Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1991, 38(3~ 79-84

EMERGING STANDARDS FOR LIBRARY NETWORKS

The paper discusses the emerging standards forboth the bibliographic and the network basedlibrary services. The role of CCF has also beenillustrated. The service definitions and protocolspecifications of the standards for inter librarylending and search and retrieval of data bases arebriefly explained.

INIRODUCTION

In the context of the present day phenomenon ofinformation explosion, the library and informationservices are entering an era of co-operation from anera of compartmentalisation. Sharing of informationresources and co-operative working have becomeimperative. The factors contributing to such a devel-opment are:

a) Social needs,b) Economic requirements, andc) Technological developments.

Society has corne to depend much on information forits existance. A nation's development is heavilydependent on its ability to acquire, manage andselectively assimilate and use information. "Infor-mation is power" is no longer a buzz phrase but ahard reality to reckon with. The prices ofpublications and information bases are sky-rocket-ing continuously while library budgets have re-mained more or lessstatic in the sense that they havebeen fetching the same or even a smaller number ofjournals and books over the last few years. Foraccessing new information and knowledge to themaximum, there is no option except to pool theeconomic resources to acquire a larger number ofpublications and information bases. After such anacquisition, the problem of sharing the information

Vol 38No3 ~1991

ProfTV1SWANATHANDirector,INSIXX14, Satsang Vihar Marg,New Delhi 110067

still remains to be solved.

The firststep to solvethe problem is the commitmentfrom the concerned parties to share the information.The second step is the technological support toeffect an efficient sharing of information. Fortu-nately, the developments in the field ofInformation Technology (IT) permit an easy andeconomic sharing of information. Facsimile, com-puter based information networks, electronic data-bases and optical storage devices (CD-ROM) aresome of the IT products that help in sharing ofinformation.

Information sharing brings in its wake the needfor standardisation for the sake of purposefulinteraction over networks and exchange ofinformation on electronic media. Accordinglystandards may be viewed in two categories:bibliographic standards and standards for libraryservices on networks.

Bibliographic standards are concerned withhandling of bibliographic information in machinereadable form. Standards for library services onnetwork deal with how to implement libraryservicesacross a network. In this paper are discussed the twocategories of standards that are currently emerging.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC STANDARDS

In recording bibliographic information in electronicform, two distinct areas requiring standardizationare:

a) Cataloguing, andb) Abstracting and Indexing (A & I) Services.

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Fig. 1 : Conversion Programmes without CCF

MEKOF2

Fig. 2 : Conversion Programmes with CCF

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EMERGING STANDARDS FUR UBRARY NElWORKS

Earlier, bibliographic standards evolved aroundcataloguing for the obvious reason that the functionof cataloguing has been in existence for a muchlonger period than the A&I services. The latter isrelatively of a recent origin. MARC (MachineReadable Catalogue), UKMARC, USMARC andUNIMARC are examples of bibliographic stan-dards which were evolved keeping cataloguing re-quirements in mind UNlMARC isa common stan-dard evolved by combining both USMARC andUKMARC to provide a single common denomina-tor for exchange purposes, particularly amongthe national libraries. UNIMARChaving becomesomewhat community oriented among national li-braries, other specialized and subject oriented insti-tutions tended to develop their own standards.These include, INIS AGRIS, ISDS, etc.

With the appearance of A & I services on a largescale, UNESCO evolved a standard known asUNISIST Reference Manual which became verypopular in the community of abstractors and index-ors. While UNIMARC adopts International Stan-dard for Bibliographic Description (ISBD) fordescribing the data elements, UNISIST ReferenceManual defines its own content designators to beassigned to bibliographic descriptions of varioustypes of iliaterials.

All the above said formats were designed to serve thepurpose of a limited range of institutions. Theydefine, organise and identify data elements in quitedifferent ways and rely upon different sets of codesfor use in their coded elements. As a result, mixingand exchanging of databases created by variousinstitutions in different formats became a seriousproblem. It required a number of conversionprogrammes for mixing the data. This is illustratedin Fig. 1which brings out that 30 different conver-sion programmes are required for mixing and ex-changing of databases in six different formats.Likewise, for 20 different standards followed bydifferent agencies, 180 different conversionprograms are required to enable a free flow ofinformation among them

The need to simplify the process of bringingtogether the information fragmented into separategroups was soon recognised by the internationalagencies and UNESCO set in progress the processof defining the Common Communication Format

