Donna,  

The Hydra Project is a distributed, open source software project that started in the library community for digital asset management. We have spent a fair amount of time defining and polishing our approach to many of the questions you have asked about your proposed project. 

You may find it helpful to look over how we've structured (and documented) our approach to defining developer skills, development infrastructure, community infrastructure (for effective collaboration, outreach and social mechanisms), and licensing issues. 

Project website: http://projecthydra.org/
Project wiki: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/The+Hydra+Project
Developer Infrastructure & Norms: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/Developers

If you're looking to establish a collaborative, open source effort, my main suggestion to you would be that you spend at least as much time focusing on the community and social mechanisms of the project as you do on the code. If you take care of the institutions and people in the project, they can take care of the code. This is the way the Apache Software Foundation works, and we've found it to also be true in our own projects. 

Good luck!

- Tom

 | Tom Cramer
 | Chief Technology Strategist & Associate Director 
 | Digital Library Systems & Services
 | Stanford University Libraries
 | [log in to unmask]



On Dec 7, 2012, at 11:58 AM, Donna Campbell wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> I understand from a professional colleague, who referred me to this list,
> that there are some experienced open source programmers here. I am in the
> early stages of planning for a conference session/open source project in
> June 2013 for a different professional library organization. Here is the
> session title and description:
> 
> Open Source Platform Project for E-book Lending
> 
> Facilitate a discussion between interested collaborators of how to create
> an alternative model that allows theological research libraries to
> permanently own their e-books "without concern over rising licensing fees
> or changing terms from aggregators and distributors." (Matt Enis, "Harris
> County PL to Test DCL Ebook Model" Library Journal 137, no. 16 (October 1,
> 2012):16). This is a preliminary step to construct a team to design or
> tailor an ideal e-book platform akin to Douglas County Libraries
> (Colorado) or Harris County Public Library (Houston, TX) where libraries
> purchase to own e-books and lend to users as with print books
> (one-copy/one-user) in a seamless fashion in their OPAC. We will assess
> the human, financial, and technological resources that are needed to
> create and maintain the platform. The platform would be library-owned and
> library-managed and available to share with other ATLA member libraries.
> System administrators, programmers, IT specialists, electronic resource
> managers, and others who desire to make this project happen are encouraged
> to attend. Different perspectives are also welcomed.
> 
> I have corresponded with Douglas County Libraries but I also want to ask
> this group if you have any suggestions for the following elements for a
> successful project like this:
> 
> 1. What kind of skill sets (esp. programming) should I be seeking?
> 2. Where would the best place to host an open source project (e.g.,
> Sourceforge.net, Google, etc.) to draw expertise and to avoid malicious
> code?
> 3. What software/hardware would you recommend that would be a means to a
> quality end-product as well as provide efficiency?
> 4. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Cordially,
> 
> Donna R. Campbell
> Technical Services & Systems Librarian
> (215) 935-3872 (phone)
> (267) 295-3641 (fax)
> Mailing Address (via USPS):
> Westminster Theological Seminary Library
> P.O. Box 27009
> Philadelphia, PA 19118  USA
> Shipping Address (via UPS or FedEx):
> Westminster Theological Seminary Library
> 2960 W. Church Rd.
> Glenside, PA 19038  USA