Re: [CODE4LIB] Don't Change Your Site Because of Reference Librarians RE: [CODE4LIB] Responsive website question

[David Mayo]

Firefox has an option in the Zoom menu called "Zoom Text Only," which
causes Zoom to only affect text size.

If you want to do an "optical" zoom in on a portion of a page (i.e.
physically enlarge an area of the page without changing layout), using
OS-level accessibility tools like Magnifier on Windows or the Zoom tool in
OSX's accessibility settings (System Preferences->Accessibility) is
probably the best solution, unless you find a third-party tool you really
like.

- Dave Mayo

On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 12:10 PM, Cary Gordon  wrote:

> This is less a matter of site behavior that it is an issue with how the
> zoom feature works. I agree that zoom should work as you describe, but it
> won’t work that way if the browser is sending the wrong message regarding
> the viewport. The viewport should not change when the page is zoomed in on.
> I think that most users would expect that zooming would enlarge a protion
> of the viewport, and that is what it should do.
>
> Cary
>
> Cary Gordon, MLS
> The Cherry Hill Company
> http://chillco.com
>
> > On Feb 8, 2016, at 8:25 AM, Katherine Deibel  wrote:
> >
> >> When people zoom in (e.g., CTRL+), they aren't actually *zooming in*
> insomuch as making the viewport smaller. The viewport is the keystone to
> the media query magic that makes websites responsive. When it is smaller,
> like for your phone, then it presents a different layout.
> >
> > Because yes, that is exactly what users are expecting when they use a
> feature called zoom. Content and layout change too in other applications
> like Word, PDF readers, etc. when you zoom in and out... oh wait... they
> don't.
> >
> > Nope. I would argue that most users believe zoom works like zoom in
> other applications and would not talk about the technical aspects of how
> responsiveness and concepts like view ports.
> >
> > From a disability accessibility perspective, magnification is not purely
> about text readability but making sure that all features of a
> website---images, interactive widgets, text, etc.---are of use to the user.
> Merely changing the font size is like putting out a fire in the kitchen
> while the rest of the house is ablaze.
> >
> >
> >
> > Kate Deibel, PhD | Web Applications Specialist
> > Information Technology Services
> > University of Washington Libraries
> > http://staff.washington.edu/deibel
> >
> > --
> >
> > "When Thor shows up, it's always deus ex machina."
> >
> > On 2016-02-08 7:18 AM, Michael Schofield wrote:
> >> Hi folks,
> >>
> >> Chiming in. Kyle asked
> >>
> >>> The reference librarians frequently zoom in on our homepage during
> class instruction, and have noticed that after they zoom in a bit, our
> homepage switches from desktop to the mobile layout. Is there any easy way
> around this?  In other words, is it possible to fix the site so that, if a
> user is on a desktop/laptop, zooming in on the homepage will *not* flip the
> user over to the mobile layout?
> >>
> >> This is actually the normal and expected behavior of responsive
> websites. Otherwise breaking this zoom would make the content less
> accessible, but perhaps a workaround would be to add a font size toggle in
> the header of the website where users can increase or decrease just the
> font size. Since I read you were using jQuery, check out this code that
> does what I described really neatly: http://codepen.io/ianfarb/pen/sxbvk .
> >>
> >> When people zoom in (e.g., CTRL+), they aren't actually *zooming in*
> insomuch as making the viewport smaller. The viewport is the keystone to
> the media query magic that makes websites responsive. When it is smaller,
> like for your phone, then it presents a different layout.
> >>
> >> Anyway, I really wanted to comment to warn against making changes like
> this to your website because of library-specific use cases - e.g., someone,
> staff or stakeholder, complains. These don't reflect the use cases of your
> patronbase.
> >>
> >> The reference librarians can change the default font size of their
> browsers. I would make them google that, rather than seek to break the
> zoom. For starters, here is how you go about it in Chrome.
> http://www.ehow.com/how_10035444_change-text-size-color-google.html
> >>
> >> Good question!
> >>
> >> Michael Schofield
> >> www.libux.co / @schoeyfield / www.webforlibraries.com
> >>
> >> -Original Message-
> >> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Katherine N. Deibel
> >> Sent: Friday, February 5, 2016 2:43 PM
> >> To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> >> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Responsive website question
> >>
> >> This is actually a really good question as it gets into an interesting
> >> tension between responsiveness and accessibility. Zooming is often a
> >> useful means of addressing visual access issues, and one cannot presume
> >> that a user will have external or in-browser apps for magnification.
> >>
> >> There is some literature on defining media queries using 

Re: [CODE4LIB] yaml/xml/json, POST data, bloodcurdling terror

[David Mayo]

Thanks! That's really solid.  I just spent $EMBARRASSINGLY_LONG_TIME
figuring out how to turn off half of Saxon's XML parsing functionality for
some of these reasons.

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 9:22 AM, Andromeda Yelton <
andromeda.yel...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I strongly recommend this hilarious, terrifying PyCon talk about
> vulnerabilities in yaml, xml, and json processing:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZHjvrAS74
>
> If you process user-submitted data in these formats and don't yet know why
> you should be flatly terrified, please watch this ASAP; it's illuminating.
> If you *do* know why you should be terrified, watch it anyway and giggle
> along in knowing recognition, because the talk is really very funny.
>
> --
> Andromeda Yelton
> Board of Directors, Library & Information Technology Association:
> http://www.lita.org
> http://andromedayelton.com
> @ThatAndromeda 
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] "coders for libraries"

[David Mayo]

++ as well from me.

On an unrelated note: as long as someone's in there changing stuff,
changing the favicon away from the default Drupal one would be nice.

On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:

> On Sep 1, 2015, at 9:42 AM, Eric Hellman  wrote:
>
> > As someone who feels that Code4Lib should welcome people who don't
> particularly identify as "coders", I would welcome a return to the previous
> title attribute.
>
>   1++ because I believe it is more about libraries than it is about code.
> —ELM
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] free html editors

[David Mayo]

Hmmm...


Are they Intel or PPC, and what OS version are they running?

It seems likely that there's SOME version of TextWrangler that will work -
they keep old versions around for the use of people with older OS versions.

http://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/updates.html

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 10:20 AM, Sarles Patricia (18K500) 
psar...@schools.nyc.gov wrote:

 I just this minute subscribed to this list after reading Andromeda
 Yelton's column in American Libraries from yesterday with great interest
 since I would like to teach coding in my high school library next year.

 I purchased Andy Harris' HTML5 and CSS3 All-in-One For Dummies for my
 summer reading and the free HTML editors he mentions in the book are either
 not really free or are not compatible with my lab's 2008 Macs.

 Can anyone recommend a free HTML editor for older Macs?

