Between 1.1 and 1.2 we decided to drop the SRW name and just refer to the whole standard (which includes GET, POST and SOAP bindings) as SRU, mainly (as mentioned) because the commonest implementations tended to be the GET binding rather than SOAP.

Matthew

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SRU (Search and Retrieve Via URL) Implementors
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Monica Duke
> Sent: 27 March 2008 17:11
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: SRW and SRU entries in the JISC standards catalogue.
>
> Hello,
>
> I am helping to maintain the entries for SRW/SRU in the JISC standards
> catalogue - these are very brief overviews of a range of standards.
> Here is the online version
> http://standards.jisc.ac.uk/catalogue/Home.phtml but this version is
> being revised and updated.  I have not been paying very close attention
> to this list so I wanted to check that my revisions to the entries had
> not missed any landmark changes.  I also have a couple of questions
> questions about SRW.  I'm copying my entries as they will appear in the
> revised version below for your comments - note the level of detail is
> intended to be the same as for other standards, and not a comprehensive
> review.  Regarding SRW, I wondered if there was any sort of formal
> statement of its status that I could refer to, and whether there was a
> webpage more specific to SRW that I could link to?  The links that I
> had
> no longer work.
>
> I would be grateful if you would let me know if I have got anything
> very
> wrong or if you have other suggestions.
>
> Thanks for your time,
> Monica Duke (UKOLN)
>
>   Entry
>      SRU
> ========================
> Area
>      Search Protocols
>
> Standard
>      Search and Retrieve URL Service (SRU) is a REST-based protocol for
> querying databases and returning search results. Client requests are
> encoded as name/value pairs in the query string of a URL and
> transmitted
> via HTTP GET requests. The results of SRU requests are XML documents.
>
> Standardisation
>      The SRU Editorial Board, assisted by the SRU Steering Committee
> and
> the SRU Implementor's Group manage the standard and its revisions. The
> SRU Maintenance Agency is currently the Library of Congress.
>
> Versions
>      The current version of SRU is 1.2; the previous version was 1.1;
> version 1.0 was an experimental version and has been officially
> deprecated.
>
> Maturity
>      Version 1.2 has been released and web pages for its documentation
> are available. A OASIS Search Web Services Technical Committee has been
> launched. SRU Version 1.2 will be input to that process, which will
> (hopefully) result in SRU version 2.0.
>
> Risk Assessment
>      The focus of development has concentrated on SRU due to the
> perception that the SRU approach is more likely to find take-up than
> the
> related SOAP-based standard, SRW.
>
> Take-up Elsewhere
>      Implementors, implementations, tools and servers are listed on the
> Resources section of the SRU website
> http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/resources/
>
> Further Information
>
>      * Search/Retrieve via URL http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/
>
>   Entry
>      SRW
> =======================
> Area
>      Search Protocols
>
> Standard
>      Search and Retrieve Web Service (SRW) is a Web Services-based
> protocol for querying databases and returning search results. Client
> requests and server responses are encapsulated as SOAP messages.
>
> Standardisation
>
> The SRU Editorial Board, assisted by the SRU Steering Committee and the
> SRU Implementor's Group manage the standard and its revisions. The SRU
> Maintenance Agency is currently the Library of Congress.
>
> Versions
>      The current version of SRW is 1.1; version 1.0 was an experimental
> version, and has been officially deprecated.
>
> Maturity
>
> Risk Assessment
>
> Standardisation efforts have shifted to SRU due to the perception that
> SOAP-based approaches like SRW are less likely to find take-up than
> SRU.
> SRW does not appear to be actively maintained any longer and is no
> longer listed directly in the Library of Congress pages for SRU, but
> some implementations and tools and the schema are available.
>
> Take-up Elsewhere
>
> Implementors, implementations, tools and servers are listed on the
> Resources section of the SRU website
> http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/resources/
>
> Further Information
>
>      * Search and Retrieve Web Service
> http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/
> A section dedicated to SRW no longer exists, the mailing list would be
> the best place to direct queries.