Deep Web

Our catalog is part of the deep or invisible Web. In an effort to make it more visible I've created a Web page that is just a bibliography with links back to the catalog record for LPI publications. It will be interesting to see if and when these publications get indexed by the search engines. Not as good as an API, or OAI-PMH access but something to expose our work.

Added March 20, 2006. I have made a page on Google that holds the links. Now to test how this works.

OPAC

unAPI

Dan Chudnov continued his work on unAPI. Now the slides from his talk at Code4Lib are available. As a rule, I don't link to slides. However, I think this is the best idea since RSS. Think of the implications. Any site can easily install an API to their data. No fancy programming needed. Since sites are using a standard API, tools developed for one site will work on plenty of others. Redundant work is greatly reduced. Now data is free to work harder, mash-ups are easy. Data flow is easier.

Informancy asked what is the next big thing? Mash-ups would get my vote. And leading the way to easy mash-ups is the unAPI.

BTW I found out that Amazon can supply records in MODS from Dan's site. How useful could that be?

P.S. I've heard from Dan Chudnov that I had the info about Amazon outputting MODS records wrong. His tool reformats their output into a MODS record. Makes more sense.

unAPI

Koha

West Liberty Public Library located in Iowa has become the second public library in the U.S. to select the open-source library system, Koha. The OPAC can be viewed here.

Koha

Barcode Utility

The Barcodes-on-the-Fly Helper 0.4 utility will generate printable barcodes in the CODABAR (NW-7) format based on the information you provide. The authors hope that libraries and others will be able to print cheap disposable barcodes for, among other things, books on loan from another library.

Barcodes

OPML

I like OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language). Today I was checking out OPMLworkstation.com and it occurred to me we could make MARC so much richer if we could include OPML files inside a MARC record. Field 505, contents, for example. Often a book will have topical sections with chapters and subchapters. There is no clean, easy way to mark-up this in MARC. Its a snap in OPML. Or how about links to an e-book and then to each chapter of that book. We could have a string of 856 fields or an OPML file in one field that our users could expand as necessary. Just some initial thoughts.

BTW I created an OPML file for the RSS feeds from the LPI. OPMLworkstation is a site to create, host and share OPML files. It allows you to import, create or transform PowerPoint into OPML format. Nice.

OPML

Name Authority Records

On February 6, 2006, CPSO commenced a special project to add death dates to a selected list of name headings. The project is expected to end by Summer 2006. The list of name headings included in this project is accessible online.

Authority

Review of ISBD(A)

IFLA's ISBD Review Group is pleased to announce that the 2006 revision of ISBD(A): International Standard Bibliographic Description for Older Monographic Publications (Antiquarian) is now available for World Wide Review. Individuals, libraries of all types, and national cataloguing rules committees are invited to submit comments, which are due by May 1, 2006. Further information regarding the review process, a recapitulation of the changes being proposed, and a link to the text itself are available online.

ISBD

Tagging

The Pre-Print: Accepted for and to appear in - Library Review, Vol.55 No.5, pp.XXX Collaborative Tagging as a Knowledge Organisation and Resource Discovery Tool by George Macgregor and Emma McCulloch is now available.

There are numerous difficulties with collaborative tagging systems (e.g. low precision, lack of collocation, etc.) that originate from the absence of properties that characterise controlled vocabularies. However, such systems can not be dismissed. Librarians and information professionals have lessons to learn from the interactive and social aspects exemplified by collaborative tagging systems, as well as their success in engaging users with information management. The future co-existence of controlled vocabularies and collaborative tagging is predicted, with each appropriate for use within distinct information contexts: formal and informal.

Folksonomies

UNICODE

Penn State has put together a nice collection of resources on Computing with Accents and Symbols. Could be useful if you deal with non-Roman languages. Provides RSS feeds to keep up with changes and additions to the resources.

UNICODE

MARC Tag of the Month

This month, Follett's MARC Tag of the Month is MARC Record Sample -- Collective Title (Book).

MARC