ROSE Blog Interviews: Sharon Moreland, Technology Consultant at the Northeast Kansas Library System

ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange
In this interview, Sharon Moreland explains a few ways libraries in Kansas are using open source.
Q: Who are you?
A: Sharon Moreland. Technology Consultant at the Northeast Kansas Library System. I work closely with the NExpress Shared Catalog team to migrate public libraries into the Koha automated catalog, as well as to troubleshoot and maintain the catalog. Prior to coming to the Library System, I was a small town public library director.
Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?
A: At NEKLS, we administer a statewide project, My Kansas Library on the Web, that uses WordPress to provide small- and medium-sized libraries with professional-looking websites. I also serve as chair for the statewide Kanguard Internet filtering program that uses the open source SquidGuard program. Finally, we migrated the NExpress Shared Catalog from the Sirsi Integrated Library System to Koha in August 2008 and by early 2010 we will have more than 30 libraries participating.
WordPress has a very robust community, with extensive documentation and training materials available, as well as an aggressive upgrade cycle that responds almost immediately to any problems or bugs found in the software. Everything in open source is created by members of the community, for other members of the community. Some projects, like Mozilla Firefox, are huge, while others are quite small, as with Koha. Given its small size, we are able to be more active in the Koha community, thanks in part to meeting many of the key players at the 2009 KohaCon in Plano, Texas.
Here at NEKLS, we can thank our System Administrator, Liz Rea, for slowly introducing us to most of these open source solutions and since we met everyone at KohaCon, she has gone on to become a Koha Committer, providing code to the project. The sense of community and cooperation has been affirming, especially as the open source philosophy fits so well with the librarianship.
Q: You're speaking to a group of women from other fields who are considering switching careers. Why should they consider moving into an open source-related career? What should they know about the open source environment to prepare them for the transition from a different field?
A: As a creative problem solver, I love the challenge of making an open source solution better by suggesting ideas to the community, pin-pointing issues with the program, or better yet – learning to write the code needed to create the change you want to see. Koha is a smaller community, so we see a great impact. WordPress is a much larger community, but the product is excellent and people are able to create consulting businesses around supporting and training on the project. With any open source project, change is the only constant. If the community is doing its job, the project is in a continuous state of flux, improvement, enhancement, and redesign. Anyone working with an open source project will need to be flexible and willing to embrace rapid change.
Q: You're speaking to a group of high school students (male and female). Why should they consider exploring career options in open source?
A: Many new business have sprung up around open source projects, such as Koha. There are several vendors that grew from the need to support and develop new code for libraries using Koha, such as LibLime and ByWater Solutions. A career in open source would be a carer with unlimited potential. Learn a few programming languages, like PERL, and the sky's the limit.
__________________________________
If you are a woman in open source, I'd love it if you'd take a moment to answer these interview questions and send your responses to me at rkite AT linuxpromagazine DOT com. If you'd like me to interview a particular woman in open source, drop me a line and let me know who she is and where to find her.
Additional reading:
Interview with Moose (Ohio LinuxFest)
Interview with the GNOME Foundation's Stormy Peters
Interview with Beth Lynn Eicher (Ohio LinuxFest)
Interview with Erica Brescia, CEO of BitRock
Interview with Linux Foundation's Angela Brown
Interview with GSoC participant Kanika Vats
Interview with FSF's Deborah Nicholson
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.
-
System76 Refreshes Meerkat Mini PC
If you're looking for a small form factor PC powered by Linux, System76 has exactly what you need in the Meerkat mini PC.
-
Gnome 48 Alpha Ready for Testing
The latest Gnome desktop alpha is now available with plenty of new features and improvements.
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.
-
Linux Kernel 6.13 Offers Improvements for AMD/Apple Users
The latest Linux kernel is now available, and it includes plenty of improvements, especially for those who use AMD or Apple-based systems.
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
yay, liberries!
-- moose
library nurd