Z39.50 – a review, analysis and some thoughts on the future
| Published date | 01 June 2000 |
| Date | 01 June 2000 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830010333545 |
| Pages | 158-165 |
| Author | Mark Needleman |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Z39.50 ± a review,
analysis and some
thoughts on the future
Mark Needleman
History of the protocol
The Z39.50 protocol evolved out of work that
was done in the United States in the early 1980s
in a project known as the Linked Systems
Project (LSP). That project involved the
Library of Congress, OCLC, RLIN, and the
Western Library Network (WLN). The LSP
project built a prototype network to transfer
bibliographic records among the participants
and developed a precursor to the Z39.50
protocol. In 1984 the protocol developed by the
LSP project was turned over to the National
Information Standards Organization (NISO),
the ANSI-accredited standards development
organization for libraries, publishers and
information service providers, for further
development and to be considered as a US
national standard. Z39.50 Version 1 was
adopted as a United States national standard in
1988. Version 1 of the standard did not get
widely implemented, for many reasons
including the fact that the widespread
information and networking technology that
had blossomed in the mid- to late-1990s was
not yet in place. However, one interesting
application that did make use of it was the first
version of the WAIS (Wide Area Information
Server) project developed by Brewster Kahle at
Thinking Machines Corporation.
At about the same time, work on information
retrieval protocols was also going on in the
international arena, and an international
standard search and retrieval protocol known as
ISO 10162/10163 was developed. Z39.50
Version 2, which was adopted by NISO in
1992, brought the US version into alignment
with the ISO protocol. Z39.50 Version 2 was a
compatible superset of the international
standard (although it had some additional
functionality that was not in the ISO version).
With the adoption of the 1992 standard, the
library automation community became
interested in building and deploying
interoperable Z39.50 implementations. Two
groups were formed that were instrumental in
moving that process forward. The Z39.50
Implementors Group (ZIG) was formed
initially as an informal organization of library
automation vendors and other organizations
interested in Z39.50 to discuss interoperability
issues. It has evolved to the Z39.50 protocol
The author
Mark Needleman is Product Development Specialist ±
Standards at Data Research Associates, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
Keywords
Information retrieval, Databases, Standards
Abstract
This article will examine the Z39.50 Information Retrieval
protocol. It will look at someof the history of the protocol, its
operation,and some of the major projects that have made use
of it. There has been enough written (perhaps too much)
about Z39.50 in the last severalyears so it is not intended to
be a tutorial or detailed description of the protocol. The
material that will be presented will try and put some context
around the discussion. For those readerswho are interested in
delving into Z39.50in a more technical manner, referencesto
much of the material that has been written about it over the
years will be provided at the end. Finally, the article will
conclude with some thoughts on how technology and
technological infrastructure have changed in the years since
Z39.50 was initially developed and deployed, and where the
protocol has so far lived up to its goals, and where it has
perhaps failed to meet some of the high expectations that at
least some people involved in the Z39.50 community held for
it. The article will conclude with some of the author's
speculations (and they are really no more than that) of what
the future role of Z39.50 is likely to be.
Electronic access
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
158
Library Hi Tech
Volume 18 .Number 2 .2000 .pp. 158±165
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0737-8831
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