-------- Original Message --------
Subject: NISO Z39.50 Maintenance Revision Now at Ballot
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:07:09 -0400
From: Marilyn Geller <marilyn.geller@MINDSPRING.COM>

Bethesda, Md., USA – (April 10, 2002) NISO, the National Information
Standards Organization, has released for ballot a maintenance revision
of
NISO's landmark standard Z39.50-1995.  This standard specifies a
client/server-based protocol for Information Retrieval defining
procedures
and formats for a client to search a database provided by a server,
retrieve
database records, and perform related information retrieval functions.
The
protocol addresses communication between information retrieval
applications
at the client and server.  Balloting will be conducted from March 29
through
May 13, 2002.  This is a Maintenance Revision, and no existing
implementations will be disrupted.

This maintenance revision incorporates all the corrections, defect
reports,
and amendments. approved by the ZIG since 1995.  These changes include:
implementer agreements, amendments such as duplicate detection service
and
encapsulation, defect reports, commentaries, clarifications, version 3
baseline requirements, Z39.50 attribute architecture, and negotiation
model.
The Library of Congress is the Maintenance Agency and Registration
Authority
for the Z39.50 standard, and documentation on these changes can be found
on
their website at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/amend/amend.html.
The
draft standard is available for free downloading from the NISO website
at
http://www.niso.org.

About NISO:
NISO is the only U.S. group accredited by the American National
Standards
Institute to develop and promote technical standards for use in
information
delivery services providing voluntary standards for libraries,
publishers
and related information technology organizations.  All NISO standards
are
developed by consensus under the guidance of experts and practitioners
in
the field to meet the needs of both the information user and the
producer.
For information about NISO’s current standardization interests and
membership possibilities, please visit the NISO website at
http://www.niso.org.

For additional information contact NISO Headquarters at (301) 654-2512.
Email: nisohq@niso.org