Open source software @ the CWU Library

Abstract

As the Central Washington University Library (CWU) expanded its World Wide Web presence, open source software has been a practical choice for Web operations, chiefly for financial reasons. Budgetary constraints have prevented the Library from purchasing a number of proprietary software solutions chosen by other libraries. Other benefits of using open source, too, played a critical role in decisions to run these software suites in a production environment, these packages are relatively stable and secure, and may require less frequent security patches and maintenance than a number of proprietary packages. Support is distributed and substantial and can either be purchased from companies that supply support or gleaned from Web documentation, newsgroups, listservs and FAQS. (Quotes from original text)