Hi all,
MassLNC has been in discussion with Equinox regarding a development
project that would give us more flexibility in how we use format icons
in the catalog.
MassLNC's goal is to be able to use different icons to easily
distinguish between books and e-books, for example, or between VHS,
Blu-ray, and DVD. We also would like the ability to leverage fixed
fields for this purpose instead of creating a local field where these
formats need to be added every time a title is cataloged.
Equinox is proposing some changes to the underlying infrastructure to
accomplish this goal.
Right now, Evergreen uses Single Value Fields (SVF) to identify item
type, item form, videorecording formats, etc. This development would add
Multiple Value Fields (MVF) to Evergreen, allowing records with multiple
values in repeatable fixed fields to work properly. In addition, the
development would create "Record Attribute Groups" that allow you to
take an arbitrary set of attributes (SVF/MVF values pulled from a
record) and collapse them into a "super value."
I don't want to go into the technical details, mainly out of fear that
I'll get something wrong (if I already haven't), but I included the
above information to convey the idea that, although our immediate goal
is to get more flexibility in determining which formats should be
represented by icons, the development project will bring about other
benefits as well. As an example, if you have a MARC record with two 007
fields for a DVD/Blu-ray set, you can't currently retrieve that record
in both a DVD search and a Blu-ray search. Once we have multiple values,
the record can be retrieved with either limiter.
Also, this infrastructure can also be used to support other potential
enhancement projects in the future. As an example, if a future
development project funded the return of metarecord holds to the
catalog, this infrastructure could be used to support different types of
formats that users can select for these holds. There could also be
benefits seen in the staff client batch record importer. With some
configuration, record attributes might be used as matchpoints for
repeatable fields (like ISBN). This configuration might lead to some
performance improvements in record matching.
MassLNC would like to contribute some funds to this project, but cannot
support the entire cost of the project. I'm putting out a call to see if
others might be interested in funding this project. If a bunch of us
pool our resources together, we may be able to get this infrastructure
improvement at a much lower per-partner cost.
If you are interested, please end me an e-mail directly. I'll send along
additional technical and financial details to any interested parties.
Thank you!
Kathy
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Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
[email protected]
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
