Re: [CODE4LIB] Open Source Course reserves management
NC State Univ. Libraries is also beginning work on implementing ReservesDirect. I think we hope for a trial with a few courses this summer, and implementation for fall. -emily lynema -- Date:Thu, 6 Mar 2008 18:02:48 -0500 From:Ranti Junus [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Open Source Course reserves management We (Michigan State University Libraries) looked into the possibility of implementing this a few years ago, but the final decision was to utilize the university's course management system instead. ranti. On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 3:59 PM, Jeffrey Barnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why am I not surprised to learn that you were the original author ;-) There is no indication of any use outside of Emory. Are other sites using it? Ross Singer wrote: Jeffrey, Take a look at Reserves Direct from Emory: http://reservesdirect.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page -Ross. On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 3:06 PM, Jeffrey Barnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is anyone aware of a standalone or add-on open source package for managing electronic and/or digital course reserves? A commercial offering in this area is Aries, but it is not customizable to our needs. Most useful features are monitoring for multiple use of same article or chapter and efficient copyright clearance. -- Bulk mail. Postage paid. -- Emily Lynema Systems Librarian for Digital Projects Information Technology, NCSU Libraries 919-513-8031 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
Tim, It sounds like you want to be able to search on standard identifiers and are frustrated that the Internet Archive's access doesn't allow it (although it looks like they do have an ISBN search)? And I'm curious, why would you want or need to pull down only records that have OCLC numbers of ISBNs in particular? What is it you need to do that makes only those records useful? Like Karen and Bess and others have said, I recommend that you coordinate this with the Open Library project. At the meeting last Friday, it did sound like they would be interested in providing identifier disambiguation types of service - give them an ISBN, and they'll give you the records associated with it. Also, there was discussion about building an Open Librar yAPI (to enable some cool integration with wikipedia), and I suggested a that libraries using an API would want the search results to include information about whether the title has a digitized copy. So I would hope the service that you're envisioning is something that would be provided by an Open Library API (but we don't know when that might come about). As OCA moves forward, folks may well be digitizing identical books. So there may not be a one to one relationship between unique catalog identifier, unique oca identifier, and isbn/lccn/oclc number. -emily -- Date:Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:47:04 -0500 From:Tim Shearer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api? Howdy folks, I've been playing and thinking. I'd like to have what amounts to a unique identifier index to oca digitized texts. I want to be able to pull all the records that have oclc numbers, issns, isbns, etc. I want it to be lightweight, fast, searchable. Would anyone else want/use such a thing? I'm thinking about building something like this. If I do, it would be ideal if wouldn't be a duplication of effort, so anyone got this in the works? And if it would meet the needs of others. My basic notion is to crawl the site (starting with americana, the American Libraries. Pull the oca unique identifier (e.g. northcarolinayea1910rale) and associate it with unique identifiers (oclc numbers, issns, isbns, lc numbers) contributing institution's alias and unique catalog identifier upload date That's all I was thinking of. Then there's what you might be able to do with it: Give me all the oca unique identifiers that have oclc numbers Give me all the oca unique identifiers with isbns that were uploaded between x and y date Give me the oca unique identifier for this oclc number Planning to do: keep crawling it and keep it up to date. Things I wasn't planning to do: worry about other unique ids (you'd have to go to xISBN or ThingISBN yourself) worry about storing anything else from oca. It would be good for being able to add an 856 to matches in your catalog. It would not be good for grabbing all marc records for all of oca. Anyhow, is this duplication of effort? Would you like something like this? What else would you like it to do (keeping in mind this is an unfunded pet project)? How would you want to talk to it? I was thinking of a web service, but hadn't thought too much about how to query it or how I'd deliver results. Of course I'm being an idiot and