[CODE4LIB] Friday Humor: Stuff Business People Say

2015-07-24 Thread Tim McGeary
Some Friday humor to share - I'm sure we all hear most, if not all, of
these phrases in our day.  Perhaps we need to make a Stuff Librarians Say
or Stuff Library IT People Say someday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHg_M_zKA6Y

-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 Conference accounting update

2014-09-02 Thread Tim McGeary
Colleagues,

I wanted to report on the financial closing of the Code4Lib 2014 account.
 All of the bills have been paid for and the reimbursements have been sent.
 This year, we have a surplus of $29,419.80 that we will be able to pass
onto the Code4Lib 2015 committee.  I can say with great confidence that
much of this surplus is possible through the excellent contract negotiation
and cost management of CONCENTRA, whom we hired this year.

The very first action CONCENTRA enabled for us was to change hotel venues
because the first hotel contract we reviewed was overly restrictive and
provided no incentives to the conference.  At the venue were the conference
was located, we received a sizeable number of kick backs of hotel rooms
that offset costs of scholarship awardees and the keynote speakers, in
addition to CONCENTRA's experience in estimated the number of meals needed
so that we did not overcommit.  Finally, CONCENTRA was instrumental in
getting the hotel to not only improve the wireless, but also have the
charges withdrawn for the days in which the wifi service was unacceptable.
 These are just a few of the examples of financial savings CONCENTRA's work
provided.  Thank you to Ann Elsner and her staff at Duke University for
hosting the financial services for the conference!

I am very proud of the hosting efforts of my colleagues at Duke University,
NC State University, and UNC Chapel Hill, most especially of my co-Chair
Emily Lynema.  None of this would have been possible without all of the
excellent volunteers locally, as well as those of you in the community who
volunteered in other ways.

If anyone has any final questions about Code4Lib 2014, please do let me
know.  Otherwise, I look forward to a successful Code4Lib 2015 in Portland!

Cheers,
Tim

-- 
Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] [code4libcon] Code4Lib 2014 Reminder: Hotel Reservation

2014-02-04 Thread Tim McGeary
One additional note for the Hotel block:

If we don't meet the room block, there won't be a hospitality suite offered.

Tim
  

On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 2:50:16 PM UTC-5, Emily Lynema wrote:
>
> Also a reminder for those on the waitlist:
>
> If you have been contacted about registering and have not yet responded, 
> your position will be forfeited if you do not respond by the end of this 
> week. We need to get people registered, but there are a few we have not 
> heard back from in the last week. You should be receiving another reminder 
> email from CONCENTRA today.
>
> Questions about registration or the waitlist or cancellations should be 
> directed to CONCENTRA: code4...@concentra-cms.com
>
> thanks!
> -emily
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 2:29 PM, Tim McGeary 
> > wrote:
>
>> This is a reminder to please make your hotel reservations for Code4Lib 
>> 2014.  As of Friday, only 73% of the room block had been reserved.  The 
>> conference needs to reserve 80% of the room block or there will be 
>> financial consequences that will impact Code4Lib 2014.
>>
>> If you haven't made your reservations, yet, please take a few moments to 
>> reserve your room today.  Here is the hotel reservation information for 
>> your convenience:
>>
>> The Sheraton Raleigh special conference rate of US $159 per night 
>> (exluding taxes, currently 12.75%) includes in-room internet at no extra 
>> charge. The conference rate is only available until February 24, 2014, or 
>> until the group block sells out, whichever comes first. 
>>
>> To complete your reservation, you may call 1-800-325-3535 (and request 
>> the "code4lib" group rate) or use the following link: 
>>
>> https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1308017755&key=6A16E
>>  
>>
>> *Note that a deposit* in the amount of one-night's stay plus tax is 
>> required at the time of reservation ($179.27 total.)
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Tim McGeary
>> Code4Lib 2014 Conference Co-Chair
>>
>> -- 
>> Tim McGeary
>> timmc...@gmail.com 
>> GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
>> 484-294-7660 (cell)
>>  
>> -- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "code4libcon" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to code4libcon...@googlegroups.com .
>> To post to this group, send email to code4...@googlegroups.com
>> .
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon.
>> To view this discussion on the web visit 
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/code4libcon/CALBScSSzxeOhGEoDD32oQ1QR0TZXVTgyc7y32X%3DtPDhMjm8WZg%40mail.gmail.com
>> .
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>>
>
>


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 Reminder: Wait List Round 1 Deadline

2014-02-04 Thread Tim McGeary
Early last week we contacted the first wave of wait list names to register
for Code4Lib.  This is a reminder that *if you were contacted* by CONCENTRA
to register, you have until Friday February 7 to register or you're spot
will be given to the next person on the wait list.  Please do not delay if
you have been contacted to register.

Thanks,
Tim McGeary
Code4Lib 2014 Conference Co-Chair


-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 Reminder: Hotel Reservation

2014-02-04 Thread Tim McGeary
This is a reminder to please make your hotel reservations for Code4Lib
2014.  As of Friday, only 73% of the room block had been reserved.  The
conference needs to reserve 80% of the room block or there will be
financial consequences that will impact Code4Lib 2014.

If you haven't made your reservations, yet, please take a few moments to
reserve your room today.  Here is the hotel reservation information for
your convenience:

The Sheraton Raleigh special conference rate of US $159 per night (exluding
taxes, currently 12.75%) includes in-room internet at no extra charge. The
conference rate is only available until February 24, 2014, or until the
group block sells out, whichever comes first.

To complete your reservation, you may call 1-800-325-3535 (and request the
"code4lib" group rate) or use the following link:

https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1308017755&key=6A16E

*Note that a deposit* in the amount of one-night's stay plus tax is
required at the time of reservation ($179.27 total.)

Thank you,
Tim McGeary
Code4Lib 2014 Conference Co-Chair

-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] EZProxy changes / alternatives ?

2014-01-31 Thread Tim McGeary
Even with razor thin budgets, this is a no brainer.  May they need decide
between buying 10 new books or license EZProxy?  Possibly, but if they have
a need for EZProxy, that's still a no brainer - until a solid OSS
replacement that includes as robust a developer /support community comes
around.  But again, at $500/year, I don't see a lot of incentive to invest
in such a project.


On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 3:55 PM, Riley Childs wrote:

> But there are places on a razor thin budget, and things like this throw
> them off ball acne
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 31, 2014, at 3:32 PM, "Tim McGeary"  wrote:
> >
> > So what's the price point that EZProxy needs to climb to make it more
> > realistic to put resources into an alternative.  At $500/year, I don't
> even
> > have to think about justifying it.  At 1% (or less) of the cost of
> position
> > with little to no prior experience needed, it doesn't make a lot of sense
> > to invest in an open source alternative, even on a campus that heavily
> uses
> > Shibboleth.
> >
> > Tim
> >
> >
> >> On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 1:36 PM, Ross Singer 
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Not only that, but it's also expressly designed for the purpose of
> reverse
> >> proxying subscription databases in a library environment.  There are
> tons
> >> of things vendors do that would be incredibly frustrating to get working
> >> properly in Squid, nginx, or Apache that have already been solved by
> >> EZProxy.  Which is self-fulfilling: vendors then cater to what EZProxy
> does
> >> (rather than improving access to their resources).
> >>
> >> Art Rhyno used to say that the major thing that was inhibiting the
> >> widespread adoption of Shibboleth was how simple and cheap EZProxy was.
>  I
> >> think there is a lot of truth to that.
> >>
> >> -Ross.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Kyle Banerjee  >>> wrote:
> >>
> >>>> EZproxy is a self-installing statically compiled single binary
> >> download,
> >>>> with a built-in administrative interface that makes most common
> >>>> administrative tasks point-and-click, that works on Linux and Windows
> >>>> systems, and requires very little in the way of resources to run.  It
> >>> also
> >>>> has a library of a few hundred vendor stanzas that can be copied and
> >>> pasted
> >>>> and work the majority of the time.
> >>>>
> >>>> To successfully replace EZproxy in this setting, it would need to be
> >>>> packaged in such a way that it is equally easy to install and
> maintain,
> >>> and
> >>>> the library of vendor stanzas would need to be developed as apache
> >> conf.d
> >>>> files.
> >>>
> >>> This. The real gain with EZProxy is that configuring it is crazy easy.
> >> You
> >>> just drop it in and run it -- it's feasible for someone with no
> >> experience
> >>> in proxying or systems administration to get it operational in a few
> >>> minutes. That is why I think virtualizing a system that makes accessing
> >> the
> >>> more powerful features of EZProxy easy is a good alternative.
> >>>
> >>> kyle
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Tim McGeary
> > timmcge...@gmail.com
> > GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
> > 484-294-7660 (cell)
>



-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] EZProxy changes / alternatives ?

2014-01-31 Thread Tim McGeary
So what's the price point that EZProxy needs to climb to make it more
realistic to put resources into an alternative.  At $500/year, I don't even
have to think about justifying it.  At 1% (or less) of the cost of position
with little to no prior experience needed, it doesn't make a lot of sense
to invest in an open source alternative, even on a campus that heavily uses
Shibboleth.

Tim


On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 1:36 PM, Ross Singer  wrote:

> Not only that, but it's also expressly designed for the purpose of reverse
> proxying subscription databases in a library environment.  There are tons
> of things vendors do that would be incredibly frustrating to get working
> properly in Squid, nginx, or Apache that have already been solved by
> EZProxy.  Which is self-fulfilling: vendors then cater to what EZProxy does
> (rather than improving access to their resources).
>
> Art Rhyno used to say that the major thing that was inhibiting the
> widespread adoption of Shibboleth was how simple and cheap EZProxy was.  I
> think there is a lot of truth to that.
>
> -Ross.
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Kyle Banerjee  >wrote:
>
> > > EZproxy is a self-installing statically compiled single binary
> download,
> > > with a built-in administrative interface that makes most common
> > > administrative tasks point-and-click, that works on Linux and Windows
> > > systems, and requires very little in the way of resources to run.  It
> > also
> > > has a library of a few hundred vendor stanzas that can be copied and
> > pasted
> > > and work the majority of the time.
> > >
> > > To successfully replace EZproxy in this setting, it would need to be
> > > packaged in such a way that it is equally easy to install and maintain,
> > and
> > > the library of vendor stanzas would need to be developed as apache
> conf.d
> > > files.
> > >
> >
> > This. The real gain with EZProxy is that configuring it is crazy easy.
> You
> > just drop it in and run it -- it's feasible for someone with no
> experience
> > in proxying or systems administration to get it operational in a few
> > minutes. That is why I think virtualizing a system that makes accessing
> the
> > more powerful features of EZProxy easy is a good alternative.
> >
> > kyle
> >
>



-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] [code4libcon] Code4Lib 2014 Registration is now open!

2014-01-17 Thread Tim McGeary
Robin,

Yes, we do plan to publish the list of attendees prior to the conference.
 Keep watching the conference website for more details.

