LYRASIS Technology Services Program Aims at Open Source Education

LYRASIS, the largest U.S. regional nonprofit library membership organization, recently announced a new program, LYRASIS Technology Services (LTS), aimed at providing education and training for open source library software. It will also provide member libraries an option for hosted open source software-as-a-service implementation and support, specifically for the Evergreen integrated library system, DSpace digital asset management, and the Drupal content management system.

The new program is funded by a $486,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, awarded to LYRASIS in April with the purpose of creating a program that supports "the adoption and use of open source software and systems in libraries."

Costs for hosted services and support will vary with needs of each member, according to Peter Murray, assistant director for technology services development at LYRASIS (and author of the Disruptive Library Technology Jester blog).

Some components of the program, including self-assessment tools and the open source component registry (see below), will be available to both LYRASIS members and nonmembers.

Open source education
A primary aim of the program is education, according to Murray. "We heard from members who said they were looking to understand open source and find out if it's right for their library," he told LJ.

LYRASIS will provide consultation, training, and education services as well as self-guided assessments for libraries; the goals for LTS's education and training initiatives are listed as follows:

• Improving the understanding and knowledge of open source systems and other software options,
• Helping libraries assess technology needs,
• Evaluating open source and other software products,
• Reviewing readiness and capacity for supporting open source and other software systems, and
• Planning for implementation and migration from legacy systems.

LYRASIS is also in the process of designing an online registry of library-focused open source components, in which providers could register themselves and list information about their software and services, while libraries could use the registry as an information source. No launch date has been announced, but LYRASIS has hired outside consultants to make sure that enough information is provided at launch so that it will be "exciting and useful for people on day one when we release it," said Murray.

LYRASIS formed as a result of the merger in 2009 between the regional PALINET and SOLINET organizations; it was soon joined by a third network, NELINET. It has more than 2500 members serving more than 6000 institutions in the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Southeast, and western United States.