I was sitting around the other day and thinking "I know a bunch of libraries that provide fantastic open-source software and enhancements but I cannot find anything on their websites about it" and then decided I'd make a page for librarians who were looking at us.
On this page I am going to release a bunch of stuff that we make/edit/create so that anyone can download it and have a play around. This will include:
Our facebook application to search an Amlib catalogue.
Any/all of our customised Amlib reports including the RSS reports and data export reports.
Our booking system for events (which also keeps our info request statistics).
Any/all of our Joomla! enhancements.
I do not know if this would be of use to anyone, but I would be interested in making this page as a kind of "look at what we do" page for other librarians. Offering the software and also some instructions on how we did things may also be a drawcard to the site.
Does anyone else know a library that offers this kind of information on their website? It doesn't have to be in English. Anyone? At all?
Showing posts with label rss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rss. Show all posts
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Amlib goes to OCLC and our catalogue comes underway
Hello all, today is a good day. Yesterday Amlib (our library management system) announced that they had been acquired by OCLC. Lucky Amlib! I'm a bit suprised actually, Amlib is quite a small LMS compared to, well, OCLC's company size. I know that they are interested in AmlibNet, the online version of Amlib. They're possibly interested in it because you can change everything about the interface. That would mean they could use the one piece of software and port it over to many different language groups. A Chinese language version of Amlib could easily be created by an enterprising customer (or, as OCLC have just purchased it, probably by an enterprising staff member).
Some other good news is that I am going on holiday for 2 weeks on Monday. Yay to time off work!
Some updates from work. I am still creating our library catalogue. I have posted some screen shots below to show you what it will look like. The 'New Books' box on the right comes direct from an rss feed and scrolls whilst you're looking at it. Results are grouped and I'm still working on neatening some things up on that page. Enjoy!
The catalogue search page
The results page
Some other good news is that I am going on holiday for 2 weeks on Monday. Yay to time off work!
Some updates from work. I am still creating our library catalogue. I have posted some screen shots below to show you what it will look like. The 'New Books' box on the right comes direct from an rss feed and scrolls whilst you're looking at it. Results are grouped and I'm still working on neatening some things up on that page. Enjoy!
The catalogue search page
The results page
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
#9 Finding Feeds
Hmm, this didn't go so well either (probably because it is to do with rss which stands for either Really Stupid Stuff or Randomly Stuffed Scribble...I can't remember which).
I started by picking websites I sometimes go to. None of them had rss things on them...not that I could find them even if I wanted to as the symbols are always tiny!
I then tried searching Google Blogs thing. It searched the contents of blogs (great for if I wanted to find a post) but not the general topic...all I wanted was a blog on Liechtenstein (maybe just a news blog...I couldn't find an rss feed on the Liechtensteiner Vaterland which just goes to prove that I am destined to be rss-less).
Next step...Feedster. Same problem as Google Blog Search.
Topix on the other hand...I searched for Liechtenstein. Not only did it do the above but it also recommended that I look at the Liechtenstein News page which was just what I wanted. Down the bottom in tiny little letters was the rss area. Did you know that Prince Hans-Adam II von and zu Liechtenstein is worth US$4.5 billion and is the 6th richest royal in the world? Lucky bugger.
With Technorati I did like the tabs that let me filter my search from blogs/videos/etc (even if all the photos were holiday snaps of people I didn't know).
With the database search, I found an orange button and clicked it (which turned out to be an rss button luckily). What I am sent daily is a list of articles relating to my search term. I can click on a button to access the full text (which hopefully means I won't need to log in...I will have to try from home).
I started by picking websites I sometimes go to. None of them had rss things on them...not that I could find them even if I wanted to as the symbols are always tiny!
I then tried searching Google Blogs thing. It searched the contents of blogs (great for if I wanted to find a post) but not the general topic...all I wanted was a blog on Liechtenstein (maybe just a news blog...I couldn't find an rss feed on the Liechtensteiner Vaterland which just goes to prove that I am destined to be rss-less).
Next step...Feedster. Same problem as Google Blog Search.
