Incorrect translator: Mandarin Library Automation

cristina.bellini
Hello, I am the librarian of New York University Florence (Italy) and our NYU Florence Library Catalog opac is Mandarin Oasis http://nyu.mlasolutions.com/oasis/catalog/?installation=ulivi
Zotero doesn't recognize this as an opac and uses the generic "web page" translator and doesn't save the metadata of the records.
Are you able to add this opac to your system?
We will soon upgrade to Mandarin M5 http://www.mlasolutions.com/products/m5
Can this opac be recognized by Zotero?
Many thanks for your assistance.
Cristina Bellini,
NYU Florence Librarian
  • adamsmith
    Hi Cristina. So I don't think it's worth it to support the old catalog. I doubt that's very widely used anymore and you're apparently phasing it out, too. I got Mandarin to send me a link to their demo site for M5 and while it might be possible to support, it's going to be very hard and very labor intensive to get to work, so I don't really see this happening on our side, sorry.

    You could see if you can get the vendor to do something, such as, at a minimum, implementing COiS in pages or adding RIS export buttons to entries. We've had some vendors provide their own Zotero translators and we'd be happy to work with them should they want to do that.
  • zuphilip
    (Typo: It should read COinS.)
  • fbennett
    The description page says that it supports MARC import and export - maybe it is possible to turn on MARC record access in the user-level UI?
  • cristina.bellini
    Yes, it is possible to export in txt and then import in Zotero that way.

    Can you please specify what I need to ask the vendor in terms of "Zotero translator"?

    I have already asked them if they will implement COinS and RIS.

    Thanks,
    Cristina Bellini
    NYU Florence Librarian
  • fbennett
    edited February 26, 2016
    I'll take a look at it this weekend (I've also requested a demo link). If Zotero can access and parse the MARC records, it should be possible to build a translator. I think.

    (Edit: no special action by the vendor would be needed in that case)
  • cristina.bellini
    This would be fantastic! Many thanks for your assistance.
    Cristina
  • fbennett
    No promises yet, but I'll take a close look and see what I can do.
  • adamsmith
    @fbennett -- I looked at this and there _is_ MARC access via UI, BUT:
    1. the site is all javascript app, the URL never changes, which means you'd have to work with monitorDOMChanges all the time, which can be quite tricky
    2. That also means that you have to construct a post request to follow item lists -- they don't actually have URLs
    3. The MARC record is accessed via a super-complex post request using 7 parameters, among them two lengthy keys we'd have to extract from the page
    4. Then the human-readable MARC is presented in a structure we haven't covered yet on the page, so you'd have to write that, too.

    So, as I say, it's likely possible on a technical level, but it's a LOT of work.
  • fbennett
    Hmm, that does sound not so good. When the link arrives I'll take a peek though, just in case.
  • fbennett
    The request-for-demo-site-link form seems to sign me up for a Webinar instead, at least according to the confirmation popup. No response so far, but if a link does arrive, I'll take a look. From adamsmith's description, though, this may indeed be a tough case without changes to the data supplied in the pages.
  • adamsmith
    forwarded you the link, I don't think that' contrary to the intended purpose.
  • fbennett
    Got it.

    This does look difficult. The ISBN is presented in default search results, so the best guidance to users in the medium term would be to paste that value into Zotero's "magic wand" to acquire item data.

    Sorry I couldn't be more help! A translator for the site would need to be robust, but as it would require a lot of delicate (read: fragile) coding to mimic the behaviour of the site, I'm not confident that it could be made solid enough to avoid inconveniencing your users.
  • cristina.bellini
    OK, well thanks to all of you for trying! Is there anything I could ask the vendor that would simplify this process of creating a Zotero translator? Or is it just too much work on your side anyway?
    Thanks,
    Cristina
  • adamsmith
    One thing would be an RIS export function. While that wouldn't necessarily make it super easy for us to write a translator, it would at least provide Zotero (and other reference manager) users with a solid workaround (i.e. just importing the RIS.

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