>Ed Glazier asks:

>are ther systems
>that are able assemble a URL from component parts in various
>subfields and not just to 856$u to connect?

Adoption of the URL has certainly saved a lot of descrete coding of
subfields, much to our benefit.  The 856 field, devised before URLs,
imagined that computers would parse the 856 field.  Because the subfields
would contain discrete elements, affecting the link could be achieved in
this way.

As of yesterday, the InterCat catalog contained 16,373 records.  These
records compise 20,083 856 fields, of which 1,612 do not have a $u URL.  Of
those, 1,064
contain sufficient data in the subfields to create a valid URL, which we do
create on the fly when building the InterCat database.

I do not know of any commercial systems that perform such processing, but it
is doable and relatively trivial.

However, the discrete coding of URL components in lieu of a subfield $u URL
is not to be preferred.  There are additional subfields in the 856 field,
however, the do enable the cataloger to record additional useful information
that cannot be recorded in a URL.  Subfield $3, Materials Specified, is a
good example, but there are others.

 --Erik

Erik Jul
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