trying out new tools at the same time (python to see what the buzz is all about, sqlite just to learn it (it may not work out)). Thoughts? Vicious criticism? -t -- Date:Thu, 6 Mar 2008 11:05:41 -0500 From:Jodi Schneider [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api? Great idea, Tim! The open library tech list that Bess mentions is [EMAIL PROTECTED], described at http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech -Jodi Jodi Schneider Science Library Specialist Amherst College 413-542-2076 -- Date:Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:32:43 -0800 From:Karen Coyle [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api? We talked about something like this at the Open Library meeting last Friday. The ol list is [EMAIL PROTECTED] (join at http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-lib). I think of this as a (or one or more) translate service between IDs. It's a realization that we will never have a unique ID that everyone agrees on, that most bibliographic items are really more than one thing, but that since we have data about the bibliographic item we have many opportunities to make connections even though people have used different identifiers. So we could use an ID-switcher to move among data stores and services. Is that the kind of thing you are thinking of? kc -- Emily Lynema Systems Librarian for Digital Projects Information Technology, NCSU Libraries 919-513-8031 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
On Mar 7, 2008, at 8:22 AM, Emily Lynema wrote: Also, there was discussion about building an Open Library API (to enable some cool integration with wikipedia), and I suggested a that libraries using an API would want the search results to include information about whether the title has a digitized copy. So I would hope the service that you're envisioning is something that would be provided by an Open Library API (but we don't know when that might come about). I sat in on this discussion at the Meeting. It was driven by a consultant-type who is working for Wikipedia. His desire was to create an API that allowed people to authoritatively and consistently cite content from Wikipedia to Open Library. Ultimately, this API would allow a person to: * search Open Library via word, phrase, or key * return list of hits * select item * create citation * insert citation into Wikipedia article * regularly check the validity of the citation Regarding the first two items I tried to suggest the use of SRU. Regarding the last item, I tried to suggest OAI. In both cases I was shot down. Too complicated, at the same time, they were outlining API's that had the *exact* functionality of SRU and OAI. I sort of saw his point. Library protocols are usually overly-complicated, yet he was totally unaware of either protocol. I also think he was suffering a bit from the Not Invented Here Syndrome. We also got into a bit of a religious war regarding the definition of REST-ful Web Services. In the end we talked a lot about JSON and a tiny bit about ATOM. -- Eric Lease Morgan University Libraries of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
I see a whole lot of not invented here syndrome from IA, honestly. They seem to want to re-invent everything themselves, rather than try to use existing conventions. Even if they come up with something slightly better than SRU, is it worth the pain to developers who would like to implement client code, and can't use their existing SRU client code to do so? Seems to me, and I tried to tell Brewster this when talking to him after his keynote at the conference, if the IA is serious about trying to get external developers to engage with IA stuff (which the IA folks at the conf mentioned was indeed a goal of theirs), then there are certain things the IA should put their resources into in order to facillitate and encourage this. Mainly: 1) Documenting their interfaces. Right now as far as I can tell everything is available on a if you happen to notice it's there and then reverse engineer it yourself, and who knows if it might change and break your code basis. I don't really have time for that. 2) When they make machine interfaces, use existing conventions and standards in use by the community of developers they want to target. [If the community of developers they want to target is not neccesarily library programmers, and that community they wish to target doesn't in fact use SRU at all right now, I suppose that might be fair. I dunno]. 