 Many thanks and happy to be on this list,
 Patricia


 
 Patricia Sarles, MA (Anthropology), MLS
 Librarian
 Jerome Parker Campus Library
 100 Essex Drive
 Staten Island, NY 10314
 718-370-6900 x1322
 psar...@schools.nyc.gov
 http://jeromeparkercampus.libguides.com/home

 You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether
 a man is wise by his questions. - Naguib Mahfouz

 As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the
 best information. - Benjamin Disraeli

Re: [CODE4LIB] free html editors

[David Mayo]

Just a side note: I'd be very leery of using Textedit.  No offense meant to
Jason, but Textedit supports (and, unlss configured, defaults) to RTF for
files it creates, which won't work for HTML/CSS.

If you're on 10.6.8, Textwrangler's current version works, as does
SublimeText 2.  If you have money to throw at the problem, BBEdit does have
substantial web-related stuff added on to TextWrangler, and may have an
educational discount.

- Dave

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 5:07 PM, Joe Hourcle onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov
wrote:

 On Sat, 16 May 2015, Nathan Rogers wrote:

  If you do not need all the bells and whistles I would recommend
 TextWrangler. Free versions should still be available online and its bigger
 brother BBEdit is overkill for basic web editing.


 Actually, the significant difference between TextWrangler and BBEdit is
 that BBEdits has a number of features that are specifically for web design,
 that don't exist in TextWrangler.

 Looking at the version of BBEdit 9.1 that I have installed, the majority
 of it is in the 'Markup' menu:

 * Close current tag / Balance tags
 * Check syntax
 * Check links
 * Check accessibility
 * Cleaners for GoLive/PageMill/HomePage/DreamWeaver
 * Convert to HTML / XHTML
 * Menu items to insert tags (which then give what attributes are allowed)
 * Menu item to insert CSS
 * Preview in ... (gives a list of installed web browsers)

 ...

 That said, TextWrangler is still a good free editor -- and I personally
 rarely ever use the insert tags/CSS items (as I've been writing HTML for
 ... crap ... I feel old ... 20+ years).

 But to say that BBEdit is overkill for web editing is just wrong -- the
 majority of the feature differences are *specifically* for web editing.

 -Joe

 (disclaimer: for a decade or so, I was a beta tester for BareBones.  I
 haven't been using the latest-and-greatest version in a while, as I prefer
 not to install newer version of MacOSX on my personal systems ...
 basically, since Apple decided to bring all of the iOS annoyances into the
 desktop.  As such, I can't install BBEdit 10 or 11 to see what the
 difference are in more recent versions)


  -Original Message-
 From: Sarles Patricia (18K500) psar...@schools.nyc.gov
 Sent: ?5/?16/?2015 10:21 AM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: [CODE4LIB] free html editors

 I just this minute subscribed to this list after reading Andromeda
 Yelton's column in American Libraries from yesterday with great interest
 since I would like to teach coding in my high school library next year.

 I purchased Andy Harris' HTML5 and CSS3 All-in-One For Dummies for my
 summer reading and the free HTML editors he mentions in the book are either
 not really free or are not compatible with my lab's 2008 Macs.

 Can anyone recommend a free HTML editor for older Macs?

 Many thanks and happy to be on this list,
 Patricia


 
 Patricia Sarles, MA (Anthropology), MLS
 Librarian
 Jerome Parker Campus Library
 100 Essex Drive
 Staten Island, NY 10314
 718-370-6900 x1322
 psar...@schools.nyc.gov
 http://jeromeparkercampus.libguides.com/home

 You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether
 a man is wise by his questions. - Naguib Mahfouz

 As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the
 best information. - Benjamin Disraeli

Re: [CODE4LIB] free html editors

[David Mayo]

Actually, BBEdit doesn't support 10.6, so scratch that option.

- Dave

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 5:18 PM, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Just a side note: I'd be very leery of using Textedit.  No offense meant
 to Jason, but Textedit supports (and, unlss configured, defaults) to RTF
 for files it creates, which won't work for HTML/CSS.

 If you're on 10.6.8, Textwrangler's current version works, as does
 SublimeText 2.  If you have money to throw at the problem, BBEdit does have
 substantial web-related stuff added on to TextWrangler, and may have an
 educational discount.

 - Dave

 On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 5:07 PM, Joe Hourcle 
 onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov wrote:

 On Sat, 16 May 2015, Nathan Rogers wrote:

  If you do not need all the bells and whistles I would recommend
 TextWrangler. Free versions should still be available online and its bigger
 brother BBEdit is overkill for basic web editing.


 Actually, the significant difference between TextWrangler and BBEdit is
 that BBEdits has a number of features that are specifically for web design,
 that don't exist in TextWrangler.

 Looking at the version of BBEdit 9.1 that I have installed, the majority
 of it is in the 'Markup' menu:

 * Close current tag / Balance tags
 * Check syntax
 * Check links
 * Check accessibility
 * Cleaners for GoLive/PageMill/HomePage/DreamWeaver
 * Convert to HTML / XHTML
 * Menu items to insert tags (which then give what attributes are allowed)
 * Menu item to insert CSS
 * Preview in ... (gives a list of installed web browsers)

 ...

 That said, TextWrangler is still a good free editor -- and I personally
 rarely ever use the insert tags/CSS items (as I've been writing HTML for
 ... crap ... I feel old ... 20+ years).

 But to say that BBEdit is overkill for web editing is just wrong -- the
 majority of the feature differences are *specifically* for web editing.

 -Joe

 (disclaimer: for a decade or so, I was a beta tester for BareBones.  I
 haven't been using the latest-and-greatest version in a while, as I prefer
 not to install newer version of MacOSX on my personal systems ...
 basically, since Apple decided to bring all of the iOS annoyances into the
 desktop.  As such, I can't install BBEdit 10 or 11 to see what the
 difference are in more recent versions)


  -Original Message-
 From: Sarles Patricia (18K500) psar...@schools.nyc.gov
 Sent: ?5/?16/?2015 10:21 AM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: [CODE4LIB] free html editors

 I just this minute subscribed to this list after reading Andromeda
 Yelton's column in American Libraries from yesterday with great interest
 since I would like to teach coding in my high school library next year.

 I purchased Andy Harris' HTML5 and CSS3 All-in-One For Dummies for my
 summer reading and the free HTML editors he mentions in the book are either
 not really free or are not compatible with my lab's 2008 Macs.

 Can anyone recommend a free HTML editor for older Macs?

 Many thanks and happy to be on this list,
 Patricia


 
 Patricia Sarles, MA (Anthropology), MLS
 Librarian
 Jerome Parker Campus Library
 100 Essex Drive
 Staten Island, NY 10314
 718-370-6900 x1322
 psar...@schools.nyc.gov
 http://jeromeparkercampus.libguides.com/home

 You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell
 whether a man is wise by his questions. - Naguib Mahfouz

 As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the
 best information. - Benjamin Disraeli

Re: [CODE4LIB] Python PyMARC Code Club

[David Mayo]

Also potentially interested, depending on timing.

- Dave Mayo
Software Engineer
Harvard University

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Suda, Phillip J psu...@tulane.edu wrote:

 I'm interested and will contact the appropriate people.

