A mashed reading list

Last week ExLibirs unveiled a competition to encourage developers to extend the use of the ExLibris products by writing code extensions.

ELympics—the Ex Libris Open-Platform Competition

This reminded me that I had written a 'proof of concept' application a little while back to see if I could 'mashup' RefWorks with ALEPH, SFX, and Google Books to produce a dynamic reading list. The resulting application uses a RefWorks feature called RefWorks Lists. This allows a user to share a folder within their RefWorks account for viewing by anyone. The clever part of this sharing process is allowing the list to be shared as an RSS feed. My application formats this feed, adds Google Book covers (if available) and then generates is series of button depending on the type of item listed. These buttons are the SFX button, a button to the item in RefWorks, and optionally a button to the catalog, and a button to the resource.

Here is a shared list I created in my RefWorks account:

Shared List

and here is the same list generated using my reading list mash-up

Mashed List

Although this is lacking in design (it is only a proof of concept) it does show the power of how mashups can take information from disparate sources to redefine it as an enhanced service.

If for any reason some or all of the system isn't working then let me know and I'll try and get it working again (it's running on a server that sits in my living room at home)