George Oates wrote:
>
> So, a question back to the group is: do you think you and your teams would be 
> able to consume an atom feed?
>   
Absolutely, but... an Atom feed of WHAT?  Atom is actually a very 
flexible format, what format will the embeded "payloads" in the Atom 
feed actually be delivered in?  If it's only, say, an author and title 
using standard Atom elements, then sure, I CAN consume it, but I might 
not bother, because that's not enough data to be useful (depending on 
exactly my use case).

If it's an Atom feed with embedded MarcXML (and/or <link rel="alternate" 
type="application/marcxml+xml" href="pointing to marcxml">)? Sure, and 
there will be useful data in there, but certainly _everything_ useful OL 
has can't fit into MarcXML, but it will take me less time to consume.

If it's an Atom feed with embedded/linked custom OL XML schema including 
all OL data, including workset relationships, whether the item is 
available in fulltext and what the links to such fulltext are, etc?  
Sure, I can consume this and probably would.

I don't know if I'm the 'typical' library developer, don't take me as a 
representative sample, but I can consume an Atom feed no problem -- the 
question is if you pack enough data INTO that Atom feed to make it worth 
my while for local needs.

I've said all along that having data in MARC is very convenient, but not 
neccesarily required, and having actual Z39.50 access is irrelevant to 
me.   But "Marc" and "Atom" are orthogonal to each other; you can 
deliver Marc via Atom, or you can deliver somethign else via Atom.  How 
useful the "Atom" is to me depends on what you are delivering via it, 
and how complete it is, and how easy to consume it is.

Jonathan

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