August 21st, 2009 
Nicole For the book, I ran a broad survey. Below are the numerical results. I will later include the responses I got to open ended questions.
977 people from all over the world answered the survey. Below are the raw results used throughout this book, you’ll note that not every question was answered by everyone.
| What type of library do you work in? | Total | % |
| Academic Library |
395 |
42.93 |
| Special Library |
116 |
12.61 |
| Large Public Library |
63 |
6.85 |
| Medium Public Library |
138 |
15.00 |
| Small Public Library |
80 |
8.70 |
| One Person Library |
10 |
1.09 |
| School Library |
6 |
0.65 |
| I’m a Student |
16 |
1.74 |
| I’m unemployed at the moment |
5 |
0.54 |
| I don’t work in a library (but I do work with libraries) |
62 |
6.74 |
| Other |
29 |
3.15 |
| Grand Total |
920 |
| What country do you live/work in? | Total | % |
| Argentina |
5 |
0.55 |
| Armenia |
1 |
0.11 |
| Australia |
15 |
1.65 |
| Austria |
2 |
0.22 |
| Barbados |
1 |
0.11 |
| Belarus |
1 |
0.11 |
| Belgium |
4 |
0.44 |
| Benin |
1 |
0.11 |
| Brazil |
2 |
0.22 |
| Canada |
52 |
5.72 |
| China |
1 |
0.11 |
| Croatia |
2 |
0.22 |
| Czech Republic |
11 |
1.21 |
| Denmark |
5 |
0.55 |
| Egypt |
2 |
0.22 |
| Estonia |
1 |
0.11 |
| Ethiopia |
1 |
0.11 |
| Finland |
1 |
0.11 |
| France |
5 |
0.55 |
| Georgia |
1 |
0.11 |
| Germany |
34 |
3.74 |
| Ghana |
1 |
0.11 |
| Greece |
4 |
0.44 |
| Hong Kong |
2 |
0.22 |
| Hungary |
1 |
0.11 |
| India |
11 |
1.21 |
| Indonesia |
10 |
1.10 |
| Iran |
1 |
0.11 |
| Ireland |
4 |
0.44 |
| Israel |
1 |
0.11 |
| Italy |
3 |
0.33 |
| Kalamazoo |
1 |
0.11 |
| Kenya |
1 |
0.11 |
| Kuwait |
1 |
0.11 |
| Malawi |
4 |
0.44 |
| México |
2 |
0.22 |
| Netherlands |
4 |
0.44 |
| Netherlands Antilles |
1 |
0.11 |
| New Zealand |
9 |
0.99 |
| Nigeria |
1 |
0.11 |
| Norway |
2 |
0.22 |
| Pakistan |
3 |
0.33 |
| Palestine |
1 |
0.11 |
| Poland |
1 |
0.11 |
| Portugal |
4 |
0.44 |
| Samoa |
1 |
0.11 |
| Singapore |
3 |
0.33 |
| South Africa |
2 |
0.22 |
| Spain |
6 |
0.66 |
| Sweden |
3 |
0.33 |
| Switzerland |
5 |
0.55 |
| Taiwan |
1 |
0.11 |
| Thailand |
5 |
0.55 |
| Turkey |
2 |
0.22 |
| United Kingdom |
13 |
1.43 |
| United States |
645 |
70.96 |
| Venezuela |
1 |
0.11 |
| Zimbabwe |
1 |
0.11 |
| Grand Total |
909 |
| What department do you work in? Check all that apply |
Total |
% |
| Reference |
318 |
16.21 |
| Cataloging |
236 |
12.03 |
| Acquisitions |
171 |
8.72 |
| Circulation |
165 |
8.41 |
| Serials |
118 |
6.01 |
| Information Tech |
477 |
24.31 |
| Development |
138 |
7.03 |
| Management |
221 |
11.26 |
| Training |
16 |
0.82 |
| Event Planning |
76 |
3.87 |
| None |
26 |
1.33 |
| Grand Total |
1962 |
|
| Please complete the following sentence. Open Source Is… |
Total |
% |
| Insecure |
36 |
3.68 |
| Free of cost |
356 |
36.44 |
| Too hard to learn |
47 |
4.81 |
| Awesome |
415 |
42.48 |
| A fad |
8 |
0.82 |
| Risky |
105 |
10.75 |
| Unsupported |
112 |
11.46 |
| Poorly documented |
139 |
14.23 |
| Written by kids in their garage |
18 |
1.84 |
| Widely supported |
281 |
28.76 |
| Too new and unproven |
39 |
3.99 |
| Customizable |
621 |
63.56 |
| Community |
527 |
53.94 |
| Offers freedom |
545 |
55.78 |
| Proven |
213 |
21.80 |
| The way all programs started |
79 |
8.09 |
| All I’ll use |
64 |
6.55 |
| Not worth my time |
5 |
0.51 |
| … I don’t know |
52 |
5.32 |
| Is peer reviewed |
157 |
16.07 |
| Used in several fields including business, science and academia |
492 |
50.36 |
| Other |
129 |
13.20 |
| Grand Total |
4440 |
|
| What open source software do you use at home? |
Total |
% |
| None |
66 |
6.76 |
| Firefox |
745 |
76.25 |
| Thunderbird |
183 |
18.73% |
| Gimp |
282 |
28.86 |
| VLC |
201 |
20.57 |
| Filezilla |
139 |
14.23 |
| Pidgin |
115 |
11.77 |
| Open Office |
422 |
43.19 |
| Adium |
55 |
5.63 |
| Zotero |
196 |
20.06 |
| Linux (Ubuntu or any other variation) |
251 |
25.69 |
| Other |
151 |
15.46 |
| Grand Total |
2806 |
|
| Why are you using the applications above at home over proprietary options? |
Total |
% |
| It’s more cost effective |
454 |
46.47 |
| Works better than other options |
523 |
53.53 |
| Someone recommended it to me |
208 |
21.29 |
| It was the first thing I tried |
38 |
3.89 |
| I don’t know |
9 |
0.92 |
| Other |
143 |
14.64 |
| Grand Total |
1375 |
|
| What open source software do you use at work? |
Total |
% |
| None |
70 |
7.16 |
| Firefox |
715 |
73.18 |
| Thunderbird |
161 |
16.48 |
| Gimp |
210 |
21.49 |
| VLC |
96 |
9.83 |
| Filezilla |
150 |
15.35 |
| Pidgin |
106 |
10.85 |
| Open Office |
279 |
28.56 |
| Adium |
31 |
3.17 |
| Zotero |
161 |
16.48 |
| Linux (Ubuntu or any other variation) |
253 |
25.90 |
| Koha |
87 |
8.90 |
| Evergreen |
44 |
4.50 |
| Kete |
6 |
.61 |
| SOPAC |
7 |
.72 |
| LibX |
75 |
7.68 |
| DSpace |
100 |
10.24 |
| WordPress |
240 |
24.56 |
| Drupal |
187 |
19.14 |
| Other |
248 |
25.38 |
| Grand Total |
3226 |
|
| Why are you using the applications above at work over proprietary options? |
Total |
% |
| It’s more cost effective |
463 |
47.39 |
| Works better than other options |
521 |
53.33 |
| Someone recommended it to me |
166 |
16.99 |
| It was the first thing I tried |
25 |
2.56 |
| Work makes me use it |
95 |
9.72 |
| Other |
150 |
15.35 |
| Grand Total |
1420 |
|
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[...] posted the results of a survey of librarians on their attitudes towards open source. Available in Part 1, Part 2 and Part [...]