Z39.50 is an international standard defining a protocol for computer-to-computer information retrieval. Z39.50 makes it possible for a user to search and retrieve information from bibliographic databases.

Connection parameters:

The GBV Z39.50 server supports ISO5426, ISO8859-1, ANSEL and UFT8 character sets. Since not every client is compatible with all character sets, we offer different access-ports for each character set. Not all databases are accessible via guest login, for those databases you can obtain a special user ID.

Target profiles:

Here you can find an overwiew of the accessible databases: Z39.50 Target profiles

Bibliographic management software:

Citavi:
Citavi allows direct search and retrieve of bibliographic records in nearly all GBV databases.

Bibliographix:
Bibliographix is a tool to write scientific documents and it supports many GBV databases.

Endnote:
EndNote allows direct search in Z39.50 databases via connection files. We offer a master connection file for the GBV databases which you can place in your "Connections" folder within your EndNote program directory: EndNote Connection File for GBV. You may want to make sure you edit the database name according to the follwing list, changing it to the the database you would like to use: Z39.50 Target profiles. Also, if database access is restricted, you have to enter your username and password. An import filter needed to import bibliographic data from the SFX menu to EndNote, can be downloaded here.

Reference Manager:
A description of the necessary configuration steps to connect via "Reference Manager" can be found at: http://www.bidmon.de/RefMan_Z3950.htm

Refworks:
The GBV databases are also integrated in Refworks