On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:47:32 -0400, Beacom, Matthew
<matthew.beacom_at_YALE.EDU> wrote:
>Jim,
>
>I see everything you've said below pretty much with an opposite view.
>
>First, for now the best way for libraries to share their bibliographic data
is clear and non-controversial: MARC21 and MARCXML. These are the best
currently available ways to make our bibliographic data available for others
to use.
This was discussed by me in an earlier post and also by Berners-Lee. He
said, don't put your information in a pdf file because no one will dig out
the information. Put it up in some kind of format that can be manipulated,
even if it's only in a CSV.
Karen mentioned that the entire file of LC is in the Internet Archive. I was
unaware of that, but I can't find it. The files I can find are MARC21
ISO2709 files which is the equivalent of what TBL said about pdf files.
While MARC may be "well-documented" is is not "well-understood" by anybody
except catalogers. Nobody will dig the information out of that.
Also, I understand how RDA and FRBR are seen to be huge advances over what
we have now. The problem is, even if we do advance to that level (after a
long time yet) we'll still be in the relative dark ages. I think we need
advances now, and TBL says how to do it.
If the LC records are in the Internet archive, perhaps somebody can convert
them into a more normal format (not perfect) and let web developers know?
The developers could build their "stuff" and Google could index that. Who
knows what they could make in conjunction with Google Maps, maybe Amazon and
open statistical and governmental information? A lot can be done but it
can't be only by us.
Jim Weinheimer
Received on Fri Oct 23 2009 - 10:46:22 EDT