<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> The Java MarcRecord and MarcDocument objects being developed at the Virginia Tech Digital Library Research Laboratory are now at a good state for comments. In particular, the Java MarcRecord object can read and write both MARC tape format and OAi XML. The program has been tested on over 4,000 MARC records, moving from tape format to XML and back to tape format without losing a character. Thanks to Dean Wilder for the test set.The MarcDocument object can now produce short and long description in ASCII or ANSEL, long descriptions in HTML, and something approximating OAMS metadata records in the XML transport defined in the Santa Fe Convention. This is closing in on the full set of translations that we envision providing.
Open questions for OAMS translation include: how to map entities not in the Santa Fe set (currently we use the same solution as for full XML records), what to use for "accession date" when none exists (a general problem, I know), and how to generate fullIds for library records (currently we have two kludges, but no general solution).
See Open Archives @ Virginia Tech --- MARC XML for examples and discussion. Please send any comments to Robert . Thanks.
-- Robert France
france@vt.edu
http://opac3.cc.vt.edu/france/