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Developer collaboration leads to implementation of NCIP 2.0

Early this spring, a community of library developers interested in interoperability between discovery interfaces and integrated library systems formed a working group to build on the work of the DLF ILS-DI Task force. After several months of collaboration between this developer community and OCLC team members, we are excited to announce our plans to contribute an implementation of version 2.0 of the NCIP standard, derived from the OCLC Web-scale Management Services codebase, to the eXtensible Catalog's open-source NCIP Toolkit. This contribution will advance the library community's efforts to simplify interoperability options for any library or software provider that wishes to include item availability and other information from the integrated library system in its discovery interface display. With the contribution of this open-source code, OCLC will help to extend the great work of the eXtensible Catalog (XC) development group with support for NCIP 2.0. The first contribution, expected this month, will support the NCIP Lookup Item service, which was determined to be the highest priority for the ILS-DI Task Force. Support for this message enables libraries to retrieve item status from their ILS in real time, making it possible for third-party discovery interfaces such as the eXtensible Catalog, VuFind and WorldCat Local to incorporate this in their displays to patrons. Following this initial release, OCLC will work in conjunction with the Task Force members to establish a project plan to expand both the number of supported NCIP 2.0 services and ILS connection components. The software will be licensed under the MIT License, which allows for commercial reuse. To learn more about this contribution, please contact Randall Cook of the eXtensible Catalog project (rcook@library.rochester.edu) or Karen A. Coombs, Product Manager for the OCLC Developer Network (coombsk@oclc.org).
Submitted by librarywebchic on Thu, 08/19/2010 - 9:22am
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To Boston! To Boston! On Sept. 23-24

Isn't that what Paul Revere yelled while he rode? Something like that, anyway. Well if you haven't heard, the next WorldCat Mashathon is coming up soon--next month in fact. In Boston. Beantown. Home of the Red Sox, Celtics and many many technical geniuses. And we're teaming up with a few of those geniuses at Brandeis University and Microsoft to bring you the next cool event for library developers and people interested in making libraries better through technology: WorldCat Mashathon Boston Thursday and Friday, Sept 23-24, 2010 9 am-5 pm Microsoft New England R&D Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142 Participants will spend the two days brainstorming and coding mash-ups with local systems and other Web services to take advantage of all that WorldCat, the world's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic database, has to offer. Check out and be inspired by apps produced from previous mashathons. We'll have staff on hand to walk you through the different APIs and help you think through possible scenarios and solutions. Coders and noncoders (but idea generators) are welcome. Bring your laptop, ideas and curiosity--and we¹ll supply breakfast, lunch and snacks. We will also facilitate forming dinner groups for Thursday night. Every participant will also receive a commemorative Mashathon t-shirt. Register now
Submitted by alicesneary on Tue, 08/17/2010 - 4:15pm
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TAI CHI Webinar: OCLC Web Services

On July 15, 2010, OCLC Research will host a TAI CHI Webinar on OCLC Web Services. The webinar will describe web services and how they can be used. I'll provide an overview of the various OCLC Web Services and how they can be used to extend library interfaces and improve user experiences. I'll demostrate several potential real world applications of the WorldCat Search API, xISSN, xISBN, and WorldCat Identities The webinar is free for all. However, if you are interested in attending, you need to register in advance!
Submitted by librarywebchic on Mon, 06/21/2010 - 11:26am
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Linked Data Part 2 Webinar with Ralph LeVan

On July 1, 2010 at 2 pm EDT, OCLC Research will Host TAI CHI Linked Data Part 2 Webinar with Ralph LeVan. In this follow up to his well-received OCLC Research TAI CHI Linked Data webinar held on 27 May, OCLC Senior Research Scientist Ralph LeVan will dive deeper beneath the surface to describe the open source technologies he uses to expose records in text databases as Linked Data. He'll also talk about Java, Servlet Filters, XSLT, and SRU, plus explain how anyone can use his framework to make their database content available as Linked Data. If this sounds like something you might be interested in doing, don't miss this opportunity to learn how. Webinar participation is free and open to all but advanced registration is required.
Submitted by librarywebchic on Mon, 06/21/2010 - 11:18am
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Join the OCLC Developer Network at ALA Annual

Sunday, June 27 OCLC Introduction to Developer Network Wondering what the OCLC Developer Network is and how it might help your library? This session explains why Web services matter to your library, what Web services OCLC has to offer, what the Developer Network is and how you can participate in this community. 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., OCLC Red Suite (ask at the hotel front desk, or follow the signs) Sunday, June 27 OCLC Developer Network Luncheon Come for lunch on us in an informal setting to hear an update about the OCLC Developer Network, see the apps already built with the WorldCat Basic API, and get the chance to brainstorm with others about new ways to enrich your users' experience with additional data. 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Grand Hyatt Washington, Penn Quarter Room B Register now to reserve your spot at these ALA sessions.
Submitted by librarywebchic on Wed, 05/26/2010 - 12:01pm
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Linked Data Webinar with Ralph LeVan this week!

