This is work in progress, and just the start of an interoperability standard. In particular, we do not have complete specifications of all appropriate bindings for the functions that we define, and in some cases the suggested standards for bindings do not yet provide all of the functionality we call for.

There may be a variety of bindings of these functions. In order to be compliant with this profile, an ILS interface needs to not only implement these functions, but also fully specify the binding used, in precise enough detail that users of the interface can use it with confidence (and that is also precise enough that the binding can be reimplemented with other systems.)

The interfaces may be implemented by the ILSs themselves, or they might be implemented by third-party packages on top of the ILSs. Some libraries and other third parties are already implementing such systems overlaid on their ILS systems. It would be most convenient if the interfaces are provided natively by the ILS, but where this cannot be done quickly, we encourage libraries, vendors, and other developers to cooperate in designing and building suitable interfaces. In any case, the bindings used should have complete, openly accessible specifications without intellectual property restrictions on their use.

We recommend a group review, accept, and publish qualifying bindings for existing functions, and proposed new functions in later versions of this recommendation.

We also recommend that reference implementations be built for these functions. Ideally, these would be available as open source for public specification and reuse.

We hope that this recommendation and its later incarnations help lead to the development of ILSs that are more responsive to the needs of libraries and their users, and make library content easier to discover and use effectively in the networked era.