Open Movements and Libraries

Abstract

Open source, open standards, open access, and other open movements have been gathering increased attention in the library world. These movements provide numerous possibilities, opportunities, and, yes, challenges for libraries. Special attention will be placed on the open source software movement and why the freedoms offered by Open Source are important to everyone (even commercial ILS vendors!). The benefits of these freedoms transcend the programmers and other people who actively support this movement by advocating, implementing, and/or developing open source software. The presenter will provide an overview of some of these movements and discuss their implications for libraries, now and into the future.