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