Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 10:46:13 -0500
Message-Id: <200204021546.KAA06286@m2-225-8.mit.edu>
From: Alex Coventry <alex_c@MIT.EDU>
To: sipb@mit.edu
Subject: [orbitee@MIT.EDU: Re: SIPB access to library catalog.]


hi, everyone.  last night i had an idea about the problem our oracle
database might be the solution for---we could get a dump of the MIT
library catalog, and provide decent interface to it.  it looks like the
library might let us do it.  would anyone be interested in helping?

personally, i'm most interested in a simple command-line tool that will
return matches to keyword searches on title and author, along with the
loan status of those items (that status would be a bit out of date with
this arrangement, but it'd be more convenient than what we have now,
imo.)  i have an incredibly bad track record at estimating how long a
given piece of software will take to develop, but i'd be suprised if
that would take more than a few hours to write for someone who already
knows a database api (the MARC format that Christine mentions looks
pretty straightforward.)

alex.

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X-Sender: orbitee@po11.mit.edu (Unverified)
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 09:56:27 -0500
To: Alex Coventry <alex_c@mit.edu>
From: Christine Moulen <orbitee@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: SIPB access to library catalog.
In-Reply-To: <200204020212.VAA09900@pickled-herring.mit.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi Alex,
As you can see, we've been delayed more than we had hoped a few months 
ago.  We still plan to get the frameless web version up before Fall 
term.  The public telnet interface, which I may have mentioned last time, 
is probably still a year off.  I am still working on 24 hour access to the 
existing web version, just working out some details with Oracle 
archiving.  That really should be coming soon.

I'd still have to talk to our administration about doing an export, or even 
having a second copy of our database out there that is less up to 
date.  I'm sure we don't want to cause confusion to users.  This might even 
be a project the Libraries would be interested in doing together with SIPB, 
if you want.
I'm afraid it won't be that easy to do much with our data even if I can 
export it, although there are probably several ways to do this.  Do you 
know anything about the MARC bibliographic format?  There is a standard 
format for this data, and I can export in that format, rather than 
literally dumping the database.  This would also combine information from 
several tables that might otherwise be difficult to bring back together.

I'll push this idea higher up and let you know what happens.

Christine

At 09:12 PM 4/1/2002 -0500, you wrote:

>Hi, Christine.  I wrote to you a while back about the possibility of
>SIPB getting access to the oracle back-end to the library catalog.  It
>just occurred to me that all we would really need was a dump of the
>database, which could be updated on a periodic basis (say, once a day or
>once a week) by a cron job that sends us a export file.
>
>This might prove very useful to the MIT community, as we could quickly
>set up an ad hoc text-based interface to it until the text-based
>interface you're expecting becoomes available.  Would you be prepared to
>give us a single snapshot of the database to start playing with?
>
>Alex.
>
> > From orbitee@MIT.EDU Mon Nov 19 18:43:23 2001
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > X-Sender: orbitee@po11.mit.edu (Unverified)
> > Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 15:57:12 -0500
> > To: Alex Coventry <alex_c@mit.edu>
> > From: Christine Moulen <orbitee@MIT.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: library catalog.
> > In-Reply-To: <200111192032.PAA28856@QUICHE-LORRAINE.MIT.EDU>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> >
> > Hi Alex, I'm not sure I'd be terribly comfortable with a publicly
> > known oracle login.  And it would definitely need to be approved
> > through security channels higher up than myself.  Before you decide
> > you really want to pursue this, I should tell you that by the end of
> > the academic year, we will have a web version that is compatible with
> > text-based browsers, like Lynx.  We're working with the vendor to
> > change some of the functionality that currently requires the use of
> > javascript.  Also, as part of required development for another
> > customer, they will be releasing a version with telnet access next
> > Summer.  I can't say for sure when we'll get that upgrade, but
> > probably not more than a year from now.  If SIPB still wants to work
> > on a terminal-based interface, let me know, and we can look further
> > into the public oracle account.
> >
> > Christine
> >
> > At 03:32 PM 11/19/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> > >Hi, Christine.  I'm part of a computer group at MIT called SIPB.
> > >We'd be interested in developing a terminal-based interface to the
> > >Barton catalog.  I heard that you run it from an oracle database
> > >backend, and I was wondering if it would be possible for the library
> > >to provide a publically accessible read-only account for that
> > >database.
> > >
> > >Alex.
> >
> >
> > Christine Moulen
> > Library Systems Manager
> > MIT Libraries, 14-0615
> > 617-253-0757, fax 617-253-8894
> > orbitee@mit.edu


Christine Moulen
Library Systems Manager
MIT Libraries, 14-0615
617-253-0757, fax 617-253-8894
orbitee@mit.edu
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