Loughborough Online Reading List System
Gary Brewerton
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Posts by Gary Brewerton
The end of the end
27 Jun 2024
by Gary Brewerton
in LORLS
So just a few days shy of 24 years we bid a fond farewell to LORLS as we finally decommission the service. We intend to keep this site available for a few more years but won’t be updating it further.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have worked on the system, made suggestions, suffered arguments about what structural units are and generally used the system. In particular I’d like to thank my co-developers: Jon and Jason without whom LORLS wouldn’t have existed or have lasted so long.
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So long and thanks for all the fish
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The middle of the end
15 Apr 2024
So today the University’s new reading list system (https://lboro.rl.talis.com) went live and we set redirects from LORLS to point to it. We’ll still be running the LORLS server for a couple more months for the benefit of library staff but then it will be decommissioned.
The data migration exercise seemed to go very well although it was interesting to note that despite the two systems having very similar internal data structures there were issues around our allowance for “lists within lists” and how the two systems treat items at draft status. But luckily these issues were easily resolved with a little effort.
The beginning of the end
03 Nov 2023
by Gary Brewerton
in LORLS
So today we held the kickoff meeting to move from our in-house reading list system to its chosen successor Talis Aspire.
My role in the project is to provide the data from LORLS in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Luckily we already wrote a nightly JSON export of all the current lists for integration with our Moodle VLE. So, current me is very grateful to past me and colleagues for developing this feature as it’ll greatly reduce ongoing efforts.
The hope is to launch with the new system, including migrated data, for Easter 2024.
Twenty years of LORLS
01 Jul 2020
by Gary Brewerton
in LORLS
It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago since we were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the launch of LORLS and now here we are now at its 20th. Unfortunately the current lockdown prevents us from celebrating its birthday in the usual manner (i.e. with cake).
LORLS was initially conceived of in 1999 in response to an enquiry to the Library from the University’s Learning & Teaching Committee. The system was written using the open source LAMP development stack and launched the following year. Since then it has been used by a dozen other institutions, survived six major revisions, three different library management systems and seen the rise and fall of numerous other reading list management systems.
So what does the future hold for LORLS, well the sad truth is that all of the staff involved in its development have either moved on to take on new responsibilities or left the institution. And finally after 20 years there are now commercial offerings that at least meet, if not exceed, the capabilities of our little in-house system. So whilst LORLS is not yet dead, it is more than likely it will be taking a very well deserved retirement at some point in the coming years.
LORLS Implementation at DBS
19 Jan 2017
I note with great interest that Dublin Business School has recently had an article accepted in the New Review of Academic Librarianship, regarding their faculties’ perceptions of LORLS.
In the article Marie O’Neill and Lara Musto discuss a survey of faculty staff at DBS which reveals that their awareness of the system is greatly impacted by the amount of time they spend teaching. They also show that promoting appropriate resources to students and improving communication between faculty and library staff are seen as major advantages of having a RLMS. I particularly liked the following quote that came out of one of their focus groups:
“One of the challenges nowadays is recognising that students are reading more than books and articles. They are reading the review section of IMDb for example. Reading lists have to change and our perception of reading lists.”
One of the other outputs of the article was a process implementation chart, which was created to inform other institutions how they might best implement LORLS. This chart is reproduced below with the kind permission of the authors.
The article concludes with a strong desire from DBS faculty for greater integration with their Moodle VLE system. This is something that we are actively investigating and we have begun to pilot a Moodle plug-in at Loughborough, which we hope to include in a future release of the LORLS software.
Happy birthday LORLS!
06 Jul 2015
by Gary Brewerton
in LORLS
Fifteen years ago a reading list system (initially unnamed) was launched at Loughborough University. The system allowed staff to input reading lists item-by-item using a HTML form and display these web-based lists to our students with links to the library catalogue to check stock availability.
Since that time the system has undergone six major revisions. These revisions have extended the functionality to allow “drag-and-drop” reordering of lists, display of stock availability and book covers, importing of citations from Word documents and so much more! Also the system gained a name, LORLS.
So today we’re celebrating fifteen years of LORLS!
We’ve even had birthday greetings and cards from our friends at PTFS Europe and Talis.
Thanks guys!
LORLS v7 now available
26 Nov 2012
by Gary Brewerton
in LORLS
With great pleasure (trumpet fanfare not included) I can now announce the release of LORLS version 7. Key features include:
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LORLS v7 is available for download from this website.
Another new reading list system
27 Sep 2012
by Gary Brewerton
in Other Systems
This is becoming a bumper year for RLMS’s with the launch of Rebus:list earlier this summer and now Unilibri:
unilibri is launching a new reading list management system, ready for launch in Semester 2 of this academic year. Take a look at our website (www.unilibri.com)
unilibri takes a new approach to the provision of the RLMS. Provided as a software as a service hosted in the cloud; it focuses on ensuring academic and student engagement whilst providing the fundamental services every library and institution needs.
unilibri has an exciting roadmap planned that will ensure it is providing the best service to all the key stakeholders of reading lists. unilibri’s aim is to improve students’ educational experience whilst increasing library efficiencies and cost-effectiveness.
Free workshop at Loughborough
12 Jul 2012
For the second year running were holding a free workshop at Loughborough to discuss reading list management. The announcement about the event can be seen below.
Meeting the reading list challenge 2012: A workshop
Keith Green Building, Loughborough University
Thursday 16th August 2012, 10:00am – 3:30pm
How do you get stakeholders interested in online reading lists? And how does
a reading list management system relate to other systems?
These issues, and many others, will be discussed at this forthcoming workshop.
The morning session will explore academic engagement with reading lists whilst
the afternoon will focus on how a reading lists management system (RLMS) could
interact with other systems. Both sessions will include presentations and group
discussions.
There will be a buffet lunch provided during which there will be a poster session.
All attendees are encouraged to submit a poster highlighting what they expect
from a RLMS, what their experiences of a RLMS are, or what interesting things
they’ve done with an RLMS?
This is a free event. If you would like to attend please email Gary Brewerton
(g.p.brewerton@lboro.ac.uk) to reserve a place stating your name, institution
and any specific dietary requirements.