[Web4lib] Library website locations and hours

[John Fereira]

We have taken a slightly different approach than many shown here.  First 
of all, we have 19 unit libraries at Cornell.  There is a main library 
website, and most of the unit library sites maintain a separate web 
pretense.  Only a couple of those are using Drupal.  Most are using a 
proprietary CMS (based on Coldfusion) and others are using Dreamweaver 
or just hand coded static pages.

I have developed a suite of library services with the goal of producing 
content for any (well the static sites can't really use it) of the 
sites.  The services were developed as a java web application (using the 
Spring Framework) with multiple views of the data module (xhtml, xml, 
json, and rss or iCal where appropriate).  The library hours service has 
a backend admin UI that provides the means to enter in library hours for 
any time period and for any location (library).  Right now, only the 
library in which I'm working is using the service and basically consumes 
library hours data four ways (using rest style urls).

getLibraryHoursForToday
getLibraryHoursForSpecificDay
getLibraryHoursForCurrentSemester
getLibraryHoursForAcademicYear

There is a simple drupal module that makes those calls, gets back some 
json, then themes it for a page (using module hooks).

Our main page displays todays hours as part of the theme:

http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu

This page displays hours for the current academic semester.  Note that 
the Fall semester ended yesterday and now the Winter Session hours are 
displaying even though nothing was changed on the Drupal site or service.

http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu/hours

And here is the academic year page:

http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu/hours/academic-year

The getLibraryHoursForSpecificDay service is actually being called by a 
separate meeting room reservation module.  That way someone can't 
reserve a room for a time when the library is closed.

We also have a large LCD display in our lobby that has a simple php page 
for displaying dynamic content which includes todays hours and the 
upcoming hours (next two weeks).

For location information we're using a "Smartmap" system.  It's 
integrated into many places on our library site with "Map It" links. 
For example, check out any of the "Map It" links on our printers page:

http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu/equipment-software/printers