XML editor for search and retrieval of bibliographic records in the Z39.50 standard

The purpose of this paper is modelling and implementation of the XML‐based editor for search and retrieval of bibliographic records. Search and retrieval of bibliographic records are enabled by the editor from the remote databases via the Z39.50 protocol. The client application is realized in the Java environment and business logic is based on the XML technologies.

Object‐oriented methodology is used for modelling and implementation of information systems. Modelling is done in the CASE tools that support the Unified Modelling Language (UML 2.0) and implementation is developed in Eclipse environment.

The result is an application for retrieving bibliographic records within the Z39.50 standard. The editor supports the query formulation of the type‐1 that is defined by the Z39.50 standard. The implementation of the editor is based on the XML technologies by which a simple migration to the other query types defined by the standard is enabled. The application is verified by search and retrieval of the bibliographic records from several libraries that support the Z39.50 protocol.

The editor supports only type‐1 query that is modelled in XML schema language. Addition of other types of queries should require their modelling in XML schema as well as corresponding changes of the screen forms.

The editor is integrated into the BISIS software system. In that way, the retrieval of the bibliographic record is enabled from the world's libraries that use the Z39.50 protocol. The retrieved record is stored into the object structure that is later processed in the editor for bibliographic material processing of the BISIS system.

The contribution of this work is in the software system architecture that is based on the XML technologies and independent of the standard by which the query language is defined as well as independent of the software system into which the system is integrated. The XML schema of the query language is the input information into the editor software system, thus the introduction of a new query type consists of creation of the corresponding XML schema of the query language. After the query was run, a set of results that could be retrieved in the form of the XML document is obtained and processed in the same form in different software systems.