 Thanks,

 Phil


 Phillip Suda
 Systems Librarian
 Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
 Tulane University
 psu...@tulane.edu
 504-865-5607



 -Original Message-
 From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Sean Chen
 Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 9:28 PM
 To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 Subject: [CODE4LIB] Python  PyMARC Code Club

 For those who attended the conference in Portland there was a talk by
 Coral Sheldon-Hess where she introduced the idea of a Code Club. If you
 didn't see it check out the talk's slides and description at:
 http://code4lib.org/conference/2015/sheldon-hess. But, for the tl;dr
 version here it is: read code with other like minded individuals so you can
 become a better programmer.

 Which in turn inspires some of us who attended the conference t look for
 other catalogers/hackers/programmers interested in Python and MARC records.
 We'd like to do a club centered on the PyMARC library. If that piques your
 interest please send an email to Richard Tan r...@library.berkeley.edu
 and Sean Chen slc.c...@gmail.com.  We are happy to get something
 started but we’d like to hear from others about this endeavor.


 Best regards,

 Sean

 --
 Sean Chen slc.c...@gmail.com

Re: [CODE4LIB] Whatever Happened to the Northeast Code4Lib?

[David Mayo]

I'm also definitely interested - I've been looking with a certain amount of
jealousy at the various Code4Libs that are out of my range.

- Dave Mayo
  Software Engineer
  Harvard University - HUIT - Library Technology Services

On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 9:03 AM, Joseph Montibello 
joseph.montibe...@dartmouth.edu wrote:

 Hi,

 Yale hosted a C4L New England event a couple of years back (
 http://wiki.code4lib.org/NECode4lib_2012_Home). I was on the planning
 committee - it was fun and I know I learned a lot. It was good to have a
 local event that folks could go to.

 The nice thing is that for an event like this to happen, we only need a
 few people willing to work on it, and a little luck in finding an
 institution to back it. (And of course a two-day event like the one we had
 at Yale is by no means the right/best/only format - there are lots of other
 ways that Code4Lib could take shape in New England / the northeast.)

 Joe Montibello, MLIS
 Library Systems Manager
 Dartmouth College
 603.646.9394
 joseph.montibe...@dartmouth.edumailto:joseph.montibe...@dartmouth.edu



 On Nov 24, 2014, at 3:39 PM, Abigail abigaildiscov...@gmail.commailto:
 abigaildiscov...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Matt,

 Thanks for posting - I'm new-ish to Code4Lib, and in Western MA. Would be
 excited to see more NE activity.

 Abigail
 Systems Librarian
 Hampshire College


 On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 3:03 PM, Christina Marie Harlow 
 cmh2...@columbia.edumailto:cmh2...@columbia.edu wrote:

 Hi Matt-

 We have stuff going in Code4LibNYC, but I'd be happy to help get something
 going on in the Northeast.

 Thanks!
 Christina

 On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 2:40 PM, Matthew Sherman matt.r.sher...@gmail.com
 mailto:matt.r.sher...@gmail.com

 wrote:

 While riffing on an old DC comics title the subject line is my question.
 I've been working in Connecticut for a little over a year now and I have
 heard of nothing going on with Code4Lib in this part of the US.  I find
 this sad since I see all sorts of activity in a variety of other spots,
 particularly in my old beloved midwest stomping grounds.  So I was
 wondering if anyone knows why the Code4Libbers in the northeast have been
 so quiet?  Is the communication being done in some back channel or are
 there not many of us out in this part of the US?  I am just curious as I
 would love to touch base, collaborate, and learn from other folks in the
 community.

 Matt Sherman




 --
 Christina Harlow

 Metadata Specialist
 Columbia University Libraries

 cmh2...@columbia.edumailto:cmh2...@columbia.edu
 http://www.christinaharlow.com/
 @cm_harlow
 +1 212 854 8457
 102 Butler Library, MC 




 --

 Abigail Baines
 Systems  Discovery Librarian
 Harold F. Johnson Library
 Hampshire College

 phone: 413-559-5766
 email: abai...@hampshire.edumailto:abai...@hampshire.edu
  - - abigaildiscov...@gmail.commailto:abigaildiscov...@gmail.com
 web: library.hampshire.eduhttp://library.hampshire.edu
 blog: theharold.hampshire.eduhttp://theharold.hampshire.edu

Re: [CODE4LIB] Let me shadow you, librarians who code!

[David Mayo]

If you'd like to talk to someone who did a library degree, and currently
works as a web developer supporting an academic library, I'd be happy to
talk with you.

- Dave Mayo
  Software Engineer @ Harvard  HUIT  LTS


On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Steven Anderson 
stevencander...@hotmail.com wrote:

 Jennie,
 As with others, I'm not a librarian as I lack a library degree, but I do
 Digital Repository Development for the Boston Public Library (specifically:
 https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/). Feel free to let me know you want
 to chat for your masters paper.
 Sincerely,Steven AndersonWeb Services - Digital Library Repository
 developer617-859-2393sander...@bpl.org

  Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2014 13:51:07 +
  From: mschofi...@nova.edu
  Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Let me shadow you, librarians who code!
  To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
 
  Hey Jennie,
 
  I'm waaay south of MA but I'm pretty addicted to talking about coding as
 a library job O_o. If you are still in want of guinea-pigs, I'd love to
 skype / hangout.
 
  Michael Schofield
  // mschofi...@nova.edu
 
  -Original Message-
  From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
 Jennie Rose Halperin
  Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 3:58 PM
  To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
  Subject: [CODE4LIB] Let me shadow you, librarians who code!
 
  hey Code4Lib,
 
  Do you work in a library and also like coding?  Do you do coding as part
 of your job?
 
  I'm writing my masters paper for the University of North Carolina at
 Chapel Hill and I'd like to shadow and interview up to 10 librarians and
 archivists who also work with code in some way in the Boston area for the
 next two weeks.
 
  I'd come by and chat for about 2 hours, and the whole thing will not
 take up too much of your time.
 
  Not in Massachusetts?  Want to skype? Let me know and that would be
 possible.
 
  I know that this list has a pretty big North American presence, but I
 will be in Berlin beginning July 14, and could potentially shadow anyone in
 Germany as well.
 
  Best,
 
  Jennie Rose Halperin
  jennie.halpe...@gmail.com

Re: [CODE4LIB] Ruby on Windows

[David Mayo]

DevKit is a MingW/MSYS wrapper for Windows Ruby development.  It might not
be finding it, but he does have a C dev environment.

I know you cut them out earlier, but would you mind sending some of the C
Header Blather our way?  It's probably got some clues as to what's going on.

Also - which versions of Windows, RubyInstaller, and DevKit are you using?




On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 4:38 PM, Ross Singer rossfsin...@gmail.com wrote:

 It's probably also possible to get these working within Cygwin.  Assuming
 the libraries you need to compile against are available in Cygwin, of
 course.

 -Ross.

 On Oct 1, 2013, at 4:28 PM, Michael J. Giarlo 
 leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote:

  Our Windows-based devs all do their Ruby work on Ubuntu and Fedora VMs,
  FWIW.
 
