OpenBiblio ILS

Now that openbiblio is installed time to do some admin.

Access the site by launching a web browser and going to http://localhost/openbiblio/index.php, Enter "admin" for both the userid and password whenever you are prompted to signon.

You can change the admin password from the "Admin" tab -> staff list, where you can also add more library staff members. So we add Anita Bonghit and Max Power.

Edit Library Settings:
Library Name:
Library Image URL:
Only Show Image in Header:
Library Hours:
Library Phone:
Library URL:
OPAC URL:
Session Timeout:	minutes
Search Results:	items per page
Purge Bibliography History After:	months
Block Checkouts When Fines Due:
Max. hold length:	days
Locale:	English
HTML Charset:
HTML Tag Lang Attribute:

This is where you can set things up. Where is the opac the public sees?Ok
Goto http://localhost/openbiblio/opac/ and the opac appears. It is pretty bare bones:

Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)

Welcome to our library's online public access catalog. Search our catalog to view bibliography information on holdings we have in our library.

Search Bibliography by Search Phrase:
Title Author Subject

We do a quick search for 'a' and the record display is shown. Again pretty basic.

11 results found sorted by title(sort by author).
Result Pages: 1 2 next»

Search Results:
1.	Title: Applying UML and Patterns Author: Larman, Craig Material: book Collection: Adult Nonfiction Call Number: 005.4 Lar
	Copy Barcode: 104	Status: checked in
2.	Title: Design Patterns Author: Gamma, Erich Material: book Collection: Adult Nonfiction Call Number: 005.4 Gam
	Copy Barcode: 103	Status: checked in
3.	Title: Java in a Nutshell Author: Flanagan, David Material: book Collection: Adult Nonfiction Call Number: 005.4 Fla
	Copy Barcode: 102	Status: checked in
4.	Title: PC World (Periodical):2003 Author: Material: magazines Collection: Periodics Call Number: P PCW
	Copy Barcode: 201	Status: checked in
5.	Copy Barcode: 202	Status: checked in
6.	Copy Barcode: 203	Status: checked in
7.	Title: U.S. News & World Report (Periodical):2003 Author: Material: magazines Collection: Periodics Call Number: P PCW
	Copy Barcode: 210	Status: checked in
8.	Copy Barcode: 211	Status: checked in
9.	Copy Barcode: 212	Status: checked in
10.	Copy Barcode: 213	Status: checked in

Result Pages: 1 2 next»

Time to look at some enhancement such as LoC lokup patch, a series of scripts that use Z39.50 to grab and load MARC records. These addons are listed in the page at http://obiblio.sourceforge.net/index.php/Main/AddOns

We try the Amazon lookup first and download amazon.zip. The amazon folder inside contains 3 php scripts and install instructions. Ok this requires something from Amazon which we don't have right now so later....

Note: You must have an Amazon access key to use this module.

You may obtain an access key from Amazon by registering for web services at: https://aws-portal.amazon.com/gp/aws/developer/registration/index.html.

To find your access key, go to the web services section on Amazon. Search for 'Amazon Web Services' on the Amazon main page to find the link to it, and click it. Near the top right of the main content (below the header, mouse over 'Your Web Services Account' and click 'View Access Key Identifiers'.

Copy and paste your access key into amazon.conf.php

On the the next addon, the library of congress SRU module. We download locsru.zip and inside are a bunch of php scripts and some install instructions. First we edit navbars/cataloguing.php and add:


/**
* Added for Library of Congress SRU module
*/
if($nav == 'locsru')
{
echo '» ' . $navLoc->getText('LOCsearch') . "
\n";
}
else
{
echo '' . $navLoc->getText('LOCsearch') . "
\n";
}
?>

Then we edit locale/en/navbars.php and add a bunch of text and then finally:

Copy the following files to /catalog

locsru.php
locsru.php.ini
locsru_form.php
locsru_multiple.php
locsru_process.php
locsru_search.php

This extension should allow users to retrieve information from the Library of Congree using SRU, which returns an XML form. This module does not require YAZ functionality and should work on all platforms. The menu entry is added and this is what you get:

locsru_Instructions:

locsru_Search

The instructions lable is not linked so it is hard to know what to do until you know what to do. So more research is needed. I decide to test out the MARC record import.

