Z39.05 - Searching the world (2004)

2
• About how z39.50 works in Millennium
• Will cover the following;
– What is z39.30 anyway?
– What does z39.50 do?
– How to set up z39.50 in Millennium
– Sources and tips
– MILCAT and GUICAT
– ILL and Visiting other libraries
– WebOPAC
• Library Catalogues - Simultaneous Searching (aka broadcast)
• Online Databases – Free and Subscription
– Z39.50 & ‘the future’
– Trouble Shooting & Suggestions
– Questions???
Introduction

3
“Z39.50 . . . is a protocol which
specifies data structures and
interchange rules that allow a client
machine (called an "origin" in the
standard) to search databases on a
server machine (called a "target" in
the standard) and retrieve records
that are identified as a result of such
a search” (Steve Bade, IUG 11)
What is z39.50 anyway?

4
What does z39.50 do?
• “Z39.50 is a national and international (ISO
23950) standard defining a protocol for
computer-to-computer information retrieval.
Z39.50 makes it possible for a user in one system
to search and retrieve information from other
computer systems (that have also implemented
Z39.50) without knowing the search syntax that
is used by those other systems. Z39.50 was
originally approved by the National Information
Standards Organization (NISO) in 1988. The
Z39.50 Maintenance Agency Page, includes
documentation and information related to the
development and ongoing maintenance of the
Z39.50 standard. “(
From the Library of Congress's z39.50 pages)
– So the world can be searched without leaving your
workstation.

5
• Millennium is z39.50
enabled/compatible – we can use it
to make our working lives easier in a
number of ways
• The most obvious is Cataloguing
• A newer use in Millennium is for ILL’s
• Also works in the WebOPAC for
– Simultaneous Searching of other libraries
catalogues
– Simultaneous Searching of Databases –
both free and subscription.
What does z39.50 do?

6
• Set up must be done step by step
• Our old friends – PORTS
• Configure your z39.50 server
• Limit Network Access
• Make entries for the libraries and /
or databases you want to access
• TEST, TEST, TEST!!!
How is z39.50 set up in Millennium?

7
• So here’s the Millennium Techie Bits
– it won’t take long
• Your firewall must be open
• PORTS
– 210
– 211
How is z39.50 set up in
Millennium?

8
• Limit Network Access
– In Telnet Follow the path A> A> L> (log in)> N
– Set your parameters for (if necessary)
• Z39 Server
• PCZ39 (MILCAT & GUICAT)
• WWW(211):Z39
• Minimum access should be a listing of your specific
IP’s for on campus access, and those of III. (III need
access to everything!!!)
• Useful tip – view access attempts rejected, and view
non-local access attempts allowed

9

10
• Configuring the z39.50 server
• Come out of Limit Network Access and
choose option Z
• Then choose Z again - Bath Profile
compliance level 1 with Release 2002
Phase 3 should be set to avail of new
features
– Set the ISO Latin 1 Character Set to Y
– Set Enforce attribute checking to Y (Save
changes)
– Your must have “Advanced Searching” for this
to work

11
• III Setup: None
• Library Setup: Perform the steps listed on Bath Profile (page # 105499)
• In the Manual there is a lot of information:
– Z > Z39.50 server file, page # 101736*
– Modifying the Order of Entries in the Z39.50 Servers File, page # 101737
– Adding a Server to the Z39.50 Server File, page # 101738*
– Adding a Database to the Z39.50 Server File, page # 101739*
– Adding Search Options for a Database, page # 101740*
Search Attributes for Selected Servers, page # 101741*
– Search Attributes for the Z39.50 Server, page # 101745
– The Z39.50 Server and Authority Records, page # 101747
– Exporting Holdings Information, page # 105518
Z > Z39.50 Server, page # 105498
– Z39.50 Server, page # 101742
– Server Information Needed by Remote Z39.50 Clients, page # 101744
– Search Attributes for the Z39.50 Server, page # 101745
– Attribute Checking, page # 105514
– Bath Profile, page # 105499
– Bath Profile - Level 0, page # 105508
– Z39.50 Client, page # 101248
– Advanced Keyword Searches, page # 101241

