Yes, the WorldCat Search API offers MARCXML. It is a bear to work with,
which is why MODS seems like a slightly better route. Smarter than DC but
not has beastly as MARCXML. I actually don't anything from the MARC fixed
fields right now. So the fact that that information is missing isn't a
problem.

In terms of what Ed Summers said, I agree wholeheartedly. OpenLibrary
doesn't need to match what OCLC is doing, but they should be aware of what
is going on there and think about how stuff might dovetail nicely for
developers.

I'll also second his OpenSearch request. Love the ease of using OpenSearch.
My favorite output to work with from WorldCat Search API now are the
Atom/RSS outputs. These standards are so flexible (you can include other
schemas in them) and well known beyond libraryland.

Karen


On 8/11/09 11:09 AM, "Karen Coyle" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Karen,
> 
> I assume that MARCXML is one of those formats? As for MODS, that's
> possible although at the moment names would not be broken down. OL is
> working on altering its storage of names to include separate given and
> family portions, so that will be possible in the future.
> 
> Note that an initial MARCXML implementation will not be full MARC, in
> the sense that the OL record doesn't store most of the MARC fixed field
> data. In the case where the original input record was a MARC record,
> more work needs to be done to combine that original record with OL
> enhancements and export as full MARC.
> 
> kc
> 
> Coombs, Karen A wrote:
>> Karen,
>> 
>> I hate to say it but as someone who is working with the WorldCat Search API
>> at this point I sure could create code that used Open Library data faster if
>> you used one of the same metadata formats that the WorldCat Search API uses.
>> While the two services seem different, (I haven't really figured out how to
>> effectively search with the Open Library API) there is a learning curve just
>> working with different metadata formats. It would be good not to have to
>> teach my staff about another format if I don't have to. That being said, I'd
>> love to see MODS, that is if it is really good MODS where names are broken
>> out into their component parts (given, family) and roles are included.
>> 
>> Karen
>> 
>> 
>> On 8/10/09 3:42 PM, "Karen Coyle" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>   
>>> I'd really appreciate some testing and any comments folks have. Thanks, kc
>>> 
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject:  [ol-tech] Modified RDF/XML api
>>> Date:  Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:32:25 -0700
>>> From:  Karen Coyle <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Reply-To:  Open Library -- technical discussion <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To:  Open Library -- technical discussion <[log in to unmask]>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The Open Library API that returns bibliographic data in RDF/XML has been
>>> greatly modified. To make use of it, simply add '.rdf' to the end of the
>>> bibliographic identifier:
>>>     http://openlibrary.org/b/OL6807502M.rdf
>>> 
>>> and of course it can be used in a curl command as:
>>>     curl 'http://openlibrary.org/b/OL6807502M.rdf'
>>> 
>>> The output relies heavily on DCMI Metadata Terms ("dcterms") [1] for its
>>> properties, but also makes use of Bibliontology [2] and RDA Vocabulary
>>> [3] where those present a better fit. Because it is in XML, this
>>> provides what we hope will be an easy-to-use format that makes use of
>>> commonly known metadata terms.
>>> 
>>> Not all data elements are included in the output, in particular there is
>>> no attempt at this point to export the tables of contents fields. That
>>> could be a future enhancement.
>>> 
>>> We would appreciate any comments you have on this API, as well as
>>> suggestions and corrections.
>>> 
>>> There are a number of different bibliographic formats that we could
>>> return in our APIs: MARCXML, MODS, EndNote import, ... I would be
>>> particularly interested to hear if there are particular formats that you
>>> would find immediately useful.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> kc
>>> [1] http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/
>>> [2] http://bibliontology.com/
>>> [3] http://metadataregistry.org/schema/show/id/1.html
>>>     
>> 
>>   
> 

-- 
Karen A. Coombs
Head of Libraries' Web Services
University of Houston
114 University Libraries
Houston, TX  77204-2000
Phone: (713) 743-3713
Fax: (713) 743-9811
Email: [log in to unmask]