Production Services:

• New Titles 2.0 public site
  This service, which is updated daily, allows users to browse or search titles cataloged during the previous six months. Users can subscribe to an RSS feed for any browse or combination of search terms. Browsing and search results are filtered by discipline, format, library location, language, topic, subject, name, genre and geographical place. Disciplines were selected by the Scholarly Resources department and are keyed off of call numbers. The subject browse is by main LC subject; the topic browse is by LC subdivison. Behind the scenes and looking to the future, the New Titles service uses Resource Description Framework (RDFa) tagging to expose this content as semantically rich linked data. This service uses the kochief discovery interface.
  
  
• The Time-Off Recording System (TORS) for library exempt staff is a web-based application in which staff enters, on a weekly basis, time taken for vacation, sickness, bereavement, and jury duty. Supervisors approve or question time submitted. Staff may enter, and supervisors may view, planned future time off. Supervisory reporting relationships, holidays and breaks are programmed in. Balances are automatically calculated by the system based on built-in accrual and carryover rules in accordance with Brown policy. A database back end captures all data and produces standard reports such as compensable absences and other reports as needed.
  
  TORS is based on the Leave Tracker system developed at Brown by Jeffrey Fox for Biomed Human Resources. ITS re-worked the Leave Tracker concept using MYSQL instead of FileMaker and Python/Django instead of PHP/CodeIgniter.
  
  
• MoBUL: Mobile Brown University Library About
  A free app for iphone, android, blackberry and other smartphones to the library catalog (Josiah), hours, locations, news, computer availability, and easy contact information. Uses Boopsie smart prefix technology for catalog search.
  
  
• Locate This Announcement
  "Locate This" is a tool for a library catalog that determines an item's stack location and availability. Specific location information appears dynamically as visual floor maps, and text on result screens. This information can also be texted to a mobile device. If an item is not on the shelf, a click on the floor map automatically places a request for the item to be borrowed from another library.
  
  
• easyBorrow public site || documentation
  Single user interface for automated requesting of returnable items from multiple shared resource systems. Uses PHP, Tomcat, and Django to build a dozen web-APIs coordinated by a Python script; a Java layer manages tunneling into the various borrowing services. Launched June 2007.
  
  
• Digital Production Workflow Manager
  The Digital Production Services team had been tracking production activities (scanning, quality control, cataloging, revision, and publication) using a MySQL/PHP database. This application has been re-engineered into a more object-oriented model using Django as the programming language. The tracking system is available to all library units as well as other campus groups involved in the production of digital content. Launched Fall 2006.
  
  
• Digital Bookplates public site || documentation
  A MySQL/PHP application which interacts with an Innovative Interfaces OPAC to manage data for over 300 endowed funds, create a digital bookplate website for each fund, and place a link to the website in the OPAC record. Launched Fall 2006.
  
  
• OCRA (Online Course Reserve Access) public site || documentation
  OCRA is a full-bodied course reserves management application. Faculty use OCRA to submit requests for both traditional and electronic reserves (in all formats), to track and edit their requests, and to reactivate course reserves from one semester to another. The system utilizes the Library's context-sensitive linking application to deliver information about full text availability at the point at which requests are made. Students have access to a simultaneous view of all course reserve formats (in-library reserves, electronic text, audio and video streaming) and the system embeds links to this view in MyCourses (Brown's WebCT service). A staff interface allows staff in the Library and in Computing & Information Services to manage course reserves workflow for all formats. Launched Fall 2003
  
  
• Library Resource Guides public site
  A MySQL/PHP content management system which allows librarians to create dynamic customized subject and course guides.
  
  
• Electronic Dissertations public site
  The ETD system is jointly sponsored by the Graduate School and the University Library. The system was designed to collect and archive the dissertations of PhD candidates wishing to submit an electronic (instead of paper) version of their final dissertation as a text-based PDF file. The service will be extended to master's theses and other formats in the near future. The Library's contribution includes a candidate submission interface and a workflow tracking system for the Graduate School.
  
  
• METS to Solr Index Manager
  We run a Java index manager application every hour. It polls the directory with METS files to determine which files need to be indexed. Those files are posted to a parser web service which returns a solr xml doc. That solr xml doc is then posted to solr. After all files are posted to solr they are committed and optimized. The code and documentation can be found here.

APIs:

• Direct Export to RefWorks from III Web OPAC
  Rewrite and simplification of Ryerson University ColdFusion code in PHP. See IUG Clearinghouse.
  
  
• Library SOA Services
  The Library's service-oriented-architecture (SOA) web-services include:
  • Cluster availability service
  • Country code translator service
  • Hours service
  • ILS-LAS Mapper service
  • Josiah availability service
  • Language code translator service
  See documentation and code

Current Development:

• Integrated Digital Repository Architecture
  Work has begun on expanding the current repoman project and developing a repository architecture based on Lucene (index and search services), repoman (collection configuration and management) and Fedora (object management and retrieval services). Initial projects and collections include image collections (ASKB and the instructional image collection), e-dissertations, and the Rome project.
  
  
  • Metadata Creation Tool (XForms)
  • Repository Workbench (faculty drop-box)
  
  
  
• Instructional Image Collection Tools
  The Instruction & Outreach Librarian has worked with faculty and students to gather user requirements for a next-generation tool for management and aggregation of instructional images. The Architecture and Programming group will develop a suite of integrated tools that will allow us to move from the current platform (Luna Insight) to a more flexible and reliable interface for images stored in the library's main digital repository.
  
  
• VuFind Implementation Beta site || About VuFind
  VuFind is an open source discovery layer which sits on top of catalog metadata. It provides a simplified interface, faceted browsing, and Web 2.0 functionality. Our current implementation pulls content from Brown's digital collections and dissertations from the Brown Digital Repository.
  
  
• MetaLib X-Server implementation Demo site || About Xerxes
  The X-Server is an API to MetaLib federated search functionality. We are implementing David Walker's Xerxes X-Server interface. The MetaLib API also allows us to integrate MetaLib functionality directly into other applications.
  
  
• easyArticle Analogous to easyBorrow, this project will create a single interface for requesting article delivery whether from the Annex, from the stacks (for faculty), or from interlibrary loan. We do a good job of delivering scanned articles from our collections to users at other institutions via ILL; why not invest resources in delivering scanned articles from our collections to our own users?