Using Open Standards and Open Source Software

Library web development often uses open standards to ensure application and device-independence, accessibility and interoperability. However, in reality, open standards may be difficult or expensive to deploy and may fail to gain widespread market acceptance. Brian Kelly argues the need to adopt policies and practices that take advantage of the benefits of open standards, yet have sufficient flexibility to adopt proprietary solutions at times. In a related case study, CISTI describes its experience using open source software to prototype the integration of a catalogue web interface with a commercial content management system and discusses the extended functionality and integration of other information resources, such as PubMed and Amazon, that were made possible by the open and flexible nature of the open source software.Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye