[12491] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
multi querying databases and a nrw type of OPAC
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (F AYRES)
Wed Oct 14 20:15:52 1998
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 14:18:02 -0500
From: F AYRES <F.Ayres@Bradford.ac.uk>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: F.Ayres@Bradford.ac.uk
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Two recent postings to the PACS list on multibase querying using Z39.50 have
stirred me into introducing you to BOPAC2. I am not sure whether you have
another name for multibase querying in the States but in the UK they have become
known as CLUMPS and there is a lot of interest in them
The reason for this posting is to bring to your attention the work that we have
done at the University of Bradford on an innovative new type of OPAC which we
have called BOPAC2 and which I believe may possibly be of interest to the list.
It was successfully demonstrated at the recent Toronto Conference on the Future
of AACR2 by my colleague Mick Ridley. It combines multibase querying using
Z39.50 with innovative new searching techniques.
Full details will be found at the sites given below. This is a small thumbnail
sketch of what it is and what it will do. Because it is available to anyone with
access to the Internet it has already been extensively tested by over three
thousand people all over the world. Basically it is a front end to a number of
library catalogues which are also Z39.50 servers. This means that it is not
itself an OPAC but it adds value to existing OPACs. We provide access to two
American libraries (L of C and Melvyl), seven British and four Irish ones. We
have also just added Medline to the list.. Others can be added on request
provided they are Z39.50 servers. . BOPAC2 can handle any Z39.50 database and we
believe that the techniques work for other databases as well. Once the Z39.50
retrieval is downloaded either from one catalogue or a number of catalogues at
the same time, it is transferred to a Java applet which enables the innovative
features of BOPAC2 to be used. Retrievals are not rest!
ricted in size and movement between the various options is extremely fast. The
first option is to sort the retrieval by title or author followed by an option
to select by titles, authors, language, format or Z39.50 server. After the
selection has been made a further option allows the selection to show
date/edition or vol/title or to select editions, publisher, date, format or
language. At any stage you can examine your selections in detail and the F2
button provides a Marc Format display. Another feature is the FIND facility
which is particularly useful for extracting information in the notes fields.
Where the retrieval set is made up of records from more than one library
duplicates can be eliminated. Once the retrieval has been downloaded and the
Java applet is operating BOPAC works faster and provides more navigation options
than any other known OPAC.
There are of course some problems and these are nearly always caused by the
tools that we have to use and whose performance is out of our control. The
gateway (we use Europagate) is the first of these tools and this is used to
access our list of libraries. The second problem arises from the Z39.50 servers
themselves. The implementation is not the same in each library. Not all servers
offer the same range of searches and when they do they can be implemented
slightly differently. Once over these hurdles BOPAC2 works both fast and
efficiently. However, the technology that we are using is very new and is
improving all the time and there are now better gateways and a revised version
of the Z39.50 protocol. If you have any technical problems contact Mick
(m.j.ridley@scm.brad.ac.uk) and if they are cataloguing ones try me
(f.ayres@bradford.ac.uk).
Here are the links that you will need if you want to use BOPAC2, read the Report
or find out more about our work
To use BOPAC:- http://www.bopac2.comp.brad.ac.uk/~bopac2/htdocs/evaluate.shtml
Report:- http://www.bopac2.comp.brad.ac.uk/~bopac2/report/
To find out more about our research:-
http://www.comp.brad.ac.uk/research/database/bopac2.html
We hope that you will use BOPAC2 and we will be grateful for any feedback that
you can give us. We are about to introduce some new targets and make some
improvements to the System which we hope to announce in a newssheet
----------------------
@bradford.ac.uk
