This document provides detailed technical information for Z39.50 and SRU client developers and implementors that is necessary in order to access and interwork with the LC Voyager Server (implemented August 31, 1999). This document assumes a general familiarity with Z39.50 and SRU.
The LC Voyager Z39.50 Server conforms to Z39.50-1995 (Version 3) of the standard. A subset of attributes from the bib-1 attribute set are supported, and codes from the bib-1 diagnostic set are utilized.
LC has implemented Index Data's MetaProxy, which is functioning as an SRW/SRU/Z39.50 gateway to LC's various Voyager and Zebra Z39.50 servers. The SRW and SRU Web services conform to version 1.1 of the standard.
Please send questions to Ray Denenberg at rden@loc.gov
The LC server supports the following services:
Initialization Search Present
The LC SRW/SRU server supports the following services:
Explain searchRetrieve
Library of Congress Online Catalog
Domain name: lx2.loc.gov (140.147.249.67)
Port: 210
Database name: LCDB (UTF-8 records)
Database name: LCDB_MARC8 (MARC-8 records)
Availability: 24 hours/day; 7 days/week
Z39.50 Explain record: LC Online Catalog Z39.50 Explain Record
SRU Base URL: http://lx2.loc.gov:210/LCDB?
SRU Explain record: LC Online Catalog SRU Explain Record
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
International Union Catalog
Domain name: lx2.loc.gov (140.147.249.67)
Port: 210
Database name: NLSBPH (UTF-8 records)
Database name: NLSBPH_MARC8 (MARC-8 records)
Availability: 24 hours/day; 7 days/week
Z39.50 Explain record: NLS/BPH Explain Record
SRU Base URL: http://lx2.loc.gov:210/NLSBPH?
SRU Explain record: NLSBPH SRU Explain Record
Handbook of Latin American Studies
Domain name: lx2.loc.gov (140.147.249.67)
Port: 210
Database name: HLAS (UTF-8 records)
Database name HLAS_MARC8 (MARC-8 records)
Availability: 24 hours/day; 7 days/week
Z39.50 Explain record: HLAS Explain Record
SRU Base URL: http://lx2.loc.gov:210/HLAS?
SRU Explain record: HLAS SRU Explain Record
Name Authority File
Domain name: lx2.loc.gov (140.147.249.67)
Port: 210
Database name: NAF (UTF-8 records)
Availability: 24 hours/day; 7 days/week
SRU Base URL: http://lx2.loc.gov:210/NAF?
SRU Explain record: NAF SRU Explain Record
Subject Authority File
Domain name: lx2.loc.gov (140.147.249.67)
Port: 210
Database name: SAF (UTF-8 records)
Availability: 24 hours/day; 7 days/week
SRU Base URL: http://lx2.loc.gov:210/SAF?
SRU Explain record: SAF SRU Explain Record
Note: IP address of production server was "140.147.237.50" prior to May 2000.
IP address of production server was "140.147.249.38" from 2000-2010.
Protocol Version
Z39.50-1995 (Version 3)
Options Supported
Search
Present
Preferred Message Size
LC will negotiate Client down to 32,768 bytes if requested size exceeds
32,768 bytes, and accept Client proposal if it is less than 32,768 bytes.
Maximum Record Size
Server will accept Client proposal
ID Authentication
User-id and password are not required by LC Server
Result Set Name
Only "default" is supported (case insensitive)
Database Names
"LCDB" Library of Congress Bibliographic Database (UTF-8)
"LCDB_MARC8" Library of Congress Bibliographic Database (MARC-8)
"HLAS" Handbook of Latin American Studies (UTF-8)
"HLAS_MARC8" Handbook of Latin American Studies (MARC-8)
"NLSBPH" National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (UTF-8)
"NLSBPH_MARC8" National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (MARC-8)
"AllVoyager" LCDB, HLAS, and NLSBPH (UTF-8 only)
"NAF" Name Authority File (UTF-8 only)
"SAF" Subject Authority File (UTF-8 only)
Query
Type-1 only is supported
Attribute Set ID
Bib-1 only is supported
Operand
The Result Set ID (i.e., "default") cannot be used in the Operand.
