While I’m on this subject (which is a stupid thing to say as anyone reading this – ‘anyone’ = ‘me and only me’ – will be reading top down, ie newest first, ie will be unaware I was on the subject… what subject) ah yes, the subject of library catalogue searching.

Nothing too exciting really (this post has the word ‘library’ it in, so that was a pointless fact) but I’ve been reading with intrest how Talis – who supply the library management software for the Universit of Sussex – have been playing with A9, and how to get it to play nice with their web catalogue.

Basically A9 uses a technology called opensearch, which allows you to place a xml file based on this on your web server. This allows your catalogue (or search engine) to be searched via a9.

To try this out, do a search on a9.com, once on the results, click on ‘See more columns’, type ‘talis’ in to the search columns box, and then select add.

We’ll see if it is possible to add the University of Sussex to this search.

Another nice little thing is a utility called librarybooks for Apple’s OS X. It provides an item on the menu bar showing how many books you have on loan from your local library, opening this as a menu shows you what books you have out, and when they are due back. Again, Talis seem to be ahead of the game with this.

Final thing to mention: whichbook.net, might just point you towards your next read.