259 lines
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259 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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_Current_Cites_
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Volume 2, no. 5
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May 1991
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Library Technology Watch Program
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University of California, Berkeley
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Edited by David F.W. Robison
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ISSN: 1060-2356
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Contributors:
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Clifford Lynch, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani,
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Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant
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Expert Systems
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Belew, Richard K. "Artificial Life: A Constructive Lower Bound for
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Artificial Intelligence" IEEE Expert 6(1) (Feb. 1991):8-15. The goal
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of Artificial Life (ALife) "is to abstract the 'logical form' of life" in
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order to understand and possibly create artificial life. Unlike
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genetic engineering, ALife does not begin with organic matter,
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rather, like AI, its development occurs via computer. Making the
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claim that "the dumbest smart thing you can do is stay alive," ALife
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considers itself to be a lower bound for the work of AI. While this
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is not immediately relevant for the field of library and information
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science, this work does present itself as an interesting development
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in the current AI-related technologies.
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Tuthill, G. Steven "Legal Liabilities and Expert Systems" AI Expert
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6(3) (March 1991):45-51. Mr. Tuthill briefly presents the potential
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areas of liability in knowledge programming. While there has yet to
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be a great deal of AI-related court cases, he offers his view on the
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specific types of risk which are imminent in knowledge
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programming and suggests a corresponding seat of responsibility.
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This is an area that we, as information providers, will be very
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concerned with if we do indeed choose to develop expert systems.
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West, David M. and Larry E. Travis "The Computational Metaphor and
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Artificial Intelligence: A Reflective Examination of a Theoretical
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Falsework" AI Magazine 12(1) (Spring 1991):64-79. An excellent
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article which discusses the role and importance of metaphor in
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science generally, and then focuses on the predominant metaphor of
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AI (the computational metaphor: computer as mind, mind as
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computer) West and Travis present an interesting assessment of the
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value and shortcomings of both this strongly challenged metaphor
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and of its alternatives.
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Hyper- and Multimedia
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Steffey, Ramona J. "Compton's MultiMedia Encyclopedia: Bringing
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Multimedia to the Masses" CD-ROM Professional 4(3) (May,
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1991):13-20. A description and review of the award-winning
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multimedia encyclopedia from Britannica, which contains the full
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text of the 26-volume printed version integrated with images, maps
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and 60 minutes of sound. A dictionary accompanies the work,
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rounding out a package that will set the standard for future
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products. A variety of search tools leads the user through a chosen
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path that can include bookmarking of articles, cut and paste options
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and other features.
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Communications of the ACM 34(4) (April 1991). An entire issue of
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this journal devoted to digital multimedia systems, with a number
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of very technical articles and some of more general interest.
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Standards are emerging for a number of multimedia tools, the most
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notable being from the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and
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the Moving Picture coding Experts Group (MPEG). Standards such as
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these will govern design of these aspects of multimedia and make
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development of products by individual companies more likely in the
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near future. As common coding, compression and authoring
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standards are used in new products, further interest in the field
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becomes a better investment.
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Information Transfer
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Cornwell, Douglas W. "Downloading from Dialog into dBase III Plus"
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Online 15(3) (May 1991):91-93. Cornwell details procedures for
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downloading records from Dialog to dBase III Plus using the Dialog
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Report function.
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Jackson, Mary E. "Library to Library" Wilson Library Bulletin 16(5)
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(April 1991):84-87. Jackson describes the RLG Document
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Transmission Workstation (Ariel) its functions, capabilities, and its
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integration in ILL department procedures (with UCB as one of the
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test cites). It's an improvement over the fax.
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Networks and Networking
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Dempsey, Lorcan Libraries, Networks and OSI: A Review of North
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American Developments. Bath: UK Office for Library Networking,
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1991. [210] p. : ill. ISBN 0951685600 (pbk), 0951685 600. This
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book, is a detailed study of library application protocols for
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information retrieval and interlibrary loan, plus a discussion of
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EDI, X400 and X500, and their use in library networking. It covers
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developments both in the US and in Europe, and provides a
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fascinating European perspective on recent developments in the US.
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Considerable attention is given to policy and infrastructure Q
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resource sharing, the NREN movement, the Coalition for Networked
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Information -- and to existing projects, such as Carnegie-Mellon's
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project MERCURY, UC's MELVYL system, and CARL. -- Clifford Lynch
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Dictionary of Data Elements for Online Information Resources
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(MARBI Discussion Paper no. 49). USMARC Advisory Committee,
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[199?] Distributed by CNIDIR-L@UNMVM.BITNET. This paper, up for
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discussion at ALA in Atlanta (7/1/91 2:00-5:30), is a look at where
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the MARC format is heading with respect to online information
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resources. Using Berkeley's own GLADIS OPAC as an example (among
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others) we can see how these resources can be cataloged to give the
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fullest and most useful access. Just trying to cite the paper itself
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has heightened my appreciation of the issue!
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Hall, Stephen C. "The Four Stages of National Research and Education
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Network Growth" EDUCOM Review 26(1) (Spring 1991):18-25. In this
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article Hall describes the projected growth of the NREN by looking at
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the history of computing and the needs of the network's
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constituencies. According to Hall, we are in stage IIQgrowthQ with
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the stages of reduced or controlled growth (a privatized network)
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and maturity (a public network) to follow.
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Jacobsen, O. and D. Lynch A Glossary of Networking Terms . Interop,
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Inc., March 1991. Network Working Group RFC 1208. This 18 page
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glossary covers terms of the more technical aspects of networking,
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as well as the numerous acronyms. Very handy for someone delving
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into the networking world. Available via anonymous ftp from
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nnsc.nsf.net (128.89.1.178) with pathname rfc/rfc1208.txt.
