On Jan 28, 2025, at 9:48 AM, Valerie Darling <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I hope you're doing well! I have a couple of questions that I was hoping
> you could help with:
> 
>   1. Could you let me know how I can get access to the code4Lib Slack
>   channel?

I believe you can begin accessing the Code4Lib Slack channel at the following URL:

  https://code4lib.slack.com

A long time ago, one had to get some sort of invitation to participate, but I think that has gone away.


>   2. I really appreciate your suggestions—they’re a great starting point
>   for an introduction to both library science and computer science. I’d like
>   to add that my library is currently collaborating with a computer science
>   department, which I think is relevant to this discussion.
> 
> We’re a small team of four, all of us with library science degrees and a
> solid understanding of technology. However, we’re not as familiar with some
> of the more advanced tech integrations. To address this, we’re working
> closely with the computer science department to help us automate our SUSHI
> data and make better use of APIs for our website. We’re really aiming to
> learn the process ourselves rather than rely on the department to create a
> product for us that we wouldn’t be able to maintain or modify in-house.
> With that in mind, I was wondering if you could recommend any resources or
> links related to some of the topics you mentioned, particularly the OAI-PMH
> protocols. I’m familiar with the DOAJ, but the OAI-PMH protocols are new to
> me.
> 
> --
> Valerie Darling


Thank you for your support, and Valerie, what you outline above is EXACTLY the sort of thing I advocate. Increasingly, it is not possible to exploit of computers in libraries without collaboration -- teamwork -- and collaboration with people possessing complementary skills is a key for success. Moreover, you have identified a problem to solve, and you have begun to outline a process to do the work. In the end, I am positive everybody involved will have learned transferable skills, and you will have improved library collections and services. Kudos.

OAI-PMH is protocol built on top of HTTP. The canonical URL is:

  https://www.openarchives.org/pmh/

There are Perl and Python libraries implementing the protocol. See:

  * https://metacpan.org/pod/Net::OAI::Harvester
  * https://sickle.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

I am more familiar with the former. Works great. I have not practiced with the later, but it rings a bell.

Open Journal Systems (OJS) implements OAI-PMH very very well, and a serial published using OJS often includes a Web-based interface on top of OAI-PMH. See, for example, the hosting of Information Technologies And Libraries:

  https://ital.corejournals.org/index.php/ital/oai?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc

Koha implements OAI-PMH pretty well too. For example:

  http://catalog.distantreader.org/cgi-bin/koha/oai.pl?verb=GetRecord&identifier=reader:1&metadataPrefix=oai_dc

Your computer scientist colleagues ought to be able to eat OAI-PMH for lunch. As protocols go, it is not difficult.

--
Eric Morgan
University of Notre Dame