What we actually need is for OCLC to publish a spec on "normalizing"
OCLC numbers. Which I guess would actually be as simple as "remove
leading zeroes."
So I actually think Google is doing an acceptable thing, and you should
remove leading zeroes before making a query to it. Although it would be
kind of Google to normalize on making a query too. But I wouldn't hold
your breath; my impression on this stuff, after trying to talk to Google
about it before, is that it's pretty much a Finished Thing that nobody
at Google is currently working on and nobody at Google currently cares
about.
But it would be nice if OCLC published a statement saying "remove
leading zeroes from OCLC numbers before comparing two OCLCnumbers to see
if they match, or submitting an OCLC number to a foreign system for
comparison."
Jonathan
Jimmy Ghaphery wrote:
> NGC4LIB,
>
> We have noticed an issue with using the Google API for older items where
> we have leading zeros in the OCLC number.
>
> For example with the leading zero, no result found:
> http://books.google.com/books/feeds/volumes?q=OCLC07913025
>
> Take out the zero:
> http://books.google.com/books/feeds/volumes?q=OCLC7913025
>
> What is the collective take on this? Does this seem like a reasonable
> accommodation that Google should make (ideally at someone's request with
> more juice than me, hint OCLC)? Or should I scurry about and make
> changes locally?
>
> -Jimmy
>
> --
> Jimmy Ghaphery
> Head, Library Information Systems
> VCU Libraries
> http://www.library.vcu.edu
> --
>
>
Received on Wed Jul 22 2009 - 14:38:36 EDT