Re: needed: script solution(s) for repeatedly needed "sub-searches" against monthly new-titles lists

[Moira Burke <mburke@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Antje,

We're just starting to do the same thing in our library, using Expect, a
simple-to-use scripting language.  Expect can automate anything
keystroke-driven, and so it's ideal for creating monthly lists.

Expect has been discussed several times on this listserv, and there's a
great archive of prefab scripts here:
http://www.noblenet.org/swapshop/expect.htm

When I finish tidying up my Expect script for new acquisitions by fund
code, I'd be happy to share it with you.

Moira
________________________
Moira Burke

     

Digital Services Coordinator
Portland Community College Library
mburke@xxxxxxxxxx
(503) 977-8167


At 10:33 AM 3/18/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,   
> can anyone suggest a script solution for the following:
>  
> Our library uses the "featured list" for the most recently
> completed month's of new monograph arrivals every month.   In
> addition, every month we also notify library liaisons in all academic
> departments about new arrivals purchased with their funds.  In terms
> of present workflow, this means one search for the newly arrived titles
> every month, plus a sub-search for each of the 33 program-specific fund
> areas.   Each of these fund-code-driven monthly reports is then
> e-mailed to the library liaisons.
>  
> I am looking for some software solutions to this rather time-consuming
> manual monthly process.  A solution such as My Millenium would be
> perfect, if it allowed for inclusion of fund codes in the
> criteria...  The call-number criteria with their "LC-class
> spread" do not really reflect the fund-driven ordering
> breakdown.
>  
> As an alternative, I am considering the possibility of running just
> "the big search" every month, dumping that into a database
> (such as e.g. Access),  and then loading that database on the web
> site with the capability to search "the big monthly file" by
> study-area-specific fund (from a drop-down menu), and accomplishing this
> with a script to be written once and then re-used against subsequent new
> monthly arrival lists.
>  
> Can any of you recommend any programming ways that might help me
> accomplish this?   What sort of script would seem
> appropriate?  VisualBasic?  asp?  Something
> else?    Are there some solutions of "live
> searching" of the featured list that I am overlooking?  
> We're running M2Phase2.
>  
> I would really appreciate any ideas any of you may have.
>  
> Thanks in advance.
>  
> Best,
>            
> antje
>  
> ==============================
> Antje Mays
> Head, Monograph & A-V Acquisitions
> Dacus Library
> Winthrop University
> Rock Hill, South Carolina 29733, U.S.A.
> phone:  001-803-323-2274
> fax:      001-803-323-2215
> email: 
> maysa@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://faculty.winthrop.edu/maysa