This document describes an application profile for the use of 'ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1995, Information Retrieval (Z39.50): Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification' [10] for search and retrieval of cultural heritage information.

This paper discusses the Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI)'s international effort to provide distributed search and retrieval of cultural heritage information. A primary aspect of CIMI's work utilizes ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1995, and American National Standard protocol for information retrieval. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently approved Z39.50 as ISO 23950. CIMI chose Z39.50 to enable uniform access to existing and emerging digital collections and the vast repositories of cultural heritage information resources. These resources include a variety of physical and digital objects--physical artifacts and digital derivatives of those artifacts, descriptive records designed for collection management, bibliographic records, full-text documents, online tools such as thesauri and authoritative lists of artists' names, and more. CIMI's application Z39.50 in the networked cultural heritage information environment is breaking new ground in distributed and integrated access to textual and non-textual digital collections.

This document describes how the authors can extend a relational database of MARC documentation to store the appropriate information that will support the automatic generation of the special, diagnostic MARC records the authors will call radioactive MARC (RadMARC) records. The information contained in the database will also support the generation of the Z queries used in the interoperability testing.

This document discusses decomposing MARC 21 records for analysis. To prepare the test dataset of the 1% sample of MARC 21 records from the WorldCat database for use in the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed, the authors need to be able to efficiently analyze the records to determine relevant records to be returned for a set of test searches. The first step in that analysis is to determine the occurrence of test search terms in specific records. This document describes the general approach for this analysis and identifies specifications for the analysis.

Paper describing a plan of work to develop and test an alternative approach for interoperability testing. This approach builds on the conceptual and technical infrastructure developed during the Z-Interop Project.

This presentation discusses the MARC Content Designation Utilization (MCDU) Project. It presents information about the goals and scope of the project, the methodology and information about the process, and the implications of this project.

Article examining MARC records as artifacts that reflect metadata utilization decisions.

This presentation discusses the iCAMP project. The UNT College of Information's iCAMP project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is developing a four course, competency-based, online graduate academic certificate program in data curation and data management for a hybrid audience of information professionals and disciplinary researchers and scholars. This presentation gives an overview of the iCAMP project and its development.

An operating assumption for the networked environment is that many different information systems need to interoperate for users to successfully discover and retrieve distributed resources. Meaningful interoperability is often elusive. In the library community, the Z39.50 standard protocol (ISO 23950/ANSI/NISO Z39.50) for information retrieval promised seamless and transparent networked access to library resources. Too often, the reality has not lived up to the promise. This paper discusses two efforts that offer solution paths to Z39.50 interoperability.

This document provides guidelines for indexing MARC 21 records to support a set of searches using Z39.50. The Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project (Z-Interop) uses these guidelines to index the 400,000 MARC 21 records that comprise the Z-Interop reference implementation of the Z39.50 server and online catalog.

This report discusses the Z39.50 interoperability testbed and serves as an interim report for the Z-Interop Project as of December 31, 2003.

This document serves as an interim report on the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project, Phase 2 (Z-Interop2), covering the period of January 1, 2005 through June 30, 2005. This document highlights activities and accomplishments to communicate to IMLS progress about the project since the interim report on January 1, 2005.

This report discusses the Z39.50 interoperability testbed and provides an interim report of the Z-Interop Project covering the period of January 1, 2003 through June 30, 2003. This document highlights activities and accomplishments to communicate to IMLS progress on this project since the interim report on January 1, 2004. Given the date of approval for the extension, this report primarily reflects activities during the latter half of June 2004.

This document serves as an interim report on the Z39.50 interoperability testbed, Phase 2 of the Z-Interop Project. This report covers the period of July 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004. This document highlights activities and accomplishments to communicate to IMLS progress on the project since the interim report on July 1, 2004.

This presentation is part of a panel discussion titled "Academic Libraries as Partners in Research." This presentation discusses libraries, research, and collaboration, with examples and strategies from the point-of-view of a Library and Information Science (LIS) educator and researcher.

This paper discusses interoperability of networked information. Interoperability is a fundamental challenge for networked information discovery and retrieval. Often treated monolithically in the literature, interoperability is multifaceted and can be analyzed into different types and levels. This paper discusses an approach to map the interoperability landscape for networked information retrieval as part of an interoperability assessment research project.

This document is part of a Government Information Quarterly Special Issue. The author serves as the editor of this issue focusing on the use of metadata as a strategy to improve access to and management of electronic government information. Contributions by writers address federal and state metadata activities and issues.

This lecture script examines the nature and role of standards for the emerging 21st century library. Given the dynamic character of the networked environment, when are standards appropriate and how can they be developed in a manner consistent with the volatility of information technologies and changing library services? What are the roles and responsibilities of standards developing organizations, technology vendors, content creators, and librarians for standards? Do local practices of libraries threaten standards-based resource sharing and resource access technologies? Can local needs be balanced with broader library community responsibilities, and how do standards affect this balance? The speaker's assumption is that adherence to standards has never been more critical, yet his implementation experience with Z39.50 and MARC suggests that the commitment to national and international standards by librarians, technology vendors, and content creators are often an example of good intentions rather than actual practice. This standards disconnect threatens the emerging 21st century library's ability to deliver fundamental services in appropriate ways to their users.

This document describes the procedures that participants in the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed (Z-Interop Participant) are to use when testing Z39.50 client (Z-client) applications. The testing of a Z-Interop reference implementation Z39.50 server. Specifically, the attribute combination and other query components (e.g., Boolean operators) are reviewed, and a report of the results will be prepared for each Z-Interop participant.

This document details a work plan to guide the planning and execution of a new phase of the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project.

This document provides the preliminary specifications for the different RadMARC records to be created for use in the Z-Interop2 interoperability testbed. Experience with these records may result in revisions to the specifications.

This presentation discusses radioactive metadata records and an interoperability testing approach based on metadata utilization. The research is part of Z-Interop, an Institute of Museum and Library Sciences' (IMLS) National Leadership Grant supported project.

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 document provides a status report on the Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project (Z-Interop) covering the period of December 1, 2000 through April 30, 2001. The authors highlight activities and accomplishments to communicate to IMLS progress on their project. This period can be considered a project startup period.