A while back I heard about Z39.50 [0], a protocol that libraries use for their catalogs. In the 90s it seems there were native clients for the protocol so that one could interact with the library catalog without using a web interface. A lot of the current web interfaces are terribly slow JS monstrosities now so I'd like to try something faster.
I never did figure out if any of the GUI clients [1] are still actively developed and I'd appreciate if anyone who knows about this could point me towards a good client.
The most well-known Z39.50 using software that still works is a paid citation manager called EndNote (the desktop client not the web client). You can ingest PDFs with that software too. I don't think the open-source Zotero has added that feature yet. Z39.50 is clunky, and our old LMS (library management software, used behind the scenes) can pull in MARC records for our staff when we order books, but I don't even want to think about the security.
I never did figure out if any of the GUI clients [1] are still actively developed and I'd appreciate if anyone who knows about this could point me towards a good client.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z39.50
[1] Some software listed here: http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/resources/software.html