code4lib

Amy Begg De Groff and Luis Salazar

Howard County Library (a public library system in Central Maryland) deployed an open source, Ubuntu-based system on nearly 300 computers in 6 locations.

The result..
nearly 300 computers offer customers the following:
word processing (Open Office)
web surfing (Opera and Firefox)
music and video (Real Player and MPlayer)
and communication or Instant Messaging (GAIM)

The tools..

5-7 year old Dells computers
a vendor sent right from heaven (Open Sense Solutions)
willing and carefully educated front of house staff
open minded and empowered customers
and talented, talented, talented technical staff

The cost..
$25.00 for software
$2000.00 for support
$25,000 in memory upgrades

Watch Video

Watch at Google
Download Video - (MP4, 47.9 MB, MSU Mirror)
Download Audio Only (MP3, 10.4MB, MSU Mirror)