13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save Money on Technology

Sarah Houghton-Jan writes: "These are my favorite options for libraries to use as alternatives to the expensive paid services and software that we use now, usually because our parent organizations or IT departments have gone along with the mainstream, bought the expensive stuff from the well-known companies, and never blinked. But now that we are all facing budget crunches the likes of which we haven't seen in decades, we have a chance to show these alternatives to the decision-makers, save the organization some money, and support the open source movement at the same time. I have personally used all of these, at least in a demo setting. Most of them I use on a regular basis at work or at home. So trust me - these recommendations do not come lightly! I think these tools are darn good, otherwise they wouldn't have made the cut. This list has come out of a few different presentations I've given for public libraries recently, from Hawaii to Iowa. Take a look, see what you want to try, and let me know how it works. The list is not exhaustive, so I invite all of you to comment on this post and add your own favorite free web tools, software, and open source awesomeness"