Another application that can be built on top of the XML Server is an IM bot. There are various libraries available for bots and having a way to easily get and transform the data from your ILS makes things much easier. The one below is on AIM and was built by Rob Casson of Miami University Libraries in Ohio. The code is available from his blog. Below are some screenshots to give you an idea.
For those that might wonder if there is any real benefit over web browsers, think mobile. Maybe phone services support IM. With the addition of a bot I can now get status information on my phone. Would prefer SMS but that’s another project.
Help Screen:
Results Screen:
