Whither z39.50?

[Howard Pasternack]

For multiple database searches, z39.50 still poses a number of problems
for patron access and support.  A major hurdle is that the database structures
of the host systems differ.  For example, some systems support keyword
searching across all fields and some only support phrase searching.  And
on some there is automatic truncation and on some there is not.  So, it
becomes difficult to type a single search string, even for something as
simple as a personal author name, and achieve meaningful results across
disparate systems.

Howard Pasternack
Brown University