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(CCF). CCF aims to facilitate the communication ofbibliographic information among different sectors ofthe information community by providing a commonmedium of exchangeamong them. CCF would helpmove towards establishing international networks ofvarious types of bibliographic agencies. With theintroduction of CCF, the process of exchaninginformation among different databases becomessimpler as depicted in Fig. 2. Now it is required towrite only two programmes for conversion of datafrom a given format to CCF and viceversa. Thus for20 different formats it is required to develope only40 conversion programs using CCF as theintermediate format

CCF is derived from both MARC and UNISISTformats. It is suitable for both library catalogues andA & I services.CCF incorporates the features of bothUNIMARCand UNISISTand strictly conforms tothe international standard ISO: 2709 for recordstructure. The main purpose of CCF is to providea detailed and structured method for designating anumber of mandatory and optional data elements ina bibliographic record. Enumeration and definitionof the data elements in CCF help the bibliographicagencies to build their own format while remainingcompatible with CCF. Use of CCF data elements innon-cornputerised bibliographic systems would alsosimplify the process of comp uter isat ion later on.

NETWORK STANDARDS

Electronic Information Networks wherein informa-tion is stored and transmitted in electronic formplaya keyrole in the process of information ex-change. The computers which store and processinformation and the communication technologywhich permits the transport of information inelectronic form are the basis of such networks. Itis the combination of computer and communi-cation technologies that has made electronic infor-mation networks possible. The coming together ofthese technologies started in late 1950s and thecomputer communication or communications as itis often called, has emerged as a field of greatimportance.

Information exchange across a network of comput-ers calls for standardisation in procedures andprocesses. In particular, this is so when the networkconsists of heterogeneous computers, i.e. computer

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systems from different manufacturers using differ-ent hardware and software. ARPANET, the networkproject supported by the Advanced ResearchProjects Agency of the Department of Defence,United States, is one of the pioneering efforts ininteroonnecting heterogeneous systems. The effortsin this direction led to the emergence of worldstandards. These standards commonly known asISO-OS! (International Standards Organisation-Open SystemInterconnection) Reference Model, arewidely accepted. The phrase 'Open Systems'implies that a computer system which conforms tothis reference model is capable of informationtransfer with any other computer system of anymanufacturer conforming to the Open SystemReference Model.

Standards for library networks are concerned withhow to implement library services across theelectronic information networks. These standardsare evolving around the ISO-OSI reference model.At present, standards for two library services, viz.Inter Library Loan (ILL) and Search and Retrieve(SR) service, are under considration.

ISO-OSI REFERENCE MODEL

The architecture of international standard ISO-OSI

Computer

Reference Model ISO: 7498 is shown in Fig. 3. Itconsists of seven layers for various functions. Lay-ering as a structuring technique has been used toallow the networking. function to be logicallydecomposed into independent smaller functionsand to permit an orderly evolution of standards.The services of a layer add values to the servicesprovided bya set oflower layers in such a way thatthe highest layer is capable of running distributedapplications. The logical interfaces between adjacentlayers are provided through a set of well definedService Access Points (SAP) which permit oompletefreedom in the implementation of the servicesas longas the interface conventions are adhered to.

The functions or, services of different layers arewell defined. The functions are implemented by aset of entities within each layer. The entities ofthesame layer in different systems are known as peerentities. Peer entities communicate with each otherby using a set of peer protoools. As a consequence,standards for any layer of OSI reference model dealwith both services and protocols. In the OSIenvironment, a service maybe offered in any of thetwo modes:

a) Connection-oriented serviceb) Connection less service

Computer

application application

presentation presentation

session .•••:1 sessoion

transport relay node relay node transport

network / network "\ / network' network

link link \,1 I' network ....11 link

physical physical physical physical

- -, r

Fig.3: ISO/OSI Reference Model

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EMERGINGSTANDARDSFDRUBRARYNElWORKS

In connection-oriented service, a virtual connec-tion is established between the source and thedestination before data transfer begins. A virtualconnection is one where certain set-up messagesareexchanged whereby the communicating parties agreeon the format of the data to be exchangedand the rateof its transfer. A virtual connection also implies thatthere is no physical connection between the com-municating parties unlike in the case of atelephone conversation. A typical example of aconnection-oriented service is on-line access to adatabase.

In connection-less service, information is dispatchedto the destination without ascertaining its readinessor agreeability to receive the information. Electronicmail is a typical example of a connection-lessservice.

