New version of MyLibrary

[Eric Lease Morgan]

(Please excuse the cross-postings.)

A new version of MyLibrary has been released. See:

  http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mylibrary/

MyLibrary is a user-centered, customizable interface to collections of
Internet resources -- a portal providing the means for maintaining much of a
database-driven website.

This release of the software is incremental, but there still a number of
noteworthy additions to the distribution:

  * Encrypted cookies - The software now encrypts users'
    cookies as they are sent from the server to the browser all
    but eliminating the possibility of a hacker hijacking another
    person's identity through the editing of cookie files.
  
  * Impersonate patron - This feature, allowing a librarian to
    see and manipulate a patron's page, has been fixed; a
    hard-coded path was eliminated.
  
  * Statistical reports - Scripts named top.pl and reports.pl,
    written in Perl, run statistical reports against the
    underlying database summarizing usage. Both of these scripts
    are good examples of how to take advantage of MyLibrary.pm
  
  * Sharing metadata - The scripts distribution now includes a
    set of PHP scripts demonstrating how MyLibrary can
    participate in OAI (Open Archives Initiative) for sharing
    metadata. Similarly, the distribution also includes a Perl
    script for writing RDF files from the underlying database.

Here at the University Libraries of Notre Dame we are beginning a pilot
project to implement MyLibrary at ND. I'm sure this will spur a number of
development efforts.

If you would like to get involved, then please don't hesitate to drop me a
line or join the mailing list:

  http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mylibrary/mailing-list.shtml

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan
Head, Digital Access and Information Architecture Department
University Libraries of Notre Dame

(574) 631-8604