Booking Rooms on the WWW /Replies

Mon Jul 1 19:03:11 EDT 1996

Thank you all very much for sending all this wonderful information.
This is a GREAT! list.
Someone asked me to post my replies to the list so I have in
distilled form.
Thanks again!
Mary A. Doyle
----------------
From: Rebecca Jackson <rjackson at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Subject: Re: Booking Rooms Using the WWW
To: "MARY A. DOYLE, SYSTEMS LIBRARIAN, ECSU" <DOYLEM at ecsuc.CTSTATEU.EDU>

On our library home page, we have forms for booking media equipment and 
media rooms.  Our URL:  gwis.circ.gwu.edu/~gelman.

Rebecca Jackson
Gelman Library
The George Washington University
rjackson at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu

> 

From: Bill Crosbie <crosbie at AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Booking Rooms Using the WWW

Mary Anne,

I'm building a custom application using Access and a Windows Web Server.
Don't know just when it will be up and functional.  I didn't find a
commercial package that would do what we wanted, but we have specific and
limited needs.

You might want to look at On Technologies scheduler.  It seemed pretty
powerful, and should have a web publishing option added soon (if you believe
marketing hype...)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Information technology has		Bill Crosbie
replaced hot cars as the  		Microcomputer Analyst
symbol of robust manhood.		Chang Science Library
   	 				Rutgers University
	  -Scott Adams			New Brunswick, NJ USA
	   creator of 'Dilbert'		crosbie at aesop.rutgers.edu
					908-932-0305 x114

>
From: JQ Johnson <jqj at darkwing.uoregon.edu>
To: doylem at ecsuc.ctststateu.edu

 I'm experimenting with using Now Up to Date for
this function; see <http://stem.uoregon.edu:1001>.
>

To: DOYLEM at ecsuc.CTSTATEU.EDU
CC: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: Booking Rooms Using the WWW

Our library wanted to push into that direction, and since we 
have some specific needs
(like having mostly Lynx (text)-capable browsers
and not many machines with GUIs) we
have been working on our own solution.

The issue of authentication was a nasty one to deal with, 
until we discovered Expect,
which lets you automate programs that need user interaction.
That way, we automated our
web server to automatically fetch the user's data from our OPAC
(via telnet) when a user
fills and submits a form with his ID and password. 

As for security, there's not much we can do for passwords going back and forth,
unencrypted; but there's not much damage that can be done with patrons'
passwords anyway
(you could renew books in his/her name, for example).

Needless to say, it runs in UNIX; although it might seem weird to most,
what I have learned from UNIX is that you can use a mish-mash of programs
and applications to best reach your goal. This system uses a combination
of C commands, Expect scripts, shell scripts and AWK scripts. 
I think if I would have sat down and written it all in, say,
PERL, it would have taken me longer than two weeks.

Since this is in testing I could rig the system for outside testing with 
a temporary id/password, if there's anybody interested.
(Oops, did I mention the html pages are in
Spanish?)

-- 
_alejandro garza
 agarza at campus.mty.itesm.mx
 ITESM Centro de Informacion-Biblioteca Monterrey
 http://www-cib.mty.itesm.mx/ __ _ _ _  _  _  _   _    _
>

From: Jerilyn Veldof <jveldof at bird.library.arizona.edu>
To: doylem at ecsuc.ctstateu.edu
Subject: booking rooms electronically

...we do this for our instructional rooms.  this way we can be speaking with 
an instructor on the phone and at the same time checking the room schedules.
we keep it on an excel spreadsheet on a library-shared drive.  it works 
very well.  we also schedule our reference desk hours on the shared 
drive.  jerilyn

**************************************************************
Jerilyn Veldof, Undergraduate and Social Sciences Librarian
University of Arizona Library
Tucson, Arizona 85720-0055
Ph: 520-621-4926  Fax: 520-621-9733
jveldof at bird.library.arizona.edu
http://www.library.arizona.edu/users/jveldof/homepage.html
**************************************************************
>

To: DOYLEM at ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU
From: George Jenkins <gjenkins at hbs.edu>
Subject: Re: Booking Rooms Using the WWW

Mary:

You might start with these products:

Meeting Maker
http://www.on.com/on/onprods/meetingm.html/tigdaec

Rendezvous
http://www.urizel.com/rendz.html

I can't comment on how well they
are as we use an internal, forms-based app on our Intranet.  I hope that
these help.

George Jenkins
Business Information Analyst
Harvard Business School
GJenkins at hbs.edu
(617) 495-6837
--------------
>

From: Prentiss Riddle <riddle at is.rice.edu>
Subject: Re: Booking Rooms Using the WWW
To: DOYLEM at ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 09:52:49 -0500 (CDT)
Cc: web4lib at library.berkeley.edu

I recently heard of a new commercial product which might be what you
need:

	Reserve (Amplitude Software Corp.)
	http://www.amplitude.com/reserveintro.html
	contact: Mark Ferguson (meferg at amplitude.com) 

I haven't tried it and don't know much about it.  It was brought to my
attention as part of my search for a tool to serve a similar but not
identical need, namely an online campus events calendar:

	http://is.rice.edu/~riddle/calsearch.html

Good luck.

-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") riddle at rice.edu
-- RiceInfo Administrator, Rice University / http://is.rice.edu/~riddle
-- Home office: 2002-A Guadalupe St. #285, Austin, TX 78705 / 512-323-0708