Kyle Banerjee wrote:
>> ....  I want to be able to pull all the
>>  records that have oclc numbers, issns, isbns, etc.  I want it to be
>>  lightweight, fast, searchable.
>>
>>  Would anyone else want/use such a thing?...
>
> I like the idea, but in the long term, I just don't know how useful
> this will be. By and large, these identifiers are designed for dead
> tree resources. Although they are sometimes assigned to electronic
> resources,  I find it hard to believe that the containers these
> identifiers are associated with will contain more than a tiny
> proportion of the information users want/need. The book structure just
> doesn't make nearly as much sense in an online environment.

The utility that I see is that as things are digitized the "dead tree"
identifier is often included in the metadata that accompanies the
digital file. This makes it possible to go from legacy data (read:
library catalogs) to the digital data.


> Not sure I understand the use case (i.e. the value of retrieving
> another identifier).

Because the same "dead tree" item is being digitized multiple times in
different locations under different projects. It's an interesting
situation because where we once had an ISBN that identified EVERY copy
of that "manifestation" we will now have many different copies
(different because they were digitized separately). Those copies will
probably have a variety of identifiers associated with them.

>
> One thing to keep in mind is that although the numbering schemes are
> independent, they can be thought of as hierarchical. Anything that has
> an lccn number should already have an isbn because of the standards lc
> catalogs to. And they put their holdings in OCLC, so all numbers that
> have an oclc number should contain these other identifiers. Items with
> oclc numbers that were not cataloged by lc should also have isbns.
> When such conditions are not met, it is a sign of a record containing
> unreliable information.

Not the case. First, ISBNs only came into being in 1968. Nothing before
that has one. Many items have NOT been cataloged by LC, many are NOT in
OCLC, and oftentimes the records that you are working with have munged,
stripped out, or lost the identity of the identifiers that are left.
It's great luck if you find one clearly marked identifier in a bib record.

kc

>
> kyle
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Kyle Banerjee
> Digital Services Program Manager
> Orbis Cascade Alliance
> [log in to unmask] / 541.359.9599
>
>

--
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
[log in to unmask] http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596   skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
------------------------------------