In this Chapter
- Getting Started
- Setting up ILS Integration
- Working with Koha
Getting Started
With all the new ILS systems being produced and the emphasis being placed on support for API support, one of the things that I’d like to eventually see is the ability to integrate directly with specific ILS systems to allow users to pull content directly from their systems (in batch or individually), edit the records in MarcEdit, and then upload the data back to their ILS systems. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where licensing tends to get in the way, since most ILS systems tend to protect access to their API documentation. This means that for most systems, in order for this work to be completed, I’ll need to have an ILS customer that can work as a liasion between myself and the vendor. With that said, there are some open source ILS systems, and utilizing these systems, I’v developed a framework that should provide the necessary infrastructure to integrate with external systems.
Setting up ILS Integration
At this point, MarcEdit’s ILS Direct Integration primarily supports the ability to search and update/creation of records. Essentially, users will select their ILS system from the list of supported ILS’s (at this point, just Koha) and MarcEdit will add a new option to the MarcEditor window targeting interactions with that ILS. Here’s how it works.
- Users will enable the functionality through the preferences. A new Preference Tab has been added to the MarcEdit options.
Figure 1: ILS Integration
- In the preference list, I’ve added a list for Supported Systems. At this point, the only option is Koha, but I hope to eventually add support for other ILS systems as either vendors provide documentation or individual users request/sponsor development. The options needed to support a specific system are primarily a host name (baseURL that will be used to interact with the API), a username and password. My assumption is that there may be some additional data needed (for example, Koha will use Z39.50 for searching, so some additional data may be needed…and when it is, MarcEdit will ask specifically then and save the data upon entry).
- When the ILS option is selected, a new menu item appears in the MarcEditor. This is the menu item that needs to be used if the user wishes to push data directly back to their ILS system.
Figure 2: Integration within the MarcEditor
While Koha is currently the only ILS system currently profiled, my hope is that over time, this list will become more substantial. Today, most ILS systems provide some level of API interaction with their ILS systems. While not all support the necessary components to provide Search/Create/Update — they are getting there.
So what’s the hold up? In a word, trust. ILS vendors compete against each other, and traditionally this has lead to strict controls around how data moves into and out of their systems. In order for MarcEdit to provide direct integration to a specific ILS provider, there has to be a level of trust that making this information available openly (and with what would now be a reference implementation) is a good thing. For MarcEdit as a project, it means having someone within the user community willing to be an advocate within their own ILS community and a liaison between MarcEdit and the ILS vendor. Can we make this work? Sure we can! Will we see progress in this space? We’ll see.