Slide 1Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Explain Lite Research and Development activity in the ONE-2 Project - OPAC Network in Europe 2

Slide 2Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Background Project partners undertook significant research and development into the full Z39.50 Explain service, Created a fully working freeware server explain module that can be integrated into server applications - called “the PED” Integrated explain into the freeware “ICONE” Z39.50 client Several project partners added Explain to their targets project liaised with ZIG and Explain test-bed

Slide 3Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Conclusions of Explain work Explain in server requires significant development effort - not just the PDU support, but the EXP database and necessary administration components Explain in server requires an element of data administration/maintenance: –some data can be auto-generated, eg, database size –other data requires administration effort for the data to be kept up to date, eg, contact details

Slide 4Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Conclusions of Explain work Explain in client requires significant development work: –EXP search and retrieval –possible cache arrangements –dynamic configuration –dealing with cases where perhaps only some explain aspects are supported Client needs to issue an explain query to see if the server supports explain or not

Slide 5Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Conclusions of Explain work Explain “ is probably the right way to do it” but: –its never been profiled –very little take up in either clients or servers (explain test- bed had about 14 participants) –clients always need a fallback configuration anyway –very little interest shown since test bed ended –would changing / updating the model to different record formats or profiling etc encourage development support ? This still leaves the requirement for client developers to ascertain server search and retrieval parameters.

Slide 6Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Explain - Lite: Requirements: –to harmonize effort of a server administrator –to provide only essential components for search and retrieval –to retain the optional provision - Explain Lite info is only provided if requested –ONE 2 project is researching how the data can be otherwise used, eg: proxy servers client configuration

Slide 7Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Design Approach ONE-2 project: – did not want to do this in ASN.1 –did not want to re-visit or change the current model –did want an approach that was flexible –decided to craft in XML –decided to craft onto the Init service –is aware that there are potential limitations for use, eg, may not be best suited on Init when there are many databases on a server, but: in this case it could be useful in describing such data via web pages.

Slide 8Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Content Contact information Search attributes Browse attributes Database names Record formats and element set names Linkages to other related pages, eg, –same content in other languages Data of last update - useful to avoid possible unnecessary re-cache operations in the client

Slide 9Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Flexibility Use of XML has enabled rapid application development and ease of changes/tuning Same XML can also be used : –in client configuration files –in proxy applications Content can be easily parsed/verified with XML parser tools Can use XSL to give presentation on Web pages

Slide 10Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Why this approach: Minimum work is necessary at the PDU level for implementation Takes advantages of current skills base Enables administrators to harmonize explain lite with any descriptive configuration details in Web pages Aligns with increasing use of XML with Z39.50 May be a first step to promote implementers to think further on the full explain model ….. This is _easy_ to do !

Slide 11Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Current Status Design is 99% ready ONE-2 partners are implementing in their systems ONE-2 project has a 7 month trial phase in 2001, and the opportunity to test and try Design is open for anyone to have a play, we will notify ZIG when servers can be tested

Slide 12Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Example XML example: – – DTD: – XSL Style example: –

Slide 13Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe Example XML Full USMARC NORMARC SUTRS Brief USMARC NORMARC SUTRS BIB-1 Personal name

Slide 14Explain LiteONE -2 OPAC Network in Europe … and on display: