How to use VDX

For your library to participate as a lender in VDX your Z39.50 server must be reliably accessible full-time by the INFO VDX servers. Please make your systems department aware that we need to know the status of your Z39.50 target.

If your library is making any of the following changes, please let OLS HelpDesk know.

• Is your Z39.50 server going to be down for maintenance for a significant period?
• Has your Z39.50 server crashed? Will it be down for a significant period of time?
• Are you changing or upgrading the System you are using?
  • If you switch systems or upgrade your current system, INFO VDX must be reconfigured for your target to function properly in VDX.
  • After an upgrade ensure that your target can still be searched in INFO VDX by author, title, and most importantly ISBN.
  • It is important that holdings are displayed in the bibliographic record. If you have switched to a new system it will typically use a different holdings display field. This must be reconfigured in INFO VDX.
• Has the IP address/hostname and/or port number for your Z39.50 server changed?
• Have you installed a new firewall or made changes to an existing firewall?
• Are there any bandwidth issues for your library's Z39.50 server that might impact the VDX server's access to it?
• Have you noticed a decrease in responder requests? It may be because INFO VDX can no longer access your Z39.50 server for one of the reasons above.

For more information on the Z39.50 protocol see:

• Z39.50 Maintenance Agency Page Library of Congress, 2011
• Z39.50 Resource Page National Information Standards Organization