Unlocking Your ILS Data Unlocking Your ILS Data Mobile access via handheld devices Michael Doran, Systems Librarian LITA 2009 National Forum Salt Lake City, Utah October 3, 2009

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Where do we get our ILS data? Our ILS data sits on a server, but to get at it we need an ILS client... Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation OPAC Reports etc. Integrated Library System SQL> DROP DATABASE xxxdb; Woo-hoo! Got SQL*Plus! This will fix things!

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ILS data – the gate keepers cataloging client circulation client acquisitions client OPAC mobile client “data” 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian To a computer......on a desk... and for non-OPAC data, (generally) in an office or behind a counter. go Where do we go to get the ILS data?

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Working in the trenches stacks

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian You could carry your PC with you

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian If we could access ILS data with a wireless-enabled hand-held device? But wouldn’t it be nice... Windows Mobile PalmiPhone and iPod Touch any smart phone WiFi or cellular data networks 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian …not only for OPAC access… Innovative Interface’s “AirPAC” catalog

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian …but also for staff Stacks maintenance would be so much easier if I could look up stuff on a handset.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian A vendor perspective John McCullough, “Redesigning Library Applications for PDAs: ILS Vendor Perspective.” Library Hi Tech, 21:4 (2003), p “At this time Innovative is releasing a wireless OPAC interface and developing wireless solutions for staff applications” “Offline circulation suggests itself […and…] Inventory of the physical collection is a second area of great interest in PDAs.” “Innovative Interfaces is currently developing a wireless Inventory product which will use a PDA to read barcodes using Bluetooth and populate an HTML form on a Web browser on the device. This form will then submit the barcodes over a wireless connection to the library database server and will return a response to the device indicating item status, whether the item is out of shelf order, and giving the option to dynamically, and from within the stacks, update the item record itself.” 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Vendor products for staff use  2004 – originally released as Wireless Workstation  2008 – rebranded as CircaCirca Innovative Interface’s “wireless solution for inventory and circulation functions” SirsiDynix’s PocketCirc client “for circulation and inventory functions”  2004 – Unicorn ILS versionUnicorn ILS version  2009 – Horizon ILS versionHorizon ILS version Note: dates are approximate 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Back to the future… AirPAC Circa & PocketCirc Where’s handheld app! 7

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Waiting for Godot the vendor How long must we wait for a handheld client for our ILS? …or one that does what we want? …or one that doesn’t cost us extra dough? 4

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Waiting for Godot Vendors are smart and competent  Aware of the growing demand for mobile data access  Have an intimate knowledge of the ILS systems  Have crackerjack programmers So what’s the hold up?  ILS product life cycle – saturation stage  No good pricing model for mobile clients Vendor/ILS programming paradigm:  One client/app that does everything Mobile device programming paradigm:  Many clients/apps that do one thing well the vendor

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Back to the future… “…developing a wireless Inventory product which will use a PDA to read barcodes … and populate an HTML form on a Web browser … then submit the barcodes over a wireless connection to the library database server and will return a response to the device indicating item status…” Inventory, SQL, Perl, wireless network, PDA, …bingo! 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister 1.0 – released in 2003 Generates a shelf list shelf list - a file of bibliographic records arranged in the same order as the corresponding materials on the shelves Additionally, includes any or all of... Item status Historical charges Historical browses Enhanced call number information And allows user to save item information for batch updating ILS Oooohh 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian End barcode Start barcode Minimize data entry ShelfLister 1.0 4

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Use as input file for bulk updating ILS 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Paging Mr. Godot… All this time, we’ve been waiting for the vendor to provide us with (and charge us extra for) handheld apps. We could have been developing them ourselves. But wait… we still can! 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Rocket scientists This is not the Library Systems staff at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian UT Arlington Library Systems staff …before our first cup of coffee in the morning

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian So, if we can do it, you can do it If I just knew what button to push!

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian All it requires is an “open” ILS system They told me I didn’t need to know what was inside.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian All it requires is an “open” ILS system This presenter really knows how to flog a metaphor. All I see is an empty box… where are the donuts? Did I say “donuts”? I meant data.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian …and the “Four Knowings” Know your ILS data Know the available APIs Know what you want to do Know how to (web) program It’s really quite simple!

