Ok, so you want to access LC data to get Dewey decimal numbers? You need to use a z39.50 client to pull the record, you can do it with marc edit but it is labor intensive. You would need to roll your own solution for this or use classify.oclc.org to get book info (this doesn't give you API access). Your best bet is classify.oclc.org.
That aside:
Honestly you might be better off running with something like Koha, writing a home brew library system is no cake walk, trust me I know from 2 years of experience trying to code one and ultimately moving to koha. Koha can be run on a VPS (Digital Ocean is what i would use) or on an old PC in the corner. I am in a situation similar to yours if you want to contact me off list I can give you some advice.
//Riley
Riley Childs
Senior
Charlotte United Christian Academy
IT Services Admin
Library Services Admin
7944972086
rileychilds.net
Sent from my Windows Phone
________________________________
From: Tom Connolly<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: ý8/ý8/ý2014 8:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Dewey code
Forgive my ignorance. When I looked up ILS I came to this paragraph that
explains why:
"Larger libraries use an ILS to order and acquire, receive and invoice,
catalog, circulate, track and shelve materials. Smaller libraries, such
as those in private homes ornon-profit organizations
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit>(like churches or synagogues,
for instance), often forgo the expense and maintenance required to run
an ILS, and instead use alibrary computer system
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_computer_system>.^[/citation
needed <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed>/] "
source: Wikipedia
We are a church with 1500 books we would like to put on our website, and
thought we would use this workflow:
1. Create barcode from isbn number and print label.
2. Acquire Dewey number from Library of Congress via z39.50, and
print that to a label.
3. Affix labels to the books.
4. Place marc records into a Postgresql database and allow users
to search via a browser, using Ruby on Rails for the front and back ends.
At the moment I'm trying to figure out step 2. I'm the church
volunteer webmaster and not a coder, working with two other volunteers
who happen to be career professional librarians but not programmers. If
the Dewey numbers generated by the LC are insufficient, we'll tweak them
over time. I just need to know how to isolate that one field to print it
to our thermal label printer.
Thank you.
On 08/08/2014 06:12 PM, Kyle Banerjee wrote:
> Label printing practices vary by library. Just out of curiosity, why are
> you getting this information from a MARC file rather than the ILS? At
> many/most libraries, you'd need local Cuttering, item specific (e.g.
> volume/copy number), etc info not available in the bib record.
>
> kyle
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 12:33 PM, Tom Connolly <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Is there an open source way to format the dewey code for printing book
>> labels? Or can someone tell me how to isolate just the dewey number from a
>> marc file (I have MarcEdit; is there a better tool for this simple task?)
>> so it is the only field sent to the printer? (I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 and
>> printing to a Dymo 450) Thanks
>> Tom Connolly
>> St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Naples FL
>> webmaster
>>