  -Mike
 
 
 
  On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Justin Coyne jus...@curationexperts.com
 wrote:
 
  If you see something about C-extensions, it's because the library is not
  written in pure Ruby, it is a wrapper around a library written in C.
  Your
  system may not have the C compiler or some of the libraries needed to
  compile or link the extension.
 
  Justin Coyne
 
 
  On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 2:49 PM, Joshua Welker wel...@ucmo.edu wrote:
 
  I am attempting to write my first small Ruby app, but I am running into
  major problems just getting off the ground developing in Windows. I
  downloaded the most recent Ruby 2.0 package from RubyInstaller. Then I
  installed DevKit so I could use gems. After some fiddling, I was
 finally
  able to install some gems.
 
 
 
  Some.
 
 
 
  For any given gem I try to install, there’s about a 25% chance that I
 get
  this byzantine error:
 
 
 
  ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
 
  […a whole bunch of gibberish about C headers and so forth…]
 
 
 
  In particular, I am trying to install the Blather XMPP client. I am
  tempted
  to just give up and develop on Linux, but I am wanting to deploy this
  script to Windows machines and figure I might run into problems if I
  don’t
  develop in Windows. I have Googled the heck out of this issue and can’t
  find anything that is similar to my case (the solutions on the
  RubyInstaller Github wiki did not work). Do any of you Ruby people know
  why
  I might be having this error so frequently in my Windows environment?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Josh Welker
 
  Information Technology Librarian
 
  James C. Kirkpatrick Library
 
  University of Central Missouri
 
  Warrensburg, MO 64093
 
  JCKL 2260
 
  660.543.8022
 
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] drupal barcamp or railsbridge?

[David Mayo]

Hello! Here's my two cents - for context, my day job has been coding on a
Rails app for the past four months or so, and before that, I worked on an
existing Drupal 6 installation for about a year.

Rails is pretty neat, but it's a framework (much as Drupal is).  If your
goal is to pick up things that you can use in your day-to-day job working
with a Drupal installation, it's probably not going to give you much - you
can't really write a little bit of code in Rails and apply it to another
framework, any more than you could write a little bit of Drupal and apply
it to a Rails app.

This isn't meant to push you away from the RailsBridge - I like Rails, and
if you're likely to be creating new web applications that are separate from
your Drupal install, it's definitely a worthwhile expenditure of time.  But
if you're looking for concrete things to take back to your day job, the
Drupal Barcamp might be more useful.

- Dave Not an authority on anything Mayo


On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 8:14 AM, Paula Gray-Overtoom 
pgray...@monroe.lib.in.us wrote:

 I’m very excited that I will be attending the Code4Lib conference this
 year.  This is my second one ever, so I still feel like a newbie.  Anyway,
 I’m having a super tough time deciding whether to attend the Drupal or
 RailsBridge pre-conference programs.  I’d love some feedback from some of
 you about which experience you think would be a good fit for me.  I’m the
 one and only web person at my library.  I have a Drupal 6 install for our
 public site and a Drupal 7 install for our intranet.  So, of course I am
 interested in Drupal.  As the web person though, it is my job to be able to
 write bits of code in Perl, PHP or whatever to make sure that our site is
 customized for a smooth experience for our staff and patrons.  So, I’m also
 intrigued by the RailsBridge session and would be an absolute beginner
 there.  I know the final decision is up to me, but I’m hoping I can get
 some ideas from all of you about the best choice.

 Thanks,
 Paula

 Paula Gray-Overtoom
 Monroe County Public Library
 303 E. Kirkwood Ave.
 Bloomington, IN 47408
 812-349-3050
 www.mcpl.info

Re: [CODE4LIB] Responsive Web Site Live

[David Mayo]

In Firefox, the Web Developer Toolbar also gives an option that animates
the title with the width (and height, which is less useful) of the browser
- this can be useful for quick ballpark resize tests.

- Dave Mayo


On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:37 AM, Tom Keays tomke...@gmail.com wrote:

 Browserstack and other emulators help quite a bit in testing, and testing
 on real devices is always advisable.

 But here's a nifty tool I discovered which is really useful if you are just
 playing around with breakpoint testing on your desktop browser.

 http://lab.maltewassermann.com/viewport-resizer/

 Tom

 On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Keith Jenkins k...@cornell.edu wrote:

  Does anyone here have any experience with browser emulators such as
  BrowserStack?  http://www.browserstack.com/
 
  If so, have you come across any significant differences between the
  emulators and the real thing?
 
  Keith
 
 
  On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 5:34 PM, Ron Gilmour rgilmou...@gmail.com
 wrote:
   Ideally, of course, one would have a mobile device lab
   
 
 http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/09/24/establishing-an-open-device-lab/
  
   where one could test a site on all kinds of devices, but that's not
  likely
   at a small college library.
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Responsive Web Site Live

[David Mayo]

Ooooh, exciting!

I think the middle layout (768px  xwidth  1020px) needs some love (the
right-hand box deforms pretty severely, and parts of the content of the
center top box are obscured due to non-resizing form controls), but
overall, nice work!

If you feel like it, I'd love to hear more about some of the decisions you
made here; particularly, what browsers you're supporting, how you chose
your breakpoints for the media queries, etc.

- Dave Mayo


On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 1:42 PM, Ron Gilmour rgilm...@ithaca.edu wrote:

 Greetings and Happy New Year!

 Just went live today with a responsive web design at Ithaca College
 Libraryhttp://ithacalibrary.com.
 Stop by and take a look.

 Ron Gilmour
 Web Services Librarian
 Ithaca College Library

Re: [CODE4LIB] one tool and/or resource that you recommend to newbie coders in a library?

[David Mayo]

Version control.

My own strong preference is for git (either managed locally or through
github.com), but really, just pick a version control solution and use it.
If you value your work at all, it should be in version control.  Smart use
of version control can make finding and fixing problems in code much, much
easier - but even fairly naive use of it leaves you with much, much better
tools for fixing screw ups than you have without it.

- Dave Mayo





On Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 5:31 PM, Joe Hourcle
onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.govwrote:

 On Nov 1, 2012, at 5:02 PM, Ethan Gruber wrote:

  Google is more useful than any reference book to find answers to
  programming problems.

 Too bad they got rid of codesearch.



 On Nov 1, 2012, at 5:06 PM, Nate Hill wrote:

  Huh.  Michael, I'd love to know more about why I should care about SASS.
  I kinda like writing CSS.
  I see why LESS http://lesscss.org/ makes sense, but help me under stand
 why
  SASS does?

 For the most part, using *any* CSS pre-processor is better than not
 using one.

 LESS's problem was that it's javascript based ... so if they have
 JS off ... you've got nothing.  And it's got to be done for each user,
 rather than re-generate the files after you've made a modification.
 You can get around this with the 'lessc' compiler, and serve valid
 css files rather than having each client have to do the processing.

 They've also got different syntaxes, so it's really up to which one
 makes sense to you.

 Functionality wise ... I think they're about equal these days.  I suspect
 that if one comes up with a useful new feature, the other group will copy
 it.