Tim


On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 5:33 AM, TAYLOR Robin  wrote:

> Hi Emily
>
> Will it be possible to see the list of attendees in advance of the
> conference?
>
> Thank, Robin.
>
>
> --
> Robin Taylor
> Library Digital Developer
> Library & University Collections
> 2.03 24 Buccleuch Place
> Edinburgh EH8 8LN
>
> Tel: 0131 651 3808
> Email: robin.tay...@ed.ac.uk
>
>
>
>
>
> On 16/01/2014 21:02, "Emily Lynema"  wrote:
>
> >Becky,
> >
> >Thought folks on both lists might be interested in a numbers update. We
> >had
> >286 registrations as of yesterday. Pretty amazing how quickly that came
> >in!
> >Don't have numbers for today yet, but I assume the rate will drop off
> >quickly.
> >
> >Emily
> >
> >On Thursday, January 16, 2014, Becky Yoose  wrote:
> >
> >> It looks like the system didn't crash, so congratulations to all on
> >> surviving the rush!
> >>
> >> What's the count so far?
> >>
> >> On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 11:00:03 AM UTC-6, Tim McGeary wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Colleagues,
> >>>
> >>> I am happy announce that the Code4Lib 2014 General Registration is now
> >>> open:
> >>> https://www.concentra-cms.com/c/c4l2014
> >>>
> >>> As a reminder, the cost of registration is $165, and registration for
> >>> pre-conferences is also available.  Half-day pre-conferences are $5
> >>>each
> >>> and full day pre-conferences are $10.
> >>>
> >>> Payment will be required for registration and can be made by credit
> >>>card.
> >>>  Information will be available for attendees that require alternative
> >>>means
> >>> of payment, but registration will not guaranteed or saved until
> >>>payment is
> >>> made.  Registration for Code4Lib 2014 will be closed on Friday February
> >>> 14, 2014 or when we reach a cap of 350 registrations.
> >>>
> >>> Priority registration has been given to Presenters, Pre-conference
> >>> organizers, Scholarship awardees, Table sponsors, and Platinum and Gold
> >>> sponsors.  If you received information on Priority Registration and you
> >>> have not registered yet, please do so as soon as possible.
> >>>
> >>> The Conference Hotel discount at the Raleigh Sheraton will be provided
> >>> upon registration.  We encourage you to book your hotel room
> >>>immediately
> >>> following your registration being confirmed to lock in your space in
> >>>the
> >>> hotel.
> >>>
> >>> We are looking forward to hosting you in North Carolina!
> >>>
> >>> Tim McGeary
> >>> Director of Library & Information Technology
> >>> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> >>> 919.962.3981
> >>> tim.m...@unc.edu
> >>> Twitter/Google/Skype/Yahoo: timmcgeary
> >>>
> >>  --
> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> >>Groups
> >> "code4libcon" group.
> >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> >>an
> >> email to code4libcon+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com  >> 'cvml', 'code4libcon%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com');>.
> >> To post to this group, send email to
> >>code4lib...@googlegroups.com >>'code4lib...@googlegroups.com');>
> >> .
> >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon.
> >> To view this discussion on the web visit
> >>
> >>
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/code4libcon/8e435761-4f81-4342-8694-9d8
> >>de2496ed5%40googlegroups.com
> >> .
> >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
> >>
>
>
> --
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>



-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 Registration is now open!

2014-01-15 Thread Tim McGeary
Colleagues,

I am happy announce that the Code4Lib 2014 General Registration is now open:
https://www.concentra-cms.com/c/c4l2014

As a reminder, the cost of registration is $165, and registration for
pre-conferences is also available.  Half-day pre-conferences are $5 each
and full day pre-conferences are $10.

Payment will be required for registration and can be made by credit card.
 Information will be available for attendees that require alternative means
of payment, but registration will not guaranteed or saved until payment is
made.  Registration for Code4Lib 2014 will be closed on Friday February 14,
2014 or when we reach a cap of 350 registrations.

Priority registration has been given to Presenters, Pre-conference
organizers, Scholarship awardees, Table sponsors, and Platinum and Gold
sponsors.  If you received information on Priority Registration and you
have not registered yet, please do so as soon as possible.

The Conference Hotel discount at the Raleigh Sheraton will be provided upon
registration.  We encourage you to book your hotel room immediately
following your registration being confirmed to lock in your space in the
hotel.

We are looking forward to hosting you in North Carolina!

Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
919.962.3981
tim.mcge...@unc.edu
Twitter/Google/Skype/Yahoo: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 General Registration to open Wed Jan 15 at 12pm EST

2014-01-07 Thread Tim McGeary
Colleagues,

I am happy announce that the Code4Lib 2014 General Registration window will
open at 12pm EST on Wednesday January 15, 2014.  The cost of registration
will be $165.  The link for registration will be announced on the Code4Lib
2014 conference website (http://www.code4lib.org/conference/2014/) and via
email to this list.  Registration for pre-conferences will also be
available at that time and will cost $10.

Payment will be required for registration and can be made by credit card
through the registration link provided next week.  Information will be
available for attendees that require alternative means of payment, but
registration will not guaranteed or saved until payment is made.
 Registration for Code4Lib 2014 will be closed on Friday February 14, 2014
or when we reach a cap of 350 registrations.

Priority registration will be given to Presenters, Pre-conference
organizers, Scholarship awardees, Table sponsors, and Platinum and Gold
sponsors through a directed email on Monday morning January 13, 2014.

The Conference Hotel discount at the Raleigh Sheraton will be provided upon
registration.  We encourage you to book your hotel room immediately
following your registration being confirmed to lock in your space in the
hotel.

We are looking forward to hosting you in North Carolina!

Tim

Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
919.962.3981
tim.mcge...@unc.edu
Twitter/Google/Skype/Yahoo: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Announcing Code4Lib2014 expected registration date and estimated registration cost

2013-12-10 Thread Tim McGeary
I am happy to announce that we have had a very successful sponsorship
campaign this year which has a tremendous impact on keeping the
registration cost low.  While the conference committee is still receiving
bids for the A/V contract, we can provide the estimated registration cost
for you to use to submit your travel requests at your institution.  If the
A/V contract amount is different than what we have budgeted, we will adjust
the registration cost appropriately before the start of registration.

Expected Registration Date opens: January 13, 2013
Estimated Registration Cost: $165
Pre-conference Registration Cost, if attending Code4Lib: $10
Pre-conference Registration Cost, if not attending Code4Lib: $25

The Pre-conference registration is to be used to offset the A/V costs for
that day.

We are very excited about the plans for the conference and hosting everyone
in North Carolina.
Cheers,
Tim McGeary
Code4Lib 2014 Conference co-Chair

Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
tim.mcge...@unc.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Reminder: Code4Lib 2014 Call for Proposals deadline Friday Nov 8

2013-10-28 Thread Tim McGeary
Reminder!  There are only 2 weeks remaining to submit your proposal for
Code4Lib 2014!  Please see below on how to submit your presentation and
pre-conference proposals for Code4Lib 2014 in Raleigh, NC.

Tim McGeary
Code4Lib 2014 Conference Co-Chair


-- Forwarded message --
From: Ranti Junus 
Date: Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 7:14 PM
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014 Call for Proposals
To: CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu


Code4lib 2014 is a loosely-structured conference that provides people
working at the intersection of libraries/archives/museums and technology
with a chance to share ideas, be inspired, and forge collaborations.

The conference will be held at the *Sheraton Raleigh Hotel in downtown
Raleigh, NC from March 24 - 27, 2014*.  For more information about the
hotel, visit http://www.sheratonraleigh.com/

We are currently accepting proposals for prepared talks and
pre-conferences. While only a limited number of these can be selected,
multiple lightning talk and breakout sessions will provide additional
opportunities for you to make your voice heard at the conference.


*Proposals for Prepared Talks:*

Prepared talks are 20 minutes (including setup and questions), and should
focus on one or more of the following areas:

- Projects you've worked on which incorporate innovative implementation of
existing technologies and/or development of new software

- Tools and technologies – How to get the most out of existing tools,
standards and protocols (and ideas on how to make them better)

- Technical issues – Big issues in library technology that should be
addressed or better understood

- Relevant non-technical issues – Concerns of interest to the Code4Lib
community which are not strictly technical in nature, e.g. collaboration,
diversity, organizational challenges, etc.

*To submit a proposal:*

- Go to http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/2014_Prepared_Talk_Proposals

- Log in to the wiki in order to submit a proposal. If you are not already
registered, follow the instructions to do so.

- Provide a title and brief (500 words or fewer) description of your
proposed talk.

- If you so choose, you may also indicate when, if ever, you have presented
at a prior Code4Lib conference. This information is completely optional,
but it may assist us in opening the conference to new presenters.

As in past years, the Code4Lib community will vote on proposals that they
would like to see included in the program. This year, however, only the top
10 proposals will be guaranteed a slot at the conference. Additional
presentations will be selected by the Program Committee in an effort to
ensure diversity in program content. Community votes will, of course, still
weigh heavily in these decisions.

Presenters whose proposals are selected for inclusion in the program will
be guaranteed an opportunity to register for the conference. The standard
conference registration fee will still apply.

Proposals can be submitted through Friday, November 8, 2013, at 5pm PST.
Voting will commence on November 18, 2013 and continue through December 6,
2013. The final line-up of presentations will be announced in early
January, 2014.


*Pre-Conference Proposals:*

Pre-conferences are full- or half-day sessions that will be held on Monday,
March 24th, 2014 and can cover just about any topic you can think of [1].

If you are interested in hosting a pre-conference session, please create a
pitch at http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/2014_preconference_proposals.
Pitches should be added to the wiki by December 6.

Please indicate the topic of your session and your preference for full-day
or half-day.  This is expected to be a fluid process, as our venue provides
some flexibility in determining space.

*Pre-Conference Attendance:*

If you are interested in attending a pre-conference, please list your name
underneath the pre-conference description on the wiki; this does not incur
any obligation on your part, but will help planners. You might want to
visit the page occasionally as new session pitches are added.  Actual,
less-revocable registration for pre-conferences will be handled as part of
the overall conference registration, and will involve a very small fee.


We look forward to reading your proposals, and seeing you at the conference!

Code4Lib 2014 Program Committee

-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014: Save the dates!

2013-07-01 Thread Tim McGeary
A few more factual follow-ups for reference:

- The negotiation process was NOT easy and we explored many different
venues.  We are not getting a raw deal.  Trust me, we had some raw deals
offered.  This contract has a lot of things that help us keep our
collective costs down and protect the conference.

- The Hilton in Raleigh is not competitor geographically to the downtown
hotels, which have their own conference spaces but also serve the Raleigh
Convention Center across the street from both.

- I am checking with CONCENTRA and the Sheraton about whether those booking
with government rates can count toward our block.  The Sheraton conference
manager is on vacation this week so it will be at least a week before I
have an answer.  However, I do expect we have more government rate eligible
attendees than hotels typically allocate for in any given situation.

As Francis said, it is hard to convince hotels to trust a non-organization
like Code4Lib.  But that's why we hired CONCENTRA for this year.  They do
this all year long, for conferences big and small, and they know how to
negotiate (as I saw and heard firsthand the past couple months).  And
they'll be continuing to work with us through the end of the conference and
all the bill paying that happens after the conference.

We are in good hands, but as Roy said, please join the planning committee.
 There is plenty of room!

Tim


On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 9:46 AM, Francis Kayiwa  wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 01, 2013 at 05:00:42AM -0700, BWS Johnson wrote:
> >
> > ??? Chicago is not Raleigh. I would expect to pay more in a major
> metropolis than in the Southeast University market. Further, ALA's
> continued to mystify me in the conference department, too. We are terrible
> negotiators.
>
> Dunno about that. Given that we "the Code4lib we" do not exist as a
> "real" (as in Taxman) organization. I suspect this years planners ran
> into the same problems we did. This was articulated to us really well.
> Our request for rooms compares to.
>
> We are having a wedding in Chicago in February and we promise 400 of our
> family will be coming. It is hard to convince them otherwise. Now the
> delicious irony was after the Conference they were wondering if we would
> be returning to Chicago again in 2014.
>
> You can keep conference costs down in other ways by helping raise money
> for sponsorships.
>
> http://code4lib.org/node/487
>
> regards,
> ./fxk
>
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Brooke
> >
>
> --
> No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
> -- Eleanor Roosevelt
>



-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014: Save the dates!

