A presentation for code4lib 2016 LT session

1. You can participate in OSS project
even if you do not write programs
‐‐‐ My experiences with OSS ILS
System Next‐L Enju ‐‐‐
National Institute for Educational Policy Research, Japan
Senior Researcher
Yuka Egusa
@yegusa

2. Next‐L Enju
• Open Source Integrated Library system
– Developed since 2007
– Built on top of Ruby on Rails & Solr
– https://github.com/next‐l/enju_leaf/
• Developments are in voluntarily
– There are many contributors from various
backgrounds.
• Seven libraries, mainly in special libraries, are
using Next‐L Enju.

3. What we are doing
with a Open Source Software project ?
• To write programs
• To write tests
• But, there are many things in addition to write
codes for OSS project.
• Let me introduce what I have been doing for
Next‐L Enju project, OSS ILS system project in
Japan.

4. (1) To write documents
• Many engineers love coding , but do not like
writing documents. So, I write documents.
Ref. https://next‐l.github.io/manual/enju_operation_4.html#section4‐2‐2
A screenshot of one of
the user manual pages
for the Enju library
system.
Sorry for only Japanese.

5. (2) To use it, to report bugs
• If you install and use a system manually, you
frequently find bugs.
Ref. https://github.com/next‐l/enju_leaf/issues/487
(Auto testing is cool,
but it fails to catch new bugs.
so we need testing by manual.)
A screenshot of one of
github issue pages for
the Enju library system.
Sorry for only Japanese.
At the demo server,
there are problems
creating a new user.

6. (3) To confirm bug fixed
• If a coder says “I fixed it”, you should not
believe it. Because sometimes it is not fixed.
So I check it.
Ref. https://github.com/next‐l/enju_leaf/issues/483
A screenshot of one of
the user manual pages
for the Enju library
system.
Sorry for only Japanese.
I fixed it. Waiting for
checking.
There are some wrong
arrows.

7. There are many other things to do for
OSS project.
• To think about functions.
• To think UI design.
– You can do it, if you have a pencil and a sheet of
paper.
• To manage events
– Developer meetings
– Hands on workshops
• Etc…

8. You can make a huge contribution
even if you do not write programs
• There are many things to do other than just
coding for OSS projects.
• You can participate in OSS projects even if you
do not write programs.
• Let’s join OSS projects without any sense of
hesitation!