Library Status is an online tool for publicly displaying the current status of GVSU library systems.
GVSU Libraries rely on a number of different online and other software tools to provide services to our patrons. Often those services go down or have problems for reasons beyond our control, and sharing this information can be difficult. Sending out email blasts for every database maintenance update would quickly have staff inundated, and doesn't help patrons know when to expect problems. We deicded we needed a centralized place to show the current status of all of our tools so that all of our users, staff and patrons alike, could be informed.
We added the ability to subscribe to updated with RSS or email (using Feedburner), and included the ability to report new problems right from the interface. By making the tool visible on the public web and making it the place to go to report problems, we make sure that everyone has a chance to see the current health of our systems.
You can view GVSU's Library Status app live at http://gvsu.edu/library/status.
- Publicly display the current status of an unlimited number of tools or systems
- Show a detailed record of status updates for each problem
- Easily allow users to subscribe to updates through RSS or Email
- Integrated problem reporting interface that will email new tickets to any email address(es)
Library Status requires a server running PHP 5.4 or up and MySQL/MariaDB.
We also use Google to retreive Recaptcha API keys. You can get those here.
The system requires [feedburner] or a similar service to power email and RSS subscriptions.
There are two ways to install Library Status: with or without git.
Older versions of this software has an installation wizard. This currently no longer works, which means you'll need some knowledge of sql, git, and PHP to set up this application.
- Download the zip file of Library Status, and unzip it somewhere on your machine.
- Now upload all of the files to your server, where you want them to live.
- In your browser, open up phpMyAdmin or the like, and create a database called status (or whatever you want, but we recommend status).
- In the install folder is a "database.sql" file that contains the database structure for the app. You can import this into the datase you created using the mysql command or some other method.
- Go to the resources/config directory is a template configuration file ("config_sample.php") Rename this so that it reads "config.php." You'll need to update the settings here to teel the application where the database is, as well as supply the Recaptcha keys and feedburner URL,a s well as the login method you're planning to use.
- Open the app from index.php in the main folder.
I'm assuming here that you have a server somewhere that not only has PHP and MySQL, but also Git. I also assume you know a bit about ssh, and that you have Git ssh keys set up on your server. If that doesn't make sense, you can shoot me an email or maybe try the other installation method.
- Fork this repo into your GitHub acccount, and clone it on to your server.
- In your browser, open up phpMyAdmin or the like, and create a database called status (or whatever you want, but we recommend status).
- In the install folder is a "database.sql" file that contains the database structure for the app. You can import this into the datase you created using the mysql command or some other method.
- Go to the resources/config directory is a template configuration file ("config_sample.php") Rename this so that it reads "config.php." You'll need to update the settings here to teel the application where the database is, as well as supply the Recaptcha keys and feedburner URL,a s well as the login method you're planning to use.
- Open the app from index.php in the main folder.
Library Status also provides an interface for sending along problem reports to any email address. By default, names and email addresses are optional. (The form does include a honey pot and some robust naughtiness checking before sending emails, so spam is minimized if not eliminated.) If you want to require email address and/or names when folks submit tickets, you can do so with the following steps:
- Open resources/php/functions.php in your favorite text editor, and uncomment the relevant line(s) for making the fields required: line 73 for email addresses, line 80 for names.
- In the php/report_problem forms, edit the form fields to have the attribute
required="required", which will tell modern browsers to require the field. - You'll probably want to add some client-side form validation, since form contents are not currently repopulated if they fail server validation. While modern browsers will work well with the
requiredattribute, not all browsers support this. - Users will have to complete a reCaptcha. Ideally, since we're using the newest API, this will only be a checkbox for them to click. If not, they'll fill out a standard image based captcha and will be able to submit the form.
We'll be making the failed submission recovery more user-friendly in future releases. Feel free to help our if you can!
Here are features we have planned for future releases. If you'd like to help in developing these features, or would like to suggest other improvements, let us know in the issue tracker.
- The ability to delete a status or update
- Add weekly reminders for open tickets
- Better scheduling of resolutions for those defined maintenance periods (e.g. Lexis Nexis will be offline for maintenance from 12-2am)
- Add help tooltips for each system to better help patrons understand what they are.
- Beef up accessibility with better ARIA support, more clear tabindexes, and better keyboard navigation
- Build a UI for administering users and systems
The authors are happy to help you get Library Status up and running. You can post a request in the issue tracker, or shoot Matthew an email or a tweet.
We welcome contributions to the library status app. If you are a developer, you can contribute code. If you are not, you can always report bugs through the issue tracker, or help us improve documentation or localization.
- Issue Tracker: http://github.com/gvsulib/library-Status/issues
- Source Code: http://github.com/gvsulib/library-Status
This tool is copyright 2014 Grand Valley State University Libraries.
This tool is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This tool is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this tool. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses.