October 16, 1993 EXPANDING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON THE NISO Z39.50 SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL STANDARD Charles R. McClure William E. Moen School of Information Studies Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244 Phone: 315-443-2911 FAX: 315-443-5806 Email: Abstract Agencies of the Federal government increasingly use information technology to create, process, store, and disseminate information in digital form. Recent policy decisions such as the revised Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources," direct agencies to make public information available in electronic formats and to develop the mechanisms by which they can disseminate this information using the emerging national information infrastructure. One major barrier to effective citizen access to public electronic information is the lack of directories and other finding tools to determine information resources Federal agencies hold and disseminate. A recent project by the authors ("Identifying and Describing Federal Information Inventory/Locator Systems: Design for Networked-Based Locators" by Charles R. McClure, Joe Ryan, and William E. Moen) concluded that an agency-based, network-accessible Government Information Locator could assist users to access and agencies to disseminate public information. To advance the development of this Government Information Locator Service (GILS), the Interagency Working Group on Data Management for Global Change is funding a cooperative agreement between the United States Geological Survey and Syracuse University, School of Information Studies. McClure and Moen, co-principal investigators, are coordinating a research project focused on the use of open systems standards to improve the utility of information searching and retrieval on digital networks. More specifically, the project has as its objectives to: o Expand research and development on the American National Standard for information searching and retrieval (ANSI/NISO Z39.50) for its application in facilitating public access to Federal information resources and speeding the development of interoperable systems o Build consensus of major stakeholders on the manner in which ANSI/NISO Z39.50 can be applied in GILS implementations o Develop an application profile for a networked-based GILS implementations which references ANSI/NISO Z39.50 and other standards for use in the Internet environment o Support and encourage test implementations of the profile by interested parties to provide evaluations of the profile and for interoperability testing. The project will bring together a research team of experts on ANSI/NISO Z39.50 and Federal information resources to carry out the objectives of the project. The project began September 7, 1993 and is scheduled for completion in February 1994. A variety of implementors now use ANSI/NISO Z39.50 in applications for networked-based information searching and retrieval, and this project will build on the experience and expertise available from these early implementors. Federal agencies view this standard as providing the basis for locator applications. Agency staff have outlined the functionality needed for the GILS, and the profile development that is the goal of this project will address these user requirements and at the same time provide specific guidance for implementations of the GILS. Constructing a standards-based GILS, based on a widely accepted application profile, will ensure interoperability and interworking of the agency implementations. As important, the standards- based GILS will ensure wider access to Federal information resources. A summary report of the project will be available in June 1994 and will document the activities, products, and accomplishments of the project.