Ralph LeVan from OCLC Research is a Webinar on Linked Data this Thursday (5/27/2010) from 2pm to 3pm Eastern time. Ralph has worked on several of OCLC Web Services including WorldCat Identities and VIAF (The Virtual International Authority File) which will he will be discussing as part of this webinar. A free Webinar and part of the OCLC Research TAI CHI (Technical Advances for Innovation in Cultural Heritage Institutions) series, you can sign up from the news announcement linked above. If you can't make the webinar, the Webinar will be recorded and made available in the iTunes store for replay later or it will be also downloadable from the TAI CHI Webinar site.
Submitted by librarywebchic on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 5:58pm
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New York Times Movie Reviews mashup with WorldCat data

I posted a while back about the fact that I've been playing with the New York Times Bestseller API in order to add indicators that a book was on the best seller list to a mock catalog screen. While I was working on that I discovered the New York Times Movie Reviews API and decided it would be really neat if I could put links to review from the New York Times into my mock catalog demo.

Submitted by librarywebchic on Mon, 05/24/2010 - 4:14pm
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May 23 Enhancements to WorldCat Search API

This past weekend several enhancements were made to the WorldCat Search API. This included:

Submitted by librarywebchic on Mon, 05/24/2010 - 3:56pm
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OCLC releases MARCView and MARConvert as open source software

OCLC and Systems Planning are pleased to announce the donation of MARCView™ and MARConvert™ to OCLC, and OCLC's release of MARCView™ and MARConvert™ as open source software under the Apache 2.0 license. MARCView™ and MARConvert™ software, developed by Systems Planning of Bethesda, Maryland, USA, are widely-used applications designed to assist librarians and developers working with MARC records. MARCView™ provides a user-friendly interface to navigate and display individual MARC, MARCXML and UNIMARC records. MARConvert™ supports the conversion of bibliographic or authority records into or out of MARC21, UNIMARC or MARCXML and can also convert MARC records from one character set to another. Stephen Toney, President and Chief Technology Officer of Systems Planning, donated the software to OCLC. The MARCView™ and MARConvert™ source code has been added to OCLC's open source repository, and the library developer community is encouraged to maintain and enhance the services. "We appreciate the contribution from Stephen and Systems Planning and we are pleased that OCLC can continue to make these tools available to OCLC members and the larger library community as open source," said Don Hamparian, co-founder of the OCLC Developer Network. "With such a strong user group, I am curious to see what new ideas the library developer community might bring to the software." The MARCView™ and MARConvert™ software is available for download, along with some documentation, on the OCLC Developer Network Web site.
Submitted by rtennant on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 6:11pm
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WorldCat Mashathon UK - A quick overview

Last week the Developer Network and Liverpool John Moores University hosted a WorldCat Mashathon in Liverpool at Parr St Studios in conjunction with the Liver & Mash Mashed Libraries event. The event was attended by 28 participants from a variety of libraries and OCLC UK. Group photo participants OCLC Mashathon, Liverpool 2010 Photo by Bruce Washburn on Flickr The mashathon had a great deal of discuss about the various web services. Because of participant interest, I ended up talking about several newer services which we hadn't planned on covering. Dewey.info which is the top three levels of the Dewey Classification system as Linked Data and VIAF.org (Virtual International Authority File) which brings together authority data from libraries several national libraries around the world, were both of interest. As was the QuestionPoint Knowledge base web service. One day mashathons are always harder on the participants because there is less time to create functional code. Still we had two participants who were able to generate some basic code. George Bingham from the OCLC UK OLIB team, used WorldCat Identities to enhance the authority list display in the OLIB OPAC. Both by linking from the authority screen to Identities and by incorporating information from Identities into the authority screen. John Salter from the University of Leeds, used the xISBN service to find various editions of a book to place into their Reading List system. Using xISBN he could indicate in a reading list that a newer addition of the book existed and could be ordered. In addition, my colleague Bruce Washburn was able to spend some time working on his "Wise Guy" app for Android phones. Wise Guy uses the relatively new QuestionPoint Knowledge base web service. The app takes a term and finds a random question and answer pair within the QuestionPoint Knowledge base which match the term. Other mashathon participants kicked around ideas for applications but didn't complete writing code. In particular Julian Cheal from UKOLN had idea of mashing up date from WorldCat Search API, and Netflix to provide access to movies with a particular actor or actress which was quite interesting.
Submitted by librarywebchic on Tue, 05/18/2010 - 10:43am
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