Operating system | ||
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Developer(s) OpenBiblio development team Initial release 2002; 15 years ago (2002) Stable release 0.7.2 / August 13, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-08-13) |
OpenBiblio is an open source Integrated Library System. The software is popular with small and rural libraries worldwide due to its simplicity, extensive language support, and good documentation.
Contents
History
Openbiblio was created in 2002 by Dave Stevens, who was interested in creating an easy-to-use, well-documented, easy-to-install library system. The current maintainer is Hans van der Weij.
Implementations and usage
Though the system is still under active development, it has already become widely used in small libraries and archives worldwide. Researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico have recommended the use of the system in indigenous community libraries in Mexico, particularly because of its support of the Nahuatl language. The National Library of Armenia has recommended the use of OpenBiblio for the country's 900 small (fewer than 40,000 volumes) and rural libraries.
The system has been translated into Spanish by a professor of Castilian, and is used in the primary school system in Chile. In addition, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela have expressed an interest in this program, according to Werner Westerman of the Chilean Educalibre group.
The Wyoming State Library's Library Development Office has developed a series of training materials for small libraries interested in implementing OpenBiblio. Researchers from the Federal University of ParaĆba's Information Science department also discuss the use of OpenBiblio in teaching future librarians about library automation systems.
Forks
Features
While OpenBiblio provides all the essential functionalities for a small or medium-sized library, it does not include the more complex features, such as acquisitions and serials management, provided by other open source integrated library systems, such as Koha or Evergreen.