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Standards
supported by SLIM21 |
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NCIP – National Circulation Interchange
Protocol |
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The NCIP
standard was approved by voting members of NISO (the National
Information Standards Organization) in 2002. The official
version of the standard was published in early 2003, and
ever since then, library system vendors, as well as the
developers of related software clients, have been analyzing
the standard and planning its implementation in their
products. Because NCIP is such a new standard, no library
systems vendor has yet fully implemented it. Vendors are
working on their NCIP-based products and are testing them
with each other. Some ambiguities and omissions in the
standard have become evident as a result of testing and
early trials.
SLIM21 has
implemented NCIP protocol and is presently in the testing
phase. |
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Z39.50 Family |
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Z39.50
(also known internationally as ISO 23950) was developed
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It defines a strict
protocol for searching and retrieving remote MARC-record
based bibliographic records.
The Z39.50
standard – Version 3 – was updated and approved by NISO
in 2002. The standard describes 18 different functions
that Z39.50 applications must support, including searching,
browsing, retrieval, sorting, authentication, etc. It
also outlines searching options and attributes. Any library
wanting to access another library’s Z39.50-accessible
database must be aware of the attributes and capabilities
of the target library’s Z39.50 server.
SLIM21 has
the support for Z39.50 Server and also Z39.50 Client. |
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SIP2 |
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The
3M Company, a long-time vendor of library security equipment,
released the version 2 of SIP (commonly known as SIP2)
in June 1997. In releasing SIP2, 3M recognized that usefulness
of a "Circulation system-to-other device" protocol
was increasingly important, not just to 3M, but to the
library automation industry as whole.
The
fundamental principle behind SIP2 is that the protocol
should enable communication between any third-party software
and the library’s circulation system without the need
for changes or modifications to the circulation system.
Any software package – whether it was a self-check workstation,
a library card authentication module, a PC reservation
module, or anything else – should transparently be able
to communicate with the circulation system, looking up
patrons and returning appropriate information.
SLIM21
implements the SIP2 protocol to make communication between
the Slim21 circulation system and any other package feasible. |
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