LAYER FUNCTIIONS

The lowest layerof the OSI Reference Model i.e. thephysical layer, deals with encoding/decoding ofmessages and the bit level transmission of electronicsignals through the available transmissionmedium. The data link layer is concerned with error-free transmission of messages or packets. Its entitiesdeal with error detection,automaticretry, etc. Themain function of the network layer is to organiseinter-network interfaces. The entities of this layerdeal with network addressing, protocol conversion,routing etc. The standards for all these three layersi.e. physical, datalink and network are clubbedtogether into one important ccm standard specifi-cation known as X. 25.

While the lower three layers are considered tobe the responsibility of the network provider, thetransport layer is considered to be the first userlevel layer. This layer is concerned with end-to-end data transfer. For example, transferring afull file from one system to another is theresponsibility of the transport layer.

Session layer is concerned with process synchron-isation, access, security etc. Computer systems fromdifferent manufacturers use different formats forfile storage and data representation, differentterminal types, etc. Across the network, it is neces-sary to have a uniform representation of information

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and this isachieved at the presentation layer.Application layer is the actual user interface and itcomprises entities that implement application re-lated functions. These include File Transfer andAccess Management (FTMl) , Electronic Mailfunction, etc.

In the context of library networks in the OSI envi-ronment, most of the developments would takeplace at the application layer level.

The areas in which standards are being evolvedcurrently are Inter-Library Loan (IlL) and Searchand Retrieve (SR). The specifications of protocolsand servicesfor IIL and SR are to be implemented asentities in the application layer.

INfER LIBRARY LENDING PROTOCOL

As mentioned previously, a standard for anapplication or a function in a network has twodistinct definitions:

service defintion; andprotocol specifications.

Accordingly, two draft proposals (DP) are underconsideration at ISO for Inter Library Lendingapplication. They are:

DP lOHiO - Inter Library Loan ServiceDefinitionDP 10161- Inter Library Loan ProtocolSpecification

The ILL service provides capabilities to request theloan of returnable bibliographic items, such as booksand microfilms or non-returnable items such asphotocopies of journal articles. Related procedures,such as loan renewal, item recall, overdue notifica-tion, etc. are also supported by this service. Theactual interchangeof the request material is not a partof the ILL service and protocol but is achieved byexternal mechanisms like postal service or facsimiletransmission. ILL protocol does not introduce a newmethodology for performing ILL activities but at-tempts to formalise the existing practices in such away that they maybe carried out on Ilnetwork in anautomated environment.

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There are three types of ILL message transmissions:

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simplechainedpartitioned

In a simple ILL transaction, there are only twoparties, the requester and the responder.

In a chained transaction, atleast three parties areinvolved, a requester, a responder and atleast oneintermediary.

In a partitioned transaction, once againatleast threeparties are involved as in the case of chainedtransaction. In the former case, the intermediarywithdraws soon after a firm contact is establishedbetween the requester and the responder whereas inthe latter, the intermediary is active all the time.

SEARCH AND REIRIEV AL

As in the case ofILL, the definition of standard forSearch and Retrieval (SR) function includes bothservice and protocol. They are:

DP 10162 - SR Service DefinitionDP 10163 -SR Protocol Specification.

The SR service is modelled as a pair of applicationprocesses, each of which ~ located in a separate opensystem. Within each application process, there aretwo types of functions: local processing functions,and communications related or OSI related func-tions. The former deals with activities such asdatabase manipulation, query evaluation etc. whilethe latter is concerned with interaction with a peerentity in another system.

An application process may act as a database user

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known as the origin or as a potential database pro-vider known as the target. A search query may besent to a target system where it is applied to a data-base. The query specifies values to be matchedagainst the specified fields of the database. Thesubset of records formed by applying the searchquery is termed as a result set. The result set doesnot necessarilyconsist of the selected records them-selves but could be used as identification pointers tothe required records. A result set maybe manipu-lated in further query standards.

There are sixservice elements defined in SR appli-cation. They are as follows:

INITIALISE"- to initialise communication with adatabase provider for subsequent commands.

SEARCH - permits a database user to search adatabase at a remote site; outcome is a result setPRESENT - permits a database user to retrieverecords from a result set

DELE1E-RESUL T SET - permits a database user todelete a result set at the database provider

SR-RELEASE - permits a database user to orderlyterminate an association

SR-ABORT - permits a database user or databaseprovider to request abrupt termination ofthe associa-tion.

The evolution of standards for other functionsinvolved in the exchange of information over anetwork is addition to ILL and RS. are absolutelyessential to facilitate the members of the scientificcommunity all over the world to access and acquireany document availableanywhere in the world whichmay be of any use to them.

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