[Koha] z39.50 and holdings

[Seaman, Graham]

Owen Leonard wrote:

> Graham Seaman wrote:

>> Is it possible to set the Koha Z39.50 server to return Opac format, or return holdings data in any
>> other way?

>Z39.50 cannot return availability information for items. That's one of
>the reasons why projects like FulfILLment
>(http://fulfillment-ill.org/) exist. ILSes need some kind of separate
>layer between them to exchange that kind of data.

I don't think that's exactly true. Z39.50 servers generally give you a choice of MARC 21, SUTRS, XML or OPAC format, where OPAC format includes holdings/circulation data appended to the bibliographic record.
 Several proprietary ILS systems (eg ExLibris Aleph or Sirsi-Dynix Horizon) support this format.

Other proprietary systems such as Sirsi-Dynix Unicorn use custom Marc fields (Unicorn uses 926 $a, $b etc,). copac.ac.uk use custom fields in MODS instead of Marc, and this is carried in the XML Z39.50 output format.

So there are several ways this can be done, and I wondered if Koha supported any of them (or if anyone was working towards supporting one of them). 

Graham
PS sorry if the formatting of this mail is a mess, fighting with Outlook OWA.



>  -- Owen

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> Web Developer
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