NEW Z39.50/SR GATEWAY SOFTWARE AND SERVICE

[Mogens Sandfaer]

 (This message has been sent to ZIG, EFILA and Web4Lib)
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NEW Z39.50/SR GATEWAY SOFTWARE AND SERVICE       27 May 1996
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The EUROPAGATE EU Libraries Programme Project has produced 4
gateways to ease the access to Z39.50 and SR servers:

  * WWW to Z39.50+SR     at    http://europagate.dtv.dk/
  * Email to Z39.50+SR   at    gateway at europagate.dtv.dk
  * Z39.50 to SR         at    europagate.dtv.dk:210
  * SR to Z39.50         at    europagate.dtv.dk:4500

The gateways are available as a free public service. More
information as well as documents and (in June) source code at:

  * http://europagate.dtv.dk/

Please try out the service and make use of our feed-back form.
The project ends in June but the service will be maintained.
Your feed-back might improve the service as well as the software.

Below you will find the following additional information:

  * PARTNERS AND POINTS OF CONTACT
  * GATEWAY FEATURES
  * SOME TECHNICAL DETAILS


PARTNERS AND POINTS OF CONTACT
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The EUROPAGATE consortium and officers:

  * University College Dublin. Library
    Sean Phillips, Project Coordinator, Sean.Phillips at ucd.ie
  * University College Dublin. Computer Science
    Ahmed Patel, Technical Director, apatel at ccvax.ucd.ie
  * Technical Knowledge Center & Library of Denmark
    Mogens Sandfaer, Technical Director, ms at dtv.dk
  * Library Council, Ireland
    Annette Kelly, Project Administrator, annkelly at lib1.tcd.ie
  * Unidad de Coodinacin de Bibliotecas del CSIC, Spain
    Agnes Ponsati, Quality Control Coordinator, agnes at bib.csic.es

For full list of participants see:
  * http://europagate.dtv.dk/participants.html

Email help-desk:
  * Peter Wad Hansen, pwh at dtv.dk

General information and printed user guides:
  * Annette Kelly, Library Council, 53/54 Upper Mount Street
    Dublin 2, Ireland, Tel +353 1 6761167, Fax +353 1 6766721


GATEWAY FEATURES       (a target is a server in Z-language)
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WWW to Z39.50+SR Gateway at http://europagate.dtv.dk/
- ------------------------------------------------------
  * Smooth WWW interface, any browser can be used.
  * Can query a single target using one or more databases.
  * Can query multiple targets (experimental feature).
  * Offers the full functionality of the connection-oriented
    protocols by retaining the state of a session between queries,
    and even reestablishes broken connections with result sets.
  * A history function, which allows a user to view earlier
    queries in the session.
  * Ability to refine queries.
  * Displays MARC records in an easy-to-read presentation format.
    The presentation format is configurable by the administrator.
  * URLs in the records are made active, when displayed.
  * Support for SCAN (when supported by the target).
  * Users may select targets from a list or define their own
    by filling in a form.
  * Configurable target list and handling of attributes.
  * Email help desk: pwh at dtv.dk

E-mail to Z39.50+SR Gateway at gateway at europagate.dtv.dk
- --------------------------------------------------------
  * Any e-mail client can be used. Send your query to the gateway
    and it will return the result by mail.
  * Simple query language based on common command language (CCL
    ISO 8777) with a few additional commands to handle the gateway
    interaction.
  * User documentation available via email, in print, and at
    http://europagate.dtv.dk/
  * Can query a single target using one or more databases.
  * Offers the full functionality of the connection-oriented
    protocols by retaining the state of a session between queries,
    and even reestablishes broken connections with result sets.
  * A history function, which allows a user to view earlier
    queries in the session.
  * Ability to refine queries.
  * Displays MARC records in an easy-to-read presentation format.
    The presentation format is configurable by the administrator.
  * Users may select targets from a list or specify their own.
  * Configurable target list handling of attributes.
  * Optional support for multilingual messages.
  * Email help desk: pwh at dtv.dk

ANSI Z39.50 to ISO SR at europagate.dtv.dk:210
- -----------------------------------------------
ISO SR to ANSI Z39.50 at europagate.dtv.dk:4500
- -----------------------------------------------

  * Enables communication between Z39.50 and SR-based applications.
  * Supports access between TCP/IP- and OSI-based network
    environments.
  * Demonstrates the use of the mOSI specification and a freely
    available ThinOSI (RFC1698) implementation.
  * Transparently converts records between a number of MARC formats.
  * Can be used to add value to existing services (access control,
    record conversion, proxy services, etc).
  * In its transparent mode, conecting a client to a server using a
    single protocol, the gateway may be used for diagnostic or
    logging purposes, assembling statistics about resource usage.
  * Email help desk: pwh at dtv.dk


SOME TECHNICAL DETAILS
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  * The webserver used is Apache version 0.8.14, No specific
    webserver is required.
  * The CGI scripts are based on TCL.
  * The necessary TCL additions are made in ANSI C.
  * The software is written in ANSI C.
  * The Z39.50 parts of the code is based upon the YAZ package.
  * The OSI support derives from the XTI/mOSI prototype by
    Hewlett Packard and Peter Furniss.
  * The gateways have been ported to SunOS, Solaris, OSF & Linux.