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On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 12:29 PM, Dan Scott <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>>> "Rainwater, Jean" <[log in to unmask]> 1/27/2012 6:14 AM >>> >> We've used a home-grown course reserves system for text, audio, and video >> since 2003. That system is showing its age and we're exploring whether to >> replace or completely overhaul it. We know of ReservesDirect - are there >> other open source applications out there? If folks have experience with >> ReservesDirect and are willing to share that would be useful too. > > Hi Jean: > > Syrup (source repo visible at http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=Syrup.git;a=summary - most recent commit 3 weeks ago, so it's a going concern) is a Django-based reserves system that Art Rhyno and Graham Fawcett built over the past few years. It's in use at a few institutions, I believe, including the University of Windsor; it has good integration with Evergreen but was built to be ILS-agnostic, communicating with an ILS via SIP and Z39.50 (when communication with an ILS is necessary at all). It was inspired by ReservesDirect, and so enables uploading digital objects, although I don't think it offers the fax gateway that ReservesDirect did / does. I'm curious, as the one who originally put in the fax support for ReservesDirect (which I cribbed from eRes), do people still think this is useful? It was written about 10 years ago -- scanners were neither commonplace nor terribly easy to use. All that's changed, while fax machines are probably becoming less common. My point is that the fax part was kind of a pain to set up and maintain, but the enthusiasm that it received from faculty made it worthwhile. If (as I assume) every academic has a scanner nowadays, is there any justification to run a fax gateway? I ask because I'm about to embark on a similar project. -Ross. > > It can hook into LDAP to provide authentication and authorization (restricting visibility to courses via class lists if your IT infrastructure is that sophisticated; giving certain accounts access to upload materials / edit courses so profs can delegate permissions to TAs and the like), and allows pretty deep structuring of course content. > > That said, I haven't actually installed or admin'ed Syrup myself, so take my description for what it's worth :) > > Dan Scott