Aleph-Based ApplicationsUniversity of Haifa Library

Yosef Branse

“Developer Meets Developer”

Ex Libris

Jerusalem

4-5 November 2009

University of HaifaMount Carmel

University of Haifa

Founded 1963, accredited from 1972 Six faculties : Humanities, Social

Sciences, Law, Education, Science & Science Education, Social Welfare & Health Sciences

17,000 degree students c. 2000 academic staff, 600

administrative staff

University of Haifa Library

Central library c. two million items (print and

nonprint) c. 23,000 current periodical

subscriptions Pioneer in library automation in Israel,

with projects from c. 1977 (Index to Hebrew Periodicals)

Ex Libris Products in Use

1. Aleph (since Aleph 300, mid-1980s)

2. 2005 – SFX, Metalib

3. 2006 – Digitool

4. 2009 - Primo (“OneSearch”)

- First Israeli installation

- Cooperation with Ex Libris in development of Hebrew interface

5. 2009 – bX (including publishing)

Our toolbox

RedHat Linux Apache Web server Oracle 10 SQL+ php – versions 4, 5 shell programming (csh, bash) Aleph services

Our partners

University of Haifa Library is unique among Israeli academic libraries in having its own in-house information-systems department. We work in close cooperation with other University divisions:

MIS Student Authority Human Resources Computing Division

Extensions to Aleph

Circulation

- processing of reader data (students and staff) via files received from other divisions

- SMS notifications re arrival of books on hold, overdues, upcoming return dates

Extensions to Aleph - 2-

Acquisitions

- orders-status reports

- invoice payments Course readings Reference services

- followup on reader consultations

Extensions to Aleph - 3-

Online registration for orientation sessions and tracking participation

Updating dealer domains in University’s proxy server

Automatic update of users and access authorizations for University’s Single Sign On (SSO)

Circulation / Reader data

Personal data regarding students and staff members is forwarded daily from relevant divisions.

Material is checked for validity and used to format files in format required for updating, via Aleph services, reader-data tables in ADM library HAI50

Circulation / Reader data – 2-

Readers are classified into a large number of borrower types, based on parameters such as degree, tenure, etc.

In normal circumstances, new reader will have Library privileges the day following entry of personal data into University database

Circulation / Reader data – 3-

create or replace view reader_data (tz, name, title,

type, status, expiry_date,

mail_address, mail_zip, email,

phone1, phone2, phone3, phone4)

as select distinct substr(z303.z303_rec_key, 1, 9),

convert(z303.Z303_NAME, 'IW8ISO8859P8', 'UTF8'),

convert(z303.Z303_TITLE, 'IW8ISO8859P8', 'UTF8'),

z305.Z305_BOR_TYPE, z305.Z305_BOR_STATUS, z305.Z305_EXPIRY_DATE,

convert(z304.Z304_ADDRESS, 'IW8ISO8859P8', 'UTF8'),

z304.Z304_ZIP,

z304.Z304_EMAIL_ADDRESS,

z304.Z304_TELEPHONE, z304.Z304_TELEPHONE_2,

z304.Z304_TELEPHONE_3, z304.Z304_TELEPHONE_4

from z303, z304, z305

where substr(z303.z303_rec_key, 1, 9) = substr(z304.z304_rec_key, 1, 9) and

substr(z303.z303_rec_key, 1, 9) = substr(z305.z305_rec_key, 1, 9) and

regexp_like(substr(z303.z303_rec_key, 1, 9), '[0-9]{9}') and

upper(trim(substr(z305.z305_rec_key, 13))) = 'H1' and

z304_address_type = '2';

Orders Status Reports

Aleph catalog includes local field citing lecturer or librarian who requested purchase of an item

Tracks order details in items table (z30) of ADM library (HAI50)

Current order status is stored in table Person who initiated order can view

listing of all items and their current status

Orders Status Reports - 2-

Twice monthly, letters are sent via email reporting on items whose order status has changed

Invoice payments

Invoices are recorded in ADM library via standard Aleph module, but there is still a need for a mechanism for requesting payment to dealers and accessing archival data

Using inhouse system, acquisitions staffer requests preparation of payment orders consolidating invoices

Invoice payments - 2-

for dealers, depending on available budget

Invoices are scanned and stored for future reference as needed, along with details of the payment order.

Staffers may view details according to different parameters, such as all payments to a dealer, total payments in a fiscal year, etc.

Reference Services

Helpdesk staffers can type in ID number of patron requesting assistance and view pertinent data (name, department of study, expiration date of Library privileges, authorization to access online resources, etc.)

Online form enables input of details regarding consultation – duration, nature, location – which are stored

Reference Services - 2-

in a table and used to generate summary data regarding the helpdesk consultations over a period of time

Online forms facilitate user registration for a variety of orientation sessions for both faculty and staff, given throughout the academic year, and personal consultations with reference staff.

Reference Services - 3-

Additional interface allows students to confirm – via a session-specific password – their participation in an orientation. Data obtained can be used for statistics and for informing departments how many students have had mandatory Library introduction.

Desiderata - Things to learn and do … someday APIs Revise local applications for general use, upload to EL

Commons Documentation, via Library wiki Organized function libraries Use of templates in php (Smarty, Savant3) Compare use of PL/SQL v. php with OCI8 extensions for

retrieving and processing database records SQL tuning

Thank you!

Questions?

Yosef Branse

University of Haifa Library

Haifa Israel 31905

jody@univ.haifa.ac.il

Library website: http://lib.haifa.ac.il