In the absence of a union catalogue in Ireland, libraries in Ireland depend heavily on the resources of the British Library to service their interlending requirements. In the very recent past, before web catalogues, even identifying where a book or journal resided within the country could be problematic and time consuming, particularly for anyone outside of the information profession. Library managers were aware that existing resources in Irish libraries were not being fully utilised, and were seeking a solution which would more fully exploit local collections.
A computerised method of linking geographically distributed library databases was investigated, and joint funding acquired under the Commission of the European Communities Telematique programme in April 1992. Six libraries agreed to proceed on the basis of a feasibility study into the technical and business options, which was carried out by Euristix Ltd, in autumn 1992: Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Galway, University of Limerick and Forbairt (now Enterprise Ireland).
By mid-1992, it had become apparent that the technical architecture would have to be client-server based. At around the same time, version 2 of the Z39.50 protocol was documented and issued as an ISO standard. The Z39.50 protocol is a retrieval protocol for a computerised environment, which allows client applications to query databases on remote servers, to retrieve results, and to perform some basic retrieval related functions.
The main advantage of Z39.50 client software is that it can be designed to retrieve and display information from databases on target servers, regardless of the software/hardware platform or the type of database engine or library system which stores the catalogue records. If the server is also configured to operate with the Z39.50 protocol, information can be exchanged. This concept was important in the Irish context, as the colleges and institutions involved in the original IRIS project used a number of different library management systems.
If a user interface could be designed to allow a researcher to search across the catalogues of the participating libraries, with the Z39.50 protocol as the underlying retrieval mechanism, a virtual distributed catalogue could be set up. Furthermore, item requesting functionality, based on email links to the participating libraries, could be built into the system, to enable its use as a document supply service.
Fretwell-Downing, a Sheffield based software company was commissioned to produce the original IRIS software based on the 1992 version 2 protocol, and the software was launched in December 1993. It was accessible on the Internet via Telnet. The software interface was easy to use and allowed subscribers to search across the catalogues, request the item online and send the request to the appropriate inter-library loan department. A gateway to the U.S. based UnCover service further enhanced the service. UnCover provided access to their database of journal article citations, and customised their database to provide information on holdings within the participating libraries.
IRIS operated as a commercial document supply service, aimed at libraries and business information clients. A service agency was run by Forbairt, who were involved as one of the partner libraries. Project management was operated by Annette Kelly of An Comhairle Leabharlanna, in conjunction with the board of IRIS, which comprised the librarians of the participating institutions. IRIS itself was incorporated as a limited company, IRIS Document Supply Services Ltd.
IRIS was one of the first Z39.50 services in Europe, and one of the most advanced technical applications of the protocol in existence at that time. Almost all work up to that point was theoretical or research-based. The practical experience of implementing the protocol was invaluable and has ensured that the Irish library community has continued to be at the cutting edge of Z39.50 development.
As an operational interlending service however, it had to contend with the technical difficulties associated with the early adoption of a developing software standard. Maintaining constant Z39.50 connections with the participating library servers could be problematic. The extent to which individual library systems software differed in their interpretation and configuration of the standard was apparent to IRIS members from the early days, but this was not addressed by the software community involved in the development of the standard until very recently, and is the focus of ongoing discussion and technical analysis. These interoperability problems have been highlighted by several studies, the most comprehensive of which has been carried out by the National Library of Canada, in the course of developing the Canadian VUC (Virtual Union Catalogue), and the Chicago based CIC. It is hoped that the difficulties encountered by libraries using the Z39.50 protocol to retrieve information across multiple systems will be further decreased by the widespread adoption of the Bath Profile and the conformance of library system Z servers to the profile requirements should enable multi-target searching to operate with a higher level of precision and accuracy.
In early 1997, the board of IRIS limited took the decision to operate on a consortial basis and also appointed a manager to further develop the software and carry out the day to day operation of IRIS Ltd. Technological developments in the IT world had moved on considerably from the inception of IRIS. Windows and graphical user interfaces were now the de facto standard for PC users, and the World Wide Web was increasingly becoming the medium of choice for computerised information retrieval. The original IRIS software was character based and accessed via Telnet on the Internet. After researching the available options, it was decided to migrate to a web based Z39.50 client server system, retaining the interlibrary loan functionality.
The SEREN suite of software (Sharing of Educational Resources in an Electronic Network), developed by a Welsh consortium of Higher Education institutions, has been chosen as the client software for the IRIS OPAC and interlibrary loan system. HEAnet limited act as the IRIS server host. An IRIS website was set up, and now acts as a front-end into the systems, an information point for users of the IRIS OPAC, and a technical information point for Z39.50 developments for librarians and computer systems staff implementing the standard.
Sources:
Peare, J.D. Trevor "IRIS - a Z39.50 national information system" The New Review of Information Networking 1995 Vol.1, p17-32.
Lynch, Clifford A. "Building the infrastructure of resource sharing: union catalogues, distributed and cross-database linkage" Library Trends 45(3) Winter 1997, p448-461.
Coyle, Karen "The Virtual Union Catalogue: A Comparative Study" D-Lib, Vol. 6 (3) March 2000. Http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march00/coyle/03coyle.html
Hinnebusch, Mark "Report to the CIC on the state of Z39.50 within the consortium" 1998. Http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/cli/z39-50report.htm
Lunau, Carrol D et al. "Virtual Canadian Union Catalogue Pilot Project. Final Report". Http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/resource/vcuc/vcfinrep.pdf
Lunau Carrol D, Miller Paul, Moen William E on behalf of the Bath Group "The Bath Profile: An international Z39.50 Specification for Library Applications and Resource Discovery". Http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/activities/z3950/int_profile/bath/
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