Request for Status of Internationally Registered Profile
Cover Material for
The CIMI Profile (Release 1.0H): A Z39.50 Profile for Cultural Heritage
Information
Title of the profile: The CIMI Profile (Release 1.0H): A Z39.50
Profile for Cultural Heritage Information.
(Note: The acronym CIMI stands for the Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum
Information. CIMI coordinated the development of the Profile.)
Area of use for the profile: The CIMI Profile describes
and specifies the use of ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1995, Information Retrieval (Z39.50):
Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification (ISO 23950) in applications
that include searching and retrieving cultural heritage information. Cultural heritage
information resources include art, architecture, cultural history, and natural history.
The Profile includes specifications for using Z39.50 in such applications, although
specifications referenced in the Profile (e.g., the CIMI-1 Attribute Set for searching
cultural heritage information), may have utility outside of Z39.50 implementations.
Identification of the group(s) responsible for the development
and those consulted during the development: Since fall 1995, CIMI brought
together a wide range of people and organizations to develop the specifications. The
Profile’s Appendix E lists the members of CIMI’s Z39.50 Working Group that
consisted of Z39.50 experts, experts in museum systems and museum information resources,
software developers, and commercial vendors (see http://www.cimi.org/documents/HarmonizedProfile/AppendixE.htm).
During 1997 and 1998, members of the Working Group engaged in further profile
specifications within the framework of an interoperability testbed. This resulted in a
stable draft profile issued in March 1998 and referred to as Release 1.0. Throughout this
period, members of the Working Group were involved with the Z39.50 Implementors Group
(ZIG), and the Profile reflects technical input from ZIG members. Several of the
participants in the European Aquarelle Project, which was also developing Z39.50
specifications for cultural heritage information search and retrieval, also were involved
in the CIMI Z39.50 Working Group.
Brief description and overview, including a brief description of
the development process with time frames: A first draft Profile was released in
June 1996. A stable draft profile, based upon the experience with the CIMI Z39.50
Interoperability Testbed, was issued in March 1998 and referred to as Release 1.0. The
version of the CIMI Profile being submitted for consideration as an Internationally
Registered Profile reflects the harmonization of the CIMI Profile with the specifications
of the Aquarelle Profile. Since the outset the CIMI work, both CIMI and the Aquarelle
Project envisioned a single Z39.50 profile for cultural heritage information. The
Aquarelle Project developed set of specifications in parallel with the development of the
CIMI specifications. Specific requirements reflected in the Aquarelle Profile (e.g., Use
attribute values, date searching, and named results sets) were integrated into the CIMI
Profile. CIMI issued the harmonized profile, Release 1.0H, in November 1998. With the
final harmonization of these two specifications, The CIMI Profile (Release 1.0H):
stands as a single, tested Z39.50 profile for use at the international level
in cultural heritage information applications.
Status as designated by group(s) adopting or approving the DIRP:
The CIMI Z39.50 Working Group and participants in the Aquarelle Project. A memorandum of
agreement between CIMI and Aquarelle Principals is available from John Perkins, CIMI
Executive Director.
Content of DIRP: The CIMI Profile is available in multiple file formats at: http://www.cimi.org/products/cimi_products.html#THREE.
Submitted by:
William E. Moen
CIMI Z39.50 Project Manager (1995-1998)
School of Library and Information Sciences
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203
email: wemoen@jove.acs.unt.edu
voice: +1-940-565-3563
fax: +1-940-565-3101
and
John Perkins
CIMI Executive Director
jperkins@fox.nstn.ca
voice: +1-902-826-2824
fax: +1-902-826-1337
Page last edited/updated 08/24/99