Timothy Murphy wrote:
>Thanks very much for your comprehensive response.
>I should probably explain (or confess) the exact use I
have in mind.
>
>We have a fairly extensive (10,000 volume) research
library
>in our mathematics department.
>I wrote a program over 20 years ago, based on the Unix
"refer" format,
>for maintaining the library catalogue.
>At that time our computer system, based on a pdp-11/23,
>had two RLO2 20MB removable disks,
>so space was at a premium, to put it mildly.
>
>Over the years I have grown more and more ashamed of
this system
>(accessible I think at <http://www
.maths.tcd.ie/local/library/>),
>and long ago decided it was time for a change.
>
>At present our secretaries enter new books "by
hand",
>typing in author, title, etc.
>It seems that this could be greatly simplified by a
program
>in which the secretary simpy typed in the ISBN number,
>and which then accessed the Library of Congress
database,
>and stored the entry, probably in XML format.
>
>
I think if you were to attack this in PHP or Perl, you'll
find it a lot
easier than you expect. PHP in particular is really geared
to writing
web applications, and it generally makes it simple and fun
to do so.
Both languages have good Z39.50 client tools, XML parsers,
and XSLT
tools that make it easy to tie in an external data source
like the LoC.
However, since you are running a fairly substantial little
library, you
might actually find that you and your colleagues would
really enjoy
moving to a full ILS. Why not check out Koha, which includes
Z39.50
copy-cataloging as well as all of the features you would
expect in an
ILS and OPAC. It's open source, but if you would like a
hands-off
approach, companies like LibLime (www.liblime.com) will
install,
support, or even host a solution for you. It might turn out
to be a
cheaper solution, and give you much more bang for the buck,
than trying
to develop something in-house... that is, if you go beyond
Mike Taylor's
90 second solution, which is probably hard to beat for
value, but might
come up short on usability. 
--Sebastian
--
Sebastian Hammer, Index Data
quinn indexdata.com www.indexdata.com
Ph: (603) 209-6853 Fax: (866) 383-4485
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