3) Best of all, actually talk to people in this community of developers _before_ developing their stuff, to see what their needs are. User centered development, right? You don't produce a giant piece of software without talking to those who you want to use it, and then wonder why they don't seem interested in using it. When I bring this up, I'm generally told Oh, all that is YOUR responsibility. If you wanted it bad enough, you'd deal with it. We just make it available, the rest is up to you. That's fine, like I said, they can prioritize their resource allocation however they want. But they shouldn't be so surprised when they're having trouble getting external-developer-community adoption of their stuff when this is their attitude. That's what I would have said if I had been able to make the meeting last week. So maybe they're changing their approach a bit with regard to some of these things. They did meet with library developers, at least. I don't see much evidence of 1 or 2 yet though. Jonathan Eric Lease Morgan wrote: On Mar 7, 2008, at 8:22 AM, Emily Lynema wrote: Also, there was discussion about building an Open Library API (to enable some cool integration with wikipedia), and I suggested a that libraries using an API would want the search results to include information about whether the title has a digitized copy. So I would hope the service that you're envisioning is something that would be provided by an Open Library API (but we don't know when that might come about). I sat in on this discussion at the Meeting. It was driven by a consultant-type who is working for Wikipedia. His desire was to create an API that allowed people to authoritatively and consistently cite content from Wikipedia to Open Library. Ultimately, this API would allow a person to: * search Open Library via word, phrase, or key * return list of hits * select item * create citation * insert citation into Wikipedia article * regularly check the validity of the citation Regarding the first two items I tried to suggest the use of SRU. Regarding the last item, I tried to suggest OAI. In both cases I was shot down. Too complicated, at the same time, they were outlining API's that had the *exact* functionality of SRU and OAI. I sort of saw his point. Library protocols are usually overly-complicated, yet he was totally unaware of either protocol. I also think he was suffering a bit from the Not Invented Here Syndrome. We also got into a bit of a religious war regarding the definition of REST-ful Web Services. In the end we talked a lot about JSON and a tiny bit about ATOM. -- Eric Lease Morgan University Libraries of Notre Dame -- Jonathan Rochkind Digital Services Software Engineer The Sheridan Libraries Johns Hopkins University 410.516.8886 rochkind (at) jhu.edu
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
I want to be able to pull all the records that have oclc numbers, issns, isbns, etc. I want it to be lightweight, fast, searchable. Would anyone else want/use such a thing?... I like the idea, but in the long term, I just don't know how useful this will be. By and large, these identifiers are designed for dead tree resources. Although they are sometimes assigned to electronic resources, I find it hard to believe that the containers these identifiers are associated with will contain more than a tiny proportion of the information users want/need. The book structure just doesn't make nearly as much sense in an online environment. My basic notion is to crawl the site (starting with americana, the American Libraries. Pull the oca unique identifier (e.g. northcarolinayea1910rale) and associate it with unique identifiers (oclc numbers, issns, isbns, lc numbers) contributing institution's alias and unique catalog identifier upload date That's all I was thinking of. Then there's what you might be able to do with it: Give me all the oca unique identifiers that have oclc numbers Give me all the oca unique identifiers with isbns that were uploaded between x and y date Give me the oca unique identifier for this oclc number Not sure I understand the use case (i.e. the value of retrieving another identifier). One thing to keep in mind is that although the numbering schemes are independent, they can be thought of as hierarchical. Anything that has an lccn number should already have an isbn because of the standards lc catalogs to. And they put their holdings in OCLC, so all numbers that have an oclc number should contain these other identifiers. Items with oclc numbers that were not cataloged by lc should also have isbns. When such conditions are not met, it is a sign of a record containing unreliable information. kyle -- -- Kyle Banerjee Digital Services Program Manager Orbis Cascade Alliance [EMAIL PROTECTED] / 541.359.9599
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
