<br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 23/10/2007, <b class="gmail_sendername">Joe Atzberger</b> <<a href="mailto:ohiocore@gmail.com">ohiocore@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<span class="q">On 10/19/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">ils shopping</b> <<a href="mailto:ils.shopping@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">ils.shopping@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
</span><div><span class="q"><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Our system administrator once again assured me he can output all the<br>MARC data as a standard file and that he can give me files for<br>individual details such as item, hold, call number, and user data.<br><br>Most of the data other than MARC will be in delimited with "|". We
<br>don't have alot of experience with SQL loading but he came up with a<br>pretty interesting thought on sharing the process of migrating data<br>out of Sirsi Unicorn. Apparently they have a site for the storing of
<br>
API data. He proposed posting the information there so that other<br>sites needing the information would have access without raising legal<br>problems for the Koha project.<br></blockquote></span><div> <br>Glad to hear of your Board's support for migration.
<br><br></div>The two main venues for discussion and sharing of Unicorn API code are Sirsi's client care forum and the "API Repository" at <a href="http://sirsiapi.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://sirsiapi.org/</a><br><br>The former is directly controlled by Sirsi, the latter indirectly. As you'll notice from following that link, neither is sufficiently open to allow those interested access, without a current account or the company's "API certification" (
i.e., spending ~$5000 and a week of your time in their classes). While the other folks on those sites might be interested, I don't think it makes sense to impose that threshold on libraries hoping or intending to leave Unicorn, or to trust SirsiDynix to host material that is works effectively against their business interests.
<br><br>Something like sourceforge or any other public site would be better. (And to be honest, the repository sees very little activity anyway.) In general though, I think you are right that there are a lot of Unicorn sites out there, and many of them will be considering or actively pursuing the exact same kind of tasks your library is about to undertake.
<br><br>--joe atzberger<br></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>Koha mailing list<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz">Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz</a><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha" target="_blank">
http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha</a><br><br></blockquote></div><br>Joe:<br><br>I would strongly suggest posting the code to the sirsiapi repository. I'm not a lawyer, but (to my understanding) <a href="http://sirsiapi.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
sirsiapi.org</a>
is the only SirsiDynix-sanctioned location for hosting code that uses
the Unicorn "API" to extract information from Unicorn. Sites that have
signed a contract with SirsiDynix for Unicorn typically have agreed to
not reverse-engineer the product (meaning that they agree to not try
and figure out how the Unicorn "API" works) and if they have taken the
"API" training course then they have agreed to not share any of that
information (including code examples) outside of the
SirsiDynix-sanctioned locations.
<br><br>I would be concerned on behalf of the library posting Unicorn
"API" code to a public site like SourceForge.net that they could be
opening themselves up to lawsuits due to breach of contract, if the
vendor was to get to such a bad state that they started suing their
(former) customers. <br><br>Any code dealing with the results of using the Unicorn "API"
to extract data should be openly shareable, because at that point
you're just dealing with data structures. But I would be worried about
openly sharing the actual commands, err, "API instructions" required to
get that data out of the system.
<br clear="all"><br>While I realize this may not make a whole lot of sense, what makes sense from a common sense perspective does not necessarily
make sense from a legal perspective. Then again, I am not a lawyer (far
from it), so take my concern for what it's worth.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Dan Scott<br>Laurentian University