[OPEN-ILS-DOCUMENTATION] Local Added Content/external content

[Josh Stompro]

Hello Alexey,  Thanks for taking the time to look through this.

> Hello, I was looking into the ability to add local book covers to the catalog after Jeff mentioned it on IRC , I found release notes mentioning that it was possible, but I didn't find anything describing how to do it.

>>Hi, Josh.

>>I assume by local you probably mean images that for some reason could not be added or updated in OpenLibrary. Otherwise I certainly would recommend
>> adding/updating covers in OpenLibrary whenever possible, since it's open-access. 

By local I mean locally hosted, I think it is up to each site to decide on their reasons for using it.  You do bring up a good point about OpenLibrary, but that only works if you are using the OpenLibrary provider.  Since the added content code only handles one provider right now, those using Syndetics or Content Café don't have the option of adding content to the providers system.  Or maybe they do?  

Hopefully in the future someone will be interested enough in the added content module to enhance it or fund the enhancement so multiple providers are supported, so that even if you subscribe to one of the commercial vendors, we can still use OpenLibrary as the backup method.

Maybe it would be good to add a note to the docs to encourage OpenLibrary contributions?  "If you are adding jacket artwork that you have scanned locally, consider adding it to OpenLibrary.org also so others can benefit."  I'll add something to see how it fits.

 I was envisioning more nontraditional items having locally hosted jackets, like equipment or people. http://goo.gl/kHvG6s

> Please take a look at the docs I created on how to add local added content.   Please fork it and send me the link if you want to make any changes.  Then I'll submit a github pull request to submit it.
> https://gist.github.com/stompro/b2a61f21317d06c3c3d7

>> I haven't tested, but just reading through - it's easy to follow and understand the instructions. Minor typo under "Create 3 different sized versions of the image in png or >> jpg format" the third bullet item "large" should be "Large". I didn't think there was a need to fork just for this typo.

Thanks for catching that typo, it is now fixed.

>  
> I think this would go at the bottom of this page in the docs, even though that is for external content, I don't think there is a better place to put it.
> http://docs.evergreen-ils.org/2.7/_including_external_content_in_your_public_interface.html

>> I think practically speaking you're right, unless a separate section is added, e.g., <http://docs.evergreen-ils.org/2.7/_local_added_content.html> immediately following 
>> <http://docs.evergreen-ils.org/2.7/_including_external_content_in_your_public_interface.html>. Local content does not quite fit into the definition of
>> "external", but I  don't think that it matters fundamentally.

Maybe Yamil or Kathy can chime in on if they think it should be in a separate section.

>> BTW, have you tested what happens if you use an external provider and then plaster a local image using the same id for which there is already an image from the
>> external provider? Does local take precedence over external?

The locally hosted bypass happens before any external lookups, take a look at line 86 of AddedContent.pm
https://github.com/evergreen-library-system/Evergreen/blob/master/Open-ILS/src/perlmods/lib/OpenILS/WWW/AddedContent.pm#L86
If the file exists, the handler returns immediately and apache handles the request as a file.

>> Aleksey Lazar
>> IS Developer and Integrator - PALS
>> http://www.mnpals.org/


Josh