Happy Holidays to any (and all) readers of this blog.
I'll be back after Christmas with some interesting posts. I hope to blog more about our streaming video (GerbilCam), text messaging (my article on Text messaging will be in the January, 2009 Computers in Libraries), and mobile workstations.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Libraries on NBC Nighty News
NBC had a nice segment about public libraries on their nightly newscast last night:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#28165432
In brief, use is up -- way up. This includes circulation, computer use, etc.
We've certainly seen an increase in use, in particular our Technology centers. Lots of job seekers, and people who perhaps are cutting back and can't afford internet at home anymore.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#28165432
In brief, use is up -- way up. This includes circulation, computer use, etc.
We've certainly seen an increase in use, in particular our Technology centers. Lots of job seekers, and people who perhaps are cutting back and can't afford internet at home anymore.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Fun with Wordle
The above graphic is a world cloud representation of a day's worth of searches at Carmel Clay Public Library. The image was generated using wordle (http://www.wordle.net/). Using wordle, you can paste in a series of terms, and generate the cloud, showing which terms are more commonly used. There are many options for arrangement, color, etc.
Obtaining the search terms was relatively easy on our SirsiDynix GL3.1 ILS. First, I edited our system.env file and added the following line:
Obtaining the search terms was relatively easy on our SirsiDynix GL3.1 ILS. First, I edited our system.env file and added the following line:
USAGE_LOGGING|1|
1 turns logging on, zero turns it off.This turns on usage logging. The log files can be found in /s/Sirsi/Unicorn/Webcat/Logs and are n the format of 20081209.weblog for the 12/09/2008 logfile. Unfortunately, the log file is mostly garbage:
2008/12/9 03:47:34 UFSQuery: "GENERAL halo" Session: 296070012 Server: 1home Records: 49
2008/12/9 03:47:35 UFSQuery: "GENERAL archaeology as human ecology" Session: 210950013 Server: 1home Records: 02008/12/9
What can we do to make this more useable? I decided to write a simple Cold Fusion script to process this data, removing all the extraneous information so that we'd end up with a list of words. The following code is a brute force method of doing this -- by simply looping over the list, it removes un-needed data:
The code can be modified for a different file path, or increase the loopcount from 5000 to however many lines exist in your logfile. Once this has run, you will be left with a file of words. Simply open that file, past it into wordle, and you've got your graphic!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
A Year of Program Reminders
Last year around this time, I was looking at the local PBS affiliate's website, trying to find a listing for a program we had seen the night before (something to do with ants, I think). I noticed that they had built a nice function into their program schedule, which allowed you to send yourself e-mail reminders about upcoming programs.
I was somewhat aware that other libraries may be doing this, but we weren't, so I quickly wrote some code and integrated it into our online calendar (http://www.carmel.lib.in.us/calendar/calendar.cfm).
It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to write, mostly because dealing with ODBC date/time stuff is never much fun for me. It ended up being a simple database table, with a few Cold Fusion pages processing the input and sending the reminders. A simple Java popup window was created, so that when the patron clicked "E-mail Reminder", they could enter their e-mail address to be notified about that program. The e-mail reminder arrives the day before the program, with a quick note and a link back to the library calendar.
The service was launched without any fanfare or publicity, and patrons quickly found it and began using it. It's been a year now, and we sent 1,348 e-mail program reminders over that time, about 3.5 per day. Of course, there are plenty of days when we have no programs, with zero reminders sent. On the other hand, we sent 33 reminders one day in June -- the day our summer reading programs were to begin.
I've always been a big fan of creating services to make our patron's lives easier. I think this one falls nicely into that category, and I'm very pleased with the way it has worked. If I had to improve this software, I'd allow patrons the ability to select multiple events, and only enter their e-mail address once. As it stands now, they have to click on each event. Checking logs tells me that certain patrons check the calendar, then set a reminder for every event they are interested in (often, 10 or more). I can see how having to type your address that many times (or hopefully, paste it in), can be cumbersome.
An improvement to this service was the addition of text message reminders, which we've had up and running since April, 2008. I'll be talking more about that, and other text messaging features, in the future.
I was somewhat aware that other libraries may be doing this, but we weren't, so I quickly wrote some code and integrated it into our online calendar (http://www.carmel.lib.in.us/calendar/calendar.cfm).
It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to write, mostly because dealing with ODBC date/time stuff is never much fun for me. It ended up being a simple database table, with a few Cold Fusion pages processing the input and sending the reminders. A simple Java popup window was created, so that when the patron clicked "E-mail Reminder", they could enter their e-mail address to be notified about that program. The e-mail reminder arrives the day before the program, with a quick note and a link back to the library calendar.
The service was launched without any fanfare or publicity, and patrons quickly found it and began using it. It's been a year now, and we sent 1,348 e-mail program reminders over that time, about 3.5 per day. Of course, there are plenty of days when we have no programs, with zero reminders sent. On the other hand, we sent 33 reminders one day in June -- the day our summer reading programs were to begin.
I've always been a big fan of creating services to make our patron's lives easier. I think this one falls nicely into that category, and I'm very pleased with the way it has worked. If I had to improve this software, I'd allow patrons the ability to select multiple events, and only enter their e-mail address once. As it stands now, they have to click on each event. Checking logs tells me that certain patrons check the calendar, then set a reminder for every event they are interested in (often, 10 or more). I can see how having to type your address that many times (or hopefully, paste it in), can be cumbersome.
An improvement to this service was the addition of text message reminders, which we've had up and running since April, 2008. I'll be talking more about that, and other text messaging features, in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
