The U.S. federal Institute of Museum and Library Services <http://www.imls.gov> awarded he School of Library and Information Sciences <http://www.unt.edu/slis> and the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge <http://www.txcdk.org> at University of North Texas (UNT) a National Leadership Grant for a research and demonstration project to improve interoperability between online library catalogs. The project, Realizing the Vision of Networked Access to Library Resources: An Applied Research and Demonstration Project to Establish and Operate a Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed, is developing rigorous methodologies, test procedures, and measures to assess interoperability between systems using the ANSI/NISO Z39.50 standard protocol for information retrieval. The overall goal for the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed (Z-Interop) project <http://www.unt.edu/zinterop> is to improve Z39.50 semantic interoperability among libraries for information access and resource sharing. The project continues through August 2002.

Recent studies evaluating Z39.50 implementations have documented librarians' concern about the reliability of Z39.50 to provide effective search and retrieval across library catalogs. Improvements in interoperability between systems can substantially increase users', librarians' and other information professionals' confidence that Z39.50 products provide reliable results when searching across multiple resources. Implementors view Z39.50 as a strategic tool to provide standards-based access to a wide range of networked resources.

The mission of Z-Interop is to:

• Provide a technically and organizationally trusted environment for vendors and consumers of Z39.50 products to demonstrate and evaluate those products
  
• Develop rigorous methodologies, test scenarios, and procedures to measure and assess interoperability
  
• Demonstrate and operate a Z39.50 interoperability testbed.

The outcomes of the testbed include:

• Improved interoperability
  
• Best practices to identify implementation strategies
  
• Improvements in information retrieval system implementations and Z39.50 products
  
• Interoperability testbed model for others to utilize.

A team of researchers at UNT is conducting research, prototyping components of the testbed, and developing the policies and procedures for interoperability testing. Z-Interop consists of the following components (for additional details about these components, see the project website http://www.unt.edu/zinterop):

The Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed

Z-Interop consists of the following components (for additional details about these components, see the project website http://www.unt.edu/zinterop):

• Z39.50 profiles: Current initiatives have produced the Bath Profile: An International Z39.50 Specification for Library Applications and Resource Discovery and the U.S. National Z39.50 Profile for Library Applications. Z-Interop testing is based on the specifications in these profiles.
  
• Test dataset: OCLC has provided a weighted sample of approximately 400,000 MARC 21 records from its WorldCat database. The Z-Interop research team used various tools and procedures to "understand" the content of the records to determine records that should be returned in test searches.
  
• Reference implementations: SIRSI and Sea Change corporations have contributed products that serve as reference implementations. SIRSI's Unicorn integrated library system serves as a reference implementation for the Z39.50 server and the information retrieval system (in the form of its online catalog). Sea Change's Bookwhere 2000 product serves as a reference implementation for the Z39.50 client. The Z-Interop research team, SIRSI, and Sea Change configured the reference implementations according to the Z39.50 profiles.
  
• Test searches and results: For bibliographic database searches defined in the profiles, Z-Interop provides a set of test searches with search terms. Analysis of the test dataset identified records that meet the search criteria.
  
• Benchmarks: Benchmarks for Z-Interop testing are established by executing the test searches using the testbed reference implementations.
  
• Policies and procedures: Detailed instructions and systematic procedures, along with published policies, for the operation of the testbed and for participants who want to go through interoperability testing.

A Call for Participation from the Z-Interop project invites integrated library system vendors, Z39.50 product developers, and libraries with Z39.50 implementations to participate in interoperability testing. Implementations should be configured to the profiles' specifications. Organizations desiring to test Z39.50 servers will be provided with the test dataset to load and index prior to testing. Policies and procedures will govern the release of test results.

The project is under the direction of Dr. William E. Moen, a Fellow of the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge and assistant professor at UNT <http://www.unt.edu/wmoen>. Moen has participated in recent state, national, and international efforts to develop Z39.50 application profiles for use by libraries. He currently serves as chair of a National Information Standards Organization committee to develop an American National Standard Z39.50 Profile for Library Applications <http://www.unt.edu/zprofile>. For additional information about Z-Interop, see the project website <http://www.unt.edu/zinterop> or contact Dr. Moen <wemoen@unt.edu>.

William E. Moen, Principal Investigator
Texas Center for Digital Knowledge, School of Library and Information Sciences
University of North Texas