Comments on: WorldCat API: draft ruby gem http://people.oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/618 On my work (programming, digital libraries, cataloging) and other stuff that perks my interest (family, cycling, etc) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:31:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Administrator http://people.oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/618/comment-page-1#comment-107531 Administrator Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:30:05 +0000 http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/618#comment-107531 One note, I should preface the above where I note: "And while the project was pretty much completed, the present service terms the are attached to the API make this type of work out of bounds at present" -- this is related to the restrictions on service levels and the data that is provided. My vision for an open source version of WorldCat Local was to provide an open replacement option for the ILS utilizing WorldCat data. And this is possible and folks have done it (David Walker I believe has integrated the WorldCat API into the Xerces project). The main difference between that work and my interest is I want to provide the interface without need for authentication. At present, to use the full service level, you must authenticate all users -- essentially the same way that you would for article databases. The difference however, is that you would be talking about one's ILS and that becomes a much stickier issue -- since large swaths of users that have no relation to an organization likely use and rely on an organization's ILS interface. So, it is these limits that I'm alluding to. And as I say, these were limits that I was aware of, though, I honestly believe will be short-lived as OCLC continues to evaluate how to make their data more available to the membership. That seems to be the trend with their other services, so I certainly can see this eventually moving in that direction. --TR One note, I should preface the above where I note: “And while the project was pretty much completed, the present service terms the are attached to the API make this type of work out of bounds at present” — this is related to the restrictions on service levels and the data that is provided. My vision for an open source version of WorldCat Local was to provide an open replacement option for the ILS utilizing WorldCat data. And this is possible and folks have done it (David Walker I believe has integrated the WorldCat API into the Xerces project). The main difference between that work and my interest is I want to provide the interface without need for authentication. At present, to use the full service level, you must authenticate all users — essentially the same way that you would for article databases. The difference however, is that you would be talking about one’s ILS and that becomes a much stickier issue — since large swaths of users that have no relation to an organization likely use and rely on an organization’s ILS interface. So, it is these limits that I’m alluding to. And as I say, these were limits that I was aware of, though, I honestly believe will be short-lived as OCLC continues to evaluate how to make their data more available to the membership. That seems to be the trend with their other services, so I certainly can see this eventually moving in that direction.

–TR

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