I-Share via Z39.50

Revised: June 17, 2026

General Settings for Z39.50 Connections

To connect to an individual Institution Zone instance from a Z39.50 client, you will need the following information:

Server:  i-share-xxx.alma.exlibrisgroup.com
Where xxx is your institution's three-letter I-Share code in lowercase.*

Database:  01CARLI_XXX
Where XXX is your institution's three-letter I-Share code in uppercase.*

Port:  1921 (if 1921 does not work, try port 210)

No username or password is generally needed. If you are prompted for a password, please contact the institution directly.

*Three-letter I-Share codes can be found by choosing an institution in the list of I-Share Participating Libraries.

To connect to the I-Share Network Zone from a Z39.50 client, use:

Server:  i-share-network.alma.exlibrisgroup.com

Database:  01CARLI_NETWORK

Port:  1921 (if 1921 does not work, try port 210)

No username or password needed.

Additional settings that applications may request include:

Syntax:  MARC21

Element Set:  Full

Text:  Unicode (alternately, choose UTF8)

Considerations for Citation Managers

Citation managers, such as RefWorks, EndNote, Bookends, and Zotero, may offer Z39.50 catalog searching as a way to capture data via search. These applications may use different terminology for the type of connection being made. It may be necessary to try more than one option to get a successful connection and search results. 

Look for options such as Direct access Z39.50, and use port 210 with any citation manager.

Documentation to configure a RefWorks Client with Z39.50

Bookends for Mac: Do not select the "Library of Congress Z39.50 Gateway" option. This does not connect to I-Share.

Considerations for MarcEdit

MarcEdit includes a Z39.50 client for searching different catalogs. You may select an institution zone or the network zone using the settings listed above; use port 1921 with these settings.

Considerations for Real-Time Availability Services

Third party library applications, such as OCLC Resource Sharing, ILLiad, and Find More Illinois may use Z39.50 to query an institution zone for real-time availability of items. 

The OCLC real-time availability setup form will prompt for example records that have various statuses, so that OCLC staff may confirm how these statuses appear in outputs. Library staff may answer these questions by using the advanced search tool with the Physical Items search, and using the Base Status and Process Type indexes.

Alma's Z39.50 engine will return the location and call number in the MARC 852 field, using a copy of the holding record 852. If multiple holdings are present, then the record will contain an 852 entry for each holding.

Real-time availability data will be returned in a non-MARC section of the response. This "OPAC" response will provide details on the number of holdings, the location, copy number and availability. See the Ex Libris Developer Network for additional documentation on z39.50 output formats.

Data holdings 0
encodingLevel: 4
receiptAcqStatus: 0
generalRetention: 8
completeness: 1
dateOfReport: 000000
localLocation: Staley Library
shelvingLocation: Book Stacks
callNumber: PE1408 .G585 2013
copyNumber: 1
volume 0
 enumeration:
 chronology:
circulation 0
 availableNow: 1
 availableThru: Book1
 itemId: 31111200048340
 renewable: 0
 onHold: 0
nextResultSetPosition = 2

In the above example, circulation 0 indicates that the item is not currently on loan; Alma uses 0 = no and 1 = yes in this attribute.

Responsibility for Changes

I-Share Library staff configure the Z39.50 integration profile in Alma using the settings above and the Ex Libris Alma Z39.50 Search documentation. We recommend that member library staff do not make any changes to this profile.

If you have any questions, please contact .