12
• Now you’re ready to enter data for the servers
you want to be able to search
– A good starting point is
• Other Innovative Sites, such as the Institutes of
Technology in Ireland. Their set up information is in the
manual already.
– Most now have their z39.50 servers set up for access.
– Manual Page 101741- Search Attributes for selected
servers
• Has the details for 13 different systems.
• Other sites can be located via CSDIRECT's list of
customers.
– So the whole world is now your oyster… so long as you
have the right Oyster Knife…

13
• Useful information on CSDIRECT
– Training Exercise to get you going
– WebOPAC tutorial – relevant wwwoptions
– Z39.50 FAQ
– Systems Handbook
– IUG presentations on both CSDIRECT and
the IUG Website
– Manual Pages – listed above
Sources & Tips

14
• But it’s not all in the manual…
– Getting the settings right takes a lot of trial and
error.
– Test in MILCAT before you make the target
available on your WebOPAC.
– Other sources of information include;
• Indexdata - The Z39.50 Target Directory
• UK Z Directory – Directory of UK z39.50 users
• Bookwhere / WebClarity Resource Registry from
Webclarity ((subscription) not really needed)
• Bib 1 attribute set (complete)
• Library of Congress z39.50 gateway
• Library of Congress list of implementers
Sources & Tips

15
• And so the real fun begins…
• Tips on how to understand what you have
found on the internet means
– The most useful page that I have found is the
Z39.50 Statistics page on Indexdata. This page
lists the most commonly used attributes. For
example; 4 for Title searching, 21 for subject
headings, and 7 for ISBN
• You must have the correct set of attributes for the
search to work
Sources & Tips

16
• So what other libraries can I enter:
– Innopac z39 servers account for 18% of world usage, which
means that there are lots of libraries out there that we can access
with the one set of database attributes and almost the same
server settings (Indexdata Z3950 Target Statistics)
• Use the III client list as a source for servers, and use the manual
for the Innopac configuration
– Innopac has the second highest implementation of z39.50
worldwide
• In theory any z39.50 compliant library worldwide
– problems with ALEPH and TALIS in Ireland
• One work around is to create an entry for COPAC (settings
available on their web site)
– Access 26 libraries at once including;
• British Library, Trinity College Dublin, Oxford, Wellcome Library,
National Library of Wales, National Library of Scotland
Sources & Tips

17
• Making sense of the attribute jungle
– Indexdata gives the BIB 1 use attribute for a
server not the whole range
– You will need to refer to the user manual for
guidance on what to enter for the other values.
(Try the default settings first…) or play around
with them until you get the right combination
– Bib 1 attribute compliance makes this easier
– Many z39.50 servers will give this information
on related web pages if you have a look, and
some of the sources listed above give them too,
so it’s not all bad news
Sources & Tips

18
• Attribute Sets. From Z39.50 for All , Ariadne Issue 21
• ‘The manner in which the Search process is governed is
closely linked to the Attribute Sets being used ...Each of
these attributes can have one of several values, and these
values govern the manner in which a search proceeds.
• Perhaps the best known Attribute Set is Bib-1 [19], an
Attribute Set originally designed for bibliographic
resources but now commonly used for a wide range of
applications.
• Bib-1 comprises six groupings of attributes, or Attribute
Types. These are;
• Use Attributes, which define the access points for a
search (title, author, subject, etc.)’
– These are the easiest to locate, but the other attributes are as
important for a successful connection to your target.
Sources & Tips

19
• ‘Relation Attributes, which determine how the search
term entered by the user relates to values stored in the
database index (less than, greater than, equal to,
phonetically matched, etc.)
• Truncation Attributes, which define which part of the
value stored in an index is to be searched (the beginning of
any word in the field, the end of any word in the field,
etc.). i.e. on a search for 'Smith', does the stored value start
with 'Smith', end with 'Smith', or something else entirely?
• Completeness Attributes, which specify whether or not
a search term can be the only value in an index.
• Position Attributes, which specify where in an index
field the search term should occur (at the beginning,
anywhere, etc.)
• Structure Attributes, which specify the form to be
searched for (a word, a phrase, a date, etc.)’
– From Z39.50 for All , Ariadne Issue 21
Sources & Tips

