[Web4lib] Library Staff Scheduler

[Dale E. Goodell]

I've been following this discussion with a great deal of interest.  As I'm currently developing a scheduling application here on our campus, I have some general thoughts.  

My scheduler is running within our Oracle database environment and the UI will be completely web-based.  My application will be "customized", yet "general" in nature.  My scheduler, at least initially, will be used to manage student services within three departments, with the goal of adding more departments in the future.  Also, students themselves will be able to schedule their own appointments  using my application.

I'm now focusing on some of the nitty-gritty details as I'm working with end users to beta test the software.  Some variables, for example, the number of hours per week that a student receives tutoring for a specific class, may be important to the Tutoring Center, but not to the Writing Center.  As I'm writing the application to accommodate future changes, I've had to keep the "big" picture in mind.  For example, if we were to add our Career Development office, they may have the classification of Interviewer; within our Office of Disability Services, employees are known as Proctors and Notetakers; within the Tutoring and Writing Centers, they are known as Tutors; six months from now, the Writing Center may need to add the classification of Proofreader.  End users within their respective departments will be able to easily manage these variables.

Staff from each department will only see their department's respective data.

Another custom feature within my application is the ability to retrieve student and course scheduling data from our University's SCT Banner database.

So how is all of this Library-related?

In my last job as the IT support person in our campus Library, I was aware of at least some of the details of scheduling hours at the Reference, Information and Circulation Desks, not to mention the details of managing schedules for student employees.  While my current project is not specifically Library-related, our Library could be added as a department within my application.  

I have a great appreciation for the necessary details mentioned in these discussions, not to mention my own project.  I've also had a great deal of help from another Programmer/Oracle Guru within our Computing Services department who has developed somewhat similar applications in the past.

Although I've learned a great deal through my own project, no, I'm not offering to lend assistance to anyone developing a similar application.  I'll be fine-tuning my own scheduling application for several months, dreaming about calendars and scheduling at night, and probably won't want to see another scheduling application for a long time to come.

Best of luck!

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Dale E. Goodell
Analyst Programmer
University Computing Services
Western Oregon University
345 N. Monmouth Avenue
Monmouth, OR 97361

Phone: 503-838-8122
Email: goodeld at wou.edu
Blog: http://www.wou.edu/~goodeld/blogs
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