Z39.50 integration of a MARC online catalog and Dublin Core datab ase at Texas State Library

[Allen Mullen]

Please pardon duplicate postings.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
Texas State Library Provides First Cross-Domain Implementation of the Z39.50
Bath Profile
Blue Angel Technologies and Sirsi Corp. Enable Unprecedented
Interoperability
Austin, Texas (August 11, 2000) The Texas State Library and Archives
Commission announced today that through the combined efforts of Blue Angel
Technologies of Valley Forge, Pa., Sirsi Corporation of Huntsville, Ala. and
State Library personnel, the Texas State Library has successfully
implemented the first cross-domain Web application to use the Bath Profile
in a production environment.

The Bath Profile is an Internationally Registered Z39.50 Profile designed to
provide effective interoperability between electronic library catalogs and
other database applications.  Conformance to this profile's specifications
will improve international search and retrieval of electronic information
resources worldwide.  This profile is the result of ongoing international
collaboration and builds upon existing work in Europe, North America and
Australia. 

With this implementation of the Bath Profile, the State Library has
established a new, seamless interoperability between two of its flagship
database services: the State Library's online catalog of holdings and TRAIL,
the Texas Records and Information Locator service. SIRSI's Unicorn Library
Management System powers the online catalog; while Blue Angel's MetaStar
product powers TRAIL. 

The Texas State Library has successfully established the ability for library
users to search a variety of databases at one time through its adherence to
the Bath Profile. Now, with a single query, Texas citizens with Internet
access can easily locate information resources not only from the 150 Texas
state agencies represented in the TRAIL service, but also from the State
Library's electronic catalog.  In the future, additional resources such as
full-text and specialized reference database services will be added to the
Texas Web site as more vendors support the Bath Profile.

"Our implementation of the Bath Profile has become a virtual 'Rosetta Stone'
for our flagship database services, allowing us to perform cross-domain
searches and compare similar data from disparate sources, all from a single,
simple search screen," said Allen Mullen, network developer for the Texas
State Library and Archives Commission. 

Texas leads the nation in making information available to its citizens  by
using standards-based technology rather than relying on proprietary
solutions.  Blue Angel Technologies, headquartered outside of Philadelphia
in Valley Forge, Pa., is at the heart of the standards movement.  Blue Angel
has created a unique software solution specifically designed to make easy
information access possible through well-known standards.  With Blue Angel's
MetaStar product, Texas continues to provide its citizens with seamless
access to its wealth of information and services through its TRAIL site at
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/ <http://castor.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/>.

Sirsi Corporation, a long-time advocate of the Bath profile, provides the
Library's online catalog. Greg Hathorn, vice president of Library Products,
said, "SIRSI is gratified to help the Texas State Library make this
significant step forward in enabling users to search multiple sources with
such ease. SIRSI has shown its total support of the Bath profile with a
financial commitment that includes both software development and consulting
services. We are eager to press on to the next stage of development and to
see this work propagated throughout the Z39.50 community as soon as
possible.

"With the cooperation and assistance of both Blue Angel Technologies and
Sirsi Corporation, the Texas State Library has been able to take the lead in
providing the library of the future," Mullen said. Jim Restivo, president of
Blue Angel added, "Because the Texas State Library has insisted on standards
compliant systems, not only have Texas citizens benefited from the reduced
cost of implementing and maintaining its systems, but also the quality and
value of information available to taxpayers has been dramatically improved."

About Sirsi Corporation
SIRSI, the leader in library technology, is a privately held company founded
in 1979, with headquarters in Huntsville, Ala. SIRSI (www.sirsi.com) uses
the most advanced technology available to provide easy-to-use information
systems for libraries, businesses, and archives. With offices in major U.S.
cities and subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle
East, the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom, the company has
established its Unicorn products as the leading client/server library
information system in the world. 

About Blue Angel Technologies
Blue Angel is supercharging the Internet.  Its groundbreaking products use
machine-to-machine interactions to dramatically improve the speed and
effectiveness of organizations.  Because the technology is built on an open,
standards-based architecture that is platform, database and browser
independent, solutions can be implemented quickly and easily without
changing existing environments.  Computers conversing intelligently...the
new Internet revolution.  Blue Angel is leading the revolution from historic
Valley Forge, PA, a place that knows about revolutions.  For more
information, visit Blue Angel's World Wide Web site at
http://www.blueangeltech.com or call (610)-917-9200.

About the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
The mission of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission is to ensure
that all Texans have the library resources and services, the archives and
records, and the government information they need to be educated and
informed, in order for them to lead productive lives and participate
effectively in civic affairs.  For additional information, see
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/
# # #
Blue Angel Technologies and MetaStar are trademarks of Blue Angel
Technologies, Inc.