Building a Z39.50 client and server

I have built a library system which I am now looking to convert to be Z39.50
compliant. I am coming at this from the viewpoint of having not even heard
of Z39.50 until recently, but I've been doing a fair bit of reading.

My system has two parts to it. One is a client-server system - various users
have the client application which communicates with one central database on
the server. The second part to the system is a web site, which lets users
carry out searches. The requests from the web site are sent to a web
application sitting on the server which then returns a web page with the
results of their search.

Would it be possible for my Z39.50 origin (client) to be a form on a web
page. It would send a request to the target (server) application which would
then return the results.

The target application (the Z39.50 server) would also have to be able to
handle requests from other Z39.50 clients, right?

Also, my Z39.50 client would have to be able to send requests to other
Z39.50 servers?

Can I create my Z39.50 compliant library system through web sites and web
applications acting as my origins and targets respectively? Is that how a
lot of other Z39.50 compliant systems work?

For existing systems, do they use the internet as their network to allow
them to communicate with other library databases that they want to search,
or do they use private networks that have been established between
libraries?

The server in this case would be an NT server. My existing library system
has been written in Delphi.

Thanks,
Stephen

Received on Wednesday, 23 May 2001 08:14:31 UTC