These wold be great developments - but then some of us have issues with patron privacy... We have parents and teachers asking for a "list of what student X has checked out" we like to say this is not doable in Koha. So if there was a way to hide the data but use it analytically that would be fantastic. David Schuster 2010/12/23 Partha Mukhopadhyay <psm_vu@india.com>
Dear all,
I would like to put forward a wish list (thinking over it from version 2.2.8).....
Preamble
This wish list is based on the assumption that Koha 3.x stores circulation history of borrowers. If so, then comes the question how can this dataset be utilized in developing new breed of services. And how these services can affect the mirror of any type or size library - the OPAC.
Wish list I
Is it possible to detrmine degree of association of authors by utlizing circulation data? For example, in a set of 10 borrowers who borrowed book of author x (say 10/10) also borrowed book by author y (say 8/10) or author z (say 6/10) and so on, the degree of association is higher among author x and author y and comparatively lower among author x and author z. It is quite easy to determine statistical association of a given author with other authors in this way and thereafter generating a map of authors where searched author will be in the centre and highly associated authors in 1st circle, moderately associated authors in 2nd circle and so on. Confused? Try this.......
http://www.literature-map.com/amitav+ghosh.html
Wish list II
If it is possible to incorporate this feature (author mapping) in Koha OPAC, then on the basis of same circulation dataset we can generate a reading advisory service to new users in a given field of study by giving a service called what_should_they_read_next. Confused again? Try this......
Goto http://whatshouldireadnext.com/ and enter "digital library" Witten
Wish list III
If it is possible to incorporate the above two feature (author mapping and resource mapping) in Koha OPAC, then on the basis of same circulation dataset we can generate service (human mapping this time?) to link borrowers who are interested in a given field of study (assuming people reading same titles and same authors have coomon area of study/research). Hopefully not confused again? Anyway try this......
Goto http://www.connectviabooks.com/ and enter "digital library" Witten again.
Hoping my favourite Koha developers will not let us down in this month of gift and wishes.
Merry X-mass.....
Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay Lecturer (Sr.), Department of Library and Information Science, University of Burdwan, Burdwan - 713 104 (WB), India -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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-- David Schuster Plano ISD Library Technology Coordinator