http://worldcat.org/blogs/ en Copyright 2010 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:22:09 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Brian Vetruba said: This is cool and works fairly well. But there are some problems. I did about a dozen sample searches. Searches with the qualifers were only bringing back results about 50% of the time. Most of these with results were major titles (e.g. romeo and juliet). Sometimes if you simply take out the qualifier, you can get results. For example, #Ask4Stuff ti:stones from the river brought back no results but #Ask4Stuff stones from the river did have results. Another problem is with diacritics. #Ask4Stuff mädchen only brings back items w/o the diacritics (madchen). Still, I'm going to promote this too. Hope this information is helpful! on the entry Search WorldCat.org Using #Ask4Stuff on Twitter http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/07/ask4stuff-on-twitter.htm#comment-7157 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/07/ask4stuff-on-twitter.htm#comment-7157 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:47:37 -0500 Susan C. said: Will you be creating a link to "Find a Book" from the worldcat.org site? If one is already there, I could not find it. on the entry "Find a Book" with Lexile measures and WorldCat.org http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/07/find-a-book-with-lexile-measur.htm#comment-6966 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/07/find-a-book-with-lexile-measur.htm#comment-6966 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:44:51 -0500 Kyle Cook said: Yes, the Book Bazaar application is functional on all iPod touch. I tested on a first generation iPod, so I would assume it would work on newer models. One flaw is that the search tends to yield a lot of records with ISBNs, making location in a library difficult. For the few books I searched for, I had to try several editions before one with an ISBN came up and connected me to the library through WorldCat. on the entry Welcome Book Bazaar iPhone app http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/05/welcome-book-bazaar-iphone-app.htm#comment-5971 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/05/welcome-book-bazaar-iphone-app.htm#comment-5971 Thu, 13 May 2010 15:43:53 -0500 Kyle Cook said: Tested Book Bazaar App on iPod Touch (1st Gen). The App worked fine. Able to complete searches using all four fields. Great to have a Worldcat-powered app working with this device. Many of the entries did not have ISBNs attached to the records, so it did not pull up library holdings for these. Most of the records for newer books brought up several kindle versions - none of which correlated to library items. I haven't done enough searches to know whether this was a serious flaw in the database there. on the entry Welcome Book Bazaar iPhone app http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/05/welcome-book-bazaar-iphone-app.htm#comment-5969 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/05/welcome-book-bazaar-iphone-app.htm#comment-5969 Thu, 13 May 2010 09:42:03 -0500 Vinith Shukla said: Thank you for this article. I am a self-confessed bibliophile, LOL. Being new to Worldcat, it was not until I read this article that I understood how to search for my favorite books quickly and easily. Thanks again. :) on the entry Strategies for WorldCat subject searching, 2010 style http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/behind-the-curtain-view-of-wor.htm#comment-5464 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/behind-the-curtain-view-of-wor.htm#comment-5464 Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:12:28 -0500 Shukrit Verman said: Thanks to Alice and Taneya for this excellent information. I would like to know about my roots and thanks to this article I now understand how to start the research. Thanks again. :) on the entry WorldCat.org for Genealogists http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/worldcatorg-for-genealogists.htm#comment-5463 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/worldcatorg-for-genealogists.htm#comment-5463 Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:39:07 -0500 Agnideb Mishra said: Hi Alice, I really appreciate your replying to John's comment as it answered my question too. Before I read your comment I too was worried that the old URLs would be deprecated. I am glad that it is not the case. Thanks again. :) on the entry WorldCat.org URLs updated to include titles http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5462 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5462 Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:25:58 -0500 Barbara Wagner said: Remember grokking? This effort seems more Grok than Geek. on the entry Geek the Library week http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/geek-the-library-week.htm#comment-5422 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/geek-the-library-week.htm#comment-5422 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:33:15 -0500 Alice Sneary said: Thanks for your insightful comment, John. The old URLs are NOT deprecated. They will still continue to work as usual. Your For Whom The Bell Tolls example shows that if a string/URL includes the OCLC number, it will override any text that might appear to be a title. This is correct--the OCLC number trumps the title text. So if you know the OCLC number, use it in your mashup. If you don't, now you have additional options--especially if you're looking for something on the fly. And yes, the title-only URL is designed to return a listing of possible matches, since often there are multiple formats/slight variations on a title. on the entry WorldCat.org URLs updated to include titles http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5420 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5420 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:16:30 -0500 John said: The example you cite shows that using just the title actually does a worldcat title search. It doesn't point to a specific record. So it's not functionally equivalent. Are the old URLs now deprecated? Will they cease to work? To be honest, I can see how the new form is nice for mashing up a search without knowing the oclc number, but it's worse for those times when you do, because it includes both the title and the number. In fact, what's the point of this second form with both the title AND the oclc number? If you know the latter, why include the former? Really, the system ignores the title anyway. Try this: http://www.worldcat.org/title/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/oclc/287628 on the entry WorldCat.org URLs updated to include titles http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5418 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/03/worldcatorg-urls-updated-to-in.htm#comment-5418 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:03:35 -0500 John Biz said: I have been wanting to look in genealogy for some time, basically to know where I have come from but didn't know where to start. Thank you very much for these pointers. on the entry WorldCat.org for Genealogists http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/worldcatorg-for-genealogists.htm#comment-5400 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/worldcatorg-for-genealogists.htm#comment-5400 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:03:56 -0500 Alice Sneary said: Thanks for these good questions, MJ and Cyril. There are no current plans to release an OAIster-specific API right now, but we ARE looking into ways that we could limit by OAIster content through the existing WorldCat Search API. Another consideration is additional open access content available through WorldCat, such as HathiTrust. Can we create a limiter that isn't database (OAIster) specific, but would give you the ability to build an app that only shows results when it's something you can get your hands on the full content? on the entry All OAIster! All the time! http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5103 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5103 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:19:12 -0500 MJ Suhonos said: Great! Now, is it possible to get machine (ie. API) access to the OAIster metadata on its own, as we could before it was taken over by OCLC? on the entry All OAIster! All the time! http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5093 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5093 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:59:34 -0500 Cyril Oberlander said: Hello Alice, Will the Worldcat API have OAIster in it someday? or Will the OAIster in OCLC have it's own API? Best wishes, Cyril on the entry All OAIster! All the time! http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5050 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2010/02/all-oaister-all-the-time.htm#comment-5050 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:17:48 -0500 Beth said: OK, thank you! I am trying current books with no luck, but I will keep playing with it. on the entry WorldCat in RedLaser iPhone App http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2009/12/worldcat-in-redlaser-iphone-ap.htm#comment-4871 http://worldcat.org/blogs/archives/2009/12/worldcat-in-redlaser-iphone-ap.htm#comment-4871 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:03:50 -0500