Working with Oxpoints

Ingredients Preparation Taking shape Proof of concept?

Working with Oxpoints

Janet McKnight


Where's my book?

"Find the nearest copy of a book from a reading list (bearing in
mind which libraries you can use, and the opening hours of
libraries)"


Ingredients

First catch your data...


What we had

• Locations of (many) libraries already present in Oxpoints
• A list of libraries, with unique codes:
http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/libraries/byoliscode/
• The OLIS search results page, showing library holdings
http://library.ox.ac.uk/...
This includes:
• Info about the availability of the book
• Links to info about the individual libraries


What we didn't have

• Links between library codes and Oxpoints locations
• Patron data (e.g. which libraries you're allowed to use)
• Opening hours (in a consumable form)


Unconsumable ingredients

Example of opening hours:
Term time: Mon-Fri 9.00-22.00, Sat 10.00-16.00 University of
Oxford dates of full term: Hilary 2009: Sunday, 18
January to Saturday, 14 March Trinity 2009:
Sunday, 26 April to Saturday, 20 June Michaelmas
2009: Sunday, 11 October to Saturday, 5
December Hilary 2010: Sunday, 17 January to
Saturday, 13 March Trinity 2010: Sunday, 25 April
to Saturday, 19 June
Vacation: Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00, Sat 10.00-16.00
Closed: Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, Good Friday to
Easter Monday, August Bank Holiday weekend.


Preparation

Finely chop your data...


Screen-scraping
Walk through the table of OLIS codes:

<table class="olis" border="0" cellpadding="4">
<tbody>
<tr class="library" valign="top">
<th>
<p>
<b>All S.</b>
</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>
<b>ASC</b>
</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>
<b>
<a name="ASC">All Souls College Library</a>
<a
href="http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/libraries/guides/ASC.html"
target="_top"
title="Information about All Souls College
Library">Information</a> |
<a


Structuring

... to get something more structured:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<libs>
<lib code="VHL">Vere Harmsworth Library (Rothermere American
Institute)</lib>
<lib code="NDA">Nuffield Dept. of Anaesthetics</lib>
<lib code="SCA">Social and Cultural Anthropology Library</lib>
[...]

</libs>


Joining the dots
Difficulties:
• Different names - fuzzy matching
• Different schemes of uids with no
translator/correspondence
• Different concept of a 'unit' between schemes
• Relationships between libraries (particularly
Bodleian/OULS/etc)
Solution:
• Edit by hand (yes we can!)

<place type="library" olisCode="ASC" xml:id="O_lib_asc">
<placeName>All Souls College Library</placeName>
[...]

</place>


Taking shape

• Not really a mashup yet
• But it allows us to query Oxpoints by OLIS code...


Example queries
All libraries:
• http://m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/type/Library.kml
• http://maps.google.co.uk/?z=17&q=http:
//m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/type/Library.kml
Individual libraries:
• http://m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/hasOLISCode/BOD.kml
• http://maps.google.co.uk/?z=17&q=http:
//m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/hasOLISCode/BOD.kml
Combinations:
• http://m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/hasOLISCode/JES|EXE|
LIN.kml
• http://maps.google.co.uk/?z=17&q=http://m.ox.ac.
uk/oxpoints/hasOLISCode/JES%7CEXE%7CLIN.kml


Joining the dots (again)
With a bit of JavaScript on a page we can
• pick out an OLIS code (by its location in the HTML)
• add a link to Google Maps with Oxpoints KML using that
code

<table
border="1"
width="100%"
cellspacing="4"
class="data-holdings"
summary="This table contains a row for each copy held, with
columns for Location, Shelfmark, and Status.">[...]
<tr valign="top">
<td align="left">Balliol<br/>
BLL Main Libr
<br/>
<a
href="http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=http://m.ox.ac.uk/oxpoints/hasOLI
library on a map</a>
</td>
<td align="left" colspan="1">0050e 007</td>
<td align="left" colspan="1">Available</td>
<td>


A pinch of JavaScript

Greasemonkey (Firefox extension) lets us add JavaScript to
page

var bodDetails = codeTD.innerHTML.split("<br>");
bodCode = bodDetails[1];
bodCode = bodCode.replace(newLines, "");
if (bodCode.match(/ /)) {
encodedBodCode = bodCode.replace(/ /g, "%252B");
bodCode = bodCode.replace(/ /g, "+");
}
if (bodCode.match(/^[A-Z]{3}/)) { bodCodes[i-1] = bodCode; }
var oxpmaplink = '<a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/?z=16&q=http://m.ox.
codeTD.innerHTML = codeTD.innerHTML + '<br>' + oxpmaplink + "Show library


Demo

• Install greasemonkey script:
olismapall.user.js
• Show links working on library search:
http://library.ox.ac.uk/


Adding value

What else can we do?
• Show all these libraries on the same map?
• Add a map to the page itself?
• Show information about availability on the map?
• Add user location to the map?


Beyond Greasemonkey

• Can't use Google maps API to add a map to the page
• Can't pass much useful information into the KML


External map

• Still using JavaScript/Greasemonkey to write in links...
• ...but these pass info to an external map/script
• Easier to manipulate data and control display


Demo

• Greasemonkey working on library search:
http://library.ox.ac.uk/
• All libraries on one (external) map
• Availability


Where are you?

Google Gears can (sort of) tell your location...
In practice there are probably better ways of doing this:
• User sets/chooses location(s)
• Native apps for mobile devices which use onboard GPS


Demo

• Install Google Gears:
http://gears.google.com/
• Back to library search...
• 'You are here'
• Directions


Proof of concept?

Shows the general idea, but doesn't include:

• Patron data (who are you, & can you borrow the book?)
• Integration with book requests
• Combining with other locations
• . . .


Is all this useful?

• Maybe more so in other contexts
• Useful as a demonstration
• Quick prototyping of ideas - easier to visualise
• Shows the value of consumable data

Working with Oxpoints

More Related Content

Working with Oxpoints