Project ION (Interlending Open Systems Network)
| Date | 01 February 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040531 |
| Pages | 15-24 |
| Published date | 01 February 1994 |
| Author | Peter Smith |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Project ION
(Interlending Open
Systems Network)
by Peter Smith, Deputy Director LASER
and UK Team Leader, Project ION
The ION interlending project
is
due
for
completion
in
December
1994,
having been
extended from June
of
this
year.
This
article
presents
the results
to date of
the
project,
as
it
nears
its
conclusion.
Products developed by
the
three partners
(LASER,
Pica
and
SDB/
SUNIST)
in
the course
of
the project
are
described
and
the resulting services
are
listed.
The technical design
of
the systems
in
each
of
the three countries involved is
covered in some
detail.
ION is an international interlending network
service for affiliated libraries and library organisa-
tions in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and
France. It is the first service of its kind to imple-
ment the open system standards developed under
the auspices of the International Standards Organi-
sation for inter-library lending and search and
retrieve. The ION development was initiated and
funded as a joint venture by the European Com-
mission and a consortium of library organisations
comprising Pica of The Netherlands, LASER of
the UK and SDB/SUNIST of
France.
The work
being undertaken by the project teams and the
solutions being formulated are of direct relevance
to libraries, library organisations and library
standards forming bodies throughout Europe.
It is hoped that the concepts and services being
implemented by ION will be adopted by other
organisations seeking to acquire similar capabili-
ties and in doing so follow a common and
standardised approach leading to interoperable
interlending services between European libraries.
With this in mind the ION pilot phase has three
stated objectives:
to achieve interconnection between three
computerised library networks in the United
Kingdom, The Netherlands and France in
order to support and develop international
interlending and messaging services
to improve the efficiency of international
interlending services
to demonstrate the capabilities of OSI
communication protocols in a message
oriented environment for interlending
services, by the interconnection of
computerised networks with different
characteristics
The front end processor (FEP)
concept and objectives
The library infrastructures within each of the
nations participating in ION are well established
and the three library organisations, LASER, Pica
and SDB/SUNIST each operate national networks
offering interlending services to a wide range of
public and academic libraries in their respective
countries. The present national networks although
utilising X.25 networking are essentially pre-OSI
(open system interconnection), providing services
to their client base using proprietary and different
protocols.
The strategy for the longer term will be to intro-
duce systems compliant with international
standards for open systems as directed by EC
Council Decision 87/95. However considerable
investment has been made in the present infra-
structure and open system standards will need to
be phased in over a period of
time.
The ION
service in this context overlays the existing nation-
al services and the present national interlending
structures play a key role in the ION pilot phase.
The pilot provides a link between the three nation-
al infrastructures and from the users' viewpoint,
the new international service has been integrated
with the present national services. The internation-
al service is based on the open systems standards
for library applications, ISO 10160/1 for
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and ISO 10162/3 for
Search and Retrieve (SR). The ION project has
developed products based on these standards
which have been implemented at all three focal
points by introducing front end processors (FEPs).
This approach minimises the changes required to
VINE 95 (June 1994)—15
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