 On Nov 1, 2012, at 5:21 PM, Suchy, Daniel wrote:

  I can already feel the collective rolling of eyes for this, but what
 about
  Twitter? It's not a guide or manual, but start following and engaging
  talented developers and library geeks on Twitter and you'll soon have
 more
  help than you know what to do with.  Plus, no Zoia ;)


 Too much misinformation:

 http://twitter.com/danhooker/status/5630099300



 On Nov 1, 2012, at 5:06 PM, Kam Woods wrote:

  foss4lib is a good resource that I'm sure many use, but isn't (as far as
 I
  can tell) linked anywhere on the current code4lib site. How would this
  differentiate itself from that?

 The best tool isn't necessarily free or open source.  (and it isn't
 necessarily
 software).

 So that being said ...

 my whiteboard.  And a digital camera ... none of that 'smartboard' crap.


 -Joe

Re: [CODE4LIB] barcode scanner with memory

[David Mayo]

As a sort of side question, does anyone know of a halfway-decent Android
app for scanning UPC-style barcodes?  QR scanners are pretty widespread,
but worthless for my purposes, and I haven't found a decent 2D barcode
scanner yet.

- Dave Mayo

On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 3:03 PM, Michael B. Klein mbkl...@gmail.com wrote:

 This: http://www.keelog.com/hardware_keylogger.html
 plus any USB power adapter wall plug would do the trick.

 There's an 8MB flash drive version, and also a version with a WiFi
 interface so you can pull the log directly over the network instead of
 having to do any hardware download.

 Michael

 On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:25 AM, Adam Wead aw...@rockhall.org wrote:

  huh.  neat idea.  certainly beats paying hundreds of dollars for some
  other scanner.
 
  On Jan 30, 2012, at 2:15 PM, Michael B. Klein wrote:
 
   I think Kyle's point was that you could use a hardware keylogger
  *without*
   the computer behind it. Just have it snoop on your barcode scanner
 and
   then download the data from it daily. You'd still need to feed it USB
   power, but that's not hard.
  
   On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Nate Vack njv...@wisc.edu wrote:
  
   On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Kyle Banerjee baner...@uoregon.edu
   wrote:
   Since a barcode scanner is just a keyboard wedge, a hardware
 keylogger
   would work well for this purpose. It'll cost you less than $50
  
   It'll only work well if you don't mind your scanner spamming
   keypresses to the rest of your apps all day.
  
   -n
  
 
  [http://donations.rockhall.com/Logo_WWR.gif]
  http://rockhall.com/exhibits/women-who-rock/
  This communication is a confidential and proprietary business
  communication. It is intended solely for the use of the designated
  recipient(s). If this communication is received in error, please contact
  the sender and delete this communication.
 
  '
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] barcode scanner with memory

[David Mayo]

Thanks; I think I just hit a bad run of ones that only did QR or wouldn't
save/send barcodes as text.  I swear I downloaded at least three, and read
the summaries for at least four others.

What I'd really like is one that would make the phone pretend to be a
bluetooth barcode scanner, or pass the barcodes over wifi.  But I think
that might be asking a bit too much.

- Dave

On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 12:44 PM, Simon Spero s...@unc.edu wrote:

 Barcode Scanner?
 https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.androidhl=en

 Simon

 On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 12:32 PM, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

  As a sort of side question, does anyone know of a halfway-decent Android
  app for scanning UPC-style barcodes?  QR scanners are pretty widespread,
  but worthless for my purposes, and I haven't found a decent 2D barcode
  scanner yet.
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 3:03 PM, Michael B. Klein mbkl...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   This: http://www.keelog.com/hardware_keylogger.html
   plus any USB power adapter wall plug would do the trick.
  
   There's an 8MB flash drive version, and also a version with a WiFi
   interface so you can pull the log directly over the network instead of
   having to do any hardware download.
  
   Michael
  
   On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:25 AM, Adam Wead aw...@rockhall.org
 wrote:
  
huh.  neat idea.  certainly beats paying hundreds of dollars for some
other scanner.
   
On Jan 30, 2012, at 2:15 PM, Michael B. Klein wrote:
   
 I think Kyle's point was that you could use a hardware keylogger
*without*
 the computer behind it. Just have it snoop on your barcode
 scanner
   and
 then download the data from it daily. You'd still need to feed it
 USB
 power, but that's not hard.

 On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Nate Vack njv...@wisc.edu
 wrote:

 On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Kyle Banerjee 
  baner...@uoregon.edu
 wrote:
 Since a barcode scanner is just a keyboard wedge, a hardware
   keylogger
 would work well for this purpose. It'll cost you less than $50

 It'll only work well if you don't mind your scanner spamming
 keypresses to the rest of your apps all day.

 -n

   
[http://donations.rockhall.com/Logo_WWR.gif]
http://rockhall.com/exhibits/women-who-rock/
This communication is a confidential and proprietary business
communication. It is intended solely for the use of the designated
recipient(s). If this communication is received in error, please
  contact
the sender and delete this communication.
   
'
   
  
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] web spam block less awful than Captcha?

[David Mayo]

I can say from experience that that won't help - spambots even hit lone
forms with nondescript names.

- Dave Mayo

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 1:48 PM, Jonathan Rochkind rochk...@jhu.edu wrote:

 On 10/24/2011 1:15 PM, MJ Ray wrote:

 trying to design things so that the return on investment
 for spammers is fairly low,



 In my experience, this is irrelevant. I have spammers spamming my ask a
 librarian a question link, which _only_ results in email to a librarian's
 inbox (several of them actually). It never possibly results in anything the
 spammer/spambot submits in that link winding up on the public web. It's not
 even _possible_ for it to do so. The spammer has absolutely _nothing_ to
 gain from sending spam through my ask a librarian a question form.  It
 still gets planty of spambots. They are not targetting things that might
 actually do them any good, it's just an all-out assault on any web forms at
 all, apparently.

 Or perhaps the fact that my web form has a 'name' and 'email' form makes
 the spambots decide it just _must_ be a blog comment form.  I suppose taking
 away the 'name' and 'email' labels might help, although it might mess up our
 workflow too. Hmm, now I'm thinking about just telling them to include their
 email in one big comment box, and having my own software regex out things
 that look like email to fill out the field in our internal system.

Re: [CODE4LIB] FW: Drupal developer position, UNC Chapel Hill

[David Mayo]

Is this position possibly open to remote applicants.

- Dave Mayo

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 11:42 AM, Shearer, Timothy J tshea...@email.unc.edu
 wrote:

 Hi Folks,

 We're hiring a Drupal+ developer.

 http://www.lib.unc.edu/jobs/spa/17022.html

 See below:

 Tim

 +++
 Tim Shearer

 Head, Applications Development Team
 The University Library
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 tshea...@email.unc.edu
 919-962-1288
 +++



 APPLICATIONS ANALYST:
 Library Systems Department

 Working Title: Applications Analyst
 Position Number: 17022
 Salary Range: $39,816 - $98,718
 Closing Date: October 26, 2011

 As a member of the Web Unit in the University Library's Systems
 Department, the Applications Analyst provides applications programming,
 Web development expertise, and technical support for the UNC Library. The
 primary purpose of this position is to work with content creators to
 meaningfully express their content in a content management system (CMS).
 In doing so, they will support staff in the creation and organization of
 information to effectively present tools, services, and information on the
 web.

