Network Working Group                                     R. Moulton
Request for Comments: 2503                            United Kingdom
Category: Informational                                 M. Needleman
                                       Data Research Associates, Inc
                                                       February 1999

MIME Types for Use with the ISO ILL Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Abstract

   This memorandum describes a set of MIME types for use with the ISO
   Interlibrary Loan Protocol (ISO 10160/10161). Two MIME types are
   specified below.

   The first is a media type to carry objects which are  BER [BER]
   encoded ISO ILL Protocol Data Units (PDU's). BER are the basic
   Encoding Rules used to encode  PDU's which have been described using
   ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation 1) [ASN.1] .

   The second is for use with the associated document delivery
   instructions.  Document Delivery Instructions (DDI) is an emerging
   protocol which enables automatic electronic delivery of items. It
   allows a request management system (which might have received a
   request for an item via the ISO Interlibrary Loan Protocol (ISO
   10160/10161))  to pass details of the request, item, and delivery, to
   a delivery module, and to receive back reports on the delivery
   process or arrival of an item. It is currently being submitted to the
   ISO TC46/SC4/WG4 committee for approval as an ISO standard.

Registration Information

   Media type name: application
   Media subtype name:  iso-10161-ill-1 - for BER encoded ISO ILL APDU's

   Media type name:  application
   Media subtype name:  ill-ddi - For associated Document Delivery
                        Instructions

   Required Parameter:  transfer-encoding

   For BER-encoded PDU's or DDI's, the only current legal value of this
   parameter is:

    iso-8825-ber

   The transfer-encoding parameter describes the way the PDU has been
   encoded before being submitted to the transport service (in this case
   MIME/RFC822).  The two protocols described in this RFC specify their
   APDU's using ASN.1 (ISO 8824:1990) and the most common way of
   encoding ASN.1 packets is to use the Basic Encoding Rules (BER ISO
   8825)

   The parameter is included to allow future use of these MIME types
   with other encoding schemes. As an example, the ISO 10161 standard
   also describes an encoding method using EDIFACT. In the future, other
   schemes might also be employed. (Since the EDIFACT encoding is not
   currently in use amongst the ISO 10161 and DDI communities, a value
   for the transfer-encoding parameter to describe it is not being
   registered in this RFC.)

   Optional  parameter: iso-10161-apdu-type

   Valid values are:

   ILL-Request
   Forward-Notification
   Shipped
   ILL-Answer
   Conditional-Reply
   Cancel
   Cancel-Reply
   Received
   Recall
   Returned
   Checked-In
   Overdue
   Renew
   Renew-Answer
   Lost
   Damaged
   Message
   Status-Query
   Status-Or-Error-Report
   Expired

   This parameter is optional and can be provided for informational or
   diagnostic purposes. The value of the PDU or DDI type can be
   determined from the actual data sent. The use and format of the PDU's
   and DDI's is defined in the relevant protocol documents which
   describe them.

Examples

   Content-Type: application/iso-10161-ill-1;  transfer-encoding=iso-
   8825-ber; iso-10161-apdu-type=Recall;

   Content-Type: application/ill-ddi;  transfer-encoding=iso-8825-ber;

Encoding

   Since BER encoded material is binary in nature, some form of encoding
   is needed when 7bit or 8bit transport mechanisms are employed.

   The recommended  encoding for BER encoded PDU's  is Base64

PDU's per Message

   When used to send BER encoded PDU's or DDI's. Each MIME body part
   will carry at most one BER encoded PDU or DDI. However, a single MIME
   message containing multiple body parts can be used to transport more
   than one BER PDU and or DDI.

Security Considerations

   There are no known security risks associated with transmitting BER
   encoded PDU's in general. However, a particular BER encoded PDU or
   DDI may have security considerations that make it inappropriate for
   transmittal through public data networks unless appropriate
   protection mechanisms, like encryption, are used. Such a situation
   might occur, for example, when organizations are exchanging documents
   that contain secure or classified information and it is necessary to
   keep information about both the material being exchanged and the
   exchanging partners confidential.

Interoperability Considerations

   BER is an international standard for encoding data meant to be
   transferred between two systems that may store data in different
   local formats internally [BER].

References

   [BER]   ISO/IEC 8825:1990 Information Technology - Open Systems
           Interconnection - Specification of Basic Encoding Rules for
           Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)

   [ASN.1] ISO/IEC 8824:1990 Information Technology - Open Systems
           Interconnection - Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation
           One (ASN.1)

   ISO 10160:1997 Information  and Documentation - Open Systems
           Interconnection - Interlibrary Loan Application Service
           Definition

   ISO 10161-1:1997 Information and Documentation - Open Systems
           Interconnection - Interlibrary Loan Application Protocol
           Specification - Part 1: Protocol Specification

Additional Information:

   The National Library of Canada has been designated the maintenance
   agency for the ISO ILL protocol. For more information on this MIME
   type contact:

   Barbara Shuh
   Library Network Specialist
   Information Analysis and Standards
   Information and Technology Services
   National Library of Canada
   395 Wellington Street
   Ottawa, Ontario CANADA
   K1A 0N4

   Phone: (819) 994-6969
   Fax:   (819) 994-6835
   EMail: barbara.shuh@nlc-bnc.ca

Authors' Addresses

   Ruth Moulton
   Consultant
   65 Tetherdown
   London N10 1NH
   United Kingdom

   Phone: +44 (181) 883 5823
   EMail: ruth@muswell.demon.co.uk

   Mark H Needleman
   Data Research Associates, Inc.
   1276 North Warson Road
   P.O. Box 8495
   St Louis, MO 63132-1806
   USA

   Phone: (80)0 325-0888 (US/Canada)
          (314) 432-1100 x318
   Fax:   (314) 993-8927
   Email: mneedleman@dra.com

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