Kyle Banerjee wrote: I like the idea, but in the long term, I just don't know how useful this will be. By and large, these identifiers are designed for dead tree resources. Only time will tell, but it's what we've got now, and I don't see our existing legacy records going away. So we will continue to need to try and match existing records to digitized resources representing those existing records. (Keep in mind that OCA for now is mostly only digitizing out of copyright stuff!) The more identifiers the more likely we can succesfully make such a match. One thing to keep in mind is that although the numbering schemes are independent, they can be thought of as hierarchical. Anything that has an lccn number should already have an isbn because of the standards lc catalogs to. Nope. ISBN was created in 1966. LCCNs exist for many resources published before 1966. Even after 1966, not every single item that may have been cataloged by the Library of Congress was neccesarily assigned an ISBN by it's publisher. (One obvious overlooked example---non-print resources, like music or videos! LC doesn't catalog very many of these, but any they have aren't going to have ISBNs! Other examples---foreign publishers, self-published stuff, the first few years after 66 when ISBN adoption curve was still on the way up, etc. ) And they put their holdings in OCLC, so all numbers that have an oclc number should contain these other identifiers. Nope. I think you mean all items that have an LCCN should also have an OCLC number. Probably true (mostly). But all items that have an OCLC number will not neccesarily have an LCCN. You say so below items that were not cataloged by lc will have oclc numbers but probably not lccns. And once we get away from LC, the chances of a cataloged item (with an OCLC number) not having an ISBN go up even more (any musical CD, for instance, not usually held by LC but held by public libraries accross the US). Items with oclc numbers that were not cataloged by lc should also have isbns. When such conditions are not met, it is a sign of a record containing unreliable information. I do not believe this is the case. But let us admit that our cooperative cataloging corpus in fact IS not very reliable, it is full of incorrect information. But we've got to deal with it anyway. A record that is _missing_ an applicable identifier that it _could_ have contained may be reliable in other respects, I wouldn't automatically assume it is not. Jonathan kyle -- -- Kyle Banerjee Digital Services Program Manager Orbis Cascade Alliance [EMAIL PROTECTED] / 541.359.9599 -- Jonathan Rochkind Digital Services Software Engineer The Sheridan Libraries Johns Hopkins University 410.516.8886 rochkind (at) jhu.edu
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
Kyle Banerjee wrote: I want to be able to pull all the records that have oclc numbers, issns, isbns, etc. I want it to be lightweight, fast, searchable. Would anyone else want/use such a thing?... I like the idea, but in the long term, I just don't know how useful this will be. By and large, these identifiers are designed for dead tree resources. Although they are sometimes assigned to electronic resources, I find it hard to believe that the containers these identifiers are associated with will contain more than a tiny proportion of the information users want/need. The book structure just doesn't make nearly as much sense in an online environment. The utility that I see is that as things are digitized the dead tree identifier is often included in the metadata that accompanies the digital file. This makes it possible to go from legacy data (read: library catalogs) to the digital data. Not sure I understand the use case (i.e. the value of retrieving another identifier). Because the same dead tree item is being digitized multiple times in different locations under different projects. It's an interesting situation because where we once had an ISBN that identified EVERY copy of that manifestation we will now have many different copies (different because they were digitized separately). Those copies will probably have a variety of identifiers associated with them. One thing to keep in mind is that although the numbering schemes are independent, they can be thought of as hierarchical. Anything that has an lccn number should already have an isbn because of the standards lc catalogs to. And they put their holdings in OCLC, so all numbers that have an oclc number should contain these other identifiers. Items with oclc numbers that were not cataloged by lc should also have isbns. When such conditions are not met, it is a sign of a record containing unreliable information. Not the case. First, ISBNs only came into being in 1968. Nothing before that has one. Many items have NOT been cataloged by LC, many are NOT in OCLC, and oftentimes the records that you are working with have munged, stripped out, or lost the identity of the identifiers that are left. It's great luck if you find one clearly marked identifier in a bib record. kc kyle -- -- Kyle Banerjee Digital Services Program Manager Orbis Cascade Alliance [EMAIL PROTECTED] / 541.359.9599 -- --- Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kcoyle.net ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet fx.: 510-848-3913 mo.: 510-435-8234
Re: [CODE4LIB] musing on oca apiRe: [CODE4LIB] oca api?
