Hi Lauren, that makes sense and clears up roughly what you're looking for!
So, to be clear, I'm not aware of anything that does specifically what
you're asking for, BUT! I think you could probably get pretty far with a
nearly zero code solution that might fit your needs. At least to get
started.
Many of the discovery systems that I've worked with (EDS, Summon, etc.),
have (or at least *had* - I'm not using them in anger, so I can't say for
certain this is still the case, but others can chime in) had a means to
define a context in which you're searching (they call this different things
in different systems) which then allowed you customize, e.g., the options
that display for search results (like export to a tool that is only
available to specific communities or whatever). This could also possibly
get around any potential login hurdles from the LMS->Discovery service and
whatnot, but YMMV.
So I don't think it would be terribly complicated to take the
edu-apps/instructure LTI apps tool (https://github.com/whitmer/edu_apps)
which provides a really simple LTI producer interface that supports LTI
Content-Item Message. Basically, it's just a *really* simple url
redirection service. So if you set up a new 'tool' that redirected to a
search interface where you've customized the context (hands waving wildly
here) that provided a way to pass the discovery system's direct link syntax
back to the edu-apps tool that provides Content-Item launch url that the
tool passes back to the LMS.
You'd basically have a launch URL that looks roughly like:
https://
{URL_TO_YOUR_IMPLEMENTATION_OF_THE_LTI_TOOL}/tool_redirect?url=https%3A//
www.worldcat.org/title/implementing-a-bento-style-search-in-libguides-v2/oclc/5909322879%26referer%3Dbrief_results
(for an WorldCat permalink)
This is *basically* what the wikipedia search tool is doing, albeit slicker
and in JS. It's hard to really know how satisfying the user experience for
such an approach would be, and that would likely vary from vendor to vendor
(and probably trial and error for the best 'context sensitive' approaches),
but being able to leverage the discovery system's native UI will more than
likely be fewer headaches. I mean, again, YMMV, but at least maintenance
would theoretically be somebody else's problem.
If nothing else, it should provide enough for a proof of concept with the
least amount of effort.
Using the above with the edu-apps server, I got something like this in my
dev Canvas course:
[image: worldcat-lti.png]
Not perfect, obviously, but I've also invested nothing in this.
-Ross.
On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 6:11 PM Lauren Magnuson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Thanks Ross. The use case I'm specifically interested in is the creation
> of an LTI app that would enable a user within a course management system to
> a) search a library discovery system and b) import links for resources from
> the discovery systems into the LMS.
> The functionality I'm interested in is similar to the functionality
> provided by the Wikipedia LTI app (https://www.edu-apps.org/edu_
> apps/index.html?tool=wikipedia), where the library discovery system is
> searched in place of Wikipedia articles.
>
> I'm aware of some products on the market that enable this (Springshare's
> e-reserves module, Ex Libris' Leganto, and EBSCO's curriculum builder), but
> I'm specifically looking for anyone who would be willing to share a
> free/open source example, or anyone who's actively working on something
> like this.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Lauren
>
> On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 1:25 PM, Ross Singer <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Lauren,
> >
> > I have experience with LTI, although not with discovery systems (at
> least,
> > not directly) and I think you'll need to provide a little more context as
> > to what you're trying achieve, because I don't see how the discovery
> system
> > APIs would come into play (again, at least not directly).
> >
> > Are you looking for existing applications that use discovery APIs that
> are
> > *also* LTI producers? The nice thing about LTI is that it's a *really*
> > thin veneer between the consumer (e.g. Blackboard, Moodle, etc.) and the
> > producer, so regardless of whether or not the library app you want to use
> > actually supports LTI, it's really easy to create a proxy for it to get
> > support (e.g. an app that accept the LTI launch action and maps that to a
> > deep link in whatever system you want to integrate).
> >
> > That said, the biggest challenge that I have found *BY FAR* is trying to
> > *consistently* map LMS data to whatever other system you're trying to
> > integrate: often the LMS and "System X" don't use the same SSO (so how do
> > you identify a user? how to keep them from having to "log in twice",
> > etc.); the courses will be identified completely differently in the LMS
> and
> > "System X" (for course readings, etc.) which will then require (at best)
> > regexes to map one to the other or (worst case) some kind of search into
> > the library system.
> >
> > But, again, with specific sorts of use cases, it'd be a lot easier to
> > enumerate the possibilities and snares between LMSes and library systems
> > and what sort of LTI shims could be placed between them.
> >
> > -Ross.
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 8:12 PM Lauren Magnuson <
> > [log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > I'm looking for examples of open source LTI (Learning Tools
> > > Interoperability) [1] applications using library discovery APIs (e.g.,
> > > WorldCat, Summon, Primo, etc.). Anyone have an example out there, or
> > done
> > > some work LTI and library systems and would be willing to share your
> > > experiences (roadblocks, challenges, solutions, etc.)?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > >
> > > Lauren Magnuson
> > > CSU San Marcos
> > > PALNI
> > >
> > > [1] https://www.imsglobal.org/activity/learning-tools-interoperability
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Head of Collection Management & Technical Services, CSU San Marcos
> Development Coordinator, PALNI
> 530-949-5108 <(530)%20949-5108> <(530)%20949-5108>
>
