Project Plan Post 1 of 7: Aims, Objectives and Final Output(s) of the project

Aims

The principal aim of the project is to produce software which is:

1. Functionally capable of returning a map graphic with the location of an object from a library catalogue marked on it (or appropriate error message) on query via a RESTful interface;
2. Conceptually capable of being re-used by other members of the HE community, not tied in any way to the specific complexities of the LSE's cataloguing and shelving;
3. Technically capable of being re-used by other members of the HE community: well documented, tested, and easy to set up and administer;
4. Using open standards and providing a (documented) RESTful interface to enable re-use in other contexts than a library catalogue;
5. Freely available as open source re-usable software.

Objectives

Satisfying the following objectives should make it possible to realise the above principal aim.

• To understand and meet user/administrator requirements from a locator service at the LSE.
• To understand and cater for the complexities of shelving and cataloguing at the LSE.
• To ensure sufficient flexibility to make the application usable outside the LSE.
• To produce documentation which is clear to potential deployers and administrators.

These objectives will inform the design, testing and packaging of the locator service, on the assumption that most of the complexities of any HE academic library's shelving can be modelled from that of the LSE. In one important aspect, this is not quite true, in that the LSE has a single library on a single campus, but when this limitation is taken into account in the data model design, it should result in one which is transferrable elsewhere in the UK. The model itself will be available for scrutiny, of course, and librarians from other institutions than the LSE will be specifically invited to comment.