Qualifying searches are not supported
Operators Supported:
AND
OR
AND-NOT
Result Set Maximum is 10,000 records
Session Inactivity Timer
3 minutes
Record Syntaxes Supported
MARC 21 (OID = 1.2.840.10003.5.10)
OPAC (OID = 1.2.840.10003.5.102)
XML (OID = 1.2.840.10003.5.109.10)
Element Set Names Supported
Bibliographic Databases
"F" -- Full (MARC and OPAC records)
"dc" -- Dublin Core (XML records)
"mods" -- MODS (XML records)
"marcxml" -- MARCXML (XML records), default schema for XML
"opacxml" -- MARCXML with holdings attached
Authority Databases
"F" -- Full MARC records
"marcxml" -- MARCXML (XML records), default schema for XML
"mads" -- MADS (XML records)
Present Response Maximum is 50 records
"dc" -- Dublin Core (bibliographic records) "mads" -- MADS (authority records) "mods" -- MODS (bibliographic records) "marcxml" -- MARCXML - the default schema "opacxml" -- MARCXML (wth holdings attached)
Bibliographic Databases (LCDB, NLSBPH, and HLAS)
Dublin Core Index
dc.author
dc.creator
dc.date
dc.description
dc.publisher
dc.resourceType
dc.resourceIdentifier
dc.source
dc.subject
dc.title
Bath Index
bath.any
bath.author
bath.conferenceName
bath.corporateAuthor
bath.corporateName
bath.genreForm
bath.geographicName
bath.isbn
bath.issn
bath.keyTitle
bath.lcCallNumber
bath.lccn
bath.name
bath.note
bath.personalAuthor
bath.personalName
bath.publisher
bath.publisherNumber
bath.seriesTitle
bath.standardIdentifier
bath.subject
bath.title
bath.topicalSubject
bath.uniformTitle
Name Authority File (NAF)
Bath Index
bath.any
bath.authorityFormatID
bath.codeInstitution
bath.conferenceName
bath.corporateName
bath.geographicName
bath.isbn
bath.issn
bath.lcCallNumber
bath.lccn
bath.name
bath.note
bath.personalName
bath.standardIdentifier
bath.subject
bath.title
bath.uniformTitle
Local Index
local.codeGeographic
local.dateTimeAdded
local.dateTimeLastModified
local.geographicClass
local.id
local.mapScale
local.musicalTheme
local.primaryHeading
Subject Authority File (SAF)
Bath Index
bath.any
bath.authorityFormatID
bath.codeInstitution
bath.conferenceName
bath.corporateName
bath.geographicName
bath.isbn
bath.issn
bath.lcCallNumber
bath.lccn
bath.name
bath.note
bath.personalName
bath.standardIdentifier
bath.subject
bath.title
bath.uniformTitle
Local Index
local.codeGeographic
local.dateTimeAdded
local.dateTimeLastModified
local.geographicClass
local.id
local.mapScale
local.musicalTheme
local.primaryHeading
local.subjectConferenceName
local.subjectCorporatName
local.subjectGenre
local.subjectGeographicName
local.subjectPersonalName
local.subjectTopical
local.subjectSubdivision
local.subjectSubdivisionChronological
local.subjectSubdivisionForm
local.subjectSubdivisionGeneral
local.subjectSubdivisionGeographical
Bibliographic Databases (LCDB, NLSBPH, and HLAS)
Value Description
----- -------------------------
1 Personal name
2 Corporate name
3 Conference name
4 Title
5 Title series
6 Uniform title
7 ISBN
8 ISSN
9 LCCN
13 Dewey classification
16 LC call number
17 NLM call number
20 Other call number
21 Subject heading
25 MeSH subject heading
27 LC subject heading
31 Date of publication
33 Title -- key
41 Title -- variant
42 Title -- former
43 Title -- abbreviated
48 Number -- national bibliography
50 Number -- government pub.
51 Number -- music publisher
54 Code -- language
55 Code -- geographic area
56 Code -- institution
57 Name and title
58 Name geographic
59 Place of publication
60 CODEN
62 Abstract
63 Note
1002 Name
1003 Author
1004 Author (personal name)
1005 Author (corporate name)
1007 Standard identifier
1008 LC children's subject
1009 Subject (personal name)
1016 Any (keyword)
1018 Name of publisher
1019 Location
1027 Standard technical report number
1031 Material type (245$h)
1032 Electronic location and access
1056 Dissertation note
1074 Subject (name)
1078 Subject (title)
1079 Subject (topical)
1107 Additional format note
1185 Credits/performers
1209 Electronic access
Name Authority File (NAF)
Value Description
----- -------------------------
1 Personal name
2 Corporate name
3 Conference name
4 Title
6 Uniform title
7 ISBN
8 ISSN
9 LCCN (010)
12 Local control number (035)
13 Dewey classification
16 LC call number
21 Subject heading
55 Code -- geographic area
56 Code -- institution
58 Name geographic
63 Note
1002 Name
1007 Standard identifier
1011 Date/time added to database
1012 Date/time record last modified
1013 Authentication code
1016 Any (keyword)
1022 Geographic classification
1024 Coded map mathematical data
1206 Musical incipits
5002 Primary heading
5009 Record ID (001)
Subject Authority File (SAF)
Value Description
----- -------------------------
1 Personal name
2 Corporate name
3 Conference name
4 Title
6 Uniform title
7 ISBN
8 ISSN
9 LCCN (010)
12 Local control number (035)
13 Dewey classification
16 LC call number
21 Subject heading
47 Subject subdivision
55 Code -- geographic area
56 Code -- institution
58 Name geographic
63 Note
1002 Name
1007 Standard identifier
1011 Date/time added to database
1012 Date/time record last modified
1013 Authentication code
1016 Any (keyword)
1022 Geographic classification
1024 Coded map mathematical data
1073 Subject-name conference
1074 Subject-name corporate
1075 Subject-genre/form
1076 Subject-name geographical
1079 Subject topical
5002 Primary heading
5009 Record ID (001)
5075 Subject subdivision form
5076 Subject subdivision geographical
5077 Subject subdivision chronological
5079 Subject subdivision general
Value Description
----- ---------------
3 Equal
Values other than "3" are accepted, but not regarded.
