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

[D P Ingram <darren@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Steven, thanks for the information and my (delayed) reply.

The standard database format I referred to was more an interchange  
format.

I.e I might store things in the form:

Artist Name, Title, Cat Nr, Label and so on.

You may store things in the form.

Title, Artist, Label, Cat Nr and so on

and yet we want to share the information to a third party in a common  
format so that it can be combined.

Now, of course, /we/ can export our information and recipient can  
import and mess about with orders, but if there was a common "export"  
we could make the "recipients" task easier and maybe automated.


Darren
On 13 feb 2009, at 05.06, Steven C. Barr wrote:

> ----- 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


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