The Standard Interchange Protocol is a proprietary standard for communication between

library computer system An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS), is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. An ILS is usually m ...

s and self-service circulation terminals. Although owned and controlled by 3M, the protocol is published and is widely used by other vendors. Version 2.0 of the protocol, known as "SIP2", is a

de facto standard A ''de facto'' standard is a custom or convention that is commonly used even though its use is not required. is a Latin phrase (literally " of fact"), here meaning "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, ...

for library self-service applications.

History

SIP version 1.0 was published by 3M in 1993. The first version of the protocol supported basic check in and check out operations, but had minimal support for more advanced operations. Version 2.0 of the protocol was published in 2006 and added support for flexible, more user-friendly notifications, and for the automated processing of payments for late fees. SIP2 was widely adopted by library automation vendors, including ODILO, Lyngsoe Systems, Nexbib, Bibliotheca, Nedap, Checkpoint, Envisionware, FE Technologies, Meescan, Redia and

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

integrated library system An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS), is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. An ILS is usually ...

software such as Koha and

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

. The standard was the basis for the

NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) is a protocol that is limited to the exchange of messages between and among computer-based applications to enable them to perform functions necessary to lend and borrow items, to provide controlled ac ...

(NCIP) standard which is eventually intended to replace it.

Description

SIP is a simple protocol in which requests to perform operations are sent over a connection, and responses are sent in return. The protocol explicitly does not define how a connection between the two devices is established; it is limited to specifying the format of the messages sent over the connection. There are no "trial" transactions; each operation will be attempted immediately and will either be permitted or not. The protocol specifies messages to check books in and out, to manage fee payments, to request holds and renewals, and to carry out the other basic circulation operations of a library.

Encryption and authentication

SIP has no built in

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

, so steps need to be taken to send the connection through some sort of encrypted tunnel. Two common methods are to use either

stunnel Stunnel is an open-source multi-platform application used to provide a universal TLS/SSL tunneling service. Stunnel is used to provide secure encrypted connections for clients or servers that do not speak TLS or SSL natively. It runs on a va ...

SSH The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH Protocol) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Its most notable applications are remote login and command-line execution. SSH was designed for Un ...

{{Cite news, url=https://coffeecode.net/setting-up-secure-self-check-connections-using-sip-tunneled-through-ssh.html, title=Setting up secure self-check connections using SIP tunneled through SSH, last=Scott, first=Dan, date=2010-04-16, work=Coffee{{!Code: Dan Scott's blog, access-date=2018-10-30, language=en-US to add a layer of encryption and/or an extra level of authentication.

References

Library automation Network protocols