HIT Z39.50

["Sally A. Barlow" <barlowsa@OTSEGO.NET>]

Dear LM_NETters:

First:   I am attempting to post a hit.

Second:  Thank you for all the help.

Sally A. Barlow  barlowsa@otsego.net

Z39.50 information

1.  Here are two sites which will give you more than you ever wanted to
know
about Z39.50.  http://lcweb.loc.gov/Z39.50/agency  and http://www.sirsi.com
and choose the icon Z39.50.
Sally Martinus

2.  Z39.50 is a standard regarding computer communication. I THINK....an
example is if both computer systems (like OPACs) are Z39.50 compliant, you
should be able to search the other catalog without the computers
misunderstanding each other. It allows an author search to be translated
into the commands needed to do an author search at the other computer.
That's my simplistic understanding. Maybe it will get you on your way when
a real explanation arrives!

Kelly R. McBride

3. There is an article about Z39.50 on the library of congress
catalog page go to http://www.loc.com -- and hunt around a little the
article is there I think it is on the page called "about z39.50" -- Good
luck.  Sharron L. McElmeel

4.  Hi Sally,
     I use the Z39 format, but I'm not certain I can explain what it does.
I
use it to download marc records from data bases on the internet and import
them into my collection.  The Z39 format I think helps to make the records
compatable with the software that runs the library automation system.  I
believe the Z30 format is a marc record that is digitally read. I think the
hope is that once marc records are standardized we can link collections
using
this type of format. This is probably clear as mud right?  Anyway it works
great.
Leslie Lomers
Spanish Fort School

5.  Dear Sally,
        There are many sites on the Web that probably can explain the
standard better than I can.  I'm no techie!  But that's what it is:  the
name of a standard, or protocol, which allows disparate computing systems
to
communicate.  If you find a list of library automation vendors on the Web,
and if you study all their pages very carefully, you'll see that adherence
to Z39.50 is nearly universal now.  If your library purchases a Z39.50
client (for example, BookWhere? Pro, mentioned on Nichols Advanced
Technology's homepage) and a patron enters a search request, your client
can
interface with a remote host server that's also Z39.50 compliant and the 2
machines can talk to each other, so that the server machine can send back
retrievals for you to read on your client machine.  In other words, you can
sit in your school library and search the catalogs of any library in the
country (world, perhaps!) as long as that library  is running a Z39.50
compliant server.  Some problems still exist though.  Depending on whether
a
vendor has complied with version 1,2, or 3 of the standard, and some other
things I haven't quite grasped yet(!), not all hosts will be able to reply
completely to all requests.  Some won't be programmed to deal with complex
queries, apparently.  One article I read said that an experimental query
yielded retrievals from different libraries that varied as wildly as from
about 20 to about 14,000!
        I hope this rather simple minded explanation helps you get started
in your understanding!  One URL you might try is:
        http://ds.internic.net/z3950/z3950.html

        Bobbi Traver

6.  We are certainly in the right racket for arcane symbology.  I, for the
sake of this message Agent X2, shall now use K.I.S.S. to describe Z39.50.

[please note that the final S. refers only to my humble self..]

Z39.50 is a flexible standard or protocol for sharing electronic
information via automated catalogs.  Many automation vendors now offer it,
and others are coming on board.  It does this by allowing users of one
Z39.50 software, say Mandarin, to connect with an OPAC running another
Z39.50 platform, say Winnebago, and search it using the Mandarin commands.
This is possible because both are compliant with the standard.  This is
done via the Internet usually, and requires some preparatory setup on both
ends.

There are other ways to use it.  OCLC Site Search can be configured to
connect with a group of Z39.50 libraries, all previously configured allow
Z39.50 access, and run the same search on all the catalogs the software
has connections with simulataneously.  So instead of logging into 20
college libraries and searching, you could do it once from a central
point.

Dynix Scholar's WebPAC meets the standard, and will allow users to access
linked Z39.50 catalogs with a standard web interface, albeit singly.

The key point is that the software on both ends must be compliant, and
each must be configured to allow the access, which I think is usually done
by IP address and other internal internet security stuff.

I have never used Z39.50 myself, but will be purchasing Dynix WebPAC soon
so I do know a little about it.  [A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing..]

This is my understanding of it at this time.  Perhaps a more enlightened
soul out there can expand upon this and correct it as needed.

Angus G. Saunders, Jr.                               saunders@northnet.org

7.  Sally,

I just completed a class in standards over the summer and Z39.50 is one
that we talked about.  As I understand Z39.50, it is a
<bold>standard</bold> that allows two computers to understand each other,
even if they don't "speak" the same language. When you search a database
over the Internet, your computer may be a Mac while the database is saved
on an IBM.  Z39.50 allows you to search using commands that are typical Mac
commands.  It "translates" your commands so that the IBM understands what
you want.  It then "translates" the IBMs answer for your Mac.

Does that help any?

Christine O'Connor

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