TEXT ME, MAYBEImplementing texting functionality in the Aleph OPAC

Alevtina (Allie) VerbovetskayaWeb & Mobile Systems LibrarianCity University of New YorkIGeLU 2014 | Oxford, UK| September 16, 2014

Texting item location info from the OPAC

Web OPAC Received SMS

Outline• How To• Gotchas• Response & Usage• Enhancements

HOW TOStep-by-step instructions

Add new CSS class (“sms”)$ vi exlibris-xxx01.css...#sms {

width: 250px;font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;border: 1px solid #36647B;position: absolute;left: 50%;top: 50%;z-index: 1000;padding: 10px;margin: 10px;background: #EFEFCF;

}...

Add ID (“bib-items”) to table with holding info$ vi item-global-body-head...<table border="0" cellspacing="2" id="bib-items"><tr class="tr1"> <th class="text3">&nbsp;</th> <th class="text3">Library</th> <th class="text3">Location</th> <th class="text3">Call number</th> <th class="text3">Description</th> <th class="text3">Item Status</th> <th class="text3">Due date</th> <th class="text3">Due hour</th></tr>...

Add ID (“bib-detail”) to table with item info$ vi item-global-head-1...<table width="100%" id="bib-detail">...

Add “Text this!” link (span ID “smslink”)$ vi item-global-dropdown-menus-a...<span id="smslink">

<a href="#" onClick="showSMS();return false;">Text this!</a></span>...

Add JS to hide “Text this!” link if no data$ vi item-global-body-tail...<script>var itms = document.getElementById('bib-items');var tr = itms.getElementsByTagName('tr');for( var i = 1; i < tr.length; i++ ) {

var td = tr[i].getElementsByTagName('td');// our items table has 8 columns (if item exists)...// yours may be different! change accordingly!if( td.length !== 8 ) {

document.getElementById('smslink').style.visibility='hidden';}

}</script>...

Create new span tag (ID “sms”) to display form

$ vi item-global-dropdown-menus-a...<span id="sms" style="visibility:hidden;display:none;"></span>...

Write sms-js & include in headervar phone = frm.phone.value;phone = phone.replace( /[^\d]/ig, "" );var prvdr = frm.provider.options[frm.provider.selectedIndex].value;if( ( phone.length == 10 ) && ( prvdr !== "" ) ) {

var url = smsurl;if( frm.title.value.length > 75 ){

url += "title=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.title.value ).substring( 0, 74 ) + " (...)";} else{

url += "title=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.title.value );}url += "&number=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.phone.value );url += "&provider=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.provider.options[frm.provider.selectedIndex].value );for( i = 0; i < frm.lib.length; i++ ){

if( frm.lib[i].checked == true ){

url += "&item=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.lib[i].value );}

}if( frm.lib.length == undefined ){

url += "&item=" + encodeURIComponent( frm.lib.value );}var head = document.getElementsByTagName( "head" )[0];var script = document.createElement( 'script' );script.setAttribute( 'type', 'text/javascript' );

(...or just download it from http://db.tt/JO638ug7)

In cgi-bin, write sms.pl & chmod 0755 'Nextel' => '@messaging.nextel.com', 'Sprint' => '@messaging.sprintpcs.com', 'T-Mobile' => '@tmomail.net', 'Verizon' => '@vtext.com', 'Virgin' => '@vmobl.com');# return address need not be an actual email address# (but should be easily identifiable to your users)my $from = "refdesk\@your.lib";my $q = new CGI;my $num = $q->param( 'number' );# remove all non-digit characters from number:$num =~ s/[^\d]//ig;# concatenate number with SMTP domain from %providers:my $to = $num . $providers{ $q->param( 'provider' ) };# remove all parentheses and dashes:$to =~ s/[\(\)\-\s]//ig;my $title = $q->param( 'title' );# remove extraneous whitespaces at beginning & end of line:$title =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;my $hold = $q->param( 'item' );my $body = "'$title'\n$hold\n--DO NOT RESPOND";# replace [mail-server] with your SMTP domainmy $smtp = Net::SMTP->new( "[mail-server]", Debug => 1 );$smtp->mail( $from );$smtp->to( $to );$smtp->data();$smtp->datasend( $body );$smtp->dataend();

(...or just download it from http://db.tt/8BJcUTQF)

GOTCHASUnexpected bumps in the road (and how we overcame them)

Lack of dedicated SMS server• Messages sent from ILS server erroneously flagged as spam• Rule added for spam filter

• Text messages sent as emails• Force user to know & select cellular carrier

Location of item title inconsistent on holding page• Added trailing slash to titles so JS can identify them:

$ vi ./xxx01/edit_paragraph.eng!* Author-Title for Bib Inf013 1#### D ^:^013 245## 9 ## ^/^013 250## D ## .013 260## W ##^ .013 300## D ##^ .

• Included JavaScript in footer to remove slash(after SMS script has had a chance to run):

Script to remove extra slash in title$ vi item-global-tail-1<script>// some titles end with two slashes (//) and, because this is not a// desired behavior, we are replacing the two slashes with just one slashvar bib = document.getElementById( "bib-detail" );var x = bib.rows;for( var i = 0; i < x.length; i++ ) { var y = x[i].cells; for( var j = 0; j < y.length; j++ ) { var txt = y[j].innerHTML; y[j].innerHTML = txt.replace( /\/\//g, "/" ); }}</script>

RESPONSE & USAGEFeedback from the campuses & review of the server logs

Response from librarians & staff• Slew of positive emails in response to announcement:• “I’m really glad to see this OPAC feature at last.”• “…it’s so great to have something to help the students! YAY”• “I just wanted to thank you for yet another awesome OPAC improvement!!!! I

am really going to make use of this feature.”• “…I am promoting it when I teach my library instruction classes. What a great

tool for our students!”

• There were suggestions, too:• “…could the text include a link back to the item in the catalog? For example,

since I tried texting info to myself about an ebook, I imagine if I was texting that info I’d want to log back in later to access that title? But this is just a suggestion—I think the texting feature on its own is great.”

• “Allie, I am not sure why or if this would be useful on the mobile catalog, but just wondering if you are planning on adding it to that.”

Usage statistics• Stats being gathered from Apache error log• One year after implementation (04/04/13 - 04/26/14)...• 11,008 text messages were sent from the OPAC:

• AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile were the most frequently used cellular providers:

alephap1-18(1) CUN01-ALEPH>>grep -c 'Recipient ok' error_log11008

Provider Frequency

AT&T 3109

Boost Mobile 221

Metro PCS 365

Nextel 8

Sprint 1596

T-Mobile 2679

Verizon 2794

Virgin 238

Sample log entry

ENHANCEMENTSOpportunities to improve functionality

Ideas• Making API calls rather than screen scraping• Adding link back to OPAC (esp. for e-resources)• Using URL shortener, perhaps?

• Using dedicated SMS server for improved performance• Adding feature to Primo (using custom tiles)

THANK YOU!Any questions?

Allie VerbovetskayaWeb & Mobile Systems LibrarianOffice of Library ServicesCity University of New Yorkalevtina.verbovetskaya@cuny.edu@alevtina