scope:

Scope and Field of Application

The primary goal of the profile is to improve the semantic interoperability between disparate library bibliographic systems so that end users can use Z39.50 clients to search catalogs and have confidence in the precision and recall of the information retrieved from Z39.50 servers.

The purpose of this profile is to specify additional constraints on Z39.50 client and server behavior defined in the Z39.50 standard to allow effective use of Z39.50 software in a range of library applications. Implementation of this profile by systems developers will improve interoperability among diverse library bibliographic systems.

The profile is structured into Functional Areas that group similar functional requirements, Z39.50 specifications, and levels of conformance. Implementors can claim their Z39.50 clients (Z-clients) and Z39.50 servers (Z-servers) conform to the profile at one or more Conformance Levels within one or more Functional Areas. The modular structure of the profile allows additional functional areas to be developed in the future to meet separate but compatible requirements involving a range of applications useful to librarians and end users.

This release of the profile defines one functional area:

• Functional Area A for Bibliographic Search and Retrieval in Online Library Catalogs: A definition of required searches, attribute combinations, and record syntaxes for common search and retrieval needs of library users (end users and library staff) when interacting with online library catalogs.

Other functional areas may be defined in future releases of this profile to address requirements such as search and retrieval of bibliographic holdings information, authority records, full-text databases, and abstracting and indexing databases.

The profile specifies several conformance levels for each functional area. Each higher conformance level inherits the requirements of lower conformance levels. In general, the conformance levels can be characterized as follows:

• Conformance Level 0: Defines very basic search and retrieval requirements for Z-clients and Zservers. Level 0 presents the lowest threshold for conformance while resulting in meaningful interoperability. Level 0 serves as a basic resource discovery application. Level 0 searches are likely to be available in existing implementations.

• Conformance Level 1: Inherits all search and retrieval requirements from Level 0 and defines more narrowly specified search and retrieval requirements for Z-clients and Z-servers. Implementors are encouraged to provide Level 1 functionality. These requirements can be configured in systems currently under development. It is anticipated that those specifying new or enhanced Z39.50 systems should require adherence to at least this conformance level. Implementors are encouraged to conform at least to Level 1 to provide appropriate search and retrieval functionality.

• Conformance Level 2: Inherits all search and retrieval requirements from Levels 0 and 1. Level 2 defines more demanding requirements for a variety of specialized searches. These requirements should guide system enhancements and expansion of functionality.

Each conformance level (see Section 5, Conformance) identifies Z39.50 specifications required, and Z-client and Z-server capabilities and behavior. Conformance requires a system (Z-client, Z-server, and underlying information retrieval system) to be capable of carrying out the specified behaviors at a given conformance level. A vendor's product may conform at a specific level; customization for a local implementation, however, may jeopardize conformance. Managers of local implementations should be aware of conformance requirements to realize the benefits of the specifications provided in this profile.

A key component of this profile is the characterization of the types of searching required by librarians and end users. To this end, the profile defines specific searches and how the semantics of those searches are to be expressed in the vocabulary of Z39.50. The profile does not prescribe local indexing decisions or practices; semantic interoperability may be compromised, however, by indexing practices designed to meet specialized local needs without regard to interoperability considerations.