[Web4lib] loading ebooks locally / archive?

[Edward Spodick]

We keep the archive.  We have no current plans to do anything with them.  We would like to have the option to actually do so.  I was surprised to learn that some of the archives are quite incomplete and almost totally useless.  Our Gale reference e-book archives, for example, are XML files with a DTD file reference, but the DTD file itself is not provided, which makes it difficult to even validate the data; and many elements of the content, such as graphics, are also not included in the so-called "archive".

Edward F Spodick, Information Technology Manager
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Library
lbspodic at ust.hk  tel:852-2358-6743 fax:852-2358-1043


At 7:15 AM -0700 8/14/07, James Knight wrote:
>Folks,
>
>For those of you out there who get backup copies (ftp download, CD; XML/PDF)
>of your ebook purchases from the likes of Gale, Ovid, et al., do you have
>plans to, or actually make use of this content by loading it into local DBs
>or exposing it on a search UI?
>
>If so, what technology is (or might be) involved? I know that most libraries
>nowadays post holdings records for these titles in their OPACs, but beyond
>that (and this really is a separate question), what other tools do you use
>to expose ebook content on your library's web(s).
>
>Thanks.
>
>-JamesK
>
>-- full disclosure: I work as a field engr for one of these companies, and
>am, amidst much conjecture by marketing and product managers, trying to get
>my head around just how exactly our constituency might use an electronic
>copy of a reference book, besides protecting the finish of ones desk from
>coffee stains ;o)
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