MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloguing?) is old, comprehensive, and there are CPAN modules for it - including conversion to and from XML. It seems to record everything that a library could need for all types of holding. However it is way too complicated for what I need and not very easy to understand (at least for me) as the codes describing the types of records are numeric, e.g. 100 indicates the author and 245 indicates the title.
Back to googling then....
A problem being "intractable" doesn't mean that it can't get easier to deal with, once one has more experience. To the contrary, I think experience is the only way -- so try it and see!
I can't promise that experience actually produces massively better solutions -- but I'd be happy just knowing that the solutions come faster and easier, and possibly that experience at least gives greater insight (whatever that means) into past attempts at solutions.
Now reread what I said, and instead of reading it as being about library cataloguing, read it as being about programming.
Re:MARC
inkdroid on 2002-10-24T01:35:48
I agree with this...there is definitely not a "right" answer. However, one thing to bear in mind is that the MARC format has been around alot longer than XML and the Web, and it is used as an interchange format by libraries around the world. The price you pay for developing your own solution is in interoperability. But if that is not a price, then it's not a big deal.
You may want to take a look at the Dublin Core, which was largely developed because MARC was complex and not very well suited to the needs of electronic information resources.
