Dan,

I think there is a lack of open source and user-friendly bibliographic databases, never mind any with Z39.50 built-in. However, have a look at http://wwwsearch.sourceforge.net/bib/openbib.html http://bibliographic.openoffice.org/ http://www.theresearcher.ca/index.html

And finally, "A Tool for Bibliography Management and Sharing: The ShaRef Project" http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september04/09inbrief.html#WILDE

I use Endnote which is proprietary but supports Z39.50. The latest version can export bibliographies in XML which is again proprietary and can not be modified as far as I can see, but well-structured and sensible.

Elizabeth

---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [dm-l] open source z39.5 compatible bibliographic database software From: "Daniel O'Donnell" daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca Date: Sun, September 5, 2004 4:41 am To: "Digital Medievalist list" dm-l@uleth.ca

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Digital Medievalist Journal (Inaugural Issue Fall 2004). Call for papers: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/cfp.htm ---------------- Hello all, I use Procite (http://www.procite.com/ to keep my bibliography, mostly because it has a good Z39.5 client. Z39.50 http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/ is an international standard used by many libraries (though not the Royal Dutch Library, duizend bliksembommen!) for data interchange. In the case of procite, what this means is that I can download book information, including call numbers and subject fields directly from various libraries. Amongst other things, it has made it quite easy to rearrange my personal library using LoC call numbers (not a perfect system, of course, but since it comes ready made, I can't complain).

Anyway, I want now to built an on-line catalogue of my stuff, so I

can check if I own something when I am in a foreign library. Originally, I was just going to dumpt the procite format to a database (it is built on a 45 field database) and use PHP and MySQL to built a simple front end. But then I began to wonder if perhaps an open source system already existed. Does anybody know of one? Basically what I need is a robust bibliographic database with a Z39.50 client built in.

-dan

-- Daniel Paul O'Donnell, PhD Associate Professor of English University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB T1K 3M4 Tel. (403) 329-2377 Fax. (403) 382-7191 E-mail daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca Home Page http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/

Dr. Elizabeth Solopova Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts Bodleian Library Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG Tel.: +44 (0)1865-277073 E-mail: es@bodley.ox.ac.uk Internet: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/