2013-06-30 Thread Tim McGeary
All three of Cary's reasons are absolutely correct, but #3 is the most 
accurate.  There are a number of negotiated benefits for having conference 
attendees stay at the venue hotel. Just off the top of my head there are two 
examples where we are talking at least $75 per person. 

We careful choose the location of the hotel. It is within walking distance of 
many of the places attendees will want to  go to in the evenings. Other hotels 
in the city may be less expensive, but are not necessarily within walking 
distance and do not have the capacity to fit us all.  Keep in mind, Code4Lib 
2013 had over 380 attendees, and we are expecting to host a similar number.

Please know that one of our main goals is to keep the total cost as low as 
possible while hosting the highest quality conference.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions. 

Cheers,
Tim

Sent from my iPhone
Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Informational Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

On Jun 29, 2013, at 9:08 AM, Cary Gordon  wrote:

> There are three reasons to stay at the conference hotel, even though it
> might not be the cheapest option:
> 
> 1) You can roll out of bed and into the session;
> 
> 2) More opportunities for out of band discussions; and
> 
> 3) There is very likely a hotel commit involved, meaning that the
> organizers have committed to a certain number of rooms per night in order
> to get free or discounted meeting rooms, hospitality rooms and other
> services. Performance on room commits can be used as a bargaining chip for
> future Code4LibCons.
> 
> Everyone knows that budget is always a big consideration, and not everyone
> can or will stay at the conference hotel.
> 
> Cary
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Jun 29, 2013 at 6:16 AM, BWS Johnson 
> wrote:
> 
>> Salvete!
>> 
>> 
>>> I am happy to announce that we have secured the venue and dates for
>>> Code4Lib 2014!  The conference will be held at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel
>>> in downtown Raleigh, NC on March 24 - 27, 2014.  Preconferences will be
>>> held Monday March 24, and the main conference on Tuesday March 25 - 27.
>> 
>> Hooray, that's sort of close. Maybe I'll be able to pit fight my own
>> place next year.
>> 
>> 
>>> Finally, the hotel has the capacity to host all of the attendees, and
>> we've
>>> negotiated a rate of $159/night that includes wireless access in the
>> hotel
>>> rooms.  Hotel reservations will be able to made after you register using
>>> the information provided in your registration confirmation.  We will be
>>> publishing more details as become available.
>> 
>> 
>> Ruh oh. This was rather shocking. Perhaps you might wish to show them
>> a hotels.com search, which puts your $159 just over the Hilton and about
>> double other places in the vicinity. I'm sure it's nice and all that, but
>> uh, perhaps they would be willing to come down seeing as how we're sending
>> a boatload of traffic their way.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Brooke
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Cary Gordon
> The Cherry Hill Company
> http://chillco.com


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib 2014: Save the dates!

2013-06-28 Thread Tim McGeary
Hi all,

I am happy to announce that we have secured the venue and dates for
Code4Lib 2014!  The conference will be held at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel
in downtown Raleigh, NC on March 24 - 27, 2014.  Preconferences will be
held Monday March 24, and the main conference on Tuesday March 25 - 27.

The Sheraton Raleigh Hotel is working through a $6 million renovation that
will be completed this fall.  Upon your arrival, you will find warm and
open lobby, great for informal meetups and relaxing.   In the hotel will be
Jimmy V's restaurant, where 5% of the revenues are donated to the V
Foundation for Cancer Research.  The hotel is always within easy walking
distance to many restaurants, pubs, parks, museums, and other attractions.

The Code4Lib 2014 Conference will be the only event using the meeting space
this week.  The meeting space offers open foyers that will be excellent for
our morning and afternoon breaks, along with space for the project and
vendor table sponsors looking to build collaboration with the Code4Lib
community.

Finally, the hotel has the capacity to host all of the attendees, and we've
negotiated a rate of $159/night that includes wireless access in the hotel
rooms.  Hotel reservations will be able to made after you register using
the information provided in your registration confirmation.  We will be
publishing more details as become available.

Finally, we could not have reached this point without the effort of
CONCENTRA Conference Management Services.  The contract negotiation process
took a great deal of effort and had a few unexpected turns.  Having
CONCENTRA steer the process was just what we needed to get a contract that
is fair and appropriate for Code4Lib.

We are looking forward to hosting you in North Carolina next spring!

Cheers,
Tim

-- 
Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
tim.mcge...@unc.edu
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] On-going support for DL projects

2013-05-21 Thread Tim McGeary
I'm trying to see if I can lump my response to some of the responses above.
 Glad to see so much conversation around this.

We've considered setting up VMs, but even that can be quite costly,
especially if a project is or becomes dormant.  Developing a sustainable
"container" is certainly necessary.  Someone earlier said that the Library
often gets projects dumped on them to preserve longterm.  This isn't a
sustainable view of the Library.  These aren't booked dumped out of a
retiring faculty's office.  If one wants to use that comparison, then
Libraries need to assert authority to pick and choose what to maintain.
 Given that these projects usually involve actual faculty output rather
than a faculty's personal library of other people's output, that curation
needs to be more delicate.

Even exporting out of widely used applications, like Omeka, can be a
challenge.  What if it that project is using an Omeka from 4 versions
before?  Or what if the latest Omeka is supporting a lower PHP version than
the campus IT security standards allow?  This is no longer an easy problem
to solve from a technology standpoint because there, and will continue to
be, a growing number of scenarios to try to support.

I hesitate to want to use "it's broken" as a trigger to pull something down
because the impression could be that the Library can't support what it has
committed to support.  I'd rather there be term limits and re-evaluations
at a term limit.  Additionally in the face of decreasing funding, I'm not
seeing a lot of institutional prioritization that includes funding.  So the
expectation has to be support through neutral funding or less.

Tim


On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Edward M Corrado wrote:

> I agree with both Tom and Stuart. It is an easy problem to solve from a
> technology standpoint. It is, or least can be, a difficult one from a
> management standpoint. If institutional support is there figuring out the
> technology is easy. In this case, I'd start investigating the  technology
> part with something like Heritrix.
>
> Edward
> --
> Edward M. Corrado
>
> On May 20, 2013, at 0:58, Tom Johnson 
> wrote:
>
> > That doesn't sound like an easy answer at all! Given that we all try to
> > play nice with institutional funding, all you've said is that in an ideal
> > world some other group will have a similar mandate. It doesn't get us (in
> > all seriousness) anywhere. Hopefully our institutions have higher
> > preservation goals! "collections policy" doesn't help at all--and may
> take
> > us backward.
> >
> >
> > On Sun, May 19, 2013 at 1:39 PM, stuart yeates  >wrote:
> >
> >> On 18/05/13 01:51, Tim McGeary wrote:
> >>
> >>> There is no easy answer for this, so I'm looking for discussion.
> >>>
> >>>- Should we begin considering a cooperative project that focuses on
> >>>emulation, where we could archive projects that emulate the system
> >>>environment they were built?
> >>>- Do we set policy that these types of projects last for as long as
> >>> they
> >>>can, and once they break they are pulled down?
> >>>- Do we set policy that supports these projects for a certain period
> >>> of
> >>>time and then deliver the application, files, and databases to the
> >>> faculty
> >>>member to find their own support?
> >>>- Do we look for a solution like the Way Back Machine of the
> Internet
> >>>Archive to try to present some static / flat presentation of these
> >>> project?
> >>>
> >>
> >> Actually, there is an easy answer to this.
> >>
> >> Make sure that the collection is aligned with broader institutional
> >> priorities to ensure that if/when staff and funding priorities move
> >> elsewhere that there is some group / community with a clear interest
> and/or
> >> mandate in keeping the collection at least on life support, if not
> thriving.
> >>
> >> Google "collections policy" for what written statements of this might
> look
> >> like.
> >>
> >> cheers
> >> stuart
> >> --
> >> Stuart Yeates
> >> Library Technology Services http://www.victoria.ac.nz/**library/<
> http://www.victoria.ac.nz/library/>
> >>
>



-- 
Tim McGeary
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-294-7660 (cell)


[CODE4LIB] On-going support for DL projects

2013-05-17 Thread Tim McGeary
I'm interested in starting or joining discussions about best practices for
on-going support for digital library projects.  In particular, I'm looking
at non-repository projects, such as projects built on applications like
Omeka.  In the repository context, there are initiatives like APTrust and
DPN that are addressing on-going and long term collaborative support.  But,
as far as I know, we aren't having the same types of discussions for DL
projects that are application driven.

Here's a couple examples (using Omeka only as an example - it could be any
application):

Example 1:
   Two professors start a new graduate program in the Digital Humanities
with one class that will focus on the research process.  They arrange to
have a 500-item collection digitized and placed in Omeka.  In each
semester, individuals or groups within the class will build they own
Exhibit inside Omeka based off that one collection and publish a research
paper on the site with the exhibit.  The Library supports this project
because it promotes a Special Collection previously unavailable to users,
and active scholarship is produced about the diverse nature of the
collection.  This class is taught for 8 semesters, and has its own Omeka
instances on a virtual server.

Example 2:
One professor teaches an art history class, mixed between undergrad /
grad students.  Each student or group is responsible for building a small
collection in Omeka and then a couple exhibits from that collection, each
exhibit having a corresponding research paper.  The professor wants to keep
available the best 10-20% of the projects from any semester that support
the thesis of a larger research project she is working on.  Each student or
group gets their own Omeka instance in an local Open Shift cloud (
https://www.openshift.com/).  The projects selected to be sustain will be
pointed to from the larger faculty-project on production servers in the
future or perhaps be moved themselves to the production server.  This class
is taught one semester per year for 4 years.

Challenge:
Example 1 is a project that has consistent growth.  When an Omeka
upgrade comes out, it will be fairly simple to maintain and solve any small
issues from one upgrade to another.  But what happens when these professors
move on to something else?  They want this Omeka project to remain live,
but after 2 years of inactivity, perhaps their Omeka instance breaks
because we need to upgrade PHP due to a security hole discovered.  There is
no on-going activity, and it can be expected that resources spent to
support their active effort has moved on to new projects.

Example 2 presents similar challenges, but there could be a lot of
little projects running on the different versions of the application.
 Perhaps year 1 was on Omeka 2.1 and year 2 was on Omeka 2.2, and there
wasn't an effort to upgrade year 1.  Suddenly year 3 comes and Omeka 3 is
out, but only year 2 can be upgraded (for some reason).  Or perhaps there
is an incapability because the way a student used their cloud-based Omeka
instance with trying to move it into the larger sustained project.

There is no easy answer for this, so I'm looking for discussion.

   - Should we begin considering a cooperative project that focuses on
   emulation, where we could archive projects that emulate the system
   environment they were built?
   - Do we set policy that these types of projects last for as long as they
   can, and once they break they are pulled down?
   - Do we set policy that supports these projects for a certain period of
   time and then deliver the application, files, and databases to the faculty
   member to find their own support?
   - Do we look for a solution like the Way Back Machine of the Internet
   Archive to try to present some static / flat presentation of these project?