20
• ‘Attention normally only focuses upon discussion
of Use Attributes, but it is important to
correctly set values for the other five attribute
types as well if a search is to have maximum
value.
• These other attribute types are frequently
interpreted differently by the suppliers and
specifiers of Z39.50 systems, making it difficult
for users to interoperate with 'unknown' systems
from a vendor with which they are unfamiliar.
• Work on Profiles such as the Bath Profile’ … ‘has
gone some way towards standardizing the setting
of all these attribute types, thus increasing the
likelihood of reliable searches across a wide
range of Z39.50 systems.’
Sources & Tips

21
• Deciphering the information on
Indexdata…
• Z39 targets are presented in alphabetical
order, stating reliability of access, IP
address/url, port, and Bib 1 use
attributes used
• For example; IT Tallaght’s z39 server is
entered in the database as follows
Sources & Tips

22








  





 

 

http://www.it-tallaght.ieINNOPAC 100%
millennium.it-
tallaght.ie
210
USmarc OPAC
search, present, scan
/and, or, and-not
None/
z39-innopac
1-9, 12-13, 16-19, 21, 25, 28, 33-
44, 47, 1003, 1007, 1016, 1035-
1036
Sources & Tips
IT Tallaght entry from Indexdata
Target
Name
Db
Name
Access
Address
Port
Record
Syntaxes
Services/
operators
Explain/
Implementation
Bib-1 Use Attributes

23
• As you can see this is very different from
how we enter data into millennium
• This next slide shows our entry for
ourselves
• Looking at this entry it is easy to see how
the data is put together for the library’s
catalogue
– Server Information
– Database Information

24

25
• The server information is entered
separately
• You must ensure that all your details in
both entries are correct, especially the
internal code for the server, which may
differ significantly from the name you
want to display on your Web Opac
• Here’s our entry for GMIT’s server
– Entries 5 & 6 are left blank at the suggestion of
the III helpdesk!

26

27
• We have many servers set up at IT
Tallaght and use them for specific
tasks;
• Web Opac; -
– Both individual and simultaneous
searching
• – 2 separate pages
• Cataloguing
• ILL’s and Visiting other libraries
Sources & Tips

28
– We have 74 entries, some of which are still
works in progress
•We do not display most of them
on the Web Opac, but they are
very useful for cataloguing
• For example we have set up a number of III
customers including the following UK
institutions, which have proven very useful
for cataloguing electronic publications,
monographs and serials
Sources & Tips

29
• Durham University
• School of Advanced
Studies, London
• School of Oriental &
Advanced Studies,
London
• Sheffield Hallam,
University
• St. Andrew’s
University
• Wellcome Library
• University of Glasgow
• University of Hull
• University of Sterling
• University of Liverpool
• University of London
• University of Luton
• University of Wales,
Bangor
Sources & Tips

30
• As a result of being able to add z39 servers
when we need, as cataloguing projects
come along, we are able to select
appropriate sources, and add them to our
set up
• Recent additions to meet cataloguing
project requirements include;
• Melvyl, Yale, National Library of
Australia, UNC Coastal
• Additions like this drastically reduce the
amount of time staff have to spend on
original cataloguing!!!
Sources & Tips

31
• Z39 searching is available in MILCAT &
GUICAT by selecting the remote button.
To optimize this function;
– Set up groups of servers to meet your subject
specializations
– Make sure you are selecting libraries who use
MARC 21, and who’s z39 servers deliver data in
MARC 21 format
– For example neither the British Library nor
COPAC deliver in MARC 21, so if you import a
record for cataloguing all of the fields end up in
a MARC 500 field
MILCAT and GUICAT

32
• Remember if you are using an
imported record that you still need
to edit it locally because;
– The original record many have local
notes, holdings information etc, in it that
need to be corrected/erased
– You may need to add local information,
add locally used fields, and change some
of the MARC i.e. 092 to 082 04 for the DDC
number
MILCAT and GUICAT

