Currently DA automates the role of a human at a keyboard…sending search requests to eye-readable pages and then processing the results that are returned.
Trying to bend this architecture to support searching the databases I encounter at the university is really difficult.
How about exploring adding SRU/SRW protocol searching to DA? It’s a standard that’s being supported in library catalogs, digital repositories and other useful sites. Here’s a list that Library of Congress maintains:
loc.gov/standards/sru/servers.html
If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a quick description:
The SRU protocol searches via URL…so this URL:\
z3950.loc.gov:7090/voyager?versi … dSchema=dc
returns an XML file of 10 books from the library of congress on dinosaurs.
As a standard query language, it would help code plugins for new databases.
- w. grotophorst