> XML without namespaces is just a tree of nodes where you have to guess 
> about each node's meaning. Even better is to require an XML schema like 
> it is done in OAI.

And in SRW/U.

http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw/xml-files.html


> * The spec is not clear enough (you should really consider using the 
> w3c's definition of "MAY" and "MUST" )

We know.  The documentation is being worked on.

> * This mailing list is pretty hidden. You should add 
> http://sun8.loc.gov/listarch/zng.html to your homepage

The list is linked from the homepage. The first entry in the Development
Resources column.

The SRU service tester is relatively recent, and hasn't been put into
the web pages yet.


> * I have not found any open server that supports the 'scan' operation. 
> Maybe it's not that important but I you cannot even provide a full 
> implementation the spec seems a bit like all of these 
> suggested-standards that will never be widely adopted

We do provide implementations of scan.

http://srw.cheshire3.org/services/spy

for example. Or Ralph's servers.  Or the RDN server.

The only reason that the LoC server doesn't allow it is because the
underlying Z39.50 server doesn't support it.

Rob

-- 
Dr Robert Sanderson
Dept of Computer Science, University of Liverpool
Home:     http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~azaroth/
Cheshire: http://www.cheshire3.org/