The Upload MARC Record function on the menu yields this:

Test Load: True False
USMarc Input File:

---

Defaults:

Collection:	Adult Fiction Adult Nonfiction Cassettes Compact Discs Computer Software Easy Readers Juvenile Fiction Juvenile Nonfiction New Books Periodics Reference Videos and DVDs
Type of Material:	audio tapes book cd audio cd computer equipment magazines maps video/dvd
Show in OPAC:	YesNo

The TEST load true is useful as it will load the data and show you the MARC records. Best to test the import before putting them into the catalog. Once working set the radio button to FALSE and change Show in OPAC to YES.

Of course you need to find a .MARC file containing library records in USMARC format. I got 500 test records from http://www.humanitiesebook.org/librarians.html which has three .zip files of 2000,500 and a sample for download. It also links to a useful tool called MarcEdit.

A free MARC editing tool known as “MarcEdit” can be downloaded from: http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/marcedit/html/downloads.html.

I was thinking that for the pride special collection on campus something like openbiblio might be the answer, particularly if they catalog the items into MarcEdit and then use the marceditor function to produce MARC records that could be uploaded into openbiblio or another library system.

I uploaded acls6b.marc into openbiblio and the 500 records were imported into the OPAC in seconds.

joomla integration

The joomla extension is not is usual .zip format it is a gzippped tarball and it is old, from 2006. When we try and itstall it notes this needs the legacy plugin. So the first thing to do is go to the Plugin Manager and enable the System-Legacy plugin.

Next off to the Extensions manager and select the downloaded file and click Upload and Install. We get the following error, based on the previous attempt:

JInstaller::install: There is already a folder called 'E:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\administrator\components\com_obiblioopac4j\tmpl\showobibconfig.html'.
- openbiblio addins

Except we don't see the directory.

---- Update Sept 2009 ------

Installed the Amazon look up but any search returns no results - not sure why yet.

However, the library of congress lookup is great and works really fast - look up any book and then copy the MARC record into the catalog - you can edit the basic record or the marc record.
Excellent! This could serve as a personal library - just enter the ISBN of your books and you got the record - enter your friends as borrowers etc...

If you click on circulation and click SEARCH without entering a name or library card number it displays all the records. There are 3 patrons:

3 results found.

Search Results:
1.	Baggins, Bilbo Hole 1, 1st Street The Shire, IA 12345 Card Number: 102 Classification: adult
2.	Baggins, Frodo Hole 2, 1st Street The Shire, IA 12345 Card Number: 103 Classification: adult
3.	Cat, Huckle 101 1st Street BusyTown,IA 12345 Card Number: 101 Classification: juvenile

Clicking New Member allows you to add a patron. All of the input forms except the classification are text boxes. What is the format of the Card number? Let's try the help screen. 'this section still under construction'.

Go to the Collections page (Admin tab) and set Daily Late Fee for all collections to zero. BTW there are 494 adult non-fiction books in my collection.

ToDo:

- remove all the existing records
- start cataloguing my books using the ISBN and LOC
- figure out how the call numbers work - really it should let mysql autonumber

I don't think any of the books from the MARC records i loaded have call numbers! So when a record is loaded it needs to be assigned a call number.

How to Add a Bar Code

Search for and display a record
Click Add New Copy
Place a tick in the AutoGenerate checkbox
Click Submit

A bar code such as 004831 is issued for the record and it's status is changed to Checked In. A call number is not added although you can edit the record to add one.

You could also add books (called bibliography?) by doing your own original cataloging.

The reports tab can retrieve a list of all books with call numbers (just enter 00) - you can export reports as HTML or CSV.

Actually, i'm starting to like openbiblio - for a program not yet in version 1.0 that has not been actively developed for years it has some nice features. Since the code is php and the database is mysql and the presentation is css it could be modified by a knowledgeable person. Shame that some library or organization doesn't sponsor some development of the program. As a learning or lite system for person or small libraries. This would be a perfect program to get the pride library collection on campus up on the Internet.

Bugs

Add new member classificaiton is mis-spelled in the Admin tab

The system supports barcodes - we should get one of those wasp bar code scanners - there is also a program that uses a webcam to scan barcodes - wonder if that would work...