Let's talk - I'm listening.

Thanks,
Tim

-- 
Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
tim.mcge...@unc.edu
timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] quick update on Code4Lib 2014

2013-04-22 Thread Tim McGeary
Hi all,

I wanted to put out a quick first update about the Code4Lib 2014 planning
by the TRLN Libraries (UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, NC State, NC Central).
 Because of the coordinated effort in organizing the initial logistics,
we've decided to work with CONCENTRA Conference Management Services (
http://www.concentra-cms.com/) to complete negotiations and manage the
registrations and finances.  By having CONCENTRA manage the logistics, the
conference planners can focus on fundraising sponsorships, and working the
content details of the conference.  I am working with the CONCENTRA staff
to finalize the site logistics between two very good venues so that we can
get the best price.  Once that is settled, I will announce the venue and
dates for everyone to mark on their calendars.

In the meantime, we've heard from a number of people wanting to volunteer
for planning the conference, and we want to help get that started.  Emily
Lynema from NC State has volunteer to organize volunteers.  We will get you
in a Code4Lib 2014 Google Group so we can communicate easily.  We want to
get started early, particularly around fundraising, and I will be sending
out more information and ideas on that shortly.

Those of us on the NC planning committee are honored that our proposal was
selected.  We look forward to hosting you all next spring.

Cheers,
Tim

--
Tim McGeary
Director of Library & Information Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
tim.mcge...@unc.edu
timmcge...@gmail.com


[CODE4LIB] Senior Library Systems Analyst at Lehigh University

2012-04-09 Thread Tim McGeary
Lehigh University is currently looking for a Senior Library Systems
Analyst.  This position performs professional and technical duties in
support of the digital library and library applications & systems.  This
position provides business analysis functions for library management
applications, provides system administration for Linux-based application
servers, and manages the Library's Drupal powered website. This position
will serve as the technical contact for Kuali OLE and third-party library
applications.



*Responsibilities:*

   1. Manage and support systems for direct user access to online
   electronic library materials, such as Kuali OLE, SFX, EZProxy, and the XC
   NCIP Toolkit

2. Manage and support systems for digital library (DL) and special
   collections access and content management, such as CONTENTdm, VuDL, Omeka,
   and locally-created database applications.

3. Manage and support Drupal content management system for Library
   website and blog

4. Perform business analysis functions (business, workflow, and data
   requirements) for library management applications, including Kuali OLE,
   VuFind, and Digital Library.

 *Qualifications:*

   1. Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of education and
   experience
   2. Three to five years related work experience
   3. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
   4. Solid analytical and problem solving skills, ability to work
   independently
   5. Excellent computer skills with experience with system/programming
   techniques, specifically in Linux, Drupal, PHP, and MySQL, as well as word
   processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.  Additional experience
   with Java, Oracle, CONTENTdm, SFX preferred but not required.
   6. Ability to create and manipulate databases
   7. Ability to program at an intermediate level
   8. Successful completion of standard background checks including but not
   limited to: social security verification, education verification, national
   criminal background checks, motor vehicle checks and credit history based
   upon the requirements of the position

This position will be open until filled; first review of applications will
begin on Monday May 7, 2012.



To see the full position description and to apply for this position, please
go to:

https://lehigh.hiretouch.com/position-details?jobID=7146&job=sr-library-systems-analyst

(apologies for the cross posting)

-- 
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
484-938-TMCG (Google Voice)


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Journal Issue 14 is now available!

2011-07-25 Thread Tim McGeary
 
played a more crucial role in earlier OPACs. However, authority data can 
still be combined with modern discovery in useful ways. This article 
examines several ways in which the open source VuFind environment 
provides information to its users, showing how these mechanisms can be 
combined with authority data to enhance discovery. Topics covered 
include autosuggestion, context-sensitive recommendations, use of APIs, 
and means of harvesting and locally indexing authority data.


mapFAST: A FAST Geographic Authorities Mashup with Google Maps
Rick Bennett, Edward T. O’Neill, Kerre Kammerer, JD Shipengrover
When looking for information about a particular place, it is often 
useful to check surrounding locations as well. FAST geographic subjects 
provide clean access points to this material, and a Google Maps mashup 
allows users to see surrounding locations that are also FAST subjects. 
Moreover, the Web Service to the underlying data is also open and 
available for use. The map interface allows for simple selection of a 
location, with links to enter it directly as a search into either 
WorldCat.org or Google Books.


Joining an Open Source Community: Creating a Symphony Connector for the 
XC NCIP Toolkit

Michelle Suranofsky
When the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI) decided 
to upgrade its resource sharing software (EZ-Borrow) all of the 
participating libraries – among them Lehigh University – were 
responsible to have in place an implementation of the NCIP protocol to 
provide communication between the new EZ-Borrow software developed by 
Relias International and their respective ILS. This article presents the 
process of Lehigh choosing to adopt the eXtensible Catalog NCIP Toolkit, 
and the technical details about building a connector with the SirsiDynix 
Symphony ILS.


Web-Based Software Integration For Dissemination Of Archival Images: The 
Frontiers Of Science Website

Gary Browne
The Frontiers of Science illustrated comic strip of ‘science fact’ ran 
from 1961 to 1982, syndicated worldwide through over 600 newspapers. The 
Rare Books and Special Collections Library at the University of Sydney, 
in association with Sydney eScholarship, digitized all 939 strips. We 
aimed to create a website that could disseminate these comic strips to 
scholars, enthusiasts and the general public. We wanted to enable users 
to search and browse through the images simply and effectively, with an 
intuitive and novel viewing platform.


Time and resource constraints dictated the use of (mostly open source) 
code modules wherever possible and the integration and customisation of 
a range of web-based applications, code snippets and technologies 
(DSpace, eXtensible Text Framework (XTF), OmniFormat, JQuery Tools, 
Thickbox and Zoomify), stylistically pulled together using CSS. This 
approach allowed for a rapid development cycle (6 weeks) to deliver the 
site on time as well as provide us with a framework for similar projects.


--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Journal Issue 14 Call for Papers

2011-03-28 Thread Tim McGeary

Call for Papers (and apologies for cross-posting):

The Code4Lib Journal (C4LJ) exists to foster community and share
information among those interested in the intersection of libraries,
technology, and the future.

We are now accepting proposals for publication in our 14th issue.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to share your ideas and experiences.
To be included in the 14th issue, which is scheduled for publication
in late July 2011, please submit articles, abstracts, or proposals at
http://journal.code4lib.org/submit-proposal or to jour...@code4lib.org
by Friday, April 22, 2011.  When submitting, please include the title
or subject of the proposal in the subject line of the email message.

C4LJ encourages creativity and flexibility, and the editors welcome
submissions across a broad variety of topics that support the mission
of the journal.  Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* Practical applications of library technology (both actual and
  hypothetical)
* Technology projects (failed, successful, or proposed), including
  how they were done and challenges faced
* Case studies
* Best practices
* Reviews
* Comparisons of third party software or libraries
* Analyses of library metadata for use with technology
* Project management and communication within the library environment
* Assessment and user studies

C4LJ strives to promote professional communication by minimizing the
barriers to publication.  While articles should be of a high quality,
they need not follow any formal structure.  Writers should aim for the
middle ground between blog posts and articles in traditional refereed
journals.  Where appropriate, we encourage authors to submit code
samples, algorithms, and pseudo-code.  For more information, visit
C4LJ's Article Guidelines or browse articles from the first 13 issues
published on our website: http://journal.code4lib.org.

Remember, for consideration for the 14th issue, please send proposals,
abstracts, or draft articles to jour...@code4lib.org no later than
Friday, April 22, 2011.

Send in a submission.  Your peers would like to hear what you are doing.

Code4Lib Journal Editorial Committee


[CODE4LIB] CrossRef Cookie Pusher options

2011-03-22 Thread Tim McGeary
Lehigh is currently using the CrossRef cookie pusher to redirect DOIs to 
our OpenURL menu (SFX). We use the methodology as described in the 
"Redirect DOI links ('DOInapping')" section of this document:


http://igelu.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/SFX-and-DOI.pdf

We currently have the cookie pusher on our most frequently used access 
points to subscription resources: our database/e-journal lists, library 
catalog, SFX citation linker, SFX menu itself, etc.


However, we are having some valid complaints from non-Lehigh users, who 
have this cookie set for them unintentionally.


One recommendation given in the article cited above, is to includ 
opt-out documentation, which we are not currently doing. Does anyone 
have an example of what this documentation would look like?


Other options we are considering:
1)Stop cookie pushing entirely
2)Have an explicit link to the cookie pusher page, so users would have 
to opt-in to have it set.
3)Limit the display of the cookie-pusher to only users in our IP-Range 
and place cookie-pusher on our EZproxy login page for off-campus Lehigh 
Users.


Any comments/suggestions for these or other solutions?

Thanks,
Tim

* - credit to Rob Weidman at Lehigh for the original solution, and 
investigation to other solutions



--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] Need Apache log file analyzer for Mac OSX

2011-03-17 Thread Tim McGeary

Thanks for the suggestions...

Tim

On 3/17/11 2:58 PM, Pottinger, Hardy J. wrote:

Does anyone know of a good (and free) Apache log file analyzer for
Mac OSX?  I have sets of Apache web logs that I need to analyze off
server.


I am kinda fond of AWstats (http://awstats.sourceforge.net/). I've
never installed it on OSX, but just took a quick peek and it's in
MacPorts so it should be a no-brainer, if you have ports installed
(you *do* have ports installed, right?). :-)

port install awstats

-- HARDY POTTINGER University of Missouri
Library Systems http://lso.umsystem.edu/~pottingerhj/ "No matter how
far down the wrong road you've gone, turn back." --Turkish proverb



[CODE4LIB] Need Apache log file analyzer for Mac OSX

2011-03-17 Thread Tim McGeary
Does anyone know of a good (and free) Apache log file analyzer for Mac 
OSX?  I have sets of Apache web logs that I need to analyze off server.


Thanks,
Tim

--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] A to Z lists

2011-02-17 Thread Tim McGeary
At Lehigh, I've extracted e-journals from our SirsiDynix Symphony 
catalog via API into alphabetical and discipline-based XML documents. 
We then index those documents with Swish-e (http://www.swish-e.org/) and 
display the browse-able XML alphabetized lists and search interface in 
our Drupal-based website.  Drupal, however, has little to do with the 
A-to-Z list other than processing the PHP/XML/XSLT.  The 
Discipline-based order is determined by a value defined in local MARC field.


Our A-to-Z databases are NOT cataloged, so they are managed by a small 
PHP/MySQL app that two of our librarians control additions, deletions, 
and edits of metadata.


You can see the interfaces here:
  General Library Site: http://library.lehigh.edu/
  Specific Database Finder app:
http://library.lehigh.edu/node?quicktabs_1=1#quicktabs-1
  Special E-Journal A-Z app:
http://library.lehigh.edu/node?quicktabs_1=2#quicktabs-1

Tim

Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary

On 2/17/11 1:18 AM, Markus Fischer wrote:

The cheapest and best A to Z list i know is the german EZB:

http://rzblx1.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/index.phtml?bibid=A&colors=7&lang=en


This list is maintained by hunderds of libraries. You just mark those
journals you have licensed and that's it.

Not very widely known: they do also provide an API which you can use as
a free linkresolver. There are free tools you can plug into this API and
you've got your linkresolver.

