OpenLibrary.org is so effin’ COOL. It has a lot of potential, and it’s an incredibly ambitious project, but it is made of awesome. I hope it works out really really well, because just think of the access people can have.
Over the weekend, between work and a bike race and eating far too much, I have been getting overly gleeful about various open source things. My dad installed Ubuntu on a computer he’s been trying to configure for ages, and had fantastic results. I was all rarin’ to go on the Archivist’s Toolkit for this morning, only to discover, ALAS, that the database program we’re using doesn’t use MARC XML.
There’s an option to export the data into an XML format, which would be fine and dandy, if it actually worked. According to the database manual, “XML is a new way to code…” Obviously, they didn’t think it would last, so they made the bloody thing export slower than molasses. No support of new technologies here. Bah. After about 45 minutes of waiting, 0% of the database has been exported into XML, so I’ve given up for now. The database will be down for all of Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
And then, there’s no guarantee that it will even work. Hopefully the database doesn’t explode and take my computer with it.
As a self-proclaimed mini!librarian, there are many things I’m rather unsure of. I’m trying to learn as much as possible before I leave for Pitt, but every once in a while things stump me.
In my work as a mini!Librarian at a non-profit, I’ve been working on a way to write a training manual for the rest of the office. As a start, I made a lovely power point (AKA.: Library database 101).
I am aware there are errors, I just hope there aren’t too many of them. I have to present next week Thursday.