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 1) Know your ILS data Relational database system  data dictionary – “a list of all the tables in the database and all the fields in the tables”  entity-relationship diagrams – “a graphical representation of database entities and their relationships to each other”  mental model of data  BLOBs and other problems The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone…

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Voyager ILS Oracle Database ShelfLister – 1 st knowing data “Know your ILS data” It’s all up here, baby! 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 2) Know the available APIs Web services (XML, SOAP, RESTful, y.y.)  Aleph : “X-Services”  Voyager : Web Services  Your ILS : ??? Library protocols  Z39.50 ISO/ANSI/NISO Information Retrieval ProtocolInformation Retrieval  3M SIP (Standard Interchange Protocol) 2.0Standard Interchange Protocol  NCIP (NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol)NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol  DLF’s ILS Discovery Interfaces recommendationILS Discovery Interfaces Database connection  e.g. Oracle/MySQL/etc. listener Protocols… boor-ing! Application Programming Interface 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian APIs – getting around the gate keepers cataloging client circulation client acquisitions client OPAC Z39.50 server “data” NCIP server web services Oracle listener 4

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Which API should you use? What data can it read  database connection – everything!  web services, library protocols – eh, not so much What data can it write  database connection – (effectively) nothing  web services, library protocols – it depends Mix and match Response times/latency All I see are zeros and ones!

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister – 2 nd knowing “Know the available APIs” Oracle listener Web services Voyager ILS Oracle Database data listener 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 3) Know what you want to do Public access  Mobile OPAC?  ???????? Staff access  Inventory tool?  ??????? Be ambitious But not too ambitious (at least the first time)

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister – 3 rd knowing Free the data! “Know what you want to do” 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian 4) Know how to (web) program I.e. server-side, not client-side  Java  C/C++  Ruby  PHP  Perl  Lisp  bourne shell  whatever… You must code in Perl. It’s the Law. Just kidding! Use whatever you want! 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister – 4 th knowing Voyager ILS Oracle Database data listener shelflister.cgi Perl DBI/DBD::Oracle SQL queries “Know how to (web) program” form generation, data munging, and formatting output 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister – 4 th knowing “Know how to (web) program” “Most of the folks I know in app development are moving to standardization on web versus device specific development.” Linda Woods, AT&T Education Advocate Industry & Mobility Application Solutions comment at 2009 Handheld Librarian Online ConferenceHandheld Librarian Online Conference Web programming… heh, that’s not a real iPhone app! 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian You can (and should) do this How hard could it be? If that imbecile Doran could do one…...and maybe a case of Red Bull. Getting something to beta would only take me a couple weeks. 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian The Tao of mobile web design standards compliance web usability design minimal user (data) input design and testing  cross-browser  cross-platform A mobile web app must be as simple as possible, but no simpler. A mobile web app should do one thing and do it well.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Mobile design - browser compatibility Internet Explorer Firefox Chrome 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian XHTML/HTML/CSS validation XHTML/HTML CSS Accessibility Get right with these before you get to the platform compatibility. 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian iPhone web apps (according to Apple) Three types content:  compatible with Safari on iPhone  optimized for Safari on iPhone  iPhone web application “Most of the folks I know in app development are moving to standardization on web versus device specific development.” Linda Woods, AT&T Education Advocate Industry & Mobility Application Solutions comment at 2009 Handheld Librarian Online ConferenceHandheld Librarian Online Conference 2 W3C standards compliant - no framesets or - unsupported technologies

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Mobile design – platform compatibility viewport 4

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Mobile design – platform compatibility 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Mobile design – platform compatibility Larger buttons for finger tapping 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Handheld emulators/simulators Generally come with handheld OS SDKs  webOS (Palm) webOS  iPhone (Apple) iPhone  Android (Google & Open Handset Alliance) Android Web-based simulators (be leery)  Opera Mini Simulator – good Opera Mini Simulator  TestiPhone.com – absolutely worthless Software Development Kit Operating System

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Handheld emulators/simulators Palm iPhone Android Opera Mini 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Mobile design – platform compatibility 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Test it on the real thing (handset), too! Just need to… test… my app… one... more time. Borrow from colleagues Or, as a last resort…

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Don’t forget the documentation! Mobile/handheld developer sites have useful information on how to “design for small” Read it Seriously. Read it. A viewport? Who knew? It’s a small world after all.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Example docs and websites iPhone  Principles and Guidelines for Creating Great iPhone Content Principles and Guidelines for Creating Great iPhone Content  iPhone Human Interface Guidelines for Web Applications iPhone Human Interface Guidelines for Web Applications  Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS Others  Opera Mini Developer resources Opera Mini Developer resources  many, many, more… Reading? I just want to code!

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister version 2.0 (for handhelds) End barcode Start barcode 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister version 2.0 (for handhelds) 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian ShelfLister version 2.0 (for handhelds) UTA hereby grants USER permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee […] 3

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Source code 2

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Open systems – ILSs Hello ILS vendor? I’d like to order an open system. What does that mean? It means I want database access. And web services. Yeah, and an NCIP server.

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Open systems – your mobile client Consider releasing your mobile app as free open source. It’s better than free beer! Ask permission first, though! 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Asking permission 1

Michael Doran, Systems Librarian Questions? His lips are moving… but I can’t hear a thing he’s saying. Doran