Nope. ISBN was created in 1966. LCCNs exist for many resources published before 1966. Even after 1966, not every single item that may have been cataloged by the Library of Congress was neccesarily assigned an ISBN by it's publisher All true. What I meant was that _if_ an isbn exists for an item and LC cataloged it, the LC record should have both. Many resources with and without isbns may not be in LC, so the lccn cannot be used as a substitute, but LC records can be considered a reasonably authoritative source of isbns for the stuff that they have. Nope. I think you mean all items that have an LCCN should also have an OCLC number. Probably true (mostly). But all items that have an OCLC number will not neccesarily have an LCCN. You say so below items that were not cataloged by lc will have oclc numbers but probably not lccns. I misspoke but it appears you see what I mean. The relationship between oclc numbers and lccns is similar to the that between lccns and isbns. The oclc number is not a substitute for an lccn, but if a record that has an oclc number also contains an lccn, the oclc record can be considered an authoritative source for the lccn -- and an isbn if one exists. I do not believe this is the case. But let us admit that our cooperative cataloging corpus in fact IS not very reliable, it is full of incorrect information. But we've got to deal with it anyway. A record that is _missing_ an applicable identifier that it _could_ have contained may be reliable in other respects, I wouldn't automatically assume it is not. The quality is variable, but it's the best we have and it's worth using the most reliable data available. Otherwise, inappropriate linkages start popping up. If there are relatively few, that's not a big deal, but once you get too much bad data in the system you have a real problem. kyle -- -- Kyle Banerjee Digital Services Program Manager Orbis Cascade Alliance [EMAIL PROTECTED] / 541.359.9599
[CODE4LIB] Metadata Librarian needed for prestigious university in Pasadena, CA
Library Associates Companies (LAC) is seeking a Metadata Librarian for a prestigious University located in Pasadena, California. This is either a part-time or full-time position with the possibility of subsequent hire. This position calls for a candidate with serials management experience to assist with original cataloging, link resolution services and database maintenance activities within the Metadata Services Group. The candidate must have an expert knowledge of standard library cataloging standards such as MARC, AACR2, OpenURL, and tools such as OCLC Connexion and will coordinate the work of staff members, distributed in various library departments, and is responsible for quality control of metadata in assigned areas of responsibility. This position reports to the Metadata Group Manager. NOTE: Non-local candidates will be considered but travel, relocation, and housing reimbursements are not provided at this time. RESPONSIBILITIES AND JOB DUTIES: LINK RESOLUTION MANAGEMENT AND TROUBLESHOOTING * Monitor acquisitions and cataloging workflow and activate link resolution services in Ex Libris SFX upon addition of new resources to the library collection. * Create original local SFX Knowledge Base records as required. * Edit local serials coverage thresholds as required after SFX monthly Knowledge Base updates. * Synchronize linking services between the ILS and SFX. * Investigate access issues and resolve problems by using licensing and payment records and publisher information to correctly configure SFX link resolution services. * Stay current of best practices in electronic resource management and apply them to department workflow. DATABASE MAINTENANCE AND AUTHORITY CONTROL * Perform weekly heading report maintenance activities in Innovative Millenium integrated library system. * Monitor Library of Congress changes in subject headings and apply global updates to bibliographic records. * Create original authority records as required. * Oversee special projects such as bulk ingest/edit of bibliographic records for large serials packages. CATALOGING * Perform rush cataloging * Oversee copy cataloging and resolve complex copy cataloging issues. * Create original cataloging records for all media formats and synchronize cataloging records with link resolver services as required. * Investigate serials title changes and edit cataloging and link resolver records. * Be available as mentor and export on metadata to both internal and external clients. ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES * Compile and analyze electronic statistics form a variety of sources. * Administer internal record keeping systems for tracking licensing information. * Participate in various department meetings and activities. * Other duties as required. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: * BA/BS with 2-5 years of relevant work experience mandatory. MLS from an ALA accredited institution or international equivalent preferred. ADDITIONAL SKILLS DESIRED ABILTIES * OpenURL - Expert * Experienced with cataloging procedures, AACR2, MARC, Holdings and Authorities * Experienced with evolving metadata standards and best practices * Microsoft Windows, Office proficiency * Excellent oral and written communication skills * Ability to work independently and within a team situation. TO APPLY: *Please email your resume and cover letter to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with a courtesy copy to Joanne Schwarz, [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Please reference position title AND the position ID #910 as the subject line of your email. * Library Associates Companies is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that values diversity in the workforce Patty De Anda Communications Coordinator Library Associates Companies 8383 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 355 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 800 987 6794 toll free 323 302 9439 local 323 852 1093 fax www.libraryassociates.com blocked::/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.libraryassociates.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] The information contained in this e-mail message is privileged, confidential, and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination or copying is strictly prohibited. If you think that you have received this e-mail message in error, please e-mail the sender.