 Additionally, the Applications Analyst will perform development work on
 new and existing projects using a variety of programming and markup
 languages and other tools, including XHTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Python,
 JavaScript, and RDBMSs.

 The Applications Analyst will work with stakeholders to gather
 requirements and interpret these for implementation. They will model data,
 identify content types, and distill requirements into workable solutions
 that support the communication needs of the stakeholders and the workflow
 of the content creators. They will then implement and maintain these
 workable solutions. Web presentation will have an emphasis on
 accessibility and usability.

 The Applications Analyst will prototype solutions prior to deployment.
 This prototyping may include working within administrative interfaces,
 templating, testing existing plugins, and native coding.

 The Applications Analyst documents code and workflow, and manages
 development within a versioning system.

 This position is being recruited for at the Contributing Competency Level
 under the Career Banding program. The hiring range for this position is
 $45,000 - $50,000.

 Qualifications

 Required:
 The analyst band requires a foundation of knowledge and skills in area of
 specialization generally obtained from graduating from a four-year college
 or university with nine semester hours in programming and one year of
 experience in business application consulting or development. Experience
 in the field of work related to the position's role may be substituted on
 a year-for-year basis.

 Preferred:
 Strong communication skills and a demonstrated ability to work in an team
 environment to complete projects. Experience with content management
 systems (specifically Drupal). Experience with project management.
 Experience with traditional markup and related competencies such as XHTML,
 CSS, XML, XSLT, JavaScript and an understanding of accessibility.
 Experience with interpreted scripting languages (e.g. Perl, PHP, Python),
 relational database development and systems (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL).
 Experience with versioning software such as Subversion.

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

One other thing to consider with the iPhone is that it's going to be a
recurrent monthly fee, and that cellular internet tends to run more
expensive than regular internet collections.  This could easily run over
replacement costs for a wired computer, for instance.  Also, that while a
regular computer might be a theft risk, an iPhone is a giant, gold-plated
theft risk, in a super-portable size.  Also, there's no way you're going to
get a week's worth of service per charge out of it, while using it as a
terminal.

- Dave Mayo

On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 11:41 AM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Nicole, people here tell me that computers get zapped even with surge
 protectors here, or even with lightning protectors. Then someone told me
 the
 other day that they need to be properly earthed and almost nothing is here.
 One problem is I don't even know if there is such a thing as a real
 electrician here who understands how do do these things.

 At the moment we're looking at the WSSL trial because it would be a big
 overhead to us to run our own software when we know nothing about it, but
 we'll still need something to connect to it. I'm thinking that we cut our
 losses by doing it as cheaply as possible and accept that that we'll lose
 it
 occasionally - make it less worth stealing. The library is open and
 unstaffed 24hrs and people say nothing keeps thieves out. But Dave Mayo
 pointed out you can get a kind of computer in a power plug now. Or we could
 use an iphone. Then they could be plugged into an UPS and charged once a
 week. That could work. We'd still need a cage and I don't really want to
 encourage thieves to bring welding gear into the library!

 I don't know if we're going to be able to afford the WSSL system. They
 don't
 know how much it will cost yet. So we could end up having to run our own
 system anyway. Even the WSSL system is more sophisticated than we need. We
 don't need a web site or to be able to place holds on books. All we really
 need is a db with 2 tables - users and collection and queries to do loans,
 returns and overdues. Hey, I could write it! But surely I don't have to.

 If we went with your suggestion, what software would you suggest?

 Thanks
 Rowan

 On 7 October 2011 08:45, Nicole Miller nikludesi...@gmail.com wrote:

  Rowan, you mentioned that a computer might be stolen or fried by
 lightning.
  The more I read, the more I think a computer is the way to go, at the
 very
  least to set up the database. Is there a way you can use surge protectors
  and create a cage to go around the computer with it's scanner?
 
  Nicole
  MLS Student
  Southern Connecticut State University
 
  On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 11:50 AM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Yes, I'm betting WSSL will be what we're looking for. It's whether we
 can
   afford it and whether we can set up a secure self check point in an
   unstaffed library that doesn't have to be plugged into power.
  
   Thanks Cary
  
   On 27 September 2011 07:51, Cary Gordon listu...@chillco.com wrote:
  
I'll bet that WSSL has a report generator that, while not necessarily
better than the eight of you, will allow you to more easily get
information about what your patrons are doing.
   
Cary
   
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 11:33 AM, rowan eisner 
 rowaneis...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Wow, that's amazing. That certainly opens up possibilities. It
 would
  be
 quite a challenge to get it all working buy they reckon it takes 3
   years
to
 barcode the books anyway, so it might keep me busy trying to figure
  it
out.

 I signed up for WSSL and just said I was in Philadelphia and
 emailed
   them
 and it does look like a possibility if we can afford it. Maybe the
   could
 license it out to a developing country to run it for the 3rd world
 at
  a
 tenth of the cost!

 Thanks so much for all your help. I've called a committee meeting
  this
 afternoon. The librarian is very resistant to automating and is
  highly
 skeptical that it can be made to work here. In the mean time eight
 of
   us
sit
 around on a monday afternoon being computers, just as they have for
  the
last
 60 years!

 Cheers
 Rowan
 On 26 September 2011 09:43, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Here's an example of the kind of thing I'm talking about when I
 say
 micro-development board:


   
  
 
 http://technabob.com/blog/2011/02/03/dreamplug-mini-power-plug-computer/This
 isn't the best example - it's obviously being sold to a certain
  extent
 as novelty hardware, and it shows, but something like this could
  work
 fairly
 well as a web server for the area.

 You can actually get substantially cheaper than this, if you're
   willing
to
 do some digging and/or do some component assembly - although, of
   course,
 then your mailing expenses might rise.  It won't solve the
 lightning

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

Here's an example of the kind of thing I'm talking about when I say
micro-development board:
http://technabob.com/blog/2011/02/03/dreamplug-mini-power-plug-computer/This
isn't the best example - it's obviously being sold to a certain extent
as novelty hardware, and it shows, but something like this could work fairly
well as a web server for the area.

You can actually get substantially cheaper than this, if you're willing to
do some digging and/or do some component assembly - although, of course,
then your mailing expenses might rise.  It won't solve the lightning problem
(which is fascinating/terrifying to me - outlet to device arcing is
freaky!), but many of the small linux single-board computers are low enough
power draw that an APC or other battery solution could run them for a long
time off of wall power; you'd need someone to unplug it when the storm was
coming, but that's going to be true of the iPhone, too, likely.

If you were able to find or build the right software, I could see something
like this working as a server, with an iPod touch serving as the scanner,
for example.  You could also (if you got one with a video output) attach a
scanner via USB, and use it for both check-in and check-out.

