VTLS’s FRBRization service
In Galen Charlton’s ALA 2008 Conference Notes: ALCTS FRBR Interest Group from late June, he said John Espley of VTLS had talked about an online FRBRization tool, designed be software as a service.
I e-mailed Espley to ask more about this, and he explained, and I quote:
The FRBR SaaS (Software as a Service) is as you wrote “new and experimental.” In summary, the way it will work is:
- Non VTLS library extracts their bib records and sends them to VTLS Inc.
- VTLS Inc. will analyze the records for potentially FRBR records.
- The identified potentially FRBR records will be placed in a Virtua database and FRBRized.
- Using “web services” (similar to how book jackets and other media are displayed in an OPAC) there will be a link on the records in the non VTLS library’s OPAC that will redirect the user to the FRBRized records in the Virtua database.
- There will also be a link from the FRBRized records in the Virtua database back to the non VTLS Library’s OPAC.
This is all new, but expect to hear more about it as things develop. If you happen to be at the IFLA conference in Quebec City next week, look for the VTLS booth, where people can give a demo. How this will compare to xISBN and thingISBN will be interesting to see.
I’ll be at IFLA too, and I’m going to sit in on everything FRBR-related that I can. I’ll write about it here. I’m always glad to meet people that read this, so say hello.