[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Open Source Time and Print Management

[Sharon Foster]

I'm thinking very simple time management to start with: I just want to
know how many hours per day each public computer was used. After that,
how many new sessions were started. Then, authentication of users
against the patron database and issue guest passes as needed; in my
situation, that would introduce more work for the staff, and we
probably wouldn't want to use it, and our patrons don't carry their
library cards anyway, but I know it's a feature that a lot of
libraries would want.

Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
Technology Librarian
http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/
"Have you tried switching it off and on again?"




On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 11:43 AM, David Fiander <david at fiander.info> wrote:
> Time management is tricky. There are probably ways of doing it, but it
> will be complicated.
>
> If you are thinking about migrating your public internet PCs away from
> Windows to Linux, then printing will require some development, but not
> as much as time management.
>
> Because the Linux printer subsystem is built from the ground up to
> support networked printer servers, the PCs can all be configured to
> submit their printer jobs to a central server very easily. It would
> only take a little bit of programming to enable associating print jobs
> with individual library users. The internet terminals would probably
> not need to know anything about ILS accounts or anything like that. If
> the system was built properly, it would probably even be possible to
> enable users to print to the public printers from their own laptops on
> the wireless network.
>
> The challenging part would be charging. The printer release station
> would require some custom software to either handle a printer debit
> card system (which is common in academic settings) or adding a charge
> to the patrons record in the ILS, and then releasing the job to the
> printer.
>