6.0148 Capturing OPAC Records; E-Catalogue Filters (2/163)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 22 Jul 1992 15:39:14 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0148. Wednesday, 22 Jul 1992.
(1) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 02:47:38 EST (144 lines)
From: Dorothy Day <DAY@ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Reply to 6.0142, capturing library (OPAC) records
(2) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 09:04:44 MST (19 lines)
From: Skip Knox <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 6.0146 E-Catalogue Filters (1/39)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 02:47:38 EST
From: Dorothy Day <DAY@ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Reply to 6.0142, capturing library (OPAC) records
(Forwarded message) REPLY TO:
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0142. Monday, 20 Jul 1992.
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 92 13:41:59 EDT
From: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu (Peter D. Junger)
Subject: Electronic library catalogues and unreadable searches
I am a librarian at Indiana University who has been involved for some
time in supporting the use of Pro-Cite for downloading records from our
NOTIS electronic library catalog, and in dealing a variety of issues
concerning the interface among main frame computers, microcomputers, and
human scholars. I also am the "owner" the BITNET discussion group for
Pro-Cite users. (To subscribe send the message:
SUBSCRIBE PRO-CITE Yourname
via BITNET to: LISTSERV@IUBVM.BITNET
(or via INTERNET to: LISTSERV@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU)
The questions Peter Junger asks ARE NOT SPECIFIC TO THE INNOPAC CATALOG
BUT REPRESENT A COMMON PROBLEM AT THIS STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMNET OF THE
MUCH DESIRED "SEAMLESS INTERFACE".
So, in the interest of generalizing the problem in a way that I hope
will help both Mr. Junger and provoke additional discussion among others
who have similar, but equally unique, needs, let me suggest some answers to
the two (5 part) questions asked:
> "1.) Have others had this trouble with other Innopac machines?"
We ALL have problems with ALL systems when we are using a microcomputer
as a dumb terminal when accessing a main frame electronic catalog. This is
because what you see on the screen is not what is being sent to the
terminal (i.e. because of the ANSI escape codes that are hidden from the
screen display as Mr. Junger notes.) When one uses a communications program
such as Procomm to "LOG" a session, these escape codes will be captured
too.
> "2.) If so, is there a solution to the problem?"
GENERAL ANSWER: If one uses the SCREEN CAPTURE command (alt-G in Procomm),
rather than (or in addition to) the LOG command, the escape codes are
filtered out at the source (and saved in a DOS file with the default name
"SCREEN.IMG"). You do, of course, have to capture each screen you want to
save, so you lose the advantage of a continuous, automatic log. For that,
the only solution in the situation given by Mr. Junger is to accept the
junk, then run it through a filter (either a viewing filter program such as
LOTUS MAGELLAN or the shareware viewer LIST; or a program that actually
searches and replaces to produce a "clean" file).
> "a.) If so, is the solution Procite?"
BETTER ANSWER: Yes, Pro-Cite IS the solution, IF you would like to utilize
one of the major features of online catalogs--NOT HAVING TO EVER RE-ENTER
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA AGAIN, BUT SIMPLY DOWNLOADING RECORDS ALREADY RECORDED
IN A COMPLETE, ACCURATE ELECTRONIC FORM BY PROFESSIONAL CATALOGERS AND
INDEXERS. What the Pro-Cite export function from the Innopac catalog does
(we unfortunately do NOT yet have that feature in the Notis system), is to
take the underlying database record from which the screen display is
derived (& which includes only selected parts from the complete record) and
export it DIRECTLY, with no hidden escape codes, into a "common delimited
format" that the Pro-Cite bibliographic database management program can
immediately import.
The downside to this, is that to take full advantage of the exported
data you need to purchase a personal copy of Pro-Cite. Otherwise, the
library, I presume, will simply use Pro-Cite to reformat the record into an
ASCII file that any microcomputer program can read. However, in my own
experience the purchase of Pro-Cite is well worth the expense (ones hopes
that this will be reasonable if your library or bookstore has negotiated a
site license or other discounted price structure).
Here are the advantages of putting all your bibliographic records in
Pro-Cite:
a) You can import data not just from the online catalog, but also from
CDROM databases, commercial online systems, and other formats (remember
data entry is one of the most time consuming procedures in personal
bibliographic maintenance and also a major source of errors). In addition,
when you enter data yourself, you have available automatically generated
authority lists (for authors, journal titles, subjects, etc.) so that once
you have entered one example you don't ever have to retype it again, but
can simply search the authority list as you enter data and paste the
correct entry into your bibliographic text.
b) Once entered, you can use the data over and over for all your
scholarly activities:
i) Pro-Cite has a large number of "punctuation files" (style
sheets) for all the major publication formats (Chicago Manual of Style,
MLA, etc.) plus the ability to customize to your hearts content. These
reformat your data when creating a bibliography, end notes, or footnotes
from the original master bibliography without changing the data in that
master.
ii) Pro-Cite can read citations in an electronic manuscript (ASCII,
WordPerfect, or Microsoft Word) of the general form [NAME, DATE] and then
automatically create your footnotes or end notes from the master
bibliography.
iii) You can search for information in your Pro-Cite bibliography
with all the power (and sometimes more) that you have available in
searching an online catalog, and then create subsets of data to output as a
selected subject bibliography or whatever.
c) Pro-Cite is available (with compatible file structures) for both PC
and Macintosh computers
> "b.) Or is it a filter program like the one I am
writing?"
As mentioned above, a filter program will be necessary only for the
purpose of editing a log file that keeps complete track of the history of
your searching in the library catalog. Do you really want to do this--what
did we do before electronic catalogs in this regard?
"c.) Or what?"
Other bibliographic downloading and maintenance programs are available to
do similar jobs. But since Innopac supports Pro-Cite I'd take advantage of
that fact. Additional information about the wide variety of programs
available for this purpose may be found in: Stigleman, Sue, "Text
Management Software," _Public-Access Computer Systems Review_ 1 (1990)
5-22. (An electronic journal recently published in printed form by the
American Library Association's "LITA: Library Information & Technology
Assocation" division, and previously in electronic form as part of the
PACS-L BITNET list); and in Stigleman, Sue, "Bibliography Formatting
Software: A Buying Guide," _Database_ 15 (1992) 15-27.
I hope this helps!
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f Mark T. Day, Assoc. Librarian, Reference f
e Indiana University Library, Room E159 e
R Bloomington, IN 47405 R
e Bitnet: DAYM@IUBACS.BITNET e
f Internet: DAYM@UCS.INDIANA.EDU f
e Phone: (812) 855-8028 or 855-0100 e
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(2) --------------------------------------------------------------25----
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 09:04:44 MST
From: Skip Knox <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 6.0146 E-Catalogue Filters (1/39)
Peter, we here at Boise State have a new catalog system that likewise
transmits the escape code sequences. I'd love to have such a filter,
especially inasmuch as our software does not permit exporting results
to a separate file.
But this sounds like tricky code to me. It would have to be a TSR --
always a nasty proposition -- or would have to be installable into
other comm software somehow.
Good luck!
Ellis "Skip" Knox dusknox@idbsu.idbsu.edu
PC Coordinator & Faculty Computer Lab Supervisor
Professor of History
Boise State University Boise, Idaho