forum of interest

[Tom Hyry <thomas.hyry@yale.edu>]

oss4lib folks:  

Please excuse any cross-posting.

Dan Chudnov will be giving a presentation on Open Source Systems for
libraries at 10:30 on March 18 in the lecture hall of Sterling Memorial
Library, Yale University.  The talk is open to all interested parties.  If
you want directions, I'd be happy to provide them.  

Dan recently described the talk like this:

The volunteer-driven movement to create good, free software (aka Open
Source) is changing the landscape of the software industry.  Simply put,
if you've ever used the internet -- let alone Netscape, Linux, or Apache,
some of the stars of the Open Source phenomenon -- you've used Open Source
software.  The fundamental notion that software and its development should
be free and open is strikingly similar to how librarians feel about
information.  How -- and for what reasons -- could librarians contribute
to the revolution? 

The talk will cover:

- what Open Source is and why it matters
- why librarians should be interested
- what we can do about it

As part of the talk, several Open Source library applications under
development here at Yale (including Dubmed and EDD) will be presented, as
will the oss4lib project which intends to foster the use of Open Source in
libraries.  

All are welcome to review and take part in shaping the oss4lib site, at
which information about these projects and a paper describing the ideas to
be presented in the talk are available.  The talk will include time for
folks wanting to participate in oss4lib to share ideas. 

  oss4lib is at:  www.med.yale.edu/library/oss4lib


Hope to see you there. 
****************************************************
Tom Hyry
Archivist
Manuscripts and Archives
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven, CT 06511