[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen libraries using/testing Syndetics Unbound?

[Terran McCanna]

FYI, until Syndetics Unbound works with Evergreen and we move to that, I
decided to workaround the problems we were encountering with the display of
Syndetics Classic content by modifying the tt2 files. I've changed the
display to an in-screen modal pop-up that shows all the available Syndetics
content (whether or not the perlmod looks for it). It's not perfect, but it
uses Syndetics' own provided layout rather than trying to pull in the
content they provide as plain text, and doesn't rely on doing lookups for
every possible type of review.

You can see how it works at http://gapines.org/eg/opac/record/2158551?locg=1
(click on the "See Summary, Reviews, and More from Syndetics" button
towards the bottom of the page below the NoveList added content).

And the code is here if anyone else wants to do something like it (or
improve upon it) as a local customization:
http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=evergreen/pines.git;a=commit;h=
aa4422c78bec5fce371ef5db4ab552be3d1498d0

Note that my change exposes the library-specific Syndetics id in the URL,
but I talked with Syndetics about it and reviewed their documentation and
that's exactly what they expect to happen, so it's not an issue as far as
they are concerned.

I had originally tried modifying the Perl code to just do a single
Syndetics call to check for summary data rather than doing multiple calls
for all different types of data, but I was encountering problems with it
giving me false negatives (saying there wasn't data when there was) and
triggering the code that temporarily disable added content lookups and
finally decided I had better things to do with my time than argue with old
code, especially since I assume it will all need to be rewritten to
accommodate Syndetics Unbound in the not too distant future anyway.

Terran McCanna
PINES Program Manager
Georgia Public Library Service
1800 Century Place, Suite 150
Atlanta, GA 30345
404-235-7138
tmccanna at georgialibraries.org


On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 11:31 AM, Lindsay Stratton <lstratton at pls-net.org>
wrote:

> Well, at least their sales message is consistent!
>
> FWIW, because maybe they use the same title for their mock-up?, this is a
> link to our current catalog for Raven Boys - http://evergreen.owwl.org/eg
> /opac/record/442294.
>
> The Syndetics Classic content we subscribe to displays under the
> "Summaries and more" tab. It's OK, but not as nice as the fancy Unbound
> stuff. Although I do notice that we, although we are apparently paying for
> it, do not have the Professional Reviews... I wonder if that is related to
> the display issues Terran found.
>
> Our Novelist content displays under the "Reviews, Series & Suggest Reads"
> tab. We are kind of assuming that Unbound content would function similarly.
>
> Our main concern is the configuration and display of cover images. We are
> using the Syndetics Classic API to manage that, and worry that the way
> Evergreen processes cover images will not play nicely with whatever process
> Unbound uses.
>
> Lindsay
>
> Lindsay Stratton
> Library Automation Services Manager
> Pioneer Library System
> 2557 State Rte 21
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=2557+State+Rte+21++Canandaigua,+NY+14424&entry=gmail&source=g>
> Canandaigua, NY 14424
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=2557+State+Rte+21++Canandaigua,+NY+14424&entry=gmail&source=g>
> 585-394-8260 x104
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
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