Topix on the other hand...I searched for Liechtenstein. Not only did it do the above but it also recommended that I look at the Liechtenstein News page which was just what I wanted. Down the bottom in tiny little letters was the rss area. Did you know that Prince Hans-Adam II von and zu Liechtenstein is worth US$4.5 billion and is the 6th richest royal in the world? Lucky bugger.
With Technorati I did like the tabs that let me filter my search from blogs/videos/etc (even if all the photos were holiday snaps of people I didn't know).
With the database search, I found an orange button and clicked it (which turned out to be an rss button luckily). What I am sent daily is a list of articles relating to my search term. I can click on a button to access the full text (which hopefully means I won't need to log in...I will have to try from home).
Monday, September 24, 2007
Daily book installments via rss
Okay, I just got excited. Whilst looking at rss stuff, I stumbled across DailyLit, a site that sends installments of books to you via rss or email. It's really cool! I am now getting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland sent to my rss feed reader daily. I can read a chapter a day! Hmm, 9 books of the bible there and no Qu'ran. Ah well.
Also, I found a free online audiobook service where volunteers read out-of-copyright text into a microphone and then it is made available. LibriVox is the name of the site. I'm considering volunteering...not because my voice is anything special, just because I am quite keen for mass digitising of audiobooks to take place. Although I'm having trouble listening to any of them...it may be due to our firewall at work though...I'll have to try from home.
Lucky last link, Fokus Deutsches - an online video instruction series for learning German. Exciting! There's a few languages there actually, all European though (I guess learning to speak tonal languages wouldn't be so easy online!)
Also, I found a free online audiobook service where volunteers read out-of-copyright text into a microphone and then it is made available. LibriVox is the name of the site. I'm considering volunteering...not because my voice is anything special, just because I am quite keen for mass digitising of audiobooks to take place. Although I'm having trouble listening to any of them...it may be due to our firewall at work though...I'll have to try from home.
Lucky last link, Fokus Deutsches - an online video instruction series for learning German. Exciting! There's a few languages there actually, all European though (I guess learning to speak tonal languages wouldn't be so easy online!)
#8 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader
It's amazing how you get really excited about something, hit one stumbling block and then all of your excitement vanishes in a puff of smoke. I have that with RSS, I do not know why but even the term makes me want to fall asleep.
Anyway...I set up my account on bloglines and have subscribed to a few feeds: 025.431: The Dewey blog and Librarians' Internet Index being the two top ones. The Dewey blog seems really interesting, they talk about crap and then DDC it. One of the latest entries was about the drought in Australia, the USA and Bulgaria and how you'd assign items to do with it. i.e. I'd assign a work on monitoring and predicting drought around the world at 363.3492963 - Droughts + Surveilance (not that we'd ever use such a longwinded number). Although they do get a lot more longwinded - 796.510979589 which is backpacking in Deschutes County, Oregon, USA.
The Librarians' Index is a tad different, they seem to post an interesting webpage/topic each day. Seems like way too much to read to me but I can flick and ignore at will!
My subscriptions are available at http://www.bloglines.com/public/tas666
Oh, and I found it very difficult to figure out how to create the above, I had to fiddle with my account to make it public, then choose yet ANOTHER username (even though I have one) and then find a way to the bloglines homepage and click on Blogrolls (which I guessed was what I needed). Ah well, all done now!
Anyway...I set up my account on bloglines and have subscribed to a few feeds: 025.431: The Dewey blog and Librarians' Internet Index being the two top ones. The Dewey blog seems really interesting, they talk about crap and then DDC it. One of the latest entries was about the drought in Australia, the USA and Bulgaria and how you'd assign items to do with it. i.e. I'd assign a work on monitoring and predicting drought around the world at 363.3492963 - Droughts + Surveilance (not that we'd ever use such a longwinded number). Although they do get a lot more longwinded - 796.510979589 which is backpacking in Deschutes County, Oregon, USA.
The Librarians' Index is a tad different, they seem to post an interesting webpage/topic each day. Seems like way too much to read to me but I can flick and ignore at will!
My subscriptions are available at http://www.bloglines.com/public/tas666
Oh, and I found it very difficult to figure out how to create the above, I had to fiddle with my account to make it public, then choose yet ANOTHER username (even though I have one) and then find a way to the bloglines homepage and click on Blogrolls (which I guessed was what I needed). Ah well, all done now!
