• Introduction
• Bibliography Formats Handled
  • HOLLIS
  • ISI
  • MARC
  • OCLC
  • Ovid
  • Refer
  • Inspec
• Package Preferences
• Known problems
• License and Disclaimer

Introduction

    .hollis .hol .inspec .isi .marc .oclc .ovid .refer

HOLLIS

Harvard Online Library Information System

ISI

Institute of Scientific Information aka Web Of Science, Web Of Knowledge

MARC

MAchine Readable Cataloging record

OCLC

Online Collection of Library Catalogs aka First Search, WorldCat

Ovid

WebSPIRS

Refer

EndNote compatible

There is also a miscellaneous Inspec format, see the Inspec section below.
Example files are included below -- simply click on the hyperlink and a new window will be opened that you can convert to .bib format.

Bibliography Formats Handled

Please note that like all things web-related, the formats used in the results returned by various database programs are subject to change, and the software developers rarely inform AlphaTcl developers of the new formats. (What nerve!) If you find that any of the conversions below do not work, or if you have a suggestion for improving the conversion results, please file a bug report in the Alpha's Bug Tracker (see the help files Bug Reporting and Debugging Help) or send a note to any of the AlphaTcl mailling lists (see the help file Alpha Readme for more information.)
If you have an entirely different format that needs to be converted, please describe it on one of the AlphaTcl mailing lists to see if it can be added.
Please remember that none of these conversions comes with a guarantee, and all results should be checked before discarding the original records that generated the new ones. In particular, entry types are very difficult to determine, and collection editors will often be listed as authors instead. The Accents To LaTeX filter (in the package Filters Menu) should also be used to ensure that special characters are properly converted after the new record entries have been inserted.

HOLLIS

This is the Harvard Online Library Information System format, available at https://www.harvard.edu. See the file Hollis Example.
The basic idea is that records are outlined by %START: and %END: tags, each field label is of the form %FIELDNAME: so we can easily separate things out.
In the summer of 2002, Harvard unveiled a new version of HOLLIS which is available by web only (i.e. not by telnet), and records are no longer returned in the format supported here (preserved in the example hyperlink above). Kind of sad, especially when you know that these two features were the original inspiration for this package! (HOLLIS now gives you the option to have records sent to you by e-mail using the MARC format described below).
Original by Vince <vince@santafe.edu> Updated by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>

ISI

ISI (Institute of Scientific Information; Science Citation Index) is a commercial citation database service, also known on the web as the Web Of Science or the Web Of Knowledge. See the file ISI Example.
The basic idea is that records are outlined by PT and ER tags, each field label is of the form "<FF> " so we can easily separate things out.
Original by Jon <jguyer@his.com>. Updated by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>

MARC

MARC is a MAchine Readable Cataloging record format used by the U.S. Library of Congress. See the file MARC Example.
The Library of Congress serves as the official depository of United States publications and is a primary source of cataloging records for US and international publications. When the Library of Congress began to use computers in the 1960s, it devised the LC MARC format, a system of using brief numbers, letters, and symbols within the cataloging record itself to mark different types of information. The original LC MARC format evolved into MARC 21 and has become the standard used by most library computer programs. The MARC 21 bibliographic format, as well as all official MARC 21 documentation, is maintained by the Library of Congress. It is published as MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data.
Most libraries retain their records in MARC format, and manipulate these fields to present catalog record information in their own peculiar format (which other modules in this package are attempting to convert!)
Some offer the option to return marked records in MARC format, which we are then able to very easily convert here. Of course, while the MARC record headings and subheadings are standard, the format in which they are given is not, especially with regard to column length and spacing. The MARC conversion is (hopefully) flexible enough to deal with several different variations. The key field here to confirm that we're dealing with a MARC entry is 008, which is meaningless to us but supposedly every record has to have one.
Contributed by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>.

