Alexander Johannesen wrote:
> As to what XSLT is good for, it is good for whatever you use it for,
> nothing more, but it helps if you work with XML data (but it's not a
> requirement). As a hardcore XSLT developer for over 10 years (so since
> XSLT was a mere baby) there's not much I haven't used it for,
> including database application management, a full-blown Topic Maps
> engine, and MARC meta data extractor, text parser, recursive
> edge-graph analyzing tool, CMS, and more. But this is the wrong focus
> in this discussion.
>
> This isn't really about the wonders of XSLT, it's about getting your
> meta data into open standards, nothing more. And I suspect it's also
> about the everlasting problem of bibliographic meta data in XML, where
> MARCXML is making a mockery out of the good name of XML, for example.
Absolutely true. As I understand it, one of the main goals of the MARCXML project was to enable 100% round-trip conversions: that the ISO2709 could be converted to an XML format and back again. Of course, the ISO2709 format was originally based on creating catalog cards and still reflects many of the problems of the cards. So, the MARC format in XML is still limited by the ISO2709 format, which at basis, is limited to the catalog card. Rather amazing!
But my main point is that it is vital for record exchange no longer to be based on ISO2709. Once our main method of record transfer is in better formats, we can fit into the world much more easily. I personally don't care what any of those formats are, and I don't think it's strictly a cataloger/library concern. This is primarily a systems concern, so long as the formats chosen are robust enough for our needs. I think XML and RDF allow for that.
Still, it isn't that once we make our own format that everyone will come running to give us exactly what we want. It seems to me that when Google threw out OAI-PMH, this was a statement that they will do whatever they will do and everybody else can follow along. Google is far more powerful in this world than libraries are or most probably, ever will be. We must fit into that world, whether we like it or whether we don't.
Jim Weinheimer
Received on Fri Apr 24 2009 - 03:17:24 EDT