I should say that I wasn't suggesting a 'standard API' - just that it
would be nice if vendors should supported published APIs to their
systems!
I had an off list correspondence where I said:
-----------
I think that Andrew [Pace] is right when he goes on to say that we need
to think about how our systems relate to large enterprise systems like
Finance etc. - although I also think this may apply to (for example)
large Universities with well developed corporate systems more than
perhaps other areas. This may well be where standards fit in, although I
suspect that what we will really end up with is custom built, hopefully
using standard approaches (like web services).
-----------
Of course, there may be standards that we can take advantage of already
in existence, and this may well be something we do in certain situations
(e.g. see the work of the Sword project
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/repositories/digirep/index/SWORD which is
leveraging the ATOM publication API to enable deposit to digital
repositories), and existing standards like NCIP and SRU/SRW may be used,
but overall I agree with Richard.
Owen
Owen Stephens
Assistant Director: e-Strategy and Information Resources
Imperial College London Library
Imperial College London
South Kensington
London SW7 2AZ
Tel: 020 7594 8829
Email: o.stephens_at_imperial.ac.uk
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Wallis
> Sent: 23 October 2007 23:20
> To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] NGLMS4LIB?
>
> Owen Wrote:
> > I'm not sure you need to go as far as a standard database.
> Considering
> > the small number of large LMS suppliers in the market, actually even
> > building an interface to each one is a minimal amount of
> work (6 major
> > systems, 4 major suppliers?) - if only they all had published API to
> > work with...
>
> Ah that Standard API Holy Grail again! You only have to have a view
> of the processes behind standards like NCIP to realise that the
> chances of the ILS vendor community quickly coming up with a useful
> workable open standard API definition that will open up their systems
> is virtually zero.
>
> So I am supporting the continuance of the monolithic ILS as the
> disintegration problem is insolvable you may think? You know me
> better than that - bring on the DLS. But if the Vendors will not
> agree a standard way to bring this about, it will be up to others to
> do it. I am aware of a few early moves in this area that will
> hopefully be a useful SOA contribution - watch this space.
>
> ......... from a blog posting 'ILS or DLS that is the question' on
> Panlibus about this thread [http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/
> 2007/10/ils_or_dls_that.php]
>
> Richard Wallis
> Technology Evangelist, Talis
>
Received on Wed Oct 24 2007 - 04:41:25 EDT