Rehbach, 'Z39.50: Implementation & Impact', LITA Newsletter v15n03
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/lita/lita-v15n03-rehbach-z3950

V15N3.STANFARE LITANEWS
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Standard Fare
Jeff Rehbach, Guest Columnist

Z39.50: Implementation & Impact

 Jeff Rehbach, Chair of the LITA Online Catalog Interest Group, with
 the assistance of the speakers, provided this detailed preview of
 the Z39.50 Program scheduled for Miami. It promises to be another
 highly informative session on a standard that is affecting both us
 and our users. Come early to get a seat!

Since the initial adoption of the Z39.50 standard in 1988, libraries
have been awaiting its implementation and integration into library
systems. During the past year, Z39.50 functionality has begun to
appear in a variety of systems developed locally or provided by
automation vendors.
   This program will bring together a group of speakers who have
actively been working with Z39.50 clients and servers on their systems
and observing their impact on online catalog users. They will share
their experiences and insights, and comment on the broad implications
of Z39.50 for libraries.
   Mark Hinnebusch (Florida Center for Library Automation), who has
long been active with the Z39.50 Implementors Working Group and Z39.50
programs at ALA, returns as moderator of this program. Mark notes that
Z39.50 is being touted as the solution to all of your connectivity
woes. But is it? In his presentation "Z39.50: Not a Panacea," Mark
will discuss the problems that Z39.50 does not solve and will attempt
to forecast the new problems that will arise when Z39.50 clients start
to invade your library.
   Dace Freivalds and Sylvia Carson, Lead Systems Analysts at Penn
State University, will present "One Year Later: Z39.50 Public and
Technical Services issues at PSU." Penn State was the first to
implement Z39.50 in a live environment between two disparate computer
systems. The databases to which Z39.50 provides access have been
heavily used by the public for over a year. Recently, technical
services staff have begun using Z39.50 databases for functions such as
pre-order searching and cataloging. The speakers will discuss
implementation issues, user and staff reactions to this new technology
and the pros and cons of providing this service.
   "A Public Library Perspective: Z39.50, A Developing Standard" will
be the focus of remarks by Robert Carterette, Automation Systems
Coordinator at Cleveland Public Library. Bob will share the history of
implementation and development of a commercial Z39.50 client,
beginning with its loading and use of a test version in a large public
library production environment. He will describe staff
reactions--including why they turned away from use of the client; the
evolution of the product to remedy problems; and the later rediscovery
of similar difficulties that were externally inflicted. Bob will
conclude with remarks about why Z39.50 development remains worthwhile and
how Cleveland Public sees the library catalog and catalog access
developing in the network environment.
   Genevieve Engel from the University of California Division of
Library Automation (DLA) office will discuss "Bibliographic Access and
Beyond." She will review various applications within the MELVYL system
that use the Z39.50 protocol, including: developing Z39.50 access to
selected databases; a joint project with the University of California
at Davis that has made it possible for people using the MELVYL catalog
to see the circulation status of the items owned by the UC Davis
library system; and the DLA implementation of bitmapped image
delivery, using the Z39.50 protocol to communicate between two MELVYL
databases and the image server. The talk will cover what each of these
systems looks like to the user and indicate the amount of work that it
takes to make the databases accessed via Z39.50 look and act the same
or similar to the databases that are part of the MELVYL Information
System.
   Denise Troll, Manager of Research and Development for Library
Automation at Carnegie Mellon University, spoke at last year's ALA
program on the emerging client industry. This year Denise will comment
on "The Implications of Z39.50 for the Electronic Library and Its
Users." Her presentation will address several ideological and
technical issues raised by the Z39.50 retrieval protocol standard and
their effects on developers and users of the electronic library. The
ideology driving current versions of Z39.50 centers on Boolean and
proximity searching of "read only" ASCII bibliographic information and
the assumption that Z39.50 client software knows the network addresses
of Z39.50 server software. Beyond Z39.50, the electronic library needs
to provide dynamic access to server locations, the ability to mark or
annotate information, additional formats and kinds of information and
alternative methods of searching, e.g., natural language searching of
full text information and access to bitmapped "page images" and
multimedia documents. This presentation will discuss many issues
relating to the limitations users confront with current Z39.50
functionality, and the challenges developers face in the design and
implementation of this evolving standard. Denise's discussion will be
in the context of Carnegie Mellon University's development of the
Library Information System (LIS), focusing on interoperability and the
integration of natural language capabilities.