. This, in itself, was quite enough. However, I came out of the ordeal most pleasantly, after the Chairman, Alderman H. Keatley Moore, one of the best advocates public libraries have had, remarked “If you please Mr. Jast, I am sure you will be very happy with him,” and Alderman Frederick Foss (father of Hubert Foss, the musical composer and critic) had added, “Jast! Fancy anyone being happy with you—Good God!” I believe it is possible to get on with any chief if one is loyal to his purposes, but although I was as raw as a provincial could be, I found that I had reached a place where encouragement and appreciation almost anticipated every effort.

Reference service of any type of library can be offered over the Internet in real-time that we meant here Virtual Reference Service or VRS, in short. Virtual reference service is an online and interactive text-based communication service through which it is possible to provide the reference service of a library or a group of libraries to their distant users using a set of modern communication-based technologies. This paper is based on the results of experimental research. It mainly focuses on the customization process of Zoho chat in the ABCD site module to provide a virtual reference service from the library website. There is very little research across the globe that addresses the implementation and customization process of chat-based widget embedded into web pages, which is a key-focusing area of the current study.

This paper aims to report the deployment of open source electronic content management software in national government departments in South Africa, with the view to raise awareness of the free and open source software (FOSS) policy. Many countries including South Africa have developed policies that encourage the deployment of free and open source software (FOSS).

The paper opted for qualitative data collected through interviews with four chief information officers, five information technology (IT) officials, two records managers from government departments, one archivist from the National Archives of South Africa and one IT official from the State Information Technology Agency; these were selected purposively from national government departments. Furthermore, a free test trial of open source software, Alfresco Community Edition, was conducted for a 30-day period during September 2013. Alfresco was chosen as it is the preferred FOSS in government departments in South Africa.

The key finding reveals that, in contrast with the FOSS policy, governmental bodies in South Africa preferred proprietary software over FOSS, as only one government department has migrated to FOSS. The reasons cited for the low uptake of open source electronic content management include the perceived lack of support for FOSS or short lifespan support which was confirmed through the trial test, as well as a lack of IT skills by records management practitioners who are responsible for implementation of electronic content management and hidden costs as the internal staff would spend time supporting, tailoring and enhancing the software. It is observed that failure to raise awareness and benefits of the FOSS policy in South Africa will curtail the document into a dull epistle.

Due to the chosen research approach and sampling method, the results were not generalised to the population. It is hoped that the study will stimulate further research interest and raise awareness in government departments with regard to FOSS policy implementation, especially in the area of electronic content management.

The paper shows the difficulty in implementing a policy and putting it into practice without looking into its practical feasibility.

This research attempts to bridge the gap and bring new elements by assessing the level of FOSS adoption in the area of electronic content management which is often ignored by the government and also less researched by scholars.

This paper aims to present a novel DSpace-based medical image repository system planned explicitly for storing and retrieving clinical images using digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) metadata standards. DSpace institutional repository software is widely used in an academic environment for accessing and mainly storing text-related files. DICOM images are particular types of images embedded with much system-generated metadata and organised using DICOM metadata standards.

The present paper talks about institutional repository software (DSpace) in archiving DICOM images. In the current study, the authors have tried to integrate the DICOM metadata standard with DSpace, which was compatible with Dublin Core (DC) and open archives initiative – protocol for metadata harvesting (OAI-PMH). After combining the DICOM standard with DSpace and the repository tested with a sample of 5,000 images, the retrieval results using various DICOM tags was very satisfactory. This study paves for the use of open source software (OSS) in storing and retrieving medical images.

The author has provided the DSpace software to recognised DICOM (.dcm) files in the first stage. In the second stage, a patch was developed to identify the DICOM metadata standard in Dspace, which has inbuilt DC metadata standards. Finally, in the third stage, retrieval efficiency was tested with a 5,000 .dcm image using the DICOM tag and the results were very fruitful.

A major limitation of this study was the size of the data (5,000 DICOM images) with which the authors have tested the system. The system scalability has to be tested on various fronts like on cloud and local servers with different configurations, for which a separate study has to be done.

Once this system is in place, DICOM users can stock, retrieve and access the image from the Web platform. Furthermore, this proposed repository will be the warehouse of various DICOM images with reasonable storage costs.

In addition to exploring the opportunities of free open source software (FOSS) implementation in medical science, this study includes issues related to the performance of an open-source repository for retrieving and preserving medical images. It created and developed Open Source DICOM Medical Image Library with DICOM metadata standard with the help of DSpace. Thus, the study will generate value for library professionals and medical professionals and FOSS vendors to understand the medical market in the context of FOSS.

The selection of effective library software not only plays an important role for students, academic staff and the library staff but also helps an institution by having the library management system more centralized. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) cause and effect factor model for the implementation of the Greenstone Digital Library (GSDL) software.

A thorough review of the literature is conducted to develop an initial list of the appropriate evaluation factors that play a significant role in the implementation of GSDL software. The data were collected from a domain of experts in the library sciences field. A combined approach of Delphi-DEMATEL methods is employed for the definition of these factors and to construct an MCDA cause-effect model which represents their relationships.

The DEMATEL analysis resulted in the division of all factors into two groups, causes and effects. The results show that content management, having a user-friendly interface and usability, information search and retrieval and authentication and authorization fall into the cause group. These factors directly affect the remaining factors. Content acquisition, classification, access, control and privacy management and metadata submission and support fall into the effect group. The research findings can help library professionals to make effective decisions to facilitate the successful implementation of GSDL software in a library and the enhancement of library technology.

The results of this study can be useful for library professionals and decision-makers to select the most appropriate software for the implementation of library technology. The study analysis shows that for GSDL, user-friendly interface and usability, information search and retrieval plus authentication and authorization factors have seven positive relationships with other factors. Secondly, content management and classification have six relationships with other factors. Thirdly, access control plus privacy and management have two relationships. Content acquisition has only one relationship with other factors. It is recommended that the user-friendly interface and usability, information search and retrieval, as well as authentication and authorization should be the initial areas of focus if GSDL is to be implemented successfully in digital libraries.

The proposed MCDA cause-effect model can be useful for library professionals or decision-makers in the context of selecting software to be implemented in a library and to minimize implementation costs.