>>> "Rainwater, Jean" <[email protected]> 1/27/2012 6:14 AM >>> > We've used a home-grown course reserves system for text, audio, and video > since 2003. That system is showing its age and we're exploring whether to > replace or completely overhaul it. We know of ReservesDirect - are there > other open source applications out there? If folks have experience with > ReservesDirect and are willing to share that would be useful too.
Hi Jean: Syrup (source repo visible at http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=Syrup.git;a=summary - most recent commit 3 weeks ago, so it's a going concern) is a Django-based reserves system that Art Rhyno and Graham Fawcett built over the past few years. It's in use at a few institutions, I believe, including the University of Windsor; it has good integration with Evergreen but was built to be ILS-agnostic, communicating with an ILS via SIP and Z39.50 (when communication with an ILS is necessary at all). It was inspired by ReservesDirect, and so enables uploading digital objects, although I don't think it offers the fax gateway that ReservesDirect did / does. It can hook into LDAP to provide authentication and authorization (restricting visibility to courses via class lists if your IT infrastructure is that sophisticated; giving certain accounts access to upload materials / edit courses so profs can delegate permissions to TAs and the like), and allows pretty deep structuring of course content. That said, I haven't actually installed or admin'ed Syrup myself, so take my description for what it's worth :) Dan Scott
