Hi Eric!
Like Jane, I am getting very tired of these constant harangues for
replacing MARC with XML, but without offering concrete suggestions on
how this might be done. First off, this library and lots of others
(including Notre Dame) *ARE* using XML schemas every day, including VRA
Core, EAD, TEI, METS, MODS, FGDC, and countless variations on DC. Many
of us expose this metadata for harvesting, at least through OAI-PMH and
the usual search engine harvests. The only place we are not using XML
schemas is in our "core" collections of "traditional" (particularly
print) library materials, yet we still expose this data to the general
public through Z39.50, and SRU/SRW, so the complaint can't be that we
don't expose our metadata. OTOH, it could be that we don't expose it in
a way that is useful to commerce. Tools like Z39.50 and SRU/SRW exist
based on the data that is available, not based on the inherent
superiority of MARC as a schema. Remember, MARC is only a communication
format, meant to convey bibliographic description between disparate
systems. There is really no reason why we couldn't use an XML schema,
one with granularity equal (or hopefully superior, especially for
technical & administrative metadata) to MARC, to move data between
systems except that parties on either end of the communication chain
(book vendors and utilities, utilities and libraries, EndNote users and
libraries, etc.) are currently set up to accept MARC. So MARC it is.
Until we unbundle the financial, inventory, circulation, and other
services from the bibliographic data in our integrated library systems,
or until ILS vendors and book suppliers see an emerging XML standard for
bibliographic data (it isn't ONIX), it is unlikely that libraries will
ever be weaned from MARC. We need general acceptance of MODS or some
other schema, for lossless transmission of our current MARC metadata as
a starter. Then we need to further isolate our bib data from our
inventory control data
. Many of us are now taking tentative steps in this direction by
separating our public metadata from our inventory functions, using
products discussed many times in this forum, like Endeca, Scriblio,
WorldCat Local, and VuCat. This increases the flexibility and
visibility of our stored data, but leads to some of the same maintenance
and data synchronization problems that we have seen with other metadata
that we have in XML silos. If the public tool is not feeding off of
live data, then what the public sees is not current data, but rather a
snapshot of an earlier version of that data. The early complaints about
our Endeca implementation largely focused on these data synchronization
issues. Bibliographic and transaction data was loaded overnight, so it
wasn't as current as it should be. We've solved some of this through 30
minute transaction updates, but also through direct Oracle queries of
live Sirsi transaction data on our full display. Unfortunately, bib
data is still only updated nightly, so changes to URLs or headings don't
show up until the next day. But this is also true of our VRA Core, EAD,
and DC metadata, which is not ported to its Luna interface in real time.
So, solve the issue of changing the mindset of libraries and vendors,
of synchronizing data between storage and delivery, and of offering
granularity at the level we need, and we're all ears. I don't think
anybody on this list is wedded to MARC or any other current technology.
Charley
Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
> On Sep 25, 2008, at 1:20 PM, Jacobs, Jane W wrote:
>
>> What's a good XML schema into which our MARC should be flipped? What's
>> missing that needs to be filled in? I'm also not the appointed guardian
>> of MARC either, but before I sign onto something new:
>>
>> SHOW ME THE SCHEMA!
>
>
>
> Given that no metadata schema is perfect, I advocate MODS:
>
> http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/
>
> But in reality, I believe the library world would benefit from the use
> and exploitation of many XML schemas.
>
--
__________________________________ __________________________________
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Charley Pennell mailto:cpennell_at_unity.ncsu.edu
Principal Cataloger for Metadata voice: (919)515-2743
Metadata and Cataloging Department fax: (919)515-7292
NCSU Libraries, Box 7111
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7111
Adjunct Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland
World Wide Web: http://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/chuckhome.html
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Received on Thu Sep 25 2008 - 13:19:42 EDT