Occam's Reader
An open-source solution from within the library community, OR is already widely used by their original audience of ILL users. If you intend to use it for that, there will be additional lift. If you are only using OR for CDL or course reserves, it requires only the manual setup of each loan. While this doesn’t manage the process start to finish, it is an elegant and relativley inexpensive solution. Additionally, is able to create text-to-speech files on the fly after item upload, which can provide additional utility for users with visual impairments.
| Requirement | Type | Evaluation Criteria | Occam's Reader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use Library or local scanned works | Legal | Library owns a physical copy (not licensed) | Yes |
| Limit concurrent use to number of copies owned | Legal | Set use limits for the number of copies we own. | No |
| Limited time period | Legal | Limit session or loan period | Yes |
| Time Period Control | Legal | Granularity of possible loan period (i.e. Days, Hours, Minutes) | Days |
| Prevents copying and downloading | Legal | Includes DRM controls to prevent copying/downloading. | Yes |
| Control Loan-to-Own | Technical | Limit access by either loans or concurrent use limits | No |
| Authentication | Technical | Integrates authenticated user access to content. | No |
| Control loan queue | Technical | Allows users to queue and be notfied when item is available. | No |
| If hosted, does the vendor comply with security & accessibility requirements | Technical | Yes | |
| Timeline for development to launch | Technical | Infrastructure develoipment timeline (3 months, 6 months, etc.) | Overnight |
| Supplemental to print reserves? | Access UX | Allows for reference to item in Canvas that links to the platform/place that a student can request use of the item for a limited period of time | Yes |
| Additional functions for reserves as a type of CDL | Access UX | Unmediated access to e-reserves content automatically without manual intervention | No |
| Companion Technologies | Technical | Additional | |
| Page turning | Reading UX | LLM - Viewer offers?? | Single page web reader |
| Zoom | Reading UX | Viewer offers ability to zoom. | Yes |
| Full text search | Reading UX | Viewer offers ability to search for words when OCR file is available for content. | No |
| Highlighting | Reading UX | Viewer offers ability to highlight text. | No |
| Annotations | Reading UX | Viewer offers ability to add annotations | No |
| Price | Cost & Capacity | Costs for implementation and on going maintenance. | $500.00/year |
| Local resource efforts | Cost & Capacity | Impact on Access, Tech Services, Collection, IT - describe number of handoffs and actions to make an item available for patron use. | OR was designed for ILL users first. If you intend to use it for that, there will be additional lift. If you are only using OR for CDL or course reserves, it requires only the manual setup of each loan. |
| Demo Notes | |||
| Discussion Notes | |||
| Legal Notes | Legal | ||
| Technical Notes | Technical | ||
| Access UX Notes | Access UX | ||
| Reading UX Notes | Reading UX | ||
| Cost & Capacity Notes | Cost & Capacity | ||
| Pros/Cons | OR has just introduced their new "Reserves" function, which allows admins to upload an item and loan it out per the need of the user. While this doesn't manage the process start to finish, it is an elegant and reletivley inexpensive solution. Additionally, is able to create text-to-speech files on the fly after item upload, which can provide additional utility for users with visual impairments. |