The eXtensible Catalog (XC) is thrilled to announce the release of an NCIP test bed that works with the XC NCIP 2 Toolkit (NCIP protocol 2.x).     The test bed is an installed XC NCIP Toolkit that connects to a training ILS and supports a subset of NCIP services.   We envision growing the test bed over time.    Please note that testers are interacting with the installed NCIP Toolkit, not with the ILS directly.

Instructions for the test bed: http://code.google.com/p/xcncip2toolkit/wiki/TestBed

The test page for the test bed can be accessed via Firefox at http://xc-ncip.carli.illinois.edu:8080/ncipv2/ and we are supplying some sample XML to make things easier.

NCIP initiators,  such as developers for resource discovery products, and other interested parties can use the test bed to test supported  NCIP services. Testing can be done either via the use of a test page or by directly POSTing XML requests as outlined on the project wiki.  The test bed currently supports the following services.  

• Lookup User
• Lookup Item Set
• Renew Item

Testing of Lookup User and Lookup Item Set can be done by anyone at anytime.  Renew Item will actually change underlying data in the ILS.   If you wish to test “Renew Item” we ask that you be in contact with Randall Cook at rcook@library.rochester.edu so he can facilitate who is using the Renew features at any given time.    The ILS database will be restored back to baseline each evening.

We would like to send along HUGE thanks to CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois) for hosting the test bed and to Patrick Zurek, one of their developers, for making this possible.  This test bed is a great way to showcase the work of open source development contributions that have been made by several other institutions.

Along with the test bed release, we also wish to announce the newest Voyager connector (and new core) as summarized in the release notes http://code.google.com/p/xcncip2toolkit/wiki/VoyagerReleaseNotes.

The open source community of software developers working on and supporting the eXtensible Catalog’s (XC) NCIP Toolkit is pleased to announce the release of new software:

• NCIP Core – required for all installations
• SirsiDynix Symphony connector – currently written for resource sharing purposes.
• Ex Libris Voyager connector – currently written for resource discovery purposes.

For several months a group of developers from OCLC, eXtensible Catalog Organization (XCO), Lehigh University, Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), University of North Carolina –Charlotte, and Notre Dame have been working on a revision of the original XC NCIP Toolkit to support version 2 of the NCIP protocol. This software release represents the result of that work so far.

The best way to ask questions is by signing up for and using the NCIP Toolkit mailing list. The developers involved in the released code have all agreed to field questions as they come in. Sign up for the NCIP Toolkit mailing list as well as other XC lists.