I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve got a good reason! At MPOW we’ve been heavy into strategic planning stuff. We’re holding forums at member libraries to gather input and (hopefully) find out exactly what we should be doing for our expanded region.
Any day that’s not spent at a forum is typically filled with other meetings and events. Last week, I attended a meeting at the State Library of Ohio to discuss open source options for library catalogs. With Sirsi/Dynix’s recent announcement, many libraries now realize that they will have to migrate at some point and several are looking at open source. Almost 70 people attended the meeting with more via video. I have to admit that I was (pleasantly) shocked at how many were interested.
So what does this all mean? That still remains to be seen. We know, however, that the State Library is supportive of open source as an option for libraries. Many libraries will feel better about going the open source route if they know both the State Library and commercial companies are there for them. For now, the minutes from the meeting have been posted and a blog has been established to keep the channels of communication open. What the future will bring is unknown, but there are already of few libraries in the state that have moved or are moving to Koha.
This may just be the start of something really big.
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[...] Will Libraries Do With All That Empty Space? As I mentioned in a previous post, we recently held some open forums within MPOW’s member libraries as part of our strategic [...]
[...] I mentioned in a previous post, there’s a lot of interest among Ohio libraries in open source software. In the southwest [...]