Z TEXAS MEETING

Friday, September 25, 1998

Euless Public Library

Meeting Room

9:00am - 4:00pm

Z39.50

Home | Implementation Resources

Attendees:

Saralyn Shone, Arlington Public Library

Esther Crawford, Rice University

Bob Gaines, Central Texas Library System

Sheila Williams, Euless Public Library

Scott Piepenburg, Dallas Public Schools

Rebecca Linton, Library Resource Sharing Division, Texas State Library

Virginia Allen, Lamar University

Shelley Almgren, Texas Wesleyan University

Mark Bodnar, Abilene Public Library

Cathy Hartman, University of North Texas

Timothy Judkins, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Teresa Ashley, Austin Community College

Teresa Lepchenski, University of North Texas

Sharon Castleberry, Carollton Public Library

Rick Heyser, Tarrant County Junior College

Christine Peterson, Library Development Division, Texas State Library

William Moen, University of North Texas, Facilitator for Meeting
 

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1) Scope, Goals and Objectives

Draft scope statement was provided in hard copy. Among the discussion issues:

• Paragraph #1 -- is the qualifier ("e.g., tutorials, conference presentations, workshops, etc.") necessary?

• Objective #1 -- specify the phases involved in "phased development."

• Objective #2 -- will we be dealing with non-USMARC library catalogs? Not at this time; however this could be a future project for the group

• Objective #2 -- modify to similar to " . . . in all types of Texas libraries with online catalogs that present USMARC records."

• Objective #3 -- sentence 2 should be moved to paragraph 1 under "Scope Statement."

• Objective #5 -- " . . . consensus among librarians and vendors . . ." Is this possible? Maybe modify to ". . . consensus among librarians with input/dialog from/with vendors . . ."

• Adding an objective that deals with using this profile to influence funding agencies? Not at this time.

• Adding an objective that deals with users who will only use client software by writing specifications for this software

The subcommittee (Bob Gaines, Bill Moen, Sheila Williams, Chris Peterson) will re-draft and post to the list once more.

2) TLA Presentations

Chris Peterson reported on the two Z39.50 preconferences for TLA

1) Bill Moen will present a similar workshop to the one he did last spring. Interest is pretty high and it probably will be well attended.

2) Mark Hinnebusch has agreed to come to do a highly technical workshop on the creation and implementation of Z39.50 clients and servers. His workshop is specifically geared toward those writing the software for clients and servers. Much of the afternoon is spent in looking at code. Many in the group stated that either they would want to attend themselves, or they had staff members that would be interested. Chris will continue the process and execute a contract with Mark. Ideas:

• "Not a beginning workshop"

• Geared toward systems staff, not users

• Open both preconferences to a single room and discuss draft Texas Z profile

• Ask Mark to look over draft Texas Z profile before preconference

3) Z39.50 Requirements

Cathy Hartman gathered and organized Z39.50 specifications culled from specifications documents and from others on the list. The group discussed each specification, defining terms and bringing up the various ways to interpret each item. During this process, the group identified for each specification:

• Is it a Z39.50 specification? (e.g., if ISBN searching is required, then which attribute is necessary?)

• Is it an issue that requires implementation guidance? (e.g., providing help in how to map or implement)

• Is it an issue concerning the actual implementation of the clients and/or servers? (e.g., user interface issues)

• Is it a local system functionality issue? (e.g., what indexes are supported by the ILS?)

Focusing on just the Z39.50 specifications, the group created three "levels" of Z39.50 functionality. The first level was defined loosely as basic searching for patrons; the second level was defined loosely as searching necessary for technical services and interlibrary loan staff; the third level was defined loosely as searching necessary for specialized areas such as archives. Some specifications were left for future projects (citation databases, geospatial databases, full-text databases, recordings, and digital images).

The final levels that were created:

4) Local System Functionality

The subcommittee investigating ILS functionality (Tim Judkins, Saralyn Shone, Chris Peterson, Gloria McClanahan) met at 8:15am. Public, school, and academic libraries had been sampled to determine which vendors and ILS products would be contacted for further information. The following vendors were chosen:

• DRA (Taos?)
• Dynix Classic
• Dynix Scholar
• Nichols Athena
• Gaylord Galaxy (Polaris?)
• Follett Unison
• LRMS Genesis
• TLC
• Brodart
• Winnebago
• Contec 2
• Alexandria
• CARL
• SIRSI
• GEAC
• GEAC PLUS
• VTLS
• Cuadra Star
• III
• Horizon
• Endeavor
• EOS

A list of questions was drafted and will be sent to the list for comments. A deadline of November 6, 1998 was given for this information.

5) Names

The name discussion is at an end! Here's who we are and what we are doing:

Texas Z39.50 Implementors Group

Z Texas Profile

6) Canned Presentation

Cathy Hartman was approached with the opportunity of doing a Z39.50 presentation at the TLA District 5 meeting in October. As a result, Cathy, Teresa Lipchenske, and Bill Moen created a canned presentation which introduces the subject. The presentation consists of a 5 minute videotape which shows Z39.50 searching using BookWhere, and slides for use as transparencies. If anyone is interested, this presentation will be available for anyone to use.

7) Assignments and Tasks

• Provide a summary for each specification listed in Levels 0 and 1, and possibly Level 2.
  • Cathy Hartman
  • Virginia Allen
  • Teresa Ashley
  • Teresa Lipchenske
• Provide summary of ILS functionality
  • Tim Judkins
  • Saralyn Shone
  • Gloria McClanahan
  • Chris Peterson
• Client functionality requirements
  • Shelley Almgren
  • Scott Piepenburg
  • Sharon Castleberry
• Re-drafting scope statement
  • Bob Gaines
  • Bill Moen
  • Chris Peterson
• Article for Texas Library Journal
  • Bill Moen
• Canned Presentation
  • Bill Moen
  • Teresa Lipchenske
  • Cathy Hartman

8) Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 1, 1998 in Houston. Specific location will be announced.

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