overview

Code to improve the process of requesting a scan for items at the Annex, the Library’s offsite storage facility.

The current system involves multiple steps and is confusing.

basic flow

• javascript (part of this app) is called by Josiah (our ILS catalog) that creates a ‘Request Scan’ link next to each item at the Annex that:
  • is available
  • is not in special collections
• that link contains an item-barcode (needed by the Annex inventory-control software) and some additional item info
• clicking the link will take the user to this app
• note: though the javascript piece is specifically for Josiah, our VuFind and coming Blacklight interfaces will be able to easily link to this app
• after authenticating, the user fills out chapter/title and page-range citation info
• the user clicks ‘Submit Scan Request’, then sees a confirmation message, and receives a confirmation email
• behind the scenes the request is formatted for the Annex inventory-control-system’s software, and transmitted — done!

urls & params

• The root scheme://host/easyscan will redirect to the info page at scheme://host/easyscan/info/
• The root request url: scheme://host/easyscan/request
• A typical url may look like: scheme://host/easyscan/request?callnumber=BF173.A2%20A5&barcode=31236090031116&title=American%20imago&bibnum=null&volume_year=53%20(1996)
• required params
  • barcode — this is the item barcode — will be sent to the Annex
• optional params
  • bibnum — used to look up title for landing-page display if title-param is null; not sent to Annex
  • callnumber — simply presented to user at landing-page; not sent to Annex
  • title — the bib title; presented to user at landing page; is sent to Annex
  • volume_year — simply presented to user at landing-page; not sent to Annex

Important future note…

• bibnum will become a required parameter; it will be used to validate the format of the item

contacts

• birkin_diana at brown dot edu
• jean_rainwater at brown dot edu