Z39.50 and the DNER

1
Z39.50 and the DNER

• Paul Miller
• Interoperability Focus
• UK Office for Library Information Networking
  (UKOLN)
• P.Miller_at_ukoln.ac.uk http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/

UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information
Commission, the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding
Councils, as well as by project funding from the
JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also
receives support from the University of Bath
where it is based.
2
Introducing Z39.50

• North American Standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.501995
  version 3)
• International Standard (ISO 23950)
• Originally librarycentric
• Permits remote searching of databases
• Access via Z client or over web
• Relies upon Profiles
• CIMI profile for cultural heritage
• GEO profile for Geospatial data.

See http//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/
3
Z39.50 Challenges

• Profiles for each discipline
• Defeats interoperability?
• Vendor interpretation of the standard
• Bib1 bloat
• Largely invisible to the user
• Seen as complicated
• Seen as expensive
• Seen as oldfashioned
• Surely no match for XML/RDF/ whatever.

4
Z39.50 and the DNER

• Z39.50 already deployed within JISC services
• Significant investment
• Growing expertise
• Plenty of technologies that claim/manage to do
  bits of Z39.50 better
• Few people are crazy enough to admit to liking
  Z39.50
• Arguably no real alternative yet, though.

5
Z39.50 and the DNER

• But
• Too much difference in interpretation
• Too many areas of inconsistency
• Profiles
• Record syntaxes
• default behaviours
• All of which makes usercentric interaction with
  the DNER difficult today.

6
Empowering the DNER

• Solution
• Recognise the importance of local interfaces,
  disciplinary profiles, etc.
• As an alternative, offer a single DNER Profile
• Enables basic crosssearch across all/most
  services
• Imposes control upon vendor interpretation
• Compliant with international efforts, driving
  DNER ? DINER.

7
The DNER Profile

• Likely to be based upon the Texas Profile
• Drawing together expertise behind a number of
  area profiles
• Texas, MODELS, vCUC, ONE
• Meeting at Stockholm ZIG (mid August)
• Ten people meeting in Bath after ZIG to write
  draft

See http//www.unt.edu/wmoen/ZILSReviewZTexasProf
ile10May99.htm
See http//www.tsl.texas.gov/LD/z3950/TZIGProfile
99Apr20.htm
8
The DNER Profile input

• Profile being developed to meet a range of
  international needs, primarily in the library
  sector.
• To make this work for you, we want your input
• Join ZIPPIZL list
• LISTSERV_at_INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA
• SUBSCRIBE ZIP-PIZ-L Firstname Lastname
• Comment on Texas Profile to me or Bill Moen
  before 10 August
• Comment on ideas at the ZIG
• Comment on draft profile during late August.

See http//www.tsl.texas.gov/LD/z3950/TZIGProfile
99Apr20.htm