If you do go the iDevice route (or Android, etc), you might be able to get
away without a physical scanner attached - there are several apps that do
barcode recognition through the devices' cameras.

Hope at least some of this is helpful.

- Dave

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 10:24 AM, Roy Tennant roytenn...@gmail.com wrote:

 From the person in a position to know: We have not yet figured out
 pricing.  We are definitely considering the needs of the developing
 nations but don't have answers yet.  At this point we are most focused
 on the feature set that can be activated with no human intervention.
 Looking for the intersection of the basic need and most automatable
 (that probably is not a word).
 Roy

 On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 3:14 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Ok, I tried to sign up for WSSL and you have to be in US. Also, if it
 will
  cost 'a cup of coffee a day' am I right that would be at least $700 a
 year?
  That's our entire annual budget. So probably only for first world
 countries
  anyway. And you're meant to have one or two full-time staff which we
 don't
  have. Still, I'll email them and see what they say. There are probably
 1000s
  of 3rd world libraries doing everything manually still and if there are
  economies of scale we may be able to afford it.
 
  Cheers
  Rowan
 
  On 24 September 2011 17:10, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:
 
  It's so experimental, that it's having a Free *Trail*.
 
  That is a good suggestion, by the way - I'm just amused by the typo.  It
  appears twice on this page, once on the sign-up page, and perhaps
  elsewhere.  Also, absolutely is misspelled as absolutley on the
 sign-up
  page.
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Roy Tennant roytenn...@gmail.com
 wrote:
 
   Actually, I have an even better option from OCLC:
  
   Web Site for Small Libraries (WSSL)
   http://experimental.worldcat.org/lib/
  
   It is really aimed at very small libraries, so it is very easy to use
   but still has some basic circulation capabilities. It's in free trial
   mode now, so take a look and see if it does what you need.
   Roy Tennant
   OCLC Research
  
   On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 12:22 AM, JONATHAN LEBRETON 
 lebre...@temple.edu
  
   wrote:
You may be able to do something with OCLCs so-called Web Management
   System whereby your OPAC (in the form of WorldCat local.)  and circ
   functions are in the cloud..
   
   
   
Jonathan LeBreton
Senior Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries
Philadelphia PA 19122
Voice: 215-204-3184
Fax: 215-204-5201
Mobile: 215-284-5070
lebre...@temple.edu
jonat...@temple.edu
   
- Original Message -
From: rowan eisner [mailto:rowaneis...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 11:51 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer
 yet?
   
Hi Dave
   
It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries
  used
   to
work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books
 aren't
returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that
   constant
churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.
   
We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking
 maybe
   with a
scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think
  librarything
could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.
   
What do you reckon?
   
Cheers
Rowan
   
On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:
   
I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's
 entirely
   cloud
based.
   
What functionality do you need? If you have

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

It's so experimental, that it's having a Free *Trail*.

That is a good suggestion, by the way - I'm just amused by the typo.  It
appears twice on this page, once on the sign-up page, and perhaps
elsewhere.  Also, absolutely is misspelled as absolutley on the sign-up
page.

- Dave Mayo

On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Roy Tennant roytenn...@gmail.com wrote:

 Actually, I have an even better option from OCLC:

 Web Site for Small Libraries (WSSL)
 http://experimental.worldcat.org/lib/

 It is really aimed at very small libraries, so it is very easy to use
 but still has some basic circulation capabilities. It's in free trial
 mode now, so take a look and see if it does what you need.
 Roy Tennant
 OCLC Research

 On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 12:22 AM, JONATHAN LEBRETON lebre...@temple.edu
 wrote:
  You may be able to do something with OCLCs so-called Web Management
 System whereby your OPAC (in the form of WorldCat local.)  and circ
 functions are in the cloud..
 
 
 
  Jonathan LeBreton
  Senior Associate University Librarian
  Temple University Libraries
  Philadelphia PA 19122
  Voice: 215-204-3184
  Fax: 215-204-5201
  Mobile: 215-284-5070
  lebre...@temple.edu
  jonat...@temple.edu
 
  - Original Message -
  From: rowan eisner [mailto:rowaneis...@gmail.com]
  Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 11:51 PM
  To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
  Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?
 
  Hi Dave
 
  It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries used
 to
  work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books aren't
  returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that
 constant
  churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.
 
  We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking maybe
 with a
  scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think librarything
  could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.
 
  What do you reckon?
 
  Cheers
  Rowan
 
  On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:
 
  I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely
 cloud
  based.
 
  What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
  ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account or
  similar quasi-library service might suffice.
 
  I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to
 work
  when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
  monitor for lossage?
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Thanks Esme
  
   No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a
  week.
   I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it
  will
   get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.
  
   With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or
 do
  we
   just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves
  might
   take a lot for us to figure out.
  
   Cheers
   Rowan
  
   On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme escow...@ucsd.edu wrote:
  
Rowan-
   
Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.
  There
  are
several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that
  might
suit your needs:
   
http://www.koha.org/
   
http://open-ils.org/
   
Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
   complete
self-checkout?
   
-Esme
--
Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu
   
I don't need to be forgiven. -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
   
On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
   
 Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me
 in
  the
 right direction...

 We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is
  there
   a
 way to automate

 1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
   Volunteers
 bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog with
iphones
 2) that doesn't cost a fortune

 Thanks so much

 Rowan
   
  
 
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely cloud
based.

What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account or
similar quasi-library service might suffice.

I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to work
when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
monitor for lossage?

- Dave Mayo

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.comwrote:

 Thanks Esme

 No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a week.
 I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it will
 get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.

 With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or do we
 just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves might
 take a lot for us to figure out.

 Cheers
 Rowan

 On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme escow...@ucsd.edu wrote:

  Rowan-
 
  Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.  There are
  several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that might
  suit your needs:
 
  http://www.koha.org/
 
  http://open-ils.org/
 
  Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
  borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
 complete
  self-checkout?
 
  -Esme
  --
  Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu
 
  I don't need to be forgiven. -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
 
  On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
 
   Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me in the
   right direction...
  
   We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is there
 a
   way to automate
  
   1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
 Volunteers
   bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog with
  iphones
   2) that doesn't cost a fortune
  
   Thanks so much
  
   Rowan
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

If I recall correctly, Librarything has a some kind of check-in/check-out
functionality, intended for people who use their personal collection as a
lending library.

I'm signing into my account to check right now.

- Dave

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:51 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hi Dave

 It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries used
 to
 work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books aren't
 returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that constant
 churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.

 We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking maybe with
 a
 scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think librarything
 could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.

 What do you reckon?

 Cheers
 Rowan

 On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

  I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely
 cloud
  based.
 
  What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
  ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account or
  similar quasi-library service might suffice.
 
  I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to
 work
  when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
  monitor for lossage?
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Thanks Esme
  
   No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a
  week.
   I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it
  will
   get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.
  
   With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or do
  we
   just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves
  might
   take a lot for us to figure out.
  