The list is incredible accurate and you'll have almost no effort: any
change made by one library is valid for all.

Let me know if you need more information.

Markus Fischer

Am 16.02.2011 22:18, schrieb Michele DeSilva:

Hi Code4Lib-ers,

I want to chime in and say that I, too, enjoyed the streaming archive
from the conference.

I also have a question: my library has a horribly antiquated A to Z
list of databases and online resources (it's based in Access). We'd
like to do something that looks more modern and is far more user
friendly. I found a great article in the Code4Lib journal (issue 12,
by Danielle Rosenthal& Mario Bernado) about building a searchable A to
Z list using Drupal. I'm also wondering what other institutions have
done as far as in-house solutions. I know there're products we could
buy, but, like everyone else, we don't have much money at the moment.

Thanks for any info or advice!

Michele DeSilva
Central Oregon Community College Library
Emerging Technologies Librarian
541-383-7565
mdesi...@cocc.edu




[CODE4LIB] VPN vs. Proxy - Quick Question

2010-10-25 Thread Tim McGeary

Hi all,

I realize that some of you may not directly deal with this issue, but I 
was wondering if I could get some quick replies about how your 
institutions are handling access to off-campus resources via VPN and Proxy.


Do you offer a VPN service?  If so, do you split-tunnel the traffic so 
that the VPN only handles traffic to inside your campus IP?  If you 
split-tunnel, do users complain about not being able to connect to 
external library resources (databases, journals, etc)?


Do you offer a Proxy service?  Will your proxy service work for users 
already connected to VPN?


Do you know an estimated ratio of Proxy:VPN users?

Thanks,
Tim

--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Job Posting (re-opened): Senior Library Services Developer, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

2010-05-06 Thread Tim McGeary

(apologies for the cross-posting)

Library & Technology Services (LTS) at Lehigh University is seeking a 
Senior Library Services Developer to work on the Library Technology team 
and to support Lehigh University’s participation in the Kuali Open 
Library Environment (OLE) project. The Kuali OLE project 
(http://www.kuali.org/ole) is a multi-institution collaboration working 
to build a community-source next-generation library management system.


This Senior Developer will have responsibilities for design and 
programming deliverables, representing Lehigh University on the Kuali 
Open Library Environment (OLE) Project Technical Council, working with 
agile development teams at multiple institutions around the world, and 
with subject matter experts.  Programming deliverables will include 
projects such as a next-generation library catalog discovery interface 
(such as VuFind, http://vufind.org/, or BlackLight, 
http://projectblacklight.org/), web services and interfaces for the 
Digital Library, and interoperable services and applications between 
Kuali OLE and Lehigh enterprise applications. Responsibilities after the 
completion of the Kuali OLE project will be split between Library 
Technology team programming projects (LAMP environment) and developing 
future Kuali OLE upgrades and enhancements for future versions (Java).


Responsibilities:
• Design and develop service oriented architecture (SOA) software 
services and systems in Java and related technologies between the Kuali 
OLE project and enterprise applications used by Lehigh, such as 
SungardHE Banner, Oracle Identity Management, Moodle, and CONTENTdm.
• Model, design, and develop web-based software applications and 
services in PHP and related technologies to support the missions of the 
University and Libraries, including the Digital Library
• Model, design, develop, and test web services, service wrappers, 
service interfaces, APIs, and messaging systems via enterprise service 
bus technologies, such as Kuali Rice (http://rice.kuali.org/)
• Develop software services and systems in Java and related technologies 
for Kuali OLE as part of community-source, multi-institution development 
team
• Participate in technology evaluation, selection, and implementation of 
software solutions for the library environment


Requirements & Qualifications:
• Three to five years experience in a technical role in the design and 
development of database-driven web applications characterized by:

   • complex domain requirements
   • large system integration
   • transactional and reporting functions
   • service-oriented architecture (analysis, modeling, and design)
• Degree in Computer Science or related field of study and/or equivalent 
experience/training

• Advanced knowledge and skills in Java and Java-based frameworks
• Advanced skills with web application frameworks, technologies, and 
languages such as PHP, Ajax/jQuery, and relational databases (preferably 
MySQL)

• Experience with Web Services, REST, SOAP or equivalent
• Experience with enterprise service bus technologies
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to meet deadlines

Desirable:
• Experience working with libraries, archives, higher education 
institutions

• Good understanding of issues around metadata, semantics, and ontology

Lehigh University offers an equitable & competitive benefits package 
including partner benefits. Hiring salary is between $53,300 and $64,000 
based on education & experience. Review of applications will begin 
February 1, 2010. Please send a letter & resume either electronically 
(in...@lehigh.edu) or via US Mail to Pamela Steigerwalt, Employment 
Coordinator, Library & Technology Services, 8A E Packer Avenue, 
Bethlehem, PA 18015 AA/EOE


Review of applications will become May 15, 2010, but the position is 
open until filled.


ABOUT LEHIGH UNIVERSITY:  Lehigh University is located in Bethlehem, PA 
(pop.75,000), which is in the center of the Lehigh Valley (pop. 
600,000+).  A convenient location between New York City and Philadelphia 
provides access to many corporations and financial institutions.  The 
Lehigh Valley provides the best of urban, suburban, and rural living.
Founded in 1865, Lehigh University is a private research institution 
with about 4,500 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students.  Lehigh is 
ranked 35th in the 2009 US News & World Report “Guide to America’s Best 
Colleges.”





--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] ILS short list

2010-04-09 Thread Tim McGeary
Lehigh is part of the Web Services partner program, and we are very  
close to releasing the mobile app.  So far it hasn't cost any $$ nor  
have we had to worry about API either as there is a separate web  
services API that this development is based on. In reality, much of  
that effort depends on the base Unicorn/Symphony API.


There is some expectation (skepticism/cynicism?) that SirsiDynix will  
eventually charge customers for web-service
apps, but from conversations with colleagues at other partner sites,  
it's our intention to push partner apps to remain free and open.  But  
I wouldn't be surprised if there is eventually a subscription to ge  
access to the web services API.


If there are any specific questions on this, let me know.

Cheers,
Tim

Sent from my iPod Touch

Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

On Apr 9, 2010, at 8:25 AM, Emily Lynema  wrote:

SirsiDynix Symphony has a new Web Services platform that is being  
released in beta at this point. Full documentation is supposed to be  
available in 2010. It was used to enable the SirsiDynix iPhone app.  
I think it was built as a wrapper on top of their long-existing  
command line API tools.


Feature set is supposed to include:
* authenticated access to user account info and ability to place  
holds / renew items

* new / popular title lists
* bibliographic searching and display
* item availability information

I don't think this package requires additional $$, but I bet you do  
have to have already paid for API training. We haven't investigated  
that deeply with Sirsi yet.


-emily

--
Emily Lynema
Associate Department Head
Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
919-513-8031
emily_lyn...@ncsu.edu


--

Date:Thu, 8 Apr 2010 14:32:57 -0400
From:Ryan Eby 
Subject: Re: ILS short list

It would probably be worth putting your findings on the code4lib wiki
if you end up getting very far.

I had started a list awhile ago but never got around to getting more
info/completing it. Here's what I have so far based on talking with
people. The information may be out of date:

Evergreen and Koha both have database access and various API's. Not
sure on the hosted liblime koha.

Voyager
*Export
Built in. Can export Marc with bib, holdings and authorities records,
though marc is often mangled (from person i talked to).
*Database Access
Built in. Uses Oracle and also provides entity-relationship diagrams
and some pre-build "views" to help in development. Believe the oracle
license is also included in the base price. Access is read-only.
*API's and Web Services
Built in. z39 access, however with SQL access you could likely build
the API you need.

Unicorn
* Export
Built in. MARC21 or flat file formats. Unicode support is available  
as an extra.

* Database Access
Mixed. No access to the embedded Informix database by default; API
training is necessary for read-only access. Oracle is an extra option,
but that only gives you a read-only license. For write access, you
need a full Oracle license. SQL schema is supplied if you purchase API
training.
* API's and Web Services
Mixed. Z39.50 is offered (not sure if it's an extra). "API access" is
an extra - basically you pay for docs of Unix-like commands and the
ability to pay for API support if you screw up. API training also
gives you some access to the client/server wire protocol so you can
roll your own. No Web services. Utterly unusable XML API (it basically
wraps the wire protocol with no abstraction).

Innovative
* Export
Built In. Can dump Marc or CSV files of specific field data
* Database Access
Extra. There is a Oracle option with an additional cost with the
default being a proprietary database without access. From what I've
heard the Oracle tables are not documented overly well. There also
appears to be mysql used for some data as well.
*API's and Web Services
Extra. Z39 is offered as a product. There used to be an XML server but
this appears to have been discontinued. There appears to be more web
services in the works though they also appear to be additional
products. XRecord is built in but doesn't easily allow access to
attached items given a bib

eby



> Anna Headley wrote:


>>
>> I am looking to find or create a shortlist of ILSes, open or  
proprietary,
>> that provide API access to bibliographic and item-level data. 
 �I am really

>> only looking for ILSes that are used by academic libraries.
>>
>> Do you know of any resources that might be helpful? �I starte 
d with
>> Marshall Breeding's 2009 Perceptions report, but it doesn't  
include much

>> information about a given ILS.
>>
>> Or, do you use such an ILS in your library?
>>
>> So far my list is: Evergreen
>>
>> Thank you!!
>> Anna
>>
>>


>



Re: [CODE4LIB] ILS short list

2010-04-08 Thread Tim McGeary

Hi Anna,

SirsiDynix Symphony (formerly Unicorn) provides API access to 
bibliographic and item-level data.


Cheers,
Tim

Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Anna Headley wrote:
I am looking to find or create a shortlist of ILSes, open or 
proprietary, that provide API access to bibliographic and item-level 
data.  I am really only looking for ILSes that are used by academic 
libraries.


Do you know of any resources that might be helpful?  I started with 
Marshall Breeding's 2009 Perceptions report, but it doesn't include much 
information about a given ILS.


Or, do you use such an ILS in your library?

So far my list is: Evergreen

Thank you!!
Anna




[CODE4LIB] Job Posting: Senior Library Services Developer, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

2010-01-21 Thread Tim McGeary
Library & Technology Services (LTS) at Lehigh University is seeking a 
Senior Library Services Developer to work on the Library Technology 
team.  The initial two-year assignment is to work on the Kuali Open 
Library Environment (OLE) project (http://www.kuali.org/ole), a 
multi-institution collaboration working to build a community-source 
next-generation library management system.


This Senior Developer will play a lead role with high-level 
responsibilities for major design and programming deliverables, 
including representing Lehigh University on the Kuali OLE Technical 
Council; working with agile development teams at multiple institutions 
around the world, as well as with subject matter experts.


