> Vendors such as ExLibris and SirsiDynix seem to have woken up at last to the > value of this approach and now offer their own Reading List Management > solutions[...]
If anyone is interested in an open source reading list system, the one we've developed and used at Loughborough University for over 15 years is available under the GPL. We've a blog site describing LORLS - the Loughborough Online Reading List System - here: http://blog.lboro.ac.uk/lorls/ We originally developed LORLS to use along side Talis LMS, but for many years it has been run with Ex Libris Aleph LMS. The reading list system is heavily used by students and academics are required to have a reading list for most normal modules they teach. We've also got LORLS lists displaying in our Moodle based VLE. To help library staff LORLS, the Aleph LMS and central student management system data is combined and used to drive purchase prediction for a good proportion of our acquisitions. Librarians also get email lists of changed reading list, the ability to send out "nagging" emails to encourage academics to update their lists periodically and report on list usage. Obviously the trade off that you make with installing open sources is a lower capital cost (free!) against the need to have technical skills to install and maintain the system. It is based on normal LAMP stack though, so shouldn't scare off many library techs! There are a few sites elsewhere that we know of that are using LORLS, or LORLS derived, reading lists, but probably many more that we haven't heard of.
