This is just a posting in praise of the ZOOM Perl module.

Using ZOOM is it possible to query bunches o' things using a
consistent API. I used it to create a rudimentary Z39.50 client to
our local catalog, attached. I think ZOOM is a bit of an unsung hero.

--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame




#!/usr/bin/perl

# require
use MARC::Record;
use strict;
use ZOOM;

# define
use constant UNDLIBRARIES => 'alephprod.library.nd.edu:9991/ndu01pub';

# get the query
my $query = shift;

# create an connection and search
my $connection = new ZOOM::Connection( UNDLIBRARIES, 0, count => 1, preferredRecordSyntax => "usmarc" );
my $results = $connection->search_pqf( qq["$query"] );

# loop through the results
my $hits  = $results->size;
my $index = 0;
my @keywords = split / /, $query;
for ( my $i = 0; $i <= $hits - 1; $i++ ) {

        # get the record
        my $record = $results->record( $i )->raw;
        my $marc = MARC::Record->new_from_usmarc( $record );

        # extract title and isbn
        my $title = $marc->title;
        my $isbn  = $marc->field( '020' );

        # bold the search terms
        foreach ( @keywords ) { $title =~ s/($_)/<b>$1<\/b>/i; }

        # add COinS
        if ( $isbn ) {

                $isbn = $isbn->subfield('a'), "\n";
                my @isbn = split / /, $isbn;
                $isbn = $isbn[0];
                print '<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book&amp;rft.isbn=$isbn">$isbn</span><br />';

        }
        else { print '  isbn: ', "\n" }

        # increment and check
        $index++;
        last if $index > 49;

}