Thanks, Naomi, I need to try out the latest version (haven't looked at it
for a few months now), and then I will do just that.
On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 3:56 PM, Naomi Dushay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Marijane,
>
> Yes, I would encourage you to ask for help on the blacklight list, with
> specifics about the problems you're having. We've set up Blacklight on a
> bunch of non-Marc Solr indexes here.
>
> - Naomi
>
>
> On Jan 6, 2010, at 1:32 PM, marijane white wrote:
>
> I've read about Blacklight's ability to run on any Solr index, but I've
>> struggled to make it work with mine. Honestly, I've been left with the
>> impression that my data should be in MARC if I want to use it. Is there
>> some documentation on this somewhere that I've overlooked? (Maybe I
>> should
>> ask this on the BL list....)
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Naomi Dushay <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Marijane,
>>>
>>> It also makes sense to examine the available software for what you wish
>>> to
>>> accomplish. Available software goes beyond current features to
>>> - maintainability (one reason Stanford switched to Blacklight) I'll
>>> talk
>>> a little bit about this in our Code4Lib 2010 presentation about testing.
>>> - community
>>> - active development
>>> - potential applicability to additional projects. (we like Blacklight
>>> for
>>> its ability to run on any solr index, regardless of what's in there)
>>>
>>> probably some other stuff I've left out.
>>>
>>> Our experience at Stanford Libraries is that the common conventions of
>>> Rails give us a lot more ease in reading each others' code.
>>>
>>> - Naomi
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 5, 2010, at 3:04 PM, marijane white wrote:
>>>
>>> Greetings Code4Lib,
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Long time lurker, first time poster here.
>>>>
>>>> I've been turning over this question in my mind for a few weeks now, and
>>>> Joe
>>>> Hourcle's postscript in the Online PHP Course thread has prompted me to
>>>> finally try to ask it. =)
>>>>
>>>> I'm interested in hearing how the members of this list have gone about
>>>> choosing development platforms for their library coding projects and/or
>>>> existing open source projects (ie like VuFind vs Blacklight). For
>>>> example,
>>>> did you choose a language you already were familiar with? One you
>>>> wanted
>>>> to
>>>> learn more about? Does your workplace have a standard enterprise
>>>> architecture/platform that you are required to use? If you have chosen
>>>> to
>>>> implement an existing open source project, did you choose based on the
>>>> development platform or project maturity and features or something else?
>>>>
>>>> Some background -- thanks to my undergraduate computer engineering
>>>> studies,
>>>> I have a pretty solid understanding of programming fundamentals, but
>>>> most
>>>> of
>>>> my pre-LIS work experience was in software testing and did not require
>>>> me
>>>> to
>>>> employ much of what I learned programming-wise, so I've mostly dabbled
>>>> over
>>>> the last decade or so. I've got a bit of experience with a bunch of
>>>> languages and I'm not married to any of them. I also kind of like
>>>> having
>>>> excuses to learn new ones.
>>>>
>>>> My situation is this: I would like to eventually implement a discovery
>>>> tool
>>>> at MPOW, but I am having a hell of a time choosing one. I'm a solo
>>>> librarian on a content team at a software and information services
>>>> company,
>>>> so I'm not really tied to the platforms used by the software engineering
>>>> teams here. I know a bit of Ruby, so I've played with Blacklight some,
>>>> got
>>>> it to install on Windows and managed to import a really rough Solr
>>>> index.
>>>> I'm more attracted to the features in VuFind, but I don't know much PHP
>>>> yet
>>>> and I haven't gotten it installed successfully yet. My collection's
>>>> metadata is not in an ILS (yet) and not in MARC, so I've also considered
>>>> trying out more generic approaches like ajax-solr (though I don't know a
>>>> lot
>>>> of javascript yet, either). I've also given a cursory look at SOPAC and
>>>> Scriblio. My options are wide open, and I'm having a rough time
>>>> deciding
>>>> what direction to go in. I guess it's kind of similar to someone who is
>>>> new
>>>> to programming and attempting to choose their first language to learn.
>>>>
>>>> I will attempt to head off a programming language religious war =) by
>>>> stating that I'm not really interested in the virtues of one platform
>>>> over
>>>> another, moreso the abstract reasons one might have for selecting one.
>>>> Have any of you ever been in a similar situation? How'd you get
>>>> yourself
>>>> unstuck? If you haven't, what do you think you might do in a situation
>>>> like
>>>> mine?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -marijane
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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