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Client/server computing and the adoption of the World Wide Web make it possible for academic libraries to build a new generation of automated library systems that present locally mounted and remote resources through a common interface. This article recounts the issues and technologies encountered by the Iowa State University Library as it undertook this process, with particular emphasis on the integration of Z39.50-accessible databases with Web technology.
With the ready availability of hundreds of electronic databases and thousands of Internet resources, it is no longer enough for an automated library system to consist of an online catalog and a handful of citation databases available over a campus network. Rather, an integrated approach is called for to allow access to a broad range of electronic resources through a common interface and to provide sufficient descriptive information online to guide users in the selection of appropriate resources. Large academic libraries have been in the forefront of building the new generation of library systems with components drawn from client/server computing, the Internet, and information standards such as Z39.50. Above all, the World Wide Web has made it possible to build an integrated user interface to electronic resources, which combines descriptive and computer-based training materials with access to a carefully chosen set of bibliographic, full-text, and Internet resources.
At the time the Web achieved worldwide attention in 1993 with the release of the Mosaic Internet browser, academic libraries had long been planning significant changes to their automated library systems. These changes were in response to a major transition taking place within computing in general. The centralized computing environment, characterized by large mainframe computers and networks of dedicated terminals, was giving way to a distributed computing environment, characterized by client/server computing products and networks of widely distributed database servers. In particular, the linkage of library systems to the Internet and the maturation of the Z39.50 protocol offered the prospect of accessing an ever-increasing array of bibliographic and full-text databases through the local automated system. Databases would no longer have to be mounted locally, but could be accessed over the Internet from library service bureaus or through consortial agreements with other institutions. The greatest benefit of Z39.50 was that it offered the potential of directly searching any database through the...