FDI demonstrated the Agora prototype to the board and team members for the first time on 31 July in Sheffield. The search, locate and request service was shown in operation. The prototype avoids complex administrative arrangements however – eg requests will be sent to a UEA email address during this phase and delivery clearly will not take place. The search currently includes 11 potential data services, although several could not be accessed during the demonstration session (there are various reasons for this eg servers could be down temporarily). Two search options are provided currently: simple and advanced. Since the project’s software focus is on middleware, the user interface is in theory relatively unimportant; at the same time, however, an appropriate front-end is needed to demonstrate possibilities. A short description of each target is being added to the prototype, since the names will be unfamiliar to some users.

There is a range of interoperability issues to work through during the course of the project, mainly relating to differing cataloguing practices amongst the services involved. Records resulting from different sources can vary widely. There are very few bibliographic data elements in common across the services. These issues are certainly not unique to Agora, and will be explored in conjunction with other projects.

David Palmer at UEA is organising a prototype demonstration/workshop for participants from the library associate group: Heriot-Watt University, Bath Spa University and University of Hull. It will take place during the last two weeks of September.

Within the last couple of weeks David has also visited these three sites to discuss future consultation with library associates and to agree on the outline evaluation plan. The actual format of the evaluation will be agreed between UEA and CERLIM during the latter part of August.

Manchester Metropolitan University will be participating as a full library associate later in the project.

UKOLN will be seeking information and feedback from the service providers during August to October.

As a result of UKOLN’s discussions with service providers, the need for a ‘terms of agreement’ document has arisen, in particular to clarify the extent of user access. Current arrangements have been made on an informal basis. Other eLib projects are being consulted to share their experiences in drawing up such agreements.

UKOLN is organising a meeting in London in the autumn for a small group of distributed service implementors. FDI will present the prototype with the aim of encouraging discussion and seeking feedback on the prototype from key technical developers. A short technical briefing document will be produced after the meeting, which is likely to be helpful to other projects and services and will contribute to Agora’s technical communications role.

UKOLN has produced a project communications and dissemination plan, which has been distributed to board members for comment. It will then be made available on the web.

We have been looking at web software to support an integrated web communications environment (including group working facilities). The most likely contender currently is BSCW, a shareware product produced under the EU Telematics Programme. I would be grateful for any comments from anyone who might have used this software.

UKOLN is organising a meeting at the British Library on 2 September, to discuss issues relating to collection description. This will involve eLib phase 3 projects (including several Agora representatives), subject gateways, systems developers and others with an interest in exploring practical options.

UKOLN has set up a directory service to provide a comprehensive information resource about UK Z39.50 targets (including connection parameters and supported search attributes). Organisations with operational targets are being encouraged to register their services. The directory has been set up in response to regular requests for this information and will be particularly helpful to a number of eLib phase 3 projects.

<URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/dlis/zdir/>

The next Agora bulletin will appear in the last week of September instead of mid-month, since I will be on leave 7-25 September inclusive.

Cheers, Rosemary