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Michalak, Thomas J. and Thomas Kirk "Coalition for Networked
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Information Maps Directions" C&R Libraries News 52(4) (April
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1991):229-230. Michalak and Kirk point out that CNI is becoming the
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"primary forum for discussing development of a national computer
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network and capabilities for publishing and sharing information
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electronically." The Coalition has organized seven working groups to
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focus on specific issues: non-commercial publishing; commercial
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publishing; architecture and standards; legislation, codes, policies
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and practices; directories and resource information services;
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teaching and learning; and management and professional and user
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education.
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"Network Management" BYTE 16(3) (March 1991):154-219. Actually
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this is a group of seven articles and a resource guide providing some
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of the latest information on managing a LAN. Perhaps the most
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interesting article is Peter Stephenson's "Mixing and Matching LANs"
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(pages 155-164) where one can learn the in's and out's of
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interconnecting heterogeneous networks.
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Pool, Ithiel de Sola Technologies Without Boundaries: on
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Telecommunications in a Global Age. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
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University Press, 1990. 283 p. Pool's untimely death in 1984
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deprived us of one of the great thinkers about the social and
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political impacts of the new electronic technologies. This book is
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the manuscript he had almost completed at the time of his death; it
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extends and expands upon concepts discussed in his 1983 classic
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work Technologies of Freedom (Harvard U. Press, 1983) and focuses
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particularly upon international implications of the revolutions in
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mass media, publishing, and computer networks. The book contains a
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wealth of information about the impact of technological changes on
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society, including many analogies between earlier communications
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advances such as the telephone and telegraph and what is happening
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today. -- Clifford Lynch
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Price-Wilkin, John "Text Files in RLG Academic Libraries: A Survey
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of Support and Activities" The Journal of Academic Librarianship
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17(1) (March 1991):19-25. Textual analysis using electronic text
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files is opening up new windows in the academy. Textual analysis,
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as a specialized part of full-text retrieval, allows for the user to
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interact with the text in the fashion of a concordance In addition
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the user can. engage in stylometrics where the style of the author is
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studied. Many text files are available through the Internet.
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Stein, Richard Marlon "Browsing Through Terabytes: Wide-Area
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Information Servers Open a New Frontier in Personal and Corporate
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Information Services" BYTE 16(5) (May 1991):157-164. Stein takes
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us on a trip to the land of mass storage, retrieval and data/text
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manipulation using Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS). As he
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puts it, "WAISes can distill the contents of vast archives into neatly
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manageable and browsable folders." Included are some really
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interesting visual examples using the Macintosh platform.
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Weingarten, Fred "Five Steps to NREN Enlightenment" EDUCOM Review
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26(1) (Spring 1991):26-30. Weingarten argues that now is the time
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to articulate the vision of what we think the NREN should be. He
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sees two visions being articulated currentlyQthe techie and the
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universal, with "the true NREN vision" somewhere in between.
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Optical Disk Technology
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Bunge, Charles A. "CD-ROM Stress" Library Journal 115(7) (April 15,
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1991):63-64. In the first of two articles dealing with resistance
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and stress related to CD-ROM technology featured in this month's
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Current Cites, Bunge explores this new villain of library stress.
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Giesbrecht, Walter "Staff Resistance to Library CD-ROM Services"
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CD-ROM Professional 4(3) (May 1991):34-38. This article examines
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reasons for resistance to CD-ROM among library staff, including
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psychological reasons, the problem of multiple interfaces, increased
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teaching load, increased costs, increased stress, time required to
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maintain CD-ROM service, and hardware/software issues.
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Myslewski, Rik "Is it Time for CD-ROM?" MacUser 7(6) (June
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1991):151-166. In answering the title's question, Myslewski
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asserts that all signs indicate that the CD-ROM breakthrough is
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finally underway. This article features a survey of CD-ROM disk
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drives currently available for the Macintosh platform.
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"Silver Platters that Matter" MacUser 7(6) (June 1991):171-186.
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The editors of MacUser have compiled a descriptive list of
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interesting CD-ROM titles ranging from state-of-the-art multimedia
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extravaganzas to simple text dumps of books.
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General
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Larson, Ray "The Decline of Subject Searching: Long-Term Trends and
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Patterns of Index Use in an Online Catalog" Journal of the American
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Society for Information Science 42(3) (April 1991):197-215.
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Larson studies MELVYL usage data and concludes that as the database
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has grown, users are increasingly turning away from subject
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searching to the use of title word searching due to various
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dissatisfactions with subject retrieval, including problems in
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formulating subject search terminology. -- Clifford Lynch
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Schuman, Patricia Glass "Reclaiming Our Technological Future"
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Library Journal 115(4) (March 1, 1991):34-38.
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New Electronic Newsletter Announced
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The Association of Library Collections & Technical Services of ALA
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has announced a new electronic newsletter, ALCTS Network News (or
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AN2), available through Internet/Bitnet and ALANET. According to
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the press release distributed on PACS-L@UHUPVM1, "AN2 aims to
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provide timely and comprehensive coverage of items of concern to
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librarians engaged in collection management, acquisitions,
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cataloging, serials, preservation, and the reproduction of library
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materials. To subscribe, send the following message to
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LISTSERV@UICVM.BITNET
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SUBSCRIBE ALCTS Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Current Cites 2(5)(May 1991) ISSN: 1060-2356
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Copyright (C) 1992 by the Library, University of
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California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
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Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized
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bulletin board/conference systems, individual scholars, and
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libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their
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collections at no cost. This message must appear on copied
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material. All commercial use requires permission from the editor,
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who may be reached in the following ways:
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drobison@library.berkeley.edu // drobison@ucblibra // (510)642-7600
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