On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_jhu.edu> wrote:
> 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."
>
I cannot speak for OCLC, but xOCLCNUM service includes a "getVariants"
service which normalizes OCLCNUM somehow, such as:
http://xisbn.worldcat.org/webservices/xid/oclcnum/07913025?method=getVariants
The API document has a link to how OCLCNUM variants are used:
http://xisbn.worldcat.org/xisbnadmin/xoclcnum/api.htm#getvariants
http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/253/253.pdf
It may be clear from the service that when you use naked OCLCNUM, you should
remove the leaving zeros, but if you use it with a prefix "ocm", it was
recommended to pad the number to 8 digits, such as "ocm07913025".
The getVariants service was suggested by Tod Matola in OCLC.
xiaoming
>
> 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 - 15:42:52 EDT