Responsibilities:
* Design and develop software services and systems in Java and related 
technologies for the Kuali OLE project

* Develop modules for collection management SOA-based platform
* Model, design, develop, and test Web Services, service wrappers, 
service interfaces, APIs, and messaging systems (e.g. via enterprise 
service bus technologies)


Requirements & Qualifications:
* Three to five years experience in a technical role in the design and 
development of database-driven web applications characterized by:

  * complex domain requirements
  * large system integration
  * transactional and reporting functions
  * service-oriented architecture (analysis, modeling, and design)
* Degree in Computer Science or related field of study and/or equivalent 
experience/training

* Advanced knowledge and skills in Java and Java-based frameworks
* Advanced skills with web application frameworks, technologies, and 
languages such as Ruby-on-Rails, Ajax/jQuery, and relational databases 
(preferably MySQL)

* Experience with Web Services, REST, SOAP or equivalent
* Experience with enterprise service bus technologies
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
* Demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to meet deadlines

Desirable:
* Experience working with libraries, archives, higher education 
institutions

* Good understanding of issues around metadata, semantics, and ontology

http://cf.lehigh.edu/jobs/job_post_detail.cfm?PostID=452


Lehigh University offers an equitable & competitive benefits package 
including partner benefits. Hiring salary in the $50’s based on 
education & experience. Review of applications will begin February 1, 
2010. Please send a letter & resume either electronically 
(in...@lehigh.edu) or via US Mail to Pamela Steigerwalt, Employment 
Coordinator, Library & Technology Services, 8A E Packer Avenue, 
Bethlehem, PA 18015 AA/EOE


ABOUT LEHIGH UNIVERSITY:  Lehigh University is located in Bethlehem, PA 
(pop.75,000), which is in the center of the Lehigh Valley (pop. 
600,000+).  A convenient location between New York City and Philadelphia 
provides access to many corporations and financial institutions.  The 
Lehigh Valley provides the best of urban, suburban, and rural living.
Founded in 1865, Lehigh University is a private research institution 
with about 4,500 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students.  Lehigh is 
ranked 35th in the 2009 US News & World Report “Guide to America’s Best 
Colleges.”


(apologies for the cross-posting)


--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] ipsCA Certs

2009-12-18 Thread Tim McGeary
I'm a little dismayed at the eleventh hour posting of the email.  It 
makes it feel illegitimate, but I have had other confirmation that it is 
legit, too.


Another thing to worry about before Christmas...

Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu

timmcge...@gmail.com
GTalk/Yahoo/Skype: timmcgeary


Walker, David wrote:

I see now that I'm looking at the intermediate certificate.  The root does 
expire in 2009.

Nevermind. :-)

--Dave

==
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu

From: Walker, David
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 1:40 PM
To: Code for Libraries
Subject: RE: [CODE4LIB] ipsCA Certs

Hi John,

I also got this email. We also recently installed an ipsCA wildcard cert for a 
test EZProxy install.

Looking at the details of our ipsCA wildcard certificate in Firefox, though, I 
can see the chain of certificates going up to the root ipsCA cert.

Firefox says that that root certificate -- ipsCA CLASEA1 Certificate Authority 
-- is good until 2025. I see the same thing in IE, Safari, and I assume every 
other browser I might check.

Do you see that too?

--Dave

==
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu

From: Code for Libraries [code4...@listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of John Wynstra 
[john.wyns...@uni.edu]
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 1:02 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] ipsCA Certs

Out of curiosity, did anyone else using ipsCA certs receive notification
that due to the coming expiration of their root CA (December 29,2009),
they would need a reissued cert under a new root CA?

I am uncertain as to how this new Root CA will become a part of the
browsers trusted roots without some type of user action including a
software upgrade, but the following library website instructions lead me
to believe that this is not going to be smooth.  http://bit.ly/53Npel

We are just about to go live with EZProxy in January with an ipsCA cert
issued a few months ago, and I am not about to do that if I have serious
browser support issue.


--
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
John Wynstra
Library Information Systems Specialist
Rod Library
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA  50613
wyns...@uni.edu
(319)273-6399
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>



Re: [CODE4LIB] digital storage

2009-08-28 Thread Tim McGeary

Related to our discussion:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125139942345664387.html

I particularly like the quote at the end:


"Digital information lasts forever -- or five years," says RAND Corp.
computer analyst Jeff Rothenberg, "whichever comes first."


Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary

Edward Iglesias wrote:
Thanks to all of you who answered.  Crowdsourcing does work if you 
pick the right crowd.  We have been looking at the S3 possibility but
 I agree this would have to be a second copy.  The policy and 
institutional support comments from my tokayo


see http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tocayo

seem especially appropriate.  I am going to include a link on our 
staff blog to this thread as a resource.


Thanks again,

Edward Iglesias



On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 8:59 PM, Edward M.
Corrado wrote:

Joe Atzberger wrote:
On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 4:25 PM, Edward M. Corrado 
wrote:




Nate Vack wrote:



On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Ryan
Ordway wrote:




$213,360 over 3 years




If you're ONLY looking at storage costs, SATA drives in
enterprise RAID


systems range from about $1.00/GB to about $1.25/GB for
online storage.



Yeah -- but if you're looking only at storage costs, you'll
have an inaccurate estimate of your costs. You've got power,
cooling, sysadmin time, and replacements for failed disks. If
you want an apples-to-apples comparison, you'll want an
offsite mirror, as well.

I'm not saying S3 is always cost-effective -- but in our
experience, the costs of the disks themselves is dwarfed by
the costs of the related infrastructure.

I agree that the cost of storage is only one factor. I have
to wonder


though, how much more staff time do you need for local storage
than cloud storage? I don't know the answer but I'm not sure it
is much more than setting up S3 storage, especially if you have
a good partnership with your storage vendor.



Support relationships, especially regarding storage are very
costly.  When I worked at a midsize datacenter, we implemented a
backup solution with STORServer and tivoli.  Both hardware and
software were considerably costly.  Initial and ongoing support,
while indispensable was basically as much as the cost of the
hardware every few years.


They can be depending on what you are doing and what choices on
software you make, but for long term preservation purposes they
don't have to be nearly as expensive as what Ryan calculated S3 to
cost. If you shop around you can get a quality 36GB array with 3 yr
warranty for say $30,000 that is almost $180,000 less than S3
(probably much less, I'm be less than generous with my Sun
discounts and only briefly looked at there prices). Even if we use
the double your cost for support, it is still over $50,000 a year
less for 3 years. Yes, we might need some expertise, but running a
36TB preservation storage array is not a $50,000 a year job and
besides, what is wrong with growing local expertise?

...

Yes, maybe you save on staff time patching software on your
storage array, but that is not a significant amount of time -
esp. since you are still going to have some local storage, and
there isn't much difference in staff time in doing 2 TB vs. 20
TB.



There's a real difference.  I can get 2 TB in a single HDD, for
example this one for $200 at NewEgg: 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148413 
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148413>



Any high school kid can install that.  20 TB requires some kind
of additional structure and additional expertise.


Well building a 20 TB storage device and getting it to work can
actually be very cheap and doesn't require a PhD (just a local
GNU/Linux geek who likes to play with hardware) if you are OK with
a home grown solution. I wouldn't be satisfied with that, but I
don't see how a commercial offering that adds up to $150,000 worth
of expertise and infrastructure.


You may some time on the initial configuration, but you still
need to


configure cloud storage. Is cloud storage that much easier/less
time consuming to configure than an iSCSI device? Replacement
for disks would be covered under your warranty or support
contract (at least I would hope you would have one).



Warranties expire and force you into ill-timed, hardly-afforded
and dangerous-to-your-data upgrades.  Sorta like some ILS systems
with which we are all familiar.

Yes some application upgrades can cause issues, but how is that
different if your application and/or storage is in a  cloud?


The cloud doesn't necessarily stay the same, but the part you
care about (data in, data out) does.


How do you know they won't change their cloud models? And you don't
even have a warranty with the cloud. They won't even guarantee they
won't delete your data.


[CODE4LIB] Open Library Environment (OLE) Project Final Report Available for Comment

2009-07-27 Thread Tim McGeary
The Open Library Environment (OLE) Project has posted a draft of its 
final report.  We are excited to offer this report publicly to the 
community and welcomes comment.  As a community-source project, your 
input is vital to the future and success of the OLE Project.  You can 
access the report at this address:


http://oleproject.org/final-ole-project-report/

About the Open Library Environment Project:
With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a multinational group 
of libraries is developing the design for an Open Library Environment 
(OLE), an alternative to the current model of an Integrated Library 
System. The goal is to produce a design document to inform open source 
library system development efforts, to guide future library system 
implementations, and to influence current Integrated Library System 
vendor products.


(apologies for the cross-posting)
--
Tim McGeary
Team Leader, Library Technology
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] software package for Elec. Theses/dissertations

2009-01-08 Thread Tim McGeary

Yan,

I would also like to try the software.  Thanks for offering!

Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcge...@lehigh.edu
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary

Han, Yan wrote:

Hello, Colleagues,



As ProQuest/UMI switched its delivery platform for Electronic Theses
and dissertations(ETD), I have developed a small software package to
process ETD. The software package does:

1.   Unzip ProQuest/UMI ETD delivery Zipped files, and create one
directory per ETD.

2.   Rename these ETDs into other preferred file names (in my
case, Wang_arizona_0009D_10075.xml à azu_etd_10075_sip1_m.xml)

3.   Generate digital signature for digital preservation.

4.   Create MARC records from ProQuest/UMI XML files.  (i.e. a
MRK file will be generated for direct loading to catalog. I use III
innovative and Koha)

5.   Create embargo notification and moving embargo ETDs to a
different directory for future loading



This package saves me a lot of time to process hundreds of ETDs. The
package (size of 50kb) has a Java compiled code (class file) and Perl
Scripts. Currently I run it on Linux, but it can be run in Windows.



If anyone wants to have it or give it a try, please contact me.



p.s. I also have a package handling ProQuest old platform (BePress)
ETD files.



Thanks,



Yan Han

The University of Arizona Libraries





Re: [CODE4LIB] Open Library Environment (OLE) Project - Regional Design Workshops

2008-11-13 Thread Tim McGeary

Jonathan,

That is a very good point and one that we have considered.  The 
workshops will both seek current practices as well as what each module 
workflow SHOULD be if not limited by poor technology.


What we obviously need is not "I click this button in {Millenium, 
Voyager, Aleph, Unicorn, Horizon, etc} then this button..." but rather 
"User brings book to desk, book is scanned, user card is scanned, ... , 
I hand book back to user, user exits building, but armed guards jump out 
because I forgot to demagnetize the book."  Ok, maybe not quite like 
that...  ;)


We expect diversity of workflows, but within that we also expect core 
services to become apparent.  We'll see if our expectations are accurate 
in the next few months.


Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary

Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

I have to admit that I worry that too many of our libraries business
processes as currently practiced are completely irrational and
nonsensical, and that to model new requirements or systems off of
them all aggregated and averaged out... may not be optimal.

Certainly, you have to collect evidence about business process needs
somehow.

But how many of us have experienced library workflow that actually
makes sense, instead of being habits built over years of having to do
weird workarounds to work with systems that unreasonably constrained
us, built on top of each other layer upon layer, combined in
organizations siloed off so the right hand doesn't know what the left
is doing, sprinkle on top the natural inclination of most people to
be creatures of habit who don't like changing their workflow unless
forced---with the result that I'm not even sure we know what makes
sense anymore.

Jonathan



Tim McGeary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 11/13/08 3:43 PM >>>

John Fereira wrote:

Tim McGeary wrote:

The Open Library Environment (OLE, pronounced oh-lay) Project
invites you to apply to participate in a two day Regional Design
Workshop. The purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for
representatives of local research libraries and related
institutions to discuss our work surrounding the current
Integrated Library System and ideas on what this type of core
system should incorporate.  Workshops are being held in a variety
of locations in the US over the next 2 months. For more 
information and to find a location near you, go to: 
http://oleproject.org/workshops.

