National Impact

The Z39.50 interoperability testbed will specify configuration of Z39.50 reference implementations using the Z Texas and Bath Profiles. The Z Texas Profile is being reviewed for use by other states, such as California, Illinois, and Idaho indicating its potential for national use. Interoperability testing based on the Z Texas Profile will affect implementations in Texas and can be of use to other states that are interested in improving their investments in Z39.50 products.

In the networked environment, the local is truly global; Z39.50 as a protocol for inter-system communication allows users global access to information. Thus, improving Z39.50 implementations using these state and international profiles will have far-reaching impacts in the near-term statewide, nationally, and internationally. Since Z39.50 products are used in a range of institutions with multiple constituencies, the impact of this project will be broad and deep.

Adaptability

One aspect of the project is to develop a model for establishing and operating an interoperability testbed. This model will be of use by other communities for testing technologies that require systems to interoperate (e.g., museum collection management systems, digital libraries, systems interchanging Extensible Markup Language (XML) resources, systems implementing the international Interlibrary Loan standard protocol, etc.).

The Z39.50 interoperability testbed focuses on specific interactions between Z39.50 clients and Z39.50 servers, namely, the search and retrieval of bibliographic records. This establishes the foundation for using the testbed to test other specifications of Z39.50 as identified in various Z39.50 profiles, such as search and retrieval of bibliographic holdings information and resource discovery. Other communities that currently specify Z39.50 profiles including the museum communities CIMI Profile (Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum Information, 1998; Moen,
1998a) can utilize the concepts and procedures of this testbed to improve interoperability of Z39.50 systems in their domains.

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Project Proposal Pages

Contents of Project Proposal - Abstract - Statement of the Problem - Project Goals and Objectives - Background for the Study - Need and Justification- Project Foci and Activities - Impact and Benefits of the Project - Project Deliverables - Project Staff - Addressing IMLS Priorities and Criteria - National Impact - Adaptability - Design - Management Plan - Budget - Personnel - Evaluation - Dissemination - Contributions - Sustainability and Technical Knowledge - Summery- References

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