33
• Other uses for z39.50.
– Our patrons like to use the Web Opac
pages;
• To search for titles before they visit a
library
• To search for titles that might be
available to them via our ILL
department
– We are encouraging this usage, and
utilizing the ‘Partners’ facility in an effort to
bring down our ever increasing ILL costs
ILL & Visiting other libraries

34
• Z39.50 searching is available in MILILL,
and has proven very useful for our ILL’s
service
• We have set up the British Library and COPAC for use
by our ILL department mainly
– With one search from within MILILL our ILL
administrator can for example search the BL,
COPAC, InfoTrac, and any IT’s that are setup, only
needing to check availability once the requested title
is located. This cuts down on staff time
considerably as well as saving on ILL costs
ILL & Visiting other libraries

35
• Web Opac - The most visible side of z39.50 to the
user
– Two separate pages;
• Z39menu.html
• System generated simultaneous searching page z39m
– The Z39menu.html page is editable, and you can list non
z39.50 links here too. At IT Tallaght we have listed all
IT’s, the Irish Universities, the National libraries of
Ireland, the 3 in the UK, and those who’s languages are
thought in IT Tallaght, as well as COPAC and Gabriel
– Each entry must be individually entered and edited, here
is the IT Tallaght entry for IT Sligo.
• <LI><FONT face=verdana color=#8792bd><A
href="http://millennium.it-tallaght.ie:211/z39/sligo">Sligo Institute of
Technology</A> </FONT>
WebOPAC - Introduction

36
• To get the WebOPAC to display z39.50
servers, and for searches to work you
need to consider your parameters for the
following WWWOptions;
– Z39PORT (redirect after search)
– Z39RESTRICT & Z39IPOK (restrict IP access)
– Z39SEARCH (must have broadcast searching to
use – puts z39.50 search on the menu)
– Z39MULTI (limit the number of records
downloadable)
– z39BROADCAST[_lang](controls language of
display elements)
WebOPAC WWWOptions

37
• System Generated z39.50 page - /z39m
– This page displays the z39.50 server entries
which do not have an X placed in front of the'
Display name for server’ in the server
information set up in telnet/Innopac
– It allows users to search selected servers
simultaneously, in a familiar interface via the
WebOPAC, and select to view all results or just
those from a particular location
• The user does not have to know how to search each
individual server.
WebOPAC - Simultaneous Searching

38

39

40

41

42

43
• Simultaneous searching – Not just of
library servers …or what to do until you
can afford WebBridge and/or Metafind
– As our users gravitate more towards electronic
information, we are moving into providing
z39.50 searching for databases, both
subscription and non-subscription
– Non subscription databases currently available
for our users include; BIOME, BUBL, EEVL,
Humbul, RDN, Reveal, SOSIG
• Hope to add BIZED, HDS, MIMAS NNovMed and
PSIgate in the near future
WebOPAC – Online Databases

44

45

46

47

48

49
• Searching Subscription Services
• InfoTrac is searchable via z39.50
– Responsibilities regarding copyright mean you
need to limit access by IP to InfoTrac via Z39.50,
or it will be open to the whole world, as the full
text of the selected article displays in the MARC
900 field
• There are two wwwoptions that limits access, by IP,
to a database . Here are ours for Infotrac;
– Z39RESTRICT=InfoTrac/ITOF
– Z39IPOK=193.1.120.*;193.1.121.*;193.1.122.*;193.1.123.*;193.1.12
4.*193.1.125.*;193.1.126.*;193.1.127.*
» But there is a glitch – currently it doesn’t work on the system generated
pages – it only works on the z39menu.html page, until it is fixed with
Millennium Silver

50

51

52

53

54

55

56
• The upcoming ‘Silver’ release, includes the
following improvements to Millennium
z39.50 these apply to MILCAT ;
– Allow user to see the fields that the load table
would strip out
– Overlay record by record number, by searching
for a specific record, or by load table overlay
match point
– Update OCLC holdings via z39.50
– Show the source of each record when using
z39.50 on browse displays and when viewing an
individual work record
Z39.50 and ‘the future’

