Library Web Capabiliites

[Brian Stone]

I posted a note a while back asking for information about web catalogs.
The results were disappointing. Most of the mail I received was from
people wanting the same information. Only 3 responses were from people
actually using the library system they offered information about. Some
responded with "yea, we have all that" with no specifics and that is not
very enlightening.  Here's what I have so far.

Z39.50 - just about everybody's got a server. Very few are V3 compliant.
To me that means the item/status information is in the marc image
returned by the server and that the info is in the 852 tag field. Only 2
vendors that I know of have done this, GEAC Advance  and Ameritech.
Other vendors put the item/status in other tag fields. These include
Innovative, Sirsi and GEAC Plus. I'm sure there are others. VTLS can do
this but I dont know where the item/status info is. Some do not put any
item/status info in the marc image but use a separate file instead.
Vendors that do that are preventing the free z3950 clients from
retrieving status information.

Holds, renewal, patron information - In Innovative user responded and
said all this was possible. No other library system user provided
specific information on this. Many vendors claim they can do it but we
need to know who is actually doing it. Of the three, patron information
is the most widely implemented. Renewal would be the most useful.

Email notification - Once again, many vendors claim they can do this. No
one responded that they were doing this today. Is anyone using it. If
so, how are returned messages handled. We have a very tight time frame
for holds. If an email message fails, we would need to get the printed
message out fast. How many times can an email message fail before it is
disabled? How is the email address verified.

APIs - No one responded that had done any work with any vendor's APIs.
Sirsi give a class in APIs so they probably provide them. I know my
vendor, GEAC plus, does not provide APIs. I've talked to several vendors
that say they do. Anyone know for sure?

We need to share this information. If we do not, we are at the mercy of
the library vendors. It has been my personal experience that what is
promised is not always delivered. Maybe just the people that are happy
with there current system responded. That may explain why there were so
few responses.

We need to be able to separate the vaporware from the real stuff. If you
don't want to go public with the information, send an email directly to
me. I will not publish the your name or institution. Just to get the
ball rolling, my vendor is GEAC plus. The answers for them are:

z3950 - yes but item info is not in the 852. They use a 999 field and
have a file with additional item/status information.

Holds, renewal, patron information - holds no, renewal no, patron
information I don't know.

emai notification - no

APIs - no

How bout it folks. Maybe you can keep someone else from being
taken/deceived/mislead/disappointed.

If there are any errors in this document, please bring them to my
attention and I will post a correction. Availble in beta test does not
count. Web solutions only, no telnet.



Brian