That's quite a collection of workshops schedule.  I've been
interested in the project since John Little first mentioned it
here.  On behalf of the Spring 2008 JA-SIG conference committee I
invited him (and he accepted) to do a birds of a feather session at
the conference.  There are some things that I am working on that I
think may fit well with the project (I was also a developer for a
piece of Kuali Rice, so I know some of the Indiana folks) but I
can't really tell from the number of workshops how the will
inter-relate.  Since there were a few dates where there are
simultaneous workshops in different cities it would seem to me that
some sort of video conference and a real time collaborative system
 (we used Macromedia Breeze for the Kuali project with developers
at Cornell and Indiana) would be useful.

With the current economy I know that travel budgets are undergoing
a lot of scrutiny (I've even heard of a very large university
system out west that may be halting all business travel for awhile)
attending even one of the workshops may be problematic.


John,

I hear you about the travel elements of this.  That is why this
process will not just be closed off to these workshops.  We are
hoping to have enough workshops to gather a wide range of business
processes that we can sift through to find commonalities to model the
core business practices.  On top of that, we will model the
differences so that flexibility can be built into the OLE
architecture.

There will be plenty of time and opportunities for public comment on
the data gathered at the workshops and the models as they are
completed before the architecture stage is complete.  So if you, or
anyone, cannot attend a workshop, there will still be opportunity for
comment, and we want and need it!

Thank you for your interest - and please encourage others who show 
interest to participate in any way that they can.


Cheers, Tim -- Tim McGeary Senior Systems Specialist Lehigh
University 610-758-4998 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Google Talk:
timmcgeary Yahoo IM: timmcgeary



Re: [CODE4LIB] Open Library Environment (OLE) Project - Regional Design Workshops

2008-11-13 Thread Tim McGeary

John Fereira wrote:

Tim McGeary wrote:
The Open Library Environment (OLE, pronounced oh-lay) Project invites 
you to apply to participate in a two day Regional Design Workshop. The 
purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for representatives of 
local research libraries and related institutions to discuss our work 
surrounding the current Integrated Library System and ideas on what 
this type of core system should incorporate.  Workshops are being held 
in a variety of locations in the US over the next 2 months. For more 
information and to find a location near you, go to:

http://oleproject.org/workshops.


That's quite a collection of workshops schedule.  I've been interested 
in the project since John Little first mentioned it here.  On behalf of 
the Spring 2008 JA-SIG conference committee I invited him (and he 
accepted) to do a birds of a feather session at the conference.  There 
are some things that I am working on that I think may fit well with the 
project (I was also a developer for a piece of Kuali Rice, so I know 
some of the Indiana folks) but I can't really tell from the number of 
workshops how the will inter-relate.  Since there were a few dates where 
there are simultaneous workshops in different cities it would seem to me 
that some sort of video conference and a real time collaborative system 
(we used Macromedia Breeze for the Kuali project with developers at 
Cornell and Indiana) would be useful.


With the current economy I know that travel budgets are undergoing a lot 
of scrutiny (I've even heard of a very large university system out west 
that may be halting all business travel for awhile) attending even one 
of the workshops may be problematic.


John,

I hear you about the travel elements of this.  That is why this process 
will not just be closed off to these workshops.  We are hoping to have 
enough workshops to gather a wide range of business processes that we 
can sift through to find commonalities to model the core business 
practices.  On top of that, we will model the differences so that 
flexibility can be built into the OLE architecture.


There will be plenty of time and opportunities for public comment on the 
data gathered at the workshops and the models as they are completed 
before the architecture stage is complete.  So if you, or anyone, cannot 
attend a workshop, there will still be opportunity for comment, and we 
want and need it!


Thank you for your interest - and please encourage others who show 
interest to participate in any way that they can.


Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Open Library Environment (OLE) Project - Regional Design Workshops

2008-11-12 Thread Tim McGeary
The Open Library Environment (OLE, pronounced oh-lay) Project invites 
you to apply to participate in a two day Regional Design Workshop. The 
purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for representatives of 
local research libraries and related institutions to discuss our work 
surrounding the current Integrated Library System and ideas on what this 
type of core system should incorporate.  Workshops are being held in a 
variety of locations in the US over the next 2 months. For more 
information and to find a location near you, go to:

http://oleproject.org/workshops.

Participation is open to any member of the research library community 
who works with the Integrated Library System either on a day to day 
basis or from a higher level. OLE will be developed as an open source 
library environment that meets the needs of research libraries. While 
care will be taken to design an open and flexible system that is useful 
for other types of libraries, such as public libraries, the focus of the 
project in this early stage is on research libraries.


The OLE project, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 
seeks to convene the academic library community in the design of an Open 
Library Management System built using the principles of Service Oriented 
Architecture.  The project partners consist of leaders from academic 
libraries in the United States, Canada, and Australia dedicated to 
thinking beyond the current model of an Integrated Library System.  We 
seek to design a new system that is flexible, customizable and able to 
meet the changing and complex needs of modern, dynamic academic 
libraries.  The end product will be a design document to inform open 
source library system development efforts, to guide future library 
system implementations, and to influence current Integrated Library 
System vendor products.


More information on the OLE Project can be found at http://oleproject.org.

(apologies for the cross posting.)

--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] OLE Project Webcast: October 1, 3-5pm EST

2008-09-24 Thread Tim McGeary
OLE Project participants will host a webcast to share information about 
the project and invite comments and questions.  The webcast will be held 
Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 3pm-5pm EST. This webcast is free or charge 
and open to anyone. Please register in advance at:


http://survey.oit.duke.edu/ViewsFlash/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=showform&pollid=CIT!OLEWebcast

A more detailed agenda and information about logging into the webcast 
will be posted within the next week.


http://oleproject.org/2008/09/18/join-us-for-ole-project-update-via-webcast/

(apologies for the cross-posting)

--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


[CODE4LIB] Senior Library Systems Specialist, Lehigh University, Library and Technology Services

2008-09-15 Thread Tim McGeary

(apologies for cross-posting)

Lehigh University Library and Technology Services seeks a talented and 
team-oriented Senior Library Systems Specialist. The successful 
candidate will collaborate with computing and library staff to sustain 
and expand a vigorous library computing environment offering world class 
research opportunities for Lehigh students, researchers, faculty and 
staff as well as scholars connecting to Lehigh digital library projects.


Responsibilities: Manage and support systems for direct user access to 
electronic library materials; support systems for resource sharing; 
support systems for Lehigh’s diverse and innovative digital library and 
special collections projects; manage digital library and special 
collections project resources, accessibility, permissions and 
authentication; install and test software updates for DL systems; serve 
as backup for SirsiDynix (integrated library system) server 
administration and trouble-shooting; participate in system 
administration of both production and test level servers; provide 
training, technical assistance, and user and technical documentation for 
supported applications; provide technical support for library 
statistical and problem reporting, interlibrary loan and document 
delivery.


Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent 
combination of education and experience; three to five years related 
work experience. Solid computer skills and knowledge in Linux, Unix, and 
Windows server operating systems; experience in programming, e.g. PHP or 
Perl; experience using XML, HTML, and CSS.


Lehigh University offers excellent benefits, including tuition programs 
and partner benefits.  Hiring salary ranges from low to upper $50s based 
on education and experience.


Please send a letter and resume either electronically ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 
or via US Mail to:


Pamela Steigerwalt, Employment Coordinator,
Library and Technology Services,
8A East Packer Avenue
Bethlehem, PA   18015.

AA/EO employer, minorities encouraged to apply. Review of applications 
will begin on October 20 and continue until position is filled.


About Lehigh University:  Founded in 1865, Lehigh is a co-educational, 
non-denominational, private university and among the most selective, 
highly ranked private research universities in the U.S.  Lehigh is 
located in historic Bethlehem, on a beautiful 1,600 acre campus in the 
heart of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Situated 75 miles from New York 
City and 50 miles from Philadelphia, the area is a combination of urban 
and suburban environments, smaller communities and vast rural spaces 
that encourage great diversity of lifestyle. Lehigh’s Library and 
Technology Services is a team oriented, merged organization providing 
computing, library, telecommunications and media support to nearly 
10,000 students, faculty and staff.


--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] what's friendlier & less powerful than phpMyAdmin?

2008-07-30 Thread Tim McGeary

I use Webmin.  http://www.webmin.com/
It gives me a GUI for all of my vital sysadmin needs that I can't 
remember how to do at the shell.


It has a MySQL GUI interface that works very well.  And you can setup 
user accounts to have access to certain parts of Webmin, like just MySQL.


Easy RPM install, and inside Webmin is an app to upgrade itself.  Can 
also install Perl modules, edit your php.ini file, etc.


Cheers,
Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary

Ken Irwin wrote:

Hi folks,

I have some straightforward MySQL data tables that I would like to be 
editable by some of my less-techy colleagues. I tend to think of 
phpMyAdmin as a perfectly serviceable and reasonably interface for 
updating database tables, but I'm told that it's kind of intimidating to 
the uninitiated.


Are there alternatives that are meant for non-admin-types? I'd want 
something with read/write permissions, but that could be targeted at 
just a few tables, wouldn't have any of the more potent tools (drop, 
empty, etc.). In the ideal world, I might like something that would 
prevent users from doing things like accidentally changing primary key 
data and things like that.


I've thought about writing something, but I suspect that would be 
reinventing the wheel. Any ideas?


Thanks,
Ken



[CODE4LIB] Historical GIS Site Launched by Lehigh University

2008-07-18 Thread Tim McGeary
The S. Murray Rust, Jr. Digital Scholarship Center at Lehigh University 
recently launched a geographical information system (GIS) project that 
maps the townscape of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the early twentieth 
century (http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/gis/).  This 
interactive, historical GIS tool enables site visitors to map and to 
investigate spatially the lives of turn-of-the-century Bethlehem 
residents and Bethlehem Steel Company employees.  Active from 1857-2003, 
“the Steel,” as locals call the company, was the area’s major employer 
at the opening of the twentieth century. The Steel is a major figure in 
the story of industrial growth, dominance, and decline both regionally 
and nationally.


Using demographic, housing, and employment data, this GIS tool provides 
information about those who lived in Bethlehem, especially Bethlehem 
Steel workers.  The data, gleaned from the Sholes’ Directory of the 
Bethlehems from 1900-1901, Bethlehem Steel employee lists from 
1900-1902, and select 1900 census data for Lehigh and Northampton 
Counties.  Visitors can visualize this data geographically, as the site 
plots the information on a composite of historical Sanborn fire 
insurance maps from 1912-1935.  Site visitors can also search the data 
sets textually.


The local Sholes’ Directory provides Bethlehem residents’ names, 
addresses, occupations and employers, marital status, and whether they 
owned or rented.  Finer-grained data and spatial information is 
available for Bethlehem Steel Company employees.  The company’s employee 
lists provide employee names, salaries, and where they worked within 
Bethlehem Steel.  By searching the 1900 Census for these 1,200 steel 
workers, the site supplements the employee list information with details 
about the workers' age, race, place of birth, education, paternal and 
maternal country of origin, and other census information.  By 
cross-referencing the employee lists, the Sholes’ Directory, and the 
census data, the site allows visitors to see where these workers lived, 
their proximity to work, and how their job status, pay, ethnicity, and 
education affected housing patterns.  The site is being expanded and 
enhanced so visitors will be able to see the location of other 
businesses and industries (and the residences’ of their workers) in 
addition to the Steel.  Coming in August 2008, data on the location of 
the area’s textile mills and their employees’ residences will be made 
available.