57
There is an interesting future ahead for
Z39.50 as the standard keeps developing
– ZING – Z39.50 International
“ZING, "Z39.50-International: Next Generation", covers a
number of initiatives by Z39.50 implementers to make
the intellectual/semantic content of Z39.50 more
broadly available and to make Z39.50 more attractive to
information providers, developers, vendors, and users,
by lowering the barriers to implementation while
preserving the existing intellectual contributions of
Z39.50 that have accumulated over nearly 20 years.
Current ZING initiatives are SRW (including SRU), CQL,
ZOOM, ez3950, and ZeeRex. Some (for example,
SRW/U) seek to evolve Z39.50 to a more mainstream
protocol, while for others (e.g. ZOOM) the purpose is to
preserve the existing protocol but hide its complexity.”
From
http://loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/zing-home.html

58
– Mozilla;
• “This is a project to investigate the integration of Z39.50 search
capabilities with Mozilla's RDF-based information management
environment.
• Aims
• Make Z39.50 data sources accessible for searching from within
Mozilla
• Find an RDF representation of Z39.50 attribute sets
• There are thousands of networked Z39.50 servers in existence
already. It should be possible to identify some mechanism whereby
the Mozilla user interface allows people to send queries to these
servers and have the resulting records appear within the standard
Mozilla bookmarks/sitemaps interface. From This is a project to
investigate the integration of Z39.50 search capabilities with
Mozilla's RDF-based information management environment.”
• From; http://www.mozilla.org/rdf/doc/z3950.html

59
• Troubleshooting
– For me troubleshooting has involved much
testing, and sourcing z39.50 server information
from several sources to confirm my settings
– III helpdesk has been of great assistance, and
staff have helped with in-depth queries
• like setting up the BL and COPAC after the last
upgrade
– Millennium users list
– Configuration Problems are outlined on
Bibliotech Review
Troubleshooting & Suggestions

60
• “The problems revolve around the levels
of service supported within and between
the particular implementation of Z-client
and Z-server and also the capabilities and
implementation of the host Library
Management System (LMS).
• … For example, a local search may
routinely search personal authors and
corporates in the same index. When
applied to a remote Z-server, an author
search may be personal authors only.

61
• Combinations of such disparities and
differences both in the version of the
standard and in extended services
supported are common. This means that
not all of the pain has been taken out of
accessing non-familiar databases. Use
“foreign” databases with caution. ”
• From
http://www.biblio-tech.com/html/problems

62
• Understanding Error Messages is another confusing area
• Some examples of error messages include;
Error message IT Tallaght local Interpretation / Response
No connection Incorrect server information in your entry
Disconnected Target server disconnected you
– incorrect connection information
– check if a password is required-
- Or server is behind a fire wall – check your sources
Unsupported Search Your database entry contains incomplete or incorrect
attributes sets.
COPAC says “this means it didn't receive a database name
in the Search Request. Probably means there's something
wrong with your origin” ( http://www.copac.ac.uk/copac/z39.50/diags.html)
Connection rejected Check your source – password may be required
Request to short Rephrase your search.

63
• Z39.50 can be used for far more than just
cataloguing, including ILL and Visiting other
libraries
– WebOPAC
• Library Catalogues - Simultaneous Searching
• Online Databases – Free and Subscription
– Suggestions
• Explore how best to utilize Z39.50 for your institute.
– ILL and preparing for visiting other libraries
– WebOPAC
» Library Catalogues - Simultaneous Searching
» Online Databases – Free and Subscription
– Find the resources best suited to your needs, and only
display those that you want to for patrons on the Web Opac

64
• Possible enhancements
– Like in the result set given on the WebOPAC, in
Millennium Modules allow that when you click on a
server’s result set, that only that set of results are
displayed
– The ability to copy a server entry
– Make URL’s in returned records live
– Provide statistics on the searches preformed internally
and externally, and statistics on records downloaded into
the millennium database.
• This presentation will be available online with
the relevant links with the rest of the conference
papers

65
• Thank you for listening, and I hope
some of this has made at least some
sense to some of you
• Contact
• niamh.walkerheadon@it-tallaght.ie
• Questions????
• The End!
Questions???

Z39.05 - Searching the world (2004)

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