[Libs-Or] web calendars: what I learned

Tue Oct 5 10:46:47 PDT 2010

Hi all:

I received several great responses to my question about web calendar tools and pushing Outlook events to the web. Thanks to those of you who wrote to me. Several people were also interested in the responses I got, so I have compiled them below.

Cheers, Mo

RESPONSES TO REQUEST FOR WEB CALENDAR/OUTLOOK HELP

The question:
The City is not completely satisfied with the calendar tool that comes along with our Drupal based web site. In addition, we are hoping to find a way to link Outlook events directly to our web site. If you are using a wonderful web calendar, could you contact me. Further, if you have ideas about how to link Outlook events directly to a web calendar, we'd be very interested in knowing about that.

The answers:

1.      We recently switched to Google for email and our web site, and love it.  You can have a users Outlook calendar sync with a users Google calendar automatically

2.      Saw your post on libs-or, and I wanted to share a couple of ideas:

a) If you're using Outlook 2007 or 2010, I believe they come with a built-in "publish Outlook calendar to the web" functionality.  See these documents @ microsoft:
Office 2007 - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/publish-a-calendar-on-office-online-HA010080983.aspx
 Office 2010 - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/publish-and-share-calendars-on-office-com-HA010355570.aspx#_Toc260571271

b) If you want to use a Google calendar, Google offers a tool you can install which will periodically sync an Outlook calendar with a Google calendar:
http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=98563

c) Outlook can export calendars in the iCalendar format, which a lot of other calendar tools can import.  Hopefully, other list readers can give you some ideas for other products that might fit your needs (I don't know of any of the top of my head).

d) Finally, on our previous-generation WL library website, I wrote a script that would automatically pull calendar data from a source (either an Excel file, access database, or a specific Outlook calendar), extract the relevant event details, generate custom HTML and upload the file to our server.  This method requires a bit of up front work, but gives you a lot of control over how the calendar looks (as you're writing the HTML yourself).

3.      Our University campus uses EMS software for web-based calendars and scheduling.  You can compare different versions of EMS at: http://www.dea.com/ProductsAndServices/Compare.aspx  Billing for reserved spaces/services is available for most versions.

EMS Workspace http://www.dea.com/ProductsAndServices/Workplace/Default.aspx might work for you. "While your EMS system administrators and facility managers will typically utilize the powerful "client" application via the desktop or web interface, the majority of your users will access the system in other ways for different purposes. For example...

 *   From the road to get details on a scheduled event or space availability
 *   To reserve a room on-the-spot for an impromptu gathering
 *   From within Microsoft Outlook(r) to invite attendees and book the room and resources for a meeting"
The Hatfield Marine Science Center uses Office Tracker to show the public events calendar.  Hope this helps.

4.      Our website also uses the built-in drupal calendar. I know this is pretty customizable, though. Brian - who created our website - also created Oregon City's, so maybe he can create something better for them, but of course that costs more money.

I know it is possible to publish an Outlook calendar to the web, although I've never done it. I did some quick Google searching and it almost looks as though it publishes as a static web page instead of something interactive where you can click an event on a certain calendar day and have it take you to a page that gives more info about that event.

Maybe the best bet would be to use a Google calendar, which can be embedded onto the library's website, just like LINCC does for kids and adult events. It's free to use and very easy to create new events.

I also found this article, which talks about this very topic: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page6690.cfm

5.      Can you use Google calendars?  I suggest it because I've noticed that my granddaughter's elementary school uses it:

http://holcomb.orecity.k12.or.us/calendar

It looks like you can sync it with Outlook:

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=89955

 [cid:image001.jpg at 01CB647A.94DB9F80]

Maureen Cole
mcole at orcity.org<mailto:mcole at ci.oregon-city.or.us>
Library Director
Oregon City Public Library
606 John Adams Street
Oregon City, Oregon 97045
503-657-8269 ext 1010
503-657-3702 Fax

Website: www.orcity.org/library<http://www.orcity.org/library>
PUBLIC RECORDS LAW DISCLOSURE:
This e-mail is subject to the State Retention Schedule and may be made available to the public.

From: libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us [mailto:libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Maureen Cole
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 3:51 PM
To: libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
Subject: [Libs-Or] web calendars

Hi all:

The City is not completely satisfied with the calendar tool that comes along with our Drupal based web site. In addition, we are hoping to find a way to link Outlook events directly to our web site. If you are using a wonderful web calendar, could you contact me. Further, if you have ideas about how to link Outlook events directly to a web calendar, we'd be very interested in knowing about that.

Thanks! Mo

 [cid:image001.jpg at 01CB647A.94DB9F80]

Maureen Cole
mcole at orcity.org<mailto:mcole at ci.oregon-city.or.us>
Library Director
Oregon City Public Library
606 John Adams Street
Oregon City, Oregon 97045
503-657-8269 ext 1010
503-657-3702 Fax

Website: www.orcity.org/library<http://www.orcity.org/library>
PUBLIC RECORDS LAW DISCLOSURE:
This e-mail is subject to the State Retention Schedule and may be made available to the public.

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