Re: [ARSCLIST] Common database/electronic library interchange format ?

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "D P Ingram" <darren@xxxxxxxxx>> 
> Does anybody know (Google was not my friend, at least with what  
> "rubbish" I put in) if there is a common database/electronic  
> interchange format for linking electronic library collections?
> I understand an institution may not be able to have a common database  
> format (fields etc) but there can be filters or things applied to make  
> it easy to share or link collection databases together. Does such a  
> thing exist?
Closest thing to a "standard database format" is xBase...IOW data
files using  the (very) old dBASE format! Second-closest is MS
Access; unlike xBase, the files are TOTALLY unintellagable to
ordinary humans...nor can they be converted unless one happens
to OWN a copy of Access (97 is preferable...?!).

Steven C.Barr