HI
I know that some of the folks on this list are also interested in using MyLibrary along with Koha. One of the bits below is LDAP authentication, a feature that has come up on our lists before. It might be a great opportunity to open up a dialog with the MyLibrary folks and hash out an LDAP schema that will work for both projects.
WE've done a bit of work with My Library - but not within Koha - it was not exactly trivial to get working :-) Cheers rachel
-pate
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 08:45:48 -0500 From: Eric Lease Morgan <emorgan@ND.EDU> Reply-To: MyLibrary portal development <MYLIB-DEV@listserv.nd.edu> To: MYLIB-DEV@listserv.nd.edu Subject: MyLibrary features
This message is a belated announcement, and it outlines a few things we will be working on in terms of MyLibrary features.
After bunches o' discussions with bunches o' folks, we have decided to spend time and energy on three things: add to MyLibrary, LDAP authentication, more flexible classification.
Add to MyLibrary
The "add to MyLibrary" is a function implemented either as a browser bookmarklette or an embedded link. Its purpose will be to allow uses to view Internet resources in their browser and add the link their MyLibrary. The bookmarklette will first read the viewed page's title and URL. It will then display a dialog box allowing the user to edit these items. Finally, it will add the link to their personal links. The embedded link will work the same way except the title and URL of the resource will be embedded in the URL. It will look something like this:
http://mylibrary.edu/add2mylibrary.cgi?t=foo&u=http://bar.org/
The addition of add to MyLibrary will reduce the need to catalog the entire Internet and the underlying MyLibrary database to include only a subset of a library's entire collection of Internet resources.
Last, but not least, this functionality will be based on work previously done by the folks at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. "Thanks guys!"
LDAP authentication
Based on work by Gultekin Gurdal we will be integrating an optional LDAP authentication functionality into MyLibrary. By installing a number of Perl modules and securely pointing them to your institution's LDAP directory libraries may very well be able to allow patrons to create MyLibrary accounts based on their institution's canonical username/password combination. Consequently, people will not have to remember yet another password. Whew!
More flexible classification
Last, we will be working on removing some of the classification limitations. As the system stands now libraries can create a simple classification scheme intended to be subjects. Fine. When adding resources to MyLibrary, the system forces you to put these resources into one of five piles, usually named library, community, reference, databases, or ejournals. Many people found this too limiting.
To remove this problem, we plan to allow libraries to first create any number of classification schemes (subjects, formats, audiences, education levels, ease-of-use, authority, timeliness, etc.), and then fill each one of these scheme up with terms (astronomy, philosophy, forestry; student, faculty, staff; dictionary, encyclopedia, index, catalog; easy, not so easy, difficult, impossible; very authoritative, authoritative, not authoritative; updated constantly, updated monthly, updated annually; etc.) When new resources are then added to the system they will be classified with one or more of the terms from the classification schemes.
This solution will remove what we call the "Pile A, Pile B, and Pile C Problem". This solution will not be easy. It will require a lot of work in the underlying database. We're a bit scared.
Timeline
We are hoping to finish these features by July 4.
-- Eric "Famous Last Words" Morgan
For information about this mailing list, such as the location of its archive and instructions for managing your subscription, see: http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mylibrary/mailing-list.shtml. --ELM
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_____________________________________________________________ Rachel Hamilton-Williams Katipo Communications WEBMISTRESS ph 021 389 128 or +64 04 934 1285 mailto:rachel@katipo.co.nz PO Box 12487, Wellington http://www.katipo.co.nz New Zealand Koha Open Source Library System http://www.koha.org