> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Ross Singer
> Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:23 PM
> 
> I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you need to be an OCLC
> customer to benefit from this?
>
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Ross Singer
> Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:23 PM
> 
> s/customer/"partner"/
> 
> Also, in the case of what the thread was initially calling for, what
> would be the legalities of redistributing this data?

You do not need to be a "customer/member/partner" to access the authority files.  It's an ongoing research project [1] which is publicly accessible to anyone over the web.  The research project is covered by the OCLC ResearchWorks Terms and Conditions:

<http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/terms.htm>

Looks like from a quick reading of this license the redistribution of the data is prohibited, but most of the data in the system, except LCSH, is from public sources.  So if you wanted to redistribute the data for a vocabulary, you can get permission from the vocabulary maintainer, just as we did.  We merely consolidated freely available public controlled vocabularies into a service that other people could be used to build upon, including OCLC Research.

BTW, our research project should not be confused with OCLC's production Terminology Service [2] which is only available to members with a cataloging authorization.  Actually, I created the prototype for the production service, so people do get confused sometimes.  If you have a cataloging authorization you can access the production service as a web service.  I posted a how-to on the OCLC developer network listserv a while ago.  The production service allows access to AAT, DCT, TGN, GSAFD, Maori Subject Headings (Nga Upoko Tukutuku), MeSH, NGL, TGM I, TGM II and ULAN.  Obviously, the Getty vocabularies will never make it into our research project due to licensing restrictions :(


Andy.

[1] <http://tspilot.oclc.org/resources/index.html>
[2] <http://www.oclc.org/terminologies/default.htm>