John Miedema

FuzzyCat connects books on the web to books in libraries.

FuzzyCat is an open source project that will work nicely with OpenBook, but can also be used or modified to suit the needs of others. Open book projects are becoming increasingly important. In my previous post, I referred to the OCLC licensing issue, but the problem is much bigger. OpenBook was motivated by aggressive commercial moves by Amazon that adversely affect independent writers and publishers. On Monday, Publishers Weekly reported that Amazon notified its publisher and author clients that it will only offer e-books in Kindle format (nod LISNews). Are they just nasty buggers, or is this just the inevitable evolution of large commercial ventures? Libraries need to operate differently.

This post kicks off a series about the building of FuzzyCat. Expect a mix of high level technical talk for the average reader (no gory code) and occasional soapbox climbs about independent media and libraries. Note the “Building FuzzyCat” link in the “Series” widget to the right.

The prototype has been enhanced with a couple more libraries, and with an option to see the OPAC design patterns as they are being discovered. I am compiling a list of libraries for testing — I am particularly interested in libraries that are not in WorldCat. If you would like to see your library in FuzzyCat (whether it is in WorldCat or not) just email me with the URL of the library’s website or catalogue. In the near future, I will post some details about the OPAC design patterns and how they make FuzzyCat possible.