Demo of using Z39.50 within Access now available

[Fred Boer]

Hello all:

Many libraries, such as the Library of Congress, make their cataloguing data
available for searching and downloading via a "Z39.50" protocol. For some
time I have been investigating the use of a Z39.50 client from within
Microsoft Access to download these "MARC" records, with the hope of adding
this capability to my freeware small library application. I'm not there yet,
but I've decided to present what I've learned to this point.

To this end, I have created a demonstration database which shows how to
search for and retrieve MARC records from within Access, using a free, open
source client called "VBZoom". It is available here:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/lornarourke/fred1.html .

It is my hope that this may prove helpful and of interest.

Cheers, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fred Boer

 

[Guest]

Hi Fred,

Pretty cool sample. Thanks for posting it.

Happy New Year to you!


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

 

[Tony Toews]

Many libraries, such as the Library of Congress, make their cataloguing data
available for searching and downloading via a "Z39.50" protocol. For some
time I have been investigating the use of a Z39.50 client from within
Microsoft Access to download these "MARC" records, with the hope of adding
this capability to my freeware small library application. I'm not there yet,
but I've decided to present what I've learned to this point.

To this end, I have created a demonstration database which shows how to
search for and retrieve MARC records from within Access, using a free, open
source client called "VBZoom". It is available here:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/lornarourke/fred1.html .

It is my hope that this may prove helpful and of interest.

Very cool. I had in my mind once to create a simple book catalog
system. One of it's most important features would've been to download
all books by my favourite authors and then allow me to flag which
editions I'm interested in. Then download that data into my Palm. So
when I'm at a bookstore, new or used, I could consult my Palm to see
if I had a given book or not.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Fred Boer]

Thanks, Tom... and Tony! It's a work in progress, but I'm having fun with
it...

Fred

 

[Tony Toews]

Fred

A librarian friend had the following comments: (I mention these
mostly as an FYI and something to think about.)

But why do this?

Most relational databases do poorly with MARC structure -- its why
many open source apps as built using IndexData's Zebra database
server. It is designed for MARC/XML databases while progs such as
Access are best for the fixed field, limited occurrence stuff such as
patron records and transaction files

To which I replied the same text as I commented to you. And to which
he replied:

Try www.librarything.com -- it does it for you, handles a variety of
input databases and has a mobile access point

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Fred Boer]

Dear Tony:

Thanks for the comments; nice of your librarian friend to respond!

Yes, LibraryThing is really neat, and might work well for your "Palm based"
library function. I've actually corresponded with the guy who runs
LibraryThing, in the process of my research into all this.

Access may not be perfectly suited to this process, but many professional
library applications (at extra cost) provide Z39.50 modules, and I don' t
think they use Zebra. Actually I'm not sure - I've emailed a few, but they
don't seem too willing to discuss exactly *how* their Z39.50 modules work..
And I *have* gotten close with what I've done - what's left are mostly
issues with fine-grained parsing of sub-fields (and learning XML or Regular
Expressions -or both - might take me the rest of the way...)

XML/MARC seems more common, and I've seen a lot of stuff with PERL and MARC
records. But I don' t know anything about either XML or PERL, and, while I
may need to learn them eventually - that seems daunting to me. I *do* know
Access, and already have an application for Patron records/Online Catalogue
and Circulation transactions, so, if possible, I want to keep it as a
"within Access" solution, (although the use of an external Z39.50 client is
necessary, of course). Also, I've yet to find a simple, Access based,
freeware application that provides this feature - it just seems to me it
would be a valuable thing to offer, so I perservere.

Besides, it's my hobby and it's fun!

Cheers! (And thanks again to your friend for the interest!)
Fred