Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and Z39.50 problem

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:19 pm

Hi,

A quick question: i made an import filter (based on Loc) for the BNF in Paris and filled in the Internet Searching section according to details at:
http://www.bnf.fr/pages/infopro/produit ... _z3950.htm

when doing an internet search i receive the following error:

"<h1>Failed to initialize to z3950.bnf.fr"

Is this a problem with their server or did i do something wrong?

Thanks,
Gerben

Post by **Jon** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:23 pm

Hi Gerben,

This is a problematic site. There was a discussion about this on the z39.50 listserv. The short version is, you can't access it via the Library of Congress gateway.

Jon
Sonny Software

thecritic · Post by **thecritic** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:50 pm

Jon wrote:This is a problematic site. There was a discussion about this on the z39.50 listserv. The short version is, you can't access it via the Library of Congress gateway.

Is there another way to access it?

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:36 am

I see. I noticed that the information on their Z39.50 page suggests they are working on something and it will be ready in the 3rd trimester of 2006.

But is there a known work-around for this? One can also use the BNF catalogue and display records in Marc format but there is no way of exporting records (apart from emailing them). Would it be possible to copy and paste the record in Marc format to a text file and than import?

thanks,
Gerben

Post by **Jon** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:55 am

Hi Gerben,

Sure, that's possible. You'd need to modify one of the existing MARC filters so that it looked for a reference beginning with something like 001 (i.e., a real tag, not *, which is a metatag that only works for direct imports.

Jon
Sonny Software

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:24 am

Sorry to be naive but can you suggest a MARC filter? Difficult to see from the outside what a MARC filter is..

You mentioned by the way that there was discussion on another list about the BNF. Did that discussion yield any result or suggestions to access via Z39.50 via another way?

Thanks and have a good weekend,
Gerben

Post by **Jon** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:40 am

Almost all of our individual direct search library filters import MARC records (e.g. MIT, for one, but there are over 100).

Make a new filter based on one of these.
Go to Internet tab and turn off "enable internet searching".
Edit "reference begins with" to hold a tag (like 001, if that begins your MARC records).
Now use this filter on MARC records in the clipboard.

There was no solution that we can use for direct access to this particular library.

Jon
Sonny Software

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:16 pm

Thanks a lot, it works pretty well!

Pretty unbelievable that the main library of France cannot get this worked out but ok...

Gerben

Aricie · Post by **Aricie** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:56 am

It's a shame Bookends doesn't speak Z3950 directly - software that can, can connect to the BNF server without a problem. Can the LoC gateway not connect to servers that require a username and a password?

Jon â€“ I created an import filter from the MIT filter as described, and Bookends imports 0 records. This is a sample of the files they send by email. What am I doing wrong?

Post by **Jon** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:24 am

Bookends can connect to sites that require a username and password -- you have to enter them in the filter.

If you are importing BibTeX from a file, you need to change the "reference begins with" from * to whatever tag is useful (001 would work in the example you provide). The * is a metacharacter that only works with direct imports.

Jon
Sonny Software

Aricie · Post by **Aricie** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:30 am

"References start with" is set to 001. Would you like me to upload the BNF filter I have made?

Post by **Jon** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:40 am

You can zip and send it to me and I'll take a look.

Jon
Sonny Software

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:55 am

I would be very much interested in this filter.

It's a shame Bookends doesn't speak Z3950 directly - software that can, can connect to the BNF server without a problem.

I wonder which software can do the job?

According to the information on http://www.bnf.fr/pages/infopro/produit ... _z3950.htm there are problems with the z39.50 protocol due to be addressed by the third trimester of 2006. At the moment, even when filling in all info according to that page importing will not work in BE (initialization error).

Gerben

Aricie · Post by **Aricie** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:59 am

Gerben â€“ I don't know which Mac software could do it, but it certainly is possible to query the public bnf server using z39.50 and get useful answers back. If you managed to create a filter for the BNF that works with copy-pasting, could you please upload it for me to steal?

Jon â€“ http://stereo.lu/BNF.tar.bz2 is an archive with my filter and a sample file to import.

Thanks!

Gerben · Post by **Gerben** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:06 am

Hi Aricie,

Happy to know someone else is trying to find a solution for the BNF as well.

I don't know which Mac software could do it, but it certainly is possible to query the public bnf server using z39.50 and get useful answers back.

It seems this is MARC output so needs a tweaked MARC filter.

If you managed to create a filter for the BNF that works with copy-pasting, could you please upload it for me to steal?

I did have one that worked (more or less) but lost it when i had to reinstall Tiger. When i have time i might try again...

Jon â€“ http://stereo.lu/BNF.tar.bz2 is an archive with my filter and a sample file to import.

I know i am not Jon but... the archive only contains a txt file.

Gerben