[CODE4LIB] Free MARC records: I want them, but who has them?

[William Denton]

Is there a guide to getting free MARC records in the common programming
languages, covering what libaries and modules to use and where to look,
and giving code examples?

If you're like me then sometimes you have an ISBN and you say to yourself,
Bill--though why you'd say that if your name isn't Bill, I don't
know--Bill, I would like a full MARC record for this book.  But I'm not
at a library that's a member of OCLC, so I can't get into WorldCat, and I
don't want to use Amazon's API because I don't want to have to link to
them.  What do I do?

I looked around and didn't see anything obvious about this, so I hacked up
a Ruby script that solves most of the problem for me.  Given an ISBN, it
searches a series of open Z39.50 servers until it gets an answer.  It uses
ruby-zoom for the Z39.50 business, and gets MARCXML which it hands over to
ruby-marc.  (Thanks for Ed Summers and Jason Ronallo in #code4lib this aft
for help with this.)

I put a copy here, in case anyone wants to see it:

   http://www.miskatonic.org/files/zmarc.rb

Run 'zmarc.rb 0195024028' to see it in action.

There must be something better than this, though.  I have some ISBNs (of
recent English-language books) that aren't found at the Library of
Congress, Library and Archives Canada, U of Toronto, Oxford, Yale, New
York Public Library, the national libraries of Scotland, Australia, and
New Zealand, and others.  One would think they would give pretty good
coverage.

I want tools (in Perl, Ruby, Python, etc.) that will give me back
something in MARC for any book, in any language, that has an ISBN.  Am I
doomed to sometimes not getting any good results?  Has anyone written up
details on how close one can come right now with what's available?

What do you folks do when you need free MARC records or other information
about books?

Bill
--
William Denton, Toronto : www.miskatonic.org www.frbr.org www.openfrbr.org

Re: [CODE4LIB] Free MARC records: I want them, but who has them?

[Ed Summers]

Nice work Bill. A while back Chris Biemesderfer added a section on
using Z39.50 to the MARC::Record tutorial:

 http://search.cpan.org/dist/MARC-Record/lib/MARC/Doc/Tutorial.pod#Z39.50

If you have MARC::Record installed the tutorial is already hiding on
your disk somewhere, and can be retrieved by typing:

 perldoc MARC::Doc::Tutorial

At any rate I reach for ruby quite a bit these days--so thanks for
your script. If you want to provide it as a cmd line option you could
optionally output as dublin core w/ the to_dublin_core method that
Will Groppe added to ruby-marc.

I like how you list out some z39.50 servers. Have you ever run across
this google map/z39.50 mashup [1]? I imagine there is some kind of
directory (at IndexData?) that perhaps your script could use somehow.

//Ed

[1] http://opus.tu-bs.de/zack/statistic/targetmaps/

Re: [CODE4LIB] Job Posting: Applications Programmer/Analyst -- University of Michigan

[Ken Varnum]

Yes, the site is, to be politic, awkward (imagine the interface for us to
look at submitted applications).  For what it's worth, I was just now able
to create an account in Safari, without any confirmation emails, by clicking
the Join Today link on the external candidates section.

However, one can Visit as a Guest and look at the application -- the
button is in the lower right portion of the main page at
http://www.umich.edu/~jobs/ and then go to detailed search and put 7935 in
the Job ID field.

If worse comes to worse, though, just send your application to me and I'll
pass it along to HR.

Sorry about the confusing site...

Regards,
Ken


--
Ken Varnum
Web Systems Manager
University of Michigan Library   E: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
309 Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library  V: 734-615-3287
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205 F: 734-647-6897




 From: Joe Atzberger [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Reply-To: Code for Libraries CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu
 Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:12:26 -0400
 To: CODE4LIB@listserv.nd.edu
 Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Job Posting: Applications Programmer/Analyst --
 University of Michigan

 OK, so assuming one were interested...

 Apparently, they have to register to even view the web listing, by supplying
 an email address.  Then check email.  Click link, change password.  (Get 2nd
 email.)  Now login with password...

 But having completed these steps, I still can't authenticate.  For both
 Firefox and IE7, the failure cycles at:
 https://umich.cp.aspdeploy.com/cp/seeker.html

 So does it get easier when one decides to actually apply?

 --Joe Atzberger

 On 4/18/07, Ken Varnum [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Please excuse cross-postings 

 To apply for this job, please go to http://www.umich.edu/~jobs/
 and search for Job ID 7935.


 Posting No:7935
 Job Title:Applications Programmer/Analyst Intermediate
 Department:Web Systems/University Library
 Hours:40.0
 FLSA:Exempt


 BACKGROUND
 This is a 2 year term appointment.

 The University of Michigan Library's Web Systems department is seeking a
 Programmer Analyst to work in a collaborative environment.  The
 Programmer Analyst will maintain existing and develop new web-based
 library services, personalizable and customizable information
 interfaces, and expand an already broad suite of information services.
 Familiarity and demonstrated experience with Web 2.0 tools and
 concepts is important.


 DUTIES The Programmer/Analyst II works as part of the Web Systems
 department to develop and support the technology service environment of
 the University of Michigan University Library through performing
 detailed analysis and design of new systems, and modifying the design of
 existing ones to meet the needs of library system users.  The Programmer
 Analyst II will write or modify computer programs in PERL, PHP, SQL, and
 other languages as needed.  The candidate will apply systems analysis
 procedures, including consulting with users, to determine software and
 system design specifications for developing new information services.


 DEPARTMENT QUALIFICATIONS
 Minimum:
 -Bachelor's degree (Computer Science or Engineering preferred)
 or equivalent.
 -Experience programming in Perl, PHP, SQL, and similar languages.
 -Experience designing and implementing Web Services (SOAP
 and/or XML-RPC).
 -Experience with XML and XSLT.
 -Experience working as part of a team.
 -Good interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively.

 Desired:
 -Demonstrated experience with Web 2.0 technologies.
 -Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment.
 -Familiarity with Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).
 -Experience with Java web application development (java server pages;
 java servlets).
 -Experience developing Java web applications using open-source tools
 (Maven, Ant, Eclipse) or equivalent.
 -Experience writing use cases, performing usability testing,
 and developing standards documentation.
 -Familiarity with or interest in library technologies.


 --
 Ken Varnum
 Web Systems Manager
 University of Michigan Library   E: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 309 Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library  V: 734-615-3287
 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205 F: 734-647-6897