Library Catalogs and Feeds
Many libraries are doing neat things with XML feeds and their catalogs. One example I found via RSS4Lib shows how the Library Systems Office at George Mason University displays new books in a specific call number with a feed integrated into Voyager, a type of online catalog. Wally Grotophorst posts the technical details on iNode, a blog at George Mason University.
Ken Varnum mentions mixing RSS and Z39.50, an online catalog standard, to learn about new acquisitions before they’re ready for circulation and hundreds of feeds of new books by subject at the University of Alabama Libraries. He also speculates about the possibility of pulling Web content into catalogs via RSS. At least one integrated library system–another name for a library’s online catalog software package–vendor is working on a new version that includes feeds.
