Tim Spalding wrote:
> Rather than argue over who has "real world" experience, let's look at
> simple metrics of how library standards are faring outside of
> library-land. With apologies to the Atlantic Magazine:
>
> Web sites currently using Amazon bibliographic data: 100,000+?
> Web sites currently using MARC bibliography data: 3
>
> Books currently in print about programming with Amazon Web Services: 5
> Books currently in print about programming with MARC: 0
>
> Google pages about using Ruby with Amazon*: 9,400
> Google paes about using Ruby with MARC21 or MARXML: 507
>
> Date when Z39.50 support was removed from the standard PHP
> installation: July 13, 2004
>
And a good thing it was, too; the days when every single module had to
be hardlinked into PHP are long gone, but Z39.50-support in PHP is alive
and well. See http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.yaz.php . In fact, it
has flourished since then. For Z39.50 (and often SRU/W) support in other
languages, see http://zoom.z3950.org/bind/index.html . It's never been
easier or more fun to build cool Z39.50/SRU applications. Do I mean to
undermine your point? Surely not, but bashing the standards, I think, is
an exercise in cooler-than-thou geekery that misses the point.
> Total messages on the SRU/SRW ListServ in August: 12
> Number of messages posted by a single Amazon AAWS forum member; 1,820
>
> "Cool" SRU/SRW implementations cited on the SRU website: 1
> Number that are actually cool: 0
>
> Libraries should be at the heart of book data, wherever it shows up.
> Twenty years ago they were. Now, they're not even at the table.
> Antiquated, over-engineered standards and closed data have
> marginalized them.
>
My vote would go to a lack of collaboration and sharing in our community
as the main culprit rather than the nature of the standards. Too many
libraries and consortia are afraid of sharing... OCLC always gets the
rap for this, but I've seen it all over the place in the tiniest
consortia and single libraries -- and in OSS projects. I'd like to see
much more sharing of code, interfaces, and data -- a more lively
'marketplace' of ideas, thoughts, technology, and even services.
Without it, this whole edifice surely will become irrelevant.
--Sebastian
> Tim
>
> *ECS, now renamed Amazon Associates Webservices and often just called
> "Amazon Web Services" until other services were added.
>
>
--
Sebastian Hammer, Index Data
quinn_at_indexdata.com
www.indexdata.com
Received on Wed Sep 24 2008 - 15:03:44 EDT