z39.50 use attributes for aleph

• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 19.01

Description:
What are the use attributes for searching our aleph catalog by z39.50? Specifically, what is the use attribute for searching our opac for OCLC number?

Resolution:
Use attributes for your database are defined in the Z39_server_ABC01PUB.conf file, found in the $alephe_tab/z39_server directory (ABC01PUB is your standard logical base used for OPAC searching and defined in tab_base.eng):

#w Aleph Use-value
word wrd 1016
word wrd 1017
word wau 1
word wau 1003
word wau 1004
word wti 4
word wsu 21
word wyr 30
word wyr 31
word isbn 7
word sys 12
word stidn 1007
word wfm 1031


There is no entry for the OCL direct index, but there is one form STIDN, which includes the 035, along with ISBN and ISSN. The Use Attribute configured for STIDN is 1007.

If you want to assign a separate Use Attribute to the OCL index specifically, you can just add it to this table. For example:

word ocl 1099

The standard Bib-1 Attribute Set doesn't designate a specific Use Attribute to the 035 tag, but you're free to configure whatever you want. You probably shouldn't pick a value that is already defined in the Set, so I would pick a number greater than 1036.

The full Bib-1 Attribute Set can be found in Appendix 3 of the Z39.50 Protocl Specification, which is available for free on the NISO web site.

If you do alter the conf file, be sure to restart the z39_server process.

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013