5.A. Functional Area A: Bibliographic Search and Retrieval
Functional Area A addresses the requirements of basic search and retrieval among and between electronic resource descriptions with specific focus on bibliographic and related databases of library catalogues. Three Conformance Levels for bibliographic search and retrieval are specified.
Functional Area A uses the following Z39.50 Objects:
| Object |
OID |
Z-client |
Z-server |
| bib-1 attribute set |
1.2.840.10003.3.1 |
X |
X |
| bib-1 diagnostic set |
1.2.840.10003.4.1 |
X |
X |
| UNIMARC record syntax |
1.2.840.10003.5.1 |
* |
* |
| MARC21 record syntax |
1.2.840.10003.5.10 |
X |
X |
| SUTRS |
1.2.840.10003.5.101 |
X |
** |
* Z-clients and Z-servers are not required to support UNIMARC, but it is strongly recommended.
** Z-servers may return records in SUTRS format (instead of MARC21) for business or copyright reasons.
Record Syntax "support" means that the Z-server can deliver any record in a result set formatted in a required record syntax, and a Z-client can receive and process for display or other uses any record formatted in a required record syntax. Exceptional server situations may override this required syntax requirement (e.g., database temporarily not available). Local policies may also restrict access to records in one or more specific record syntaxes to authorized users. In such cases, the server should return the appropriate diagnostic. Servers that provide records in selected record syntaxes for specific authorized users should use bib-1 Diagnostic #1070: "User not authorized to receive this record in requested syntax".
Default behavior by Z-clients or Z-servers is precluded by this profile. The profile requires that Z-clients formulate queries using all the specified attribute types and values (below), and requires Z-servers to process all of the attribute types (i.e., do not ignore any attribute types or values in the query). Z-servers that do not support specific attribute types and values must return a diagnostic message. See http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/contributions/1.html for the appropriate diagnostic to return for specific error conditions. Z-clients and Z-servers may support additional searches that use bib-1 attribute type values not specified in this profile. In those cases, Z-clients should specify in a query all values for all 6 attribute types and Z-servers should be prepared to respond to such a query (no defaults).
A keyword search in this profile is defined as a search that matches the specified character string (i.e., the search term) against a word(s) in the record as characterized by the use attribute value. A word may be a single alphanumeric character or a string of characters bounded by spaces or characters treated as spaces by the server. Keyword searches are formulated according to the ZIG Clarification #54, Z39.50 Keyword Searching of Bibliographic Systems see http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/clarify/keyword.html. However, where the Clarification leaves some attribute values unspecified, this profile specifies values for all attribute types. Where a keyword search contains multiple words, each word is a separate term with associated bib-1 attributes to form an operand within the query. Searches with multiple operands are combined with a Boolean operator. Operands can be formulated using searches defined for the levels of conformance (e.g., in Level 0 an operand to express a Title Keyword Search combined with an operand to express a Subject Keyword Search). Servers which support a limited number of operands return an appropriate diagnostic.
This profile does not specify data elements or indexes to be mapped to the required bib-1 use attributes. It recognizes that indexing practices may vary based on local needs. However, it assumes that in library catalogue implementations:
-
An author search will look for matches in an index(es) derived from data elements containing names used as main entry, added entry, or series author
-
A title search will look for matches in an index(es) derived from data elements containing the general title and alternative titles such as series title, uniform title, and variant titles; statement of responsibility is not generally considered part of a title search
-
A subject search will look for matches in an index(es) derived from data elements containing subjects (e.g., topical subject, geographical subject, title as subject, and names as subject) with no expectation that the search term is from an authoritative subject heading list
-
An "any" search will search commonly used access points defined by the server; for each level of searching that specifies author, title and subject searches, an "any" search should look for matches in the indexes related to those access points.
Since servers are required to support a minimum number of well-defined searches for each conformance level, they should be able to process a query that combines operands that express searches across different indexes (i.e., cross-index searching).
The Bath Profile uses the bib-1 Attribute Set when specifying searches; however, information retrieval systems work with indexes and access points. Throughout this section, where the terms field and/or subfield are used in Attribute Names (e.g., Incomplete Subfield), the term should be interpreted to mean access point.
