What is the relationship between the Open Archives Metadata Harvesting Protocol and other protocols such as Z39.50?
The OAI technical framework is intentionally simple with the intent of providing a low barrier for participants. Protocols such as Z39.50 have more complete functionality; for example, they deal with session management and results sets and allow the specification of predicates that filter the records returned. However, this functionality comes at an increase in difficulty of implementation and cost. The OAI technical framework is not intended to replace other approaches but to provide an easy-to-implement and easy-to-deploy alternative for different constituencies or different purposes than those addressed by existing interoperability solutions. Continued use of the OAI-PMH will prove whether such low-barrier interoperability is realistic and functional.
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