Comment 7 for bug 42834

On 2006-05-09 at 21:37, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> So the question is : what's Z39.50, and why should we include
> support for it in the package ?

Z39.50 is an old protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote databases. It's important because it's the standard used by major libraries--so while Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc use web services, people like the British Library and Library of Congress still mainly use Z39.50

Support for Z39.50 in Alexandria is important for anybody who wants to retrieve accurate bibliographic data for older books, which won't show up on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble databases. I work on late-19th and early-20th-century literature, for example, and about half the books in my library are pre-ISBN. I'd like to catalogue them accurately using my British Library logon, and according to sections 8.2.3 and 8.2.5 of the Alexandria manual (V0.0.7) I can do this.

However, the relevant options don't appear in this build.