Thanks, Tom! The BYU app sounds like a great starting point! We do
have A, B, and C weeks, as do many libraries, I'm sure, and I would
want to add that feature, along with a swap board.

I think I may have looked at the VT calendar a couple of weeks ago.
I'll take another look. We'd also need to have a print view that could
go directly to a handout, and later it would be expanded to allow
patrons to sign up for events that needed pre-registration.

On 8/14/07, Tom Keays <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> OT: I know Sharon was saying she'd like to develop her own code for these but...
>
> On 8/14/07, Sharon Foster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I've been thinking I'd like to develop a web-based personnel
> > scheduling program. Library scheduling has some unique problems, as
> > I'm sure you all know. ...
>
> Brigham Young University Library released open source scheduling
> software for their reference desks. It's web-based (php & mysql).
>
> http://empscheduler.sourceforge.net/
>
> The first step is to describe all the service points and coverage
> needs -- number of staff needed and hours of operation. The second
> step is to have all employees indicate when they are available --
> since itis designed with student scheduling in mind, this allows the
> scheduler to have all the student's classes blocked in up front. Each
> employee is also designated with a maximum numbers of hours to be
> scheduled.
>
> The drawbacks are that
> - it lacks any sort of automated scheduling module -- a human has to
> fit all the schedules by hand.
> - there's no built-in schedule swap board -- we use a wiki to
> accomplish that, but it would be better if built in
> - you can't note week-to-week changes in the software -- a schedule is
> for the whole semester (or whatever). There's nothing to stop you from
> establishing weekly scheduling with the software, but that would seem
> to go against the intended goal of avoiding this.
> - there is no native way to embed schedules in external web pages --
> but being mysql-based, you could easily write something
> - it was last updated in 2004 and there are a few needless browser
> dependencies in the scheduling interface
>
> Drawbacks aside, it beats the heck out of doing it in a speadsheet;
> especially if you have employees staffing multiple service points.
>
> I don't know what the licence is exactly, but it would make a good
> starting point for further development.
>
> >           An customizable events
> > calendar suitable for insertion into a library website is another task
> > that interests me.
>
> For calendars, a lot of universities use VT Calendar from Virginia
> Tech. MPOW piggybacks on the campus calendar so we don't have to
> maintain it in two places. It can be pretty easily skinned to fit your
> website's design schema. Also, this month's calendar can be inserted
> into a page and events in specific categories can be filtered in or
> out.
>
> http://vtcalendar.sourceforge.net/
>
> If that one doesn't suit you, there are many other OS calendars out there.
>
> Tom
>