OCLC

OCLC (also known as FirstSearch) is a commercial, subscription based bibliographic database (https://www.oclc.org). Be sure to have marked records e-mailed using the detailed format, otherwise the conversion will fail. (OCLC certainly uses the MARC format to maintain its records, it's too bad that they don't give you that format option for saving/e-mailing the results.) See the file OCLC Example.
Original by Vince <vince@santafe.edu>. Updated by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>.

Ovid

Ovid is a commercial subscription based database service that is also known by the name WebSPIRS (https://www.ovid.com). Often you're using an Ovid database product (such as SocioFile) without even realizing it. Many of their products are accessed via a SilverPlatter website. See the file Ovid Example.
Both long and short labels can be used for conversions.
IMPORTANT: When converting individual entries, make sure that the

    Record 1 of 45

is included in the highlighted selection -- this is the only way that we know that we're using the newer interface output for ovid, and that the following text is a valid entry. Also, be sure to include either short or long labels when obtaining the records (this code handles both styles), but if both or none are used the conversion will fail.
Original by flip <flip@skidmore.edu>. Updated by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu> to use the format currently returned (WebSPIRS5, released summer 2002).

Refer

EndNote compatible. EndNote is a product of ISI ResearchSoft, a division of the same Thomson/ISI conglomerate that brings us all of the great sites for the Web of Science/Knowledge/Whatever. See the file Refer Example.
One significant difference between EndNote and Refer is that the former always includes a %0 tag indicating what type of item we're dealing with. If this field is not present, the type is misc. All records must be separated by at least one empty line.
Contributed by Craig <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>.

Inspec

The original basic inspec format was a file capture of horrible telnet interface results of FirstSearch output.
It's a bit harder here, and we have to remove a lot of garbage, however, we basically only accept lines beginning with '|', and parse the record names appropriately. This has since been recategorized as OCLC, and is handled above. This older version has not been tested with the newer version of this package, i.e. this earlier format might now be obsolete.
In this package, Inspec now refers to a miscellaneous category of bibliographic formats. If the chosen format is inspec, Convert To Bib attempts to determine which of the following should be used. Most of these, however, have not been tested with the newer version of this package.
Inspec formats generally follow this pattern:

    FIELDNAME1 FIELDCODE1: FIELDENTRY1
    .
    .
    .
    FIELDNAME5 FIELDCODE5: FIELDENTRY5

There are other variations of inspec formats available (each of which needs some more documentation on where it comes from ...). The trick in each case is to figure out where a record starts and stops.
Technical note: In theory, it would be possible to convert all library results back into MARC first, and then decipher it, although that would be something of a chore... After you take a look at several different library record (i.e. inspec) formats, you start to see how they're using the MARC record fields.
All originals by Vince <vince@santafe.edu>.

Inspec2

This is much easier: each record starts with Document N and ends with a long line of dashes.

Inspec

This is much easier: each record starts with Citation N. Now copes with two variants of this record type (Aug'96).

Inspec4

This is much easier: each record starts with Doc Type:.

Inspec5

I've forgotten what this one looks like (Record No. or so).

Inspec6

Something from Berkeley: N. (Inspec Result).

Inspec7

These are for inspec files started with <N>, and each article with an accession number.

Package Preferences

Many of the Bib mode preferences (Entry Braces, Align Equals, etc.) are respected when converting entries. There are some additional preferences in the second and subsequent pages of the conversion dialog that can also be set to fine-tune the style of the formatted entries, such as where abstract or table of contents fields should be mapped in BibTeX entries, and which fields should be completely ignored. These prefs are saved between editing sessions.

Known problems

Please report any problem or bug you encounter in Alpha's Bug Tracker.

License and Disclaimer

Copyright (c) 1995-2019, Vince Darley and Contributors.
Contributors: Craig Barton Upright.
All rights reserved.
The Bib Convert package is free software and distributed under the terms of the new BSD license:
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither the name of Vince Darley nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL VINCE DARLEY OR THE CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
This document has been placed in the public domain.