No Subject

[Slavko Manojlovich <slavko@morgan.ucs.mun.ca>]

Karen:
I am the Unicorn system administrator at Memorial University Of
Newfoundland. I would like to respond to two of your comments regarding
Unicorn being a closed system:

"We cannot link to pre-defined searches"
Actually, this is now possible in Unicorn. URL searches are supported. The
infrastructure supporting the different searches needs to be configured by
your Unicorn System Administrator. This is documented in the Unicorn
manuals and in my Z39.50 Corner (see Webspirs) under Information For
Customers.

"Unicorn is a closed system"
SIRSI provides an Oracle version of Unicorn which supports standard
SQL queries to all of the Unicorn databases including the patron file.
Existing SIRSI sites are able to migrate to Oracle. Your Unicorn System
Administrator needs to contact SIRSI for additional information. Even
without the Oracle version of Unicorn it is possible to access all of
Unicorn databases using a published set of API commands. Many SIRSI sites
have integrated Unicorn with other internal and external software packages
using the API. API training is provided by SIRSI.

I will be attending the TZIG meeting at your library next monday (August
21) if you would like to discuss any of the above. The meeting is hosted
by Tim Judkins.

Slavko Manojlovich
Memorial University Of Newfoundland


> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 21:27:02 -0500
> > From: Karen Harker <Karen.Harker@UTSouthwestern.edu>
> > To: oss4lib-list@BIOMED.MED.YALE.EDU
> > Subject: Open architecture ILS?
> >
> > I'm a librarian by trade, but have been developing Web applications for our library for a couple of years.  Lately, I've become frustrated by our ILS (Unicorn), mainly in the inability to openly communicate with it.  We have a wonderful patron database that is inaccessible from anywhere except Unicorn. We cannot link to pre-defined searches (i.e. New Books, all books on molecular biology of lung cancer, etc.). These are the two main examples.
> >
> > It all boils down to the fact that Unicorn is a closed system - only Unicorn modules can access the data. Being uneducated in computer science, is this what is referred to as "closed architecture"?
> >
> > No matter what it's called, what are some good systems out there that, at the very least, use a database that can be queried with SQL (i.e. Oracle, MS SQL (I know...forgive me), etc.)?
> >
> > Thanks.
> > Karen R. Harker
> > UT Southwestern Medical Library
> > Dallas, Texas
> 
>