A cross-institution group of open source developers is pleased to announce the release of the XC NCIP Toolkit version 1.0.   This includes the version 1.0 releases for the NCIP Toolkit Core Code as well as the SirsiDynix Symphony and the Ex Libris Voyager connectors.  This version of the NCIP Toolkit is compatible with version 2.0 of the NCIP standard.

The release represents a significant advancement in NCIP Toolkit Core Code coverage for NCIP services as well as stability.  The NCIP standard contains a large number of possible NCIP messages and the previous version of the core handled support for the most commonly used messages but not all NCIP messages.  With this release, a connector developer can now make use of any NCIP message without needing the core code to be modified.  

No new functionality is introduced in the Voyager or SirsiDynix connectors but they have been enhanced and tested to work with the new core code.  Note they are not backward compatible.

Please see the release notes for more detailed information of the release http://code.google.com/p/xcncip2toolkit/wiki/CoreReleaseNotes

Considerable (and great) work toward this release was done by the following developers:

·         John Bodfish from OCLC
·         Patrick Zurek from the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries of Illinois
·         Douglas Christman and Michelle Suranofsky from Lehigh University

Coming in the next release (first quarter 2012) – with the next release we plan to provide:

·         Enhancement for configurable connections – this work will greatly enhance how the NCIP Toolkit is configured and will support multiple connections to different ILS systems.  This feature will make the Toolkit able to be used more broadly and sets the stage for the toolkit to be used in other products, including NCIP initiators and other projects beyond connecting to an ILS.
·         Support for NCIP extensions to the Loaned and Requested Item elements.  These features are needed by current users of the toolkit.

Contact Randall Cook at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries with questions or for more information.

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 [email protected] 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.

Michelle Suranofsky, a Sr. Developer at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA has written about her experience and work on the XC NCIP Toolkit in a code4lib article called "Joining an Open Source Community: Creating a Symphony Connector for the XC NCIP Toolkit". You can find the full content here.

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.

The open source community of software developers working on and supporting the eXtensible Catalog’s (XC) NCIP Toolkit is extremely happy to announce the first production use of the new NCIP Toolkit that supports version 2.0 of the NCIP protocol.  Lehigh University, a member of Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc (PALCI) is using the XC NCIP Toolkit as a way to perform circulation functions between their SirsiDynix Symphony ILS and the newly released resource sharing system named E-ZBorrow. Last year, PALCI selected Relais D2D to power their E-ZBorrow resource sharing system for 52 academic libraries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia. E-ZBorrow allows patrons to search across the member library catalogs and request circulating items directly from any partner library.

Lehigh is able to participate in this resource sharing system through development of a SirsiDynix NCIP “connector” that uses the following NCIP services:

• Lookup User
• CheckIn Item
• CheckOut Item
• Accept Item