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home>>support>>librarian's corner>>Tip of the Week
Tip of the Week
Tip for: 03.14.2005
Downloading Records from the LOC using OS X
Summary: Several of you sent messages concerning options for downloading records from the Library of Congress on OS X. Thank you all for contributing to the discussion on Alex-Net this past week. You may not be aware that the software the Library of Congress utilizes to manage the downloading of records has trouble working with the newer versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape on OS X. Using the Classic application (OS 9) with an older version of Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer is one way around this issue. However, for those who don't have that option, there were other possibilities mentioned, which we would like to share with you.
One option is to use a different browser. There were three main ones suggested: Opera, Firefox, and Camino. We recommend checking with your site tech person prior to downloading about any possible issues with how your local setup would work with these different browsers. All three can be downloaded for free and used to search the Internet just like Internet Explore, Netscape, or Safari. You can download Opera by going to http://www.opera.com and then clicking the Free Download button (see Fig.1).
Figure 1 Opera Browser Window
Firefox and Camino are both produced by Mozilla. You can download Firefox at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ and then click on the make the switch today link. From this page, click on the getfirefox.com link and follow the rest of the download instructions (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2 Firefox Browser Window
Camino can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.org/products/camino. From this page click the Download … Now! link and follow the rest of the installation directions as they come up. The current build on the website is 0.8.2 (see Fig.3). Due to the fact that each set up is different, some users may find they have more success with one browser over the others.
Figure 3 Camino Browser Window
Another option suggested was the use of other websites. There are several sites out there, but we will only specifically mention the three that were suggested by Karen Beale. We would like to thank her for her suggestions.
Just as with the Internet browsers, some users may find that certain sites work better than others for their needs. You can also check online catalogs of local libraries to see if they offer the capability of downloading MARC records. In addition, the Library of Congress site offers links to many other libraries, some of which offer the ability to download MARC records.
COMPanion also offers SmartMARC, which allows access to Z39.50 servers for many different libraries to locate records for importing into Alexandria. This offers yet another way to make cataloging quicker and easier.
We hope this information is helpful to you as you look for ways to make the job of cataloging items more efficient.
Thank you,
The Alexandria Staff Librarians
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