[Web4lib] Re: OpenSearch, Koha, and Library Catalogs [SRW/U]

[Mike Taylor]

> Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 10:09:24 -0400
> From: Ross Singer <ross.singer at library.gatech.edu>
> 
> Mike, I think you're missing my point.

Evidently!  :-)

> What does the "remote" (client) site do with this page:
> http://z3950.loc.gov:7090/voyager?query=hemingway&startRecord=1&maximumRecords=1&recordSchema=dc&version=1.1&operation=searchRetrieve

It displays what gets returned, which is an XML document describing
the results of the search.  i.e. exactly the same as OpenSearch.

See?  I am _still_ missing the point.  So far as I can tell.

> Imagine a larger result set, with multiple "types" of results (some
> monographs, some electronic, some other types) where your metadata
> results might vary?

Yes.  I still don't understand the problem.

> OpenSearch requires a "title" and "url" for each result and an
> option description.

You can easily do that with SRU.

> The other thing I note is that SRU requires an SRW/U server --
> which, frankly, probably means only bibliographic data will be
> searched.

??!!

What is an "SRW/U" server?  And SRU server can be any program the
responds to SRU requests -- for example the 136-line SRU server on the
	http://sru.miketaylor.org.uk/
web-site.  So, sorry, I am still not understanding what the problem
is.

And I don't _at all_ understand what makes you think that SRU is
limited to bibliographic data.  It absolutely isn't.  There are
_already_ SRU profiles for:
* thesaurus navigation -- http://zthes.z3950.org/srw/current.html
* collectable card games -- http://srw.cheshire3.org/contextSets/ccg/
* musical manuscript -- http://www.ceridwen.com/srw/music-contextset.html
* service registries -- http://srw.cheshire3.org/profiles/ZeeRex/
and who knows what else is in development?

> I realize that we're talking about bibliographic data in this case,
> but it would be very narrow minded to limit ourselves only to that.

Quite!  Which is exactly why SRU seems like such a good choice to me:
its expressiveness and profilability give it a huge edge when it comes
to reaching into new application domains.

> Also, I want to reiterate the fact that our OpenSearch
> implementation /is merely transforming queries to and from our SRU
> implementation/.  A9 does not support SRU, so what do we do?
> Boycott them?  Or adapt our services to work with them?

No, sure, absolutely.  The point I am _not_ missing (:-) is your need
to provide an OpenSearch interface for the benefit of the specific
client (A9) that uses it.  What I am still not getting is why you seem
to think SRU is unsuitable in other contexts.

 _/|_	 ___________________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor  <mike at miketaylor.org.uk>  http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "Writing is like driving a car at night.  You can only see as
	 far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way" --
	 E. L. Doctorow.

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