Open Source Software in the Library

While I am admittedly no computer genius, and the coding language still escapes my grasp despite many attempts at learning, I still believe that there are many ways that a librarian (even the most technologically challenged like myself) can use open source software to assist in student learning in the library setting. Below are a few examples of open source software that I have found to be useful for students in a SLMC.

WorldCat is an open source library catalog. It allows users to search for books, dvds, cds, articles in all the libraries near you. It is connected to over 10,000 libraries worldwide, and has over two billion items indexed. It does not require an account to search the index, but it does require user to create a free account if they would like to create lists, bibliographies, or reviews of any library items. It is a great tool that allows students to search other local libraries for materials that the school may not have access to, and an invaluable resource in my opinion.

WordPress is a free blogging/website creation tool that allows users to customize their webspace. It allows for students/users who are interested in coding to develop a site that is customized to their exact liking, but also allows a "plug and play" option for those of us who'd like to customize their site, but to not know much coding. It offers a great variety of options and is a great tool for use in a classroom as it allows student interaction with technology, teachers, peers, community, and experts in any field they might be researching. If used properly, wordpress can be an amazing tool for student interaction with knowledge and information.

Twitter is one of the fasted paced social networks that we have. For that reason we need to know how to use it appropriately for classrooms lest we loose all of the academic potential and allow it to become another distraction. The answer here is hashtags (#). Having a group discussion among students about an academic issue on twitter is as simple as creating unique hashtags or using existing ones to get involved in a discussion. For example, a history class studying the Israeli conflict might use #peaceinthemiddleeast to get involved in the discussion and share input. The class might be asked to add #mrcollins211 to all their tweets so that classmates can interact with each other and see how their peers respond.

Noodletools is another very powerful open source tool that is great for students. It helps students understand plagarism, create bibliographies, take notes on research sources, and cite sources appropriately. It takes some getting used to, so some classtime would need to be set aside to teach students to use it, but it is completely free to use and provides very valuable information and assistance to students creating research papers/projects.

Overall, open source programs can seem really scary, but that is really just a matter of finding the programs that fit yours and your students technological capabilities. There are dozens of programs available. Not all of them are right for every program. We need to evaluate our needs and the needs of our students and make decisions about which is right for our needs. They can certainly be of use when sticking to a small budget though....something I am sure all of us has had experience with in the past!