Well, in this case one of the major goals of this project would be to 
remove the dependency on the OPAC for providing a call number browse. We 
would like to be able to turn off support for our OPAC here at some 
point, since we're not using any longer for keyword searching.

-emily

William C Kurt wrote:
> Why not just build a decent cover flow UI over the existing call number
> browse in the catalog with Javascript?  Just grab the cover images and
> display them using something like http://www.deensoft.com/lab/protoflow/
> That way you could recreate the  'browsing' experience, not have to have
> the user learn a new tool and not have to worry about how you're going
> to implement browsing the call numbers (similar to what the Oakville
> Public Library is doing on that page).  
> 
> In the past I put together a quick demo of this (not for call numbers,
> just for regular search listings) in an evening:
> http://lib-bling.com/unr/unrdemo/unrcoverflowdemo.htm 
> 
> That's a very rough demo but implementing something similar using
> default call number browse in the catalog would probably be not much
> more difficult and would provide roughly the experience it seems you're
> looking for without having to worry about overly complex solutions.
> 
> --Will
> 
> Will Kurt
> Applications Development Librarian
> University of Nevada, Reno
> Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center
> phone: 775 682-5679
> email: [log in to unmask] 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Emily Lynema
> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 8:46 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] creating call number browse
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> I would love to tackle the issue of creating a really cool call number 
> browse tool that utilizes book covers, etc. However, I'd like to do this
> 
> outside of my ILS/OPAC. What I don't know is whether there are any 
> indexing / SQL / query techniques that could be used to browse forward 
> and backword in an index like this.
> 
> Has anyone else worked on developing a tool like this outside of the 
> OPAC? I guess I would be perfectly happy even if it was something I 
> could build directly on top of the ILS database and its indexes (we use 
> SirsiDynix Unicorn).
> 
> I wanted to throw a feeler out there before trying to dream up some wild
> 
> scheme on my own.
> 
> -emily
> 
> P.S. The version of BiblioCommons released at Oakville Public Library 
> has a sweet call number browse function accessible from the full record 
> page. I would love to know know how that was accomplished.
> 
> http://opl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1413841_mars
> 

-- 
Emily Lynema
Systems Librarian for Digital Projects
Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
919-513-8031
[log in to unmask]