Andrew Nagy and the folks at Villanova University recently released Vufind a library resource portal. The software is opensource and created with PHP using MySQL and the Solr search engine. Ever since Code4Lib 2007, I’ve been interested in Solr and Villanova’s project. Nagy presented on their interface at the conference, and expects for it to be a key piece of their site sometime in the near future.
So yesterday morning, I downloaded the package to begin an install. I decided to use my experimental linux box in my office. This was formally my desktop machine, so it is a Dell GX280, with 2gig RAM and probably a 2.x GHz pentium 4. I had it already configured with Ubuntu Linux and I primarily use the Synaptic Package Manager to install software. I have it configured with PHP, MySQL, Apache, Tomcat and a Nutch install. It took me about 2 hours to get the basic setup done. Mostly, I had to adjust some of my settings from my previous work. The actual software probably took me no more than half that time. Very little additional server configuration was needed other than the server being a LAMP setup. A few Pear modules and the installation of YAZ was all that I needed to install.
In roughly 2 hours, I had a more than capable Web 2.0 style OPAC installed. I received a package of 86k records from one of our ILS admins and imported those into the record. Even on this small box, the results return fairly quickly. I’m not sure how interested Princeton is in actually implementing a system such as this, but I for one will be putting Vufind to the test. I have to now go find a better server so I can request more records! Thanks Andrew!
My college roommate, Kali McIver, alerted me to a film he’s been involved with which covers the life and tragic death of Len Bias. BIAS promises to tell the untold, true story of the rise to stardom of a basketball legend. Bias was drafted 2nd overall in the 1986 draft by the NBA Champion Boston Celtics. He was often compared to Michael Jordan and expected to help Boston continue the dynasty led by Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Unfortunately, just two days after the draft, Bias overdosed on cocaine.
