So, I requested the HCLC authority records created by Sanford Berman and staff. I was excited today when the package arrived with my CD of the records (the letter says the CD includes both the authorities and bibs). The bad news is that the CD they returned is unreadable (or at least I am not able to read it on my current machine). I originally sent two CDs in case one was bad and they, in fact, did only return one to me… letting me know the other was bad. Now, I’m wondering, though, whether they perhaps returned the bad one to me? I guess I will have to ask for another copy if I can’t get my work machine to read the CD either (on Monday). Maybe if I give them an ftp site they will send the records to me that way so I don’t have to wait as long this time.

Anyway, I got all excited for nothing! When I get an accessible copy, my first plan is to convert them into XML and make them searchable via eXist. Eventually, though, I’d like to convert the records into XOBIS and experiment with retrieval and navigation of the records. I thought about requesting them long ago when I first heard about the snapshot, but the license restricts any changes to the records’ content so they cannot be upgraded or modified… they are essentially a snapshot of the HCLC’s cataloging records at the time Berman left. At the time I first heard of them that was enough to discourage my interest. But now that I’m thinking about writing an aut navigator, the records would be useful (even without being able to modify the content — perhaps specifically because I can’t modify the content).