Value Description
----- ---------------
1 First in field
3 Any
Value Description
----- ---------------
1 Phrase
Values other than "1" are accepted, but not regarded.
Value Description
----- ---------------
1 Right truncation
100 Do not truncate
Value Description
----- --------------------
1 Incomplete subfield
Values other than "1" are accepted, but not regarded.
Requirements and Defaults: The Use attribute is REQUIRED.
For the other attributes, if an attribute type and value are
not supplied by the client, the following defaults are
applied at LC:
RELATION: -- Equal (value=3)
POSITION: -- Any (value=3)
STRUCTURE: -- Phrase (value=1)
TRUNCATION: -- Do not truncate (value=100)
COMPLETENESS: -- Incomplete subfield (value=1)
Keyword searches (i.e., Position attribute = "any-position-in-field"):
Keyword search terms can appear anywhere in the field.
If multiple words appear in the same search term, the search
term will be processed as a phrase (ordered, adjacent word list).
If the words appear in separate operands (ANDed together) they can
appear in different fields in the same record.
Personal name keywords: A keyword search term can be the first,
middle, or last name. If more than one name appears in the search
term of a keyword search, the order is significant. Last name
should precede first name.
Keyword indexing does not include phrases that cross subfield
boundaries. If the search term contains a phrase that may cross
subfield boundaries (e.g., subject heading, LC call number, etc.),
use a left-anchored (right-truncated) search. (In other words,
Position attribute = "first-in-field"; Truncation attribute =
"right truncation".)
Phrase searches (i.e., multiple-word search terms):
Phrase search terms can appear anywhere in the field.
Phrase searches that include the "First-in-field" Position
attribute should begin with the first significant word in
the field.
Boolean operators cannot be used with phrase searches that
include the "First-in-field" Position attribute.
Personal name phrase searches: The order in which the names appear
in the search term is significant. In other words, the surname
should appear first (with or without comma) in order to match
against entry fields in LC indexes.
Number searches (ISBN, ISSN, LCCN, etc.):
Use a hyphen in all ISSN search terms (e.g., 1234-5678).
Do not include hyphens in ISBN or LCCN search terms.
LCCN search terms should be in normalized format (i.e., include
any prefix, spaces, or zero fill). For example, LCCN 91-13
should be "91000013" in the search term.
Qualifying Searches:
Searches are not supported against previous result sets.
Wild Card/Truncation:
The questions mark ("?") is supported as a truncation character.
Sort Order:
Records are sorted by the contents of the MARC 245 field.
There is a limit of 10,000 records that can be retrieved in a result
set.
Since March 4, 2002, the LC server supports the complete MARC 21
character set. Diacritics and special characters present in
records returned by the Z39.50 server are now encoded correctly.
When the Voyager server result set is a medium or a small set (based on
the size of result set in relation to large-set, small-set, and
medium-set number parameters in the Search Request) the following
three encoding problems can result:
1) When records are expected in the Search Response (e.g., a
medium set or a small set), the presentStatus is a "0"
(success) instead of a "5" (failure).
2) When a non-surrogate diagnostic record is returned instead
of result set records in the Search Response, the value
of numberOfRecordsReturned is a "0" instead of a "1".
3) The non-surrogate diagnostic record never contains an
addInfo (which is mandatory in the standard).
If these problems are making interworking with the Voyager server
difficult, it is suggested that the client small-set and medium-set
number be set to zero and the large-set to one (making every set a
large set) until these server problems have been corrected by Endeavor.
Library of Congress
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