1.

From the Library of Congress, this site gives information about CQL: Contextual Query Language (previously known as Common Query Language. CQL, the Contextual Query Language, is a formal language for representing queries to information retrieval systems such as web indexes, bibliographic catalogues and museum collection information. The design objective is that queries be human readable and writeable, and that the language be intuitive while maintaining the expressiveness of more complex languages.

2.

A draft standard for trial use November 1, 2005 to October 31, 2006, this standard defines a method of describing Information Retrieval oriented electronic services, including but not limited to those services made available via the Z39.50, SRU/SRW, and OAI protocols. The standard addresses the need for machine readable descriptions of services in order to enable automatic discovery of and interaction with previously unknown systems. It specifies an abstract model for service description and a binding to XML for interchange.

3.

Metasearch, parallel search, federated search, broadcast search, cross-database search, search portal are a familiar part of the information community's vocabulary. They speak to the need for search and retrieval to span multiple databases, sources, platforms, protocols, and vendors at one time. Metasearch services rely on a variety of approaches to search and retrieval including open standards (such as NISO's Z39.50), proprietary APIs, and screen scraping. However, the absence of widely supported standards, best practices, and tools makes the metasearch environment less efficient for the system provider, the content provider, and ultimately the end-user. To move toward industry solutions NISO sponsored a Metasearch Initiative to enable: metasearch service providers to offer more effective and responsive services; content providers to deliver enhanced content and protect their intellectual property; and libraries to deliver services that distinguish their services from Google and other free web services.

4.

OpenSearch is a set of simple formats for the sharing of search results. Any website that has a search feature can make their results available in OpenSearch format. Other tools can then read those search results, for example, an aggregator that brings together search results from many websites. OpenSearch is an open format with a Creative Commons license. Rather than reinventing the wheel, it uses the simple and very popular syndication formats RSS and Atom, along with a document describing the search engine.

5.

This document defines the OpenSearch description document, the OpenSearch Query element, the OpenSearch URL template syntax, and the OpenSearch response elements. Collectively these formats may be referred to as OpenSearch 1.1 or simply OpenSearch. Search clients can use OpenSearch description documents to learn about the public interface of a search engine. These description documents contain parameterised URL templates that indicate how the search client should make search requests. Search engines can use the OpenSearch response elements to add search metadata to results in a variety of content formats.

6.

ISO 2146 (Registry Services for Libraries and Related Organisations) is an international standard currently under development by ISO TC46 SC4 WG7 to operate as a framework for building registry services for libraries and related organisations. It takes the form of an information model that identifies the objects and data elements needed for the collaborative construction of registries of all types. It is not bound to any specific protocol or data schema. The aim is to be as abstract as possible, in order to facilitate a shared understanding of the common processes involved, across multiple communities of practice.

7.

A Specification for SQI. Triggered by the recent work on learning objects metadata on the one hand, and the Semantic Web initiative on the other, researchers in technology-enhanced learning have increasingly identified the need for making learning repositories interoperable. In this paper an Application Program Interface (API) for querying learning objects repositories is presented. This work is partly sponsored by the CEN/ISSS Workshop on Learning Technologies, with contribution from: Ariadne, Celebrate, Edutella, Elena, EduSource, ProLearn, Universal/EducaNext and Zing.

8.

SRU is a standard XML-focused search protocol for Internet search queries, utilizing CQL (Contextual Query Language), a standard syntax for representing queries. This site describes the operations defined in SRU. 'searchRetrieve' is the basic operation by which all queries and responses are passed between database and client. The 'explain' operation retrieves a document describing the capabilities of the server.

9.

On this page you can read introductions to and obtain detailed information on ZING Initiatives such as SRW, CQL, ZOOM, ez3950, and ZeeRex.