> I guess my direct point is this: the problem of the NGO(PAC) isn't
> necessarily best solved by layering an OSS hack on top of a
> featureless black-box catalog, but perhaps the catalog itself (which
> is the core of the circulation system, what most here seem to be
> referring to as the "ILS" side of OPAC-ILS) should be fixed to provide
> a real, full-featured interface -- without bankrupting the library.
This is what I'd like to see. An ILS system with a full-featured web
services interface/API that we could hook up ANY front end to and use.
I don't remember if it was this list or Web4Lib that linked to the "If
Amazon Sucked Like Our Opac" (http://library2.csusm.edu/amazon/)
interface that the amazingly talented David Walker put together. If
this is possible through web services from Amazon, why shouldn't our
ILS systems offer the same data for us to use to create our own
interfaces or, for libraries without the technological know-how, offer
a "pre-built" interface themselves.
I've not been able to play with Evergreen or Koha, so I don't know if
they work this way, but this sort of architecture would pretty much
make everything I want to do with our catalog possible - including all
of the filtering and sorting options you all have been discussing on
this thread.
--
Robin Hastings
robin.hastings_at_gmail.com
http://www.rhastings.net
Received on Wed Jun 21 2006 - 16:07:47 EDT