1Librarian, Department of Central Library, Siva Institute of Frontier Technology, Thiruvallur Dist, Chennai-601103, Tamil Nadu, India; Email: murugan73@gmail.com
2Librarian, Department of Central Library, V.O. Chidambaram College, Tuticorin-628 008, Tamil Nadu, India; Email: mrithulakannan@gmail.com
Online published on 15 January, 2013.
Open-source software (OSS) is a computer software that is available in source code form for which the source code and certain other rights, normally reserved for copyright holders, are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change and improve the software. OSS is popular with technically sophisticated users, who are often also the software developers, and has not yet made a significant impact on the desktop of most users. OSS has much potential for libraries and information centres, and there are a number of projects, including Greenstone, Dspace, Ganesha etc., that demonstrates its viability in this context. OSS is becoming an increasingly popular software development method. This paper describes what are an OSS and its features, software licensing, advantages and disadvantages. The paper mainly highlights the features, functions and use of some popular open source software like Greenstone, New Gen Lib, and DSpace and E-Granthalaya.
Digital Library, Open- Source Software, Licensing, Greenstone, DSpace, Ganesha, E- Granthalaya, OSS, Open Source Initiative, India