This GIS component is the most recent addition to Lehigh University’s 
digital library project dedicated to illustrating the region’s 
industrial history, Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry 
and Culture (http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/).  This project 
chronicles the nineteenth-century industrial boom and twentieth-century 
industrial decline in the Lehigh Valley through a large set of digitized 
materials including letters, books, newspaper articles, maps, 
photographs, pamphlets, and oral histories. The site continues to grow 
as materials are added that tell the story of how coal, canals, 
railroads, iron and steel converged in the making of an industrial 
community.  Beyond Steel, especially with the addition of the GIS 
component, enables researchers and students to study not only the lives 
of railroad barons and steel titans, but also the everyday experiences 
of people who worked and lived in the community.


For more information about the GIS project of Beyond Steel, contact 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


(apologies for the cross-posting)

--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] Digital Collections management software

2008-07-17 Thread Tim McGeary

Hi Harish,

We use CONTENTdm to manage many of our Digital Library collections.  You 
can see them at http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/


The collections we have using CONTENTdm are mostly digitized 
books/monographs, but we also have illuminated manuscripts, hand written 
letters, and other ephemeral.  We are nearly complete in archiving the 
entire student newspaper collection, which we hope to release late fall.


We used Greenstone, which is open source, for our first digital project 
called Digital Bridges.  But we just re-released the project by 
converting it to CONTENTdm.  Greenstone required much too much 
customization and no sustainability, as we wanted to add more to this 
collection.


The University of Utah and the Claremont Colleges both recently 
developed their institution digital repositories with CONTENTdm.  I plan 
to follow their lead with our IR on CONTENTdm this upcoming academic 
year.  I believe it was the presenter at Utah that said Why 
create a technological hurdle trying to learn and shape Fedora or DSpace 
to our needs when we already know CONTENTdm and have an open API that we 
are comfortable with using.


Though CONTENTdm is proprietary, the cost is well worth it.  The API is 
very open, the community is among the best user communities out there, 
and the vendor (DiMeMa via OCLC) is very receptive and responsive to 
user concerns and enhancement suggestions.


It has a very intuitive metadata interface, and is easy to administer on 
the server side.  I never have to worry about it.


I would HIGHLY recommend CONTENTdm.  Well worth the price!

Cheers,
Tim


Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary

Harish Maringanti wrote:

Hi all,

I've heard of Contentdm from OCLC that many institutions are using to manage
their digital collections. If you are using Contentdm would you mind sharing
some of the pros & cons of using it (either to the group or off the list).

Are there any other viable products either commercial or open source that
can be considered to manage digital collections. Particularly in the open
source domain are there any good applications to manage image collections?

Thanks in advance,
Harish


Harish Maringanti
Systems Analyst
K-State Libraries
(785)532-3261



Re: [CODE4LIB] code4lib 2009

2008-07-07 Thread Tim McGeary

Edward M. Corrado wrote:

On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 5:37 PM, Gabriel Sean Farrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:


On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 07:09:25PM -0400, Ed Summers wrote:

Carl Malamud: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Malamud

Long time advocate for Internet technologies for the public good. Most
recently involved with making public domain data sets available to the
public w/ public.resource.org.

I second Malamud.  I also nominate:


Joseph Lucia  http://library.villanova.edu/services/director/index.html

University Librarian at Villanova University who has been active around
the call for developers in libraries [0].




I second Joe Lucia. You can watch  apresentation he did at the VALE-OLS
symposium at:

http://valenj.org/newvale/ols/symposium2008/program-schedule.shtml (he is
part of the "B" section).



I'll add a third or fourth or fifth (lost track) for Joe Lucia.  I think 
 that he is very effective at linking libraries as organizations and 
place (the latter a specific talk he gave two years ago) with 
technology, specifically open source.


--
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary
Yahoo IM: timmcgeary


Re: [CODE4LIB] Open Source Course reserves management

2008-03-06 Thread Tim McGeary

You might want to check out Reserves Direct out of Emory:
http://www.reservesdirect.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Cheers,
Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary

Jeffrey Barnett wrote:

Is anyone aware of a standalone or add-on open source package for
managing electronic and/or digital course reserves?  A commercial
offering in this area is "Aries", but it is not customizable to our
needs.  Most useful features are monitoring for multiple use of same
article or chapter and efficient copyright clearance.


Re: [CODE4LIB] Update on Code4Lib 2008 Pre-conferences

2008-01-17 Thread Tim McGeary

Well, that bums me out...  my business office was about to process my
registration this afternoon.  I didn't realize there was such a small
amount of available slots.  But that's good to know before I booked my
flight.

Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary

Michael J. Giarlo wrote:

Loosely quoting two notes Jeremy Frumkin sent to the conference
planning list:  All of the pre-conference slots have been filled.
There is no official waiting list for pre-conference slots.  If folks
who didn't get in are interested in getting on a waiting list for
pre-conference sessions, please contact OSU conference services
(contact info on your registration confirmation email), and they will
start creating an official list.  

There has also been some rumbling about "unofficial" pre-conferences
but nothing concrete has developed yet.  If nothing else, those of us
who are uncommitted on the 25th can congregate informally around
laptops in local brewpubs or cafes or libraries.

-Mike



Re: [CODE4LIB] I'm leaving the libraries... what about this community?

2008-01-04 Thread Tim McGeary

Nate, I would say absolutely!  As a non-librarian yet someone who has
more broad computer/technical experience but did my masters in systems
engineering (read: systems architect, big picture person, convert
non-systems ideas to systems ideas) I can't tell you how often I see
problems in the non-library world being able to be met with library-type
systems and processes.  Obviously there is a lot of talk here (and other
places like web4lib et al) about bringing in non-library world
technology into the libraries.  There is great benefit to melding both
worlds despite the odd and somewhat invisible wall of separation that
seems to hinder us, imho.

I think you should absolutely keep involved in this and other similar
communities because you have the chance to affect change in both your
new position, who seems to really need some "library-ing", and offer
some good insights back to those of us not always able to look at
outside examples.

From a practical standpoint of your email, one of my goals for the new
year is to find the best way to use digital repositories or similar-type
systems to organize humanities research, like oral histories,
interviews, digitization projects, GIS date, etc.  Our Digital
Scholarship Center is trying to head this up because, after all, we are
supposed to be the leaders of our campus in digital projects.  But even
in the midst of our own projects, we've seen evidence that we are
overlapping research that has already been done by other graduate
students or faculty.  What a waste!  So it seems like your new
experience and our experience has some things in common.

So, again, I say stick around, contribute, and seek solutions that will
fit your area and maybe their also fit some of ours.

Cheers to your new position!
Tim

Tim McGeary '99, '06G
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary

Nathan Vack wrote:

OK, Code4Libbers, here's a question for y'all:

I've taken a new job at a brain imaging lab on campus. The details
are still to be defined (they haven't had anyone in this position
before), but the problems they're trying to solve are things like
"Our researchers need to do a bunch of junk in Unix to process their
data; that's hard for them" and "Researchers are generating all kinds
of versions of data and it's filling the disk and five years later no
one knows which copies were used in this publication."

In short, I'll be helping researchers collect, catalog, analyze, and
archive study data. It's not a 'library' position, but the more I
think about it, the more it seems like a place the libraries could
excel. Most labs can't afford someone to do this kind of work... but
from the grad students I've talked to, the need is HUGE.

So, my question: Are research libraries out there doing this kind of
work? If not, do you have plans to start? Is Code4Lib still a good
place for me to hang out?

Cheers,
-Nate
UW - Madison



Re: [CODE4LIB] Unable to vote

2007-12-11 Thread Tim McGeary

I hadn't previously signed up on the code4lib website, so I did it this
morning, but I haven't gotten word of my approved account.  How long
does that usually take because I would like to vote, too.

Tim

Tim McGeary '99, '06G
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Google Talk: timmcgeary

Jeffrey Barnett wrote:

After filling my ballot I get the following error on submission:

"We're sorry, but something went wrong.
We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly."

Will I get a second chance?

Michael J. Giarlo wrote:

Sorry for the confusion, folks.  I posted a preliminary link for
testing the new voting and proposal system.

http://dilettantes.code4lib.org:8080/election/index/2

That's the -real- ballot, and it opens at midnight tonight (Eastern
time) and will be open for 24 hours.

So, uh, thanks to everybody for testing the ballot!  Gear up for the
real vote!

-Mike






Re: [CODE4LIB] Library Software Manifesto

2007-11-06 Thread Tim McGeary

I think this depends entirely on what type of developer we are talking
about.  Let's say it is a large ILS vendor who promises that their
software will do all things for all types of library.  When a promised
feature or a discovered bug that only applies to a small subset of their
customer base (let's say academic or public or government) is found, the
reason that is does not benefit a large enough community to put the
expense is simply bogus.

The end result is that type of library essentially sitting on a product
for years because there is no commitment to improve their service in
their future.  This is happening frequently with "new" products that are
introduced (at least in my ILS community) which, while are sold as
usable to all types of libraries, are clearly designed for one specific
or their largest base in mind only.

A smaller development company or cooperative team is a bit different.
Hopefully they have communicated their product specifically for what it
does, and communicated their organizational size, strength, and focus so
that the consumer understands that going in.  Large library software
corporations should really be doing the same, but that doesn't happen.

Tim

Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


Jonathan Gorman wrote:

Hmmm, I'm tempted to add something to responsibilities along the
lines of "Seek to understand the priorities of the software
developers".  Similar to "requesting features responsibly".  I can
see an important difference.  Sometimes it's important to let people
know of a desired feature, even if in the end the vendor/developers
decide resources can't be dedicated to fixing that bug or adding that
feature.  Often it's difficult for "customers" to know the relative
difficult of adding a feature or doing a bug fix.  We don't want them
not to request.  When they're requesting features for others, they do
have a responsibility to document those desires (usability testing,
interviews, etc).

However, sometimes fixing a bug or adding a particular feature will
only have a small benefit to a small community, be simply too
expensive given it's priority,  or may be in a part of the system
that requires a more radical rewrite.  When these conclusions are
reached it's helpful for the customer not to try to do a "run-around"
or pull strings to get that feature added anyhow.  Say, by calling
their buddy the CEO and convincing him the developers are just
avoiding work unnecessarily.

How about an equivalent list from the vendor/software developer's
perspective?  I think that would help balance the picture, but
perhaps that's already in your plans ;).


Jon Gorman

 Original message 

Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 10:07:45 -0800 From: Roy Tennant
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Library Software Manifesto
To: CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu

I have a presentation coming up and I'm considering doing what I'm
calling a "Library Software Manifesto". Some of the following may
not be completely understandable on the face of it, and I would be
explaining the meaning during the presentation, but this is what I
have so far and I'd be interested in other ideas this group has or
comments on this. Thanks, Roy

Consumer Rights

- I have a right to use what I buy - I have a right to the API if
I've bought the product - I have a right to accurate, complete
documentation - I have a right to my data - I have a right to not
have simple things needlessly complicated

Consumer Responsibilities

- I have a responsibility to communicate my needs clearly and
specifically - I have a responsibility to report reproducible bugs
in a way as to facilitate reproducing it - I have a responsibility
to report irreproducible bugs with as much detail as I can provide
- I have a responsibility to request new features responsibly - I
have a responsibility to view any adjustments to default settings
critically