This report discusses standards in state library agencies. Little is known about state library agencies' policies for standards adoption and use. This study, undertaken in 1998, attempted to bridge the gap of information and understanding about the current situation of state library agencies' use, opportunities and issues related to technical standards.

This paper discusses the Z39.50 protocol. The ANSI/NISO Z39.50 protocol for information retrieval addresses the complex challenges of intersystem communication. Original uses envisioned for the protocol look very little like current implementations and uses. In the 1980s, users on one library catalog system would search and retrieve bibliographic records on a remote system. By the late 1990s, there was a need for discovering networked resources and integrating access to them. Yet, the Z39.50 protocol has addressed both these scenarios. This paper provides a portrayal of Z39.50 that explains its flexibility in response to a variety of information retrieval requirements in the networked environment.

This report is on a study of state library agencies' information technology standards policies and practices. The study provides the National Information Standards Organization with detailed information about the current use of standards by state library agencies and a set of recommendations to better serve the standards needs of state library agencies.

This study, undertaken in 1998, attempted to bridge the gap of information and understanding about the current situation of state library agencies' use, opportunities and issues related to technical standards.