SOPAC

Questions about the SOPAC module based on the implementation at Darien:

1. Under the "Fine-tune by location" option, it appears that you are showing location codes from Millennium, which might not mean anything to customers (I know our customers would have a hard time deciphering our location codes). Are there other options for displaying that information? Could we display only the branch, or the location label instead of the code?

2. Are the "sort-by" options customizable? Could we, for example, add a "sort by title" or "sort by publication date" in addition to the options you have listed?

Hi John,

I'd just like to say thank you. I think you've got the ball rolling on a great project. I'm a web designer more than programmer, and I just finished modifying a WebOPAC Pro installation for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The templating structure of that product is horrendous, and I had to use ugly javascript hacks to insert HTML into certain pages over which I didn't have control.

Furthermore, our library has purchased Encore, which I find to be a very poor product. Aquabrowser is mildly better, but I believe your project has potential far beyond those, and solves a number of problems those products cannot address, such as user authentication via normal username/pass rather than archaic 14 character barcodes and PINs, or the fact Encore isn't customizable in any way (which is a problem for branding, plus Encore is ugly).

The financial situation is a little sketchy in Nevada higher ed right now due to the poor economic times, but I hope to work with you to extend functionality. This product has the potential and vision to become truly amazing. Thank you for your work, and please keep at it!

Brian

I have been poking around Darien's site, rating and tagging a few things (and even writing a review, which I was excited to see appear on the main Darien page right away). I'm a big fan of connecting with other users on sites like flickr and Facebook, adding people to my contacts list with whom I share hobbies or interests or whose content I want to be able to return to at will.

This leads me to wonder several things:

Are any plans to add the ability to create contact lists in SOPAC? Is this a feature currently offered in some Drupal module, or would it have to be developed?

Does Darien have guidelines or policies in place regarding patron-generated content and potential concomitant privacy issues?

Do you think that privacy issues would prevent the development or debut of a feature like being able to add fellow patrons and library staff to a "friends" list in SOPAC? It would be great to be able to mark folks as "My Librarians" or "My Library Friends," but I'm just a geek that way. :)

LibraryThing and flickr keep leaping to mind as sites where user-generated content is key, but the ability to connect with fellow users is just as important. Thoughts?

I'm curious if SOPAC uses MYSQL specific sql/features or if it will work with postgresql? I usually run my drupal sites on postgresql. How about the other components? (I know I should read the fine manuals before posting, I don't have an excuse).
Josh