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Z39.50 survey



Some of you may already have seen this in another context, so I apologize
for any duplication.

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has issued a request
for information regarding the use of and future directions for Z39.50, the
standard for computer information interchange.  SAA is a member of NISO,
and while SAA itself is not a user of Z39.50, many of its members are.  If
you have an interest in this standard, I urge you to respond to the survey
on behalf of your own institution.  Please send your responses to NISO, not
to me or the listserv, and note the September 30 deadline.

Kris


>TO:     NISO Voting Members
>         Z39.50 Implementors
>         Other interested parties
>
>FROM:   Priscilla Caplan  (pcaplan@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu)
>         Ray Denenberg, Director of the Z39.50 Maintenance
> Agency (rden@loc.gov)
>
>DATE:   August 31, 2000
>
>RE:     Z39.50 Futures Survey
>
>
>Z39.50-1995 (Version 3) is scheduled for five-year review in 2000.
>Reaching this benchmark has prompted the NISO Standards Development
>Committee (SDC) to begin discussions with the Z39.50 Maintenance Agency on
>the scope of the five-year review and the future of the Standard.  We want
>to share our preliminary plan with NISO members and Z39.50 implementers,
>and invite your comments on these and related topics that came up in our
>discussions.
>
>Z39.50 Five-year Review:
>The five-year review ballot will be distributed in September 2000. The SDC
>will recommend revising Z39.50, with the understanding that this will be a
>maintenance revision only, which will maintain the stability of Version
>3.  This revision will incorporate changes, corrections and clarifications
>announced on the Z39.50 website
>(http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/).   The extensibility of features
>built into Version 3 is utilized, but no existing implementations will be
>disrupted.
>
>Profiles:
>By October 2000 NISO will put in place a NISO Standards Committee to draft
>a NISO National Profile for library applications of Z39.50 designed to
>address functions that are unique to the handling of U.S. bibliographic
>records.  This Profile will build on existing national and international
>work and will be fully compatible with the Bath Profile. The charge to the
>Standards Committee will be released in September. If you or your company
>wish to be represented on this committee, or be a committee observer,
>contact Pat Harris (pharris@niso.org).
>
>Z39.50 Version 4?
>While work on the maintenance revision progresses, it is important that
>NISO and the Z39.50 Maintenance Agency also consider the need for and
>parameters of a substantive revision of Z39.50.  We need your help in
>defining the scope of any revision that would result in a new version of
>the Standard.    We understand that there are tradeoffs between the
>advantages of stability and the benefits that new features can provide,
>and feel that the appropriate approach can only be determined after wide
>consultation with the user community.  We invite you all to complete the
>short survey below (and attachd), and return it to the NISO Office by
>September 30, 2000.
>
>---------------------------     Clip
>here     ---------------------------------------------------------
>
>NISO Z39.50 Futures Survey
>
>Your name and organization:
>
>Does your organization: (check all that apply)
>
>[ ] develop and/or market Z39.50 server software, primarily for sale (e.g.
>Blue Angel)
>[ ] develop and/or market Z39.50 server software, primarily to offer an
>online service (e.g. RLG's Eureka)
>[ ] develop and/or market Z39.50 client or gateway software, primarily for
>sale
>[ ] develop and/or market Z39.50 client or gateway software, primarily to
>offer an online service
>[ ] install/implement Z39.50 server software developed by another
>organization (e.g., implement an LMS vendor's Zserver.)
>[ ] install/implement Z39.50 client or gateway software developed by some
>other organization (e.g. implement OCLC's WebZ)
>[ ] access Z39.50 services provided by another organization
>[ ] Other. Please describe:
>
>3. Based on your experience what are the major problems with the Z39.50
>standard and what is required to address them?
>
>4. Would you like to see Z39.50 restructured to not require ASN.1 syntax
>and BER encoding?  Would you like to see Z39.50 messages described by and
>encoded in XML, and transported via web protocols (such as SOAP)?
>
>5. Would your organization implement a new version of Z39.50 that was not
>compatible with
>version 3?  With version 2?
>
>6. Other comments
>
>Please return this survey to NISO Headquarters nisohq@niso.org/Fax:
>301-654-1721 by
>September 30, 2000. Thank you.
>
>--
>National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
>4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300
>Bethesda, MD  20814-5248
>Tel: 301-654-2512  Fax: 301-654-1721
>nisohq@niso.org   www.niso.org

Attachment: survy50.doc
Description: MS-Word document



Kris Kiesling
Chair, SAA EAD Working Group
Chair, SAA Standards Committee
Head, Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX  78713-7219
Voice:  (512) 232-4614
Fax:  512.471.9646
kiesling@mail.utexas.edu