   Cheers
   Rowan
  
   On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme escow...@ucsd.edu wrote:
  
Rowan-
   
Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.  There
  are
several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that
  might
suit your needs:
   
http://www.koha.org/
   
http://open-ils.org/
   
Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
   complete
self-checkout?
   
-Esme
--
Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu
   
I don't need to be forgiven. -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
   
On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
   
 Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me in
  the
 right direction...

 We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is
  there
   a
 way to automate

 1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
   Volunteers
 bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog with
iphones
 2) that doesn't cost a fortune

 Thanks so much

 Rowan
   
  
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

They don't, actually. My mistake.

How are you imagining the check-in/check-out working when there aren't
volunteers - a sign out sheet?

If all you want is essentially a sign-out sheet attached to a database of
your collection, it wouldn't be hard to whip something up, or use an
existing solution - but if you want something that you don't have to host
yourself, I'm not sure there's anything that's going to get you all the way
there.

I'm looking now to see if I can find another cataloging site that does some
level of circulation.

One other thing you could do is use something like
http://alexandria.rubyforge.org/features.html, and pass the datafile
manually to anyone who needs to have it.  Not a great solution, but the best
my brain is coming up with right now.

- Dave Mayo

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:58 PM, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

 If I recall correctly, Librarything has a some kind of check-in/check-out
 functionality, intended for people who use their personal collection as a
 lending library.

 I'm signing into my account to check right now.

 - Dave


 On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:51 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hi Dave

 It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries used
 to
 work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books aren't
 returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that
 constant
 churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.

 We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking maybe with
 a
 scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think librarything
 could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.

 What do you reckon?

 Cheers
 Rowan

 On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

  I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely
 cloud
  based.
 
  What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
  ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account or
  similar quasi-library service might suffice.
 
  I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to
 work
  when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
  monitor for lossage?
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Thanks Esme
  
   No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a
  week.
   I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it
  will
   get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.
  
   With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or
 do
  we
   just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves
  might
   take a lot for us to figure out.
  
   Cheers
   Rowan
  
   On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme escow...@ucsd.edu wrote:
  
Rowan-
   
Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.
  There
  are
several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that
  might
suit your needs:
   
http://www.koha.org/
   
http://open-ils.org/
   
Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
   complete
self-checkout?
   
-Esme
--
Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu
   
I don't need to be forgiven. -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
   
On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
   
 Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me
 in
  the
 right direction...

 We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is
  there
   a
 way to automate

 1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
   Volunteers
 bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog with
iphones
 2) that doesn't cost a fortune

 Thanks so much

 Rowan
   
  
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Can a library automate without a computer yet?

[David Mayo]

http://www.bookbump.com/manual.php

There's some level of loaned/borrowed tracking functionality.  Might do; at
least closer than LibraryThing.

- Dave Mayo

On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 12:14 AM, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

 They don't, actually. My mistake.

 How are you imagining the check-in/check-out working when there aren't
 volunteers - a sign out sheet?

 If all you want is essentially a sign-out sheet attached to a database of
 your collection, it wouldn't be hard to whip something up, or use an
 existing solution - but if you want something that you don't have to host
 yourself, I'm not sure there's anything that's going to get you all the way
 there.

 I'm looking now to see if I can find another cataloging site that does some
 level of circulation.

 One other thing you could do is use something like
 http://alexandria.rubyforge.org/features.html, and pass the datafile
 manually to anyone who needs to have it.  Not a great solution, but the best
 my brain is coming up with right now.

 - Dave Mayo


 On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:58 PM, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

 If I recall correctly, Librarything has a some kind of check-in/check-out
 functionality, intended for people who use their personal collection as a
 lending library.

 I'm signing into my account to check right now.

 - Dave


 On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:51 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hi Dave

 It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries used
 to
 work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books aren't
 returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that
 constant
 churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.

 We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking maybe
 with a
 scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think librarything
 could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.

 What do you reckon?

 Cheers
 Rowan

 On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo pobo...@gmail.com wrote:

  I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely
 cloud
  based.
 
  What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
  ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account
 or
  similar quasi-library service might suffice.
 
  I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to
 work
  when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
  monitor for lossage?
 
  - Dave Mayo
 
  On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner rowaneis...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   Thanks Esme
  
   No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a
  week.
   I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it
  will
   get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.
  
   With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or
 do
  we
   just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves
  might
   take a lot for us to figure out.
  
   Cheers
   Rowan
  
   On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme escow...@ucsd.edu wrote:
  
Rowan-
   
Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.
  There
  are
several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that
  might
suit your needs:
   
http://www.koha.org/
   
http://open-ils.org/
   
Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
   complete
self-checkout?
   
-Esme
--
Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu
   
I don't need to be forgiven. -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
   
On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
   
 Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me
 in
  the
 right direction...

 We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is
  there
   a
 way to automate

 1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
   Volunteers
 bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog
 with
iphones
 2) that doesn't cost a fortune

 Thanks so much

 Rowan
   
  
 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Software for Capstone\Theses Projects

[David Mayo]

I've worked with Omeka, and while it's great, I don't think it's ideal for
what he's looking for.  It's really meant for digital libraries, or as a
frontend to a repository, rather than as a bare-bones repository.

For instance, I'm not sure how you would cleanly and simply handle the
submitter-set permissions, with authentication, in Omeka without writing a
fair amount of custom code.  Omeka (right now, at least) makes a strong
distinction between public and private, but doesn't have strong user-based
ownership of items.  I don't think it would be impossible, and I love Omeka,
but I think there are probably better options available out of the box.

- Dave Mayo

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Bigwood, David dbigw...@hou.usra.eduwrote:

 Mike,

 Omeka might be what you are looking for. I've never used it but from
 what I've heard about it, it would be worth a look.

 Sincerely,
 David Bigwood
 dbigw...@hou.usra.edu
 Lunar and Planetary Institute

Re: [CODE4LIB] Advice on a class

[David Mayo]

If you're looking to do web programming, C is probably not going to directly
benefit you - it's not that it's a bad language to learn, or that it doesn't
have uses, but you'd probably be better off trying to improve your PHP or
RoR skills.

That being said, if you need to get lower-level knowledge of how memory
management and other close-to-the-metal concerns work, a decent C course
wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

If you're an autodidact, there are some good resources available on the web
- I can work up a list, and I'm sure other people have suggestions.  I also
have a fondness for O'Reilly's *Programming PHP*, if you want to pick up a
book.  I've heard really good things about The Pragmatic Programmer's Ruby
book, but Ruby isn't (thus far) something I've worked with, so that's
secondhand advice.

- Dave

On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Lepczyk, Timothy tlepc...@wustl.eduwrote:

 Hi All,

 I work in a digital library and am transitioning to something more like a
 programmer and less like a librarian.  My strengths are in xslt and unix,
 but I've been working some with php and ruby on rails.  I'm trying to learn
 as much as I can, and am considering enrolling in an intro to C programming
 class (free through my university's night school).

 Is this worthwhile, or should I focus my attention elsewhere?

 Thanks,

 Tim Lepczyk