Break To-Do List

I’m sharing my break to-do list with the world. At the end of break, we’ll see how much I accomplished:

• Change library main page to new design
• Update floor plans on website Done!
• Weed some TAUs
• Import print serials data into SerialsSolutions
• Get server running Apache set up
• More to come.

May your break be as productive as mine!

ASP code for library hours

Today I spent most of my day writing an ASP code from scratch that will display our hours based on the date. While this sounds simple, here are the steps I followed:

• Set a variable today as Date()
• Declare the base rule for the three days we have the same hours.
• Set exceptions by day of the week above that
• Set our closed for the holiday dates above the standard hours
• Set our finals hours above those

Since ASP executes in a logical “If..Elseif…Else..End if” statement, this works. However, I then realized one fact: we’re open past midnight at times. I don’t want the next days hours to start until 1:00am. A quick chat with our campus ASP person to figure out what to do and some creative errors (don’t we learn best by errors?) I was able to declare the following statement:

If Time() < “01:01 AM” then
today = DateAdd(“d”,-1,today)

Update:

Dim miltime
miltime = FormatDateTime(today,4)
If miltime < “01:01:00″ Then
today = DateAdd(“d”,-1,today)

This says that if it’s before 1:01am, then subtract one day from the date, effectively turning back time.

Easy enough, eh? Well, I decided I didn’t like the standard time display “Wednesday, December 19, 2007.” So, I used some more ASP to break it apart and display the Month, Day and a new variable called ord which stands for the ordinal number contraction (st, nd, rd, th). I threw that in an If..Then statement right after the time statement but before the hours designation. All in all, it worked out.

Bottom line: Email me if you want the code: libguy@libguy.info.

All is Quiet on the Desk Front

It’s the last weekend before Finals (they start Friday) and I’m on the desk during what I like to call the “procrastinator’s shift.” Luckily, the students don’t seem to need my help — we’re busy but things are relatively calm. I wonder though, is this the case at every library? PS – Dear Students, please dress more warmly. I don’t think it’s shorts weather if you need a hat to keep you warm outside.