304 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
304 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
_Current_Cites_
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Volume 3, no. 3
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March 1992
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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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Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani, Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant
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Electronic Publishing
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Amiran, Eyal, Elaine Orr and John Unsworth. "Refereed Electronic Journals
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and the Future of Scholarly Publishing." Advances in Library Automation
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and Networking 4 (1991):25-53. Stressing the need for academic
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institutions to take a leading role in the development and support of
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electronic publishing, the authors approach the subject from several key
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angles ranging from the technological to the philosophical. The article
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describes the work of organizations (e.g. the Association for Computers in
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the Humanities, the International Standards Organization, to name two)
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who are developing standards for the formatting and citing of electronic
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texts; and other academic organizations (such as the American
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Philosophical Association) who have convened subcommittees to prepare
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bibliographies and other such documents on the electronic texts and
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electronic serials and articles which are of interest. Included is a lengthy
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and interesting discussion of the medium of e-mail and the powerful role
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the modem has come to hold. This discussion in particular, puts into
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perspective the need for libraries to provide access to electronically
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published information, and the responsibility each of us has to educate
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ourselves and those around us in the use of technologies which will put us
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on this golden road to virtually unlimited information. Also included are
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two appendices: one on LISTSERV commands and the other, a list of
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electronic publishers and archives. -- LR
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Powell, James "New List: VPIEJ-L Scholarly Electronic Journals / Electronic
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Pub." Posted on NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1.BITNET (March 13, 1992). The owner
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of this new discussion list announced a new forum for the discussion
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of "electronic publishing issues, especially those related to Scholarly
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Electronic Journals. Topics for discussion include SGML, PostScript, and
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other e-journal formats; as well as software and hardware considerations
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for creation of, storage, and access to e-journals. Publishers, editors,
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technical staff, programmers, librarians, and end-users are welcome to
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join." To subscribe send the following message to LISTSERV@VTM1.BITNET
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or LISTSERV@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU: SUB VPIEJ-L your_full_name. -- DR
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Expert Systems & Artificial Intelligence
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Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "Intelligent Library Systems: Artificial Intelligence
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Technology and Library Automation Systems" Advances in Library
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Automation and Networking 4(1991):1-23. After a brief discussion of the
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nature of intelligence, Mr. Bailey presents several problems which
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presently hinder the development of intelligent systems (e.g. the
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complexity of incorporating semantic and pragmatic capabilities into
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natural language systems). While it is clear that further AI research and
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development is necessary for the creation of truly sophisticated intelligent
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systems, several valuable systems have been built and there exists a
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fruitful ground for application in the field of library science. Unfortunately
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there are several factors within our field which, according to Mr. Bailey,
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hinder experimentation and development of intelligent systems within the
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library community: a limited pool of expertise; the limitations imposed by
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our chosen development tools; our lack of training in AI; and lastly,
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something he aptly calls "risk aversion." The article ends with an insightful
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look to the future of intelligent systems, detailing areas where
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development is likely to be fruitful and suggesting AI tools and techniques
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which will be of value in such developments.-- LR
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Hyper- and Multimedia
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Marmion, Dan "Hypertext/Hypermedia for Libraries" in Advances In
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Library Automation and Networking: A Research Annual. Volume 4, 1991.
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Greenwich, Conn. : JAI Press, 1991. A rich overview that condenses a great
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deal of the history and theory of hypertext and hypermedia systems into a
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very readable chapter. After moving through second-generation
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hypermedia systems, the chapter surveys some current library
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applications, outlines the advantages that hypertext systems offer for
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library patrons and points towards future potential for hypermedia
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applications in libraries. -- MT
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Flanders, Bruce "Multimedia Programs to Reach an MTV Generation"
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American Libraries 23(2) (February 1992):135-137. An article directed
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towards the general library audience conveys the author's impressions of
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two IBM multimedia products: Columbus: Encounter, Discovery and Beyond
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and the, perhaps mis-named, Illuminated Books and Manuscripts. IBM's
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Educational Systems will certainly make a splash with these products
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(expected in June 1992) which need OS/2 (or DOS 4.0) and Micro Channel
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Architecture support provided by a new workstation. High-end hardware
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requirements aside, IBM seems determined to catch Apple in the
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multimedia arena, although the $2,000 price tag on each title may cause
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some to balk. The titles in Illuminated Books include Tennyson's Ulysses,
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Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Declaration of Independence, Dr. King's Letters
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From Birmingham Jail and John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks. Flanders
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presents a more in-depth view of the products in "IBM's Impressive
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Multimedia Educational Programs" CD-ROM Librarian 7(1) (January
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1992):32-36. -- MT
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Saettler, Matt "Multimedia Programming Interface and Data
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Specifications 1.0" (Source: cd-rom-l@uccvma.ucop.edu) Issued as
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a joint design by IBM Corporation and Microsoft Corporation and
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available via anonymous ftp from ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9) in the
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directory /vendor/microsoft/multimedia. Available as well from
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Compuserve in the MULTIMEDIA or MSOPSYS BBSs and from Microsoft
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Online. Descriptions of the Resource Interchange File Format
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(RIFF) and the Multimedia Control Interface (MCI) which afford
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developers extensible command sets and formats for the IBM
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platform. A Multimedia Developer Registration Kit available from
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Microsoft's Multimedia Systems Group lists currently defined
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elements. Saettler entertains comments and questions at:
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matts@microsoft.com. -- MT
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Information Transfer
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Bove, Tony. "Voyager's Expanded Books" Bay Area Computer Currents
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(February 11-24, 1992):35-36. Bove gives an enthusiastic description of
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the Mac PowerBooks which, with the Voyager's Expanded Books series,
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allows not only searching features, but also typing annotations in the
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margins of pages and marking pages for quick page access. Bove implies
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that this type of electronic book is "even better than the real thing," and it
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is inexpensive. -- VR
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Denton, Barbara. "E-Mail Delivery of Search Results via the Internet"
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ONLINE 16(2) (March 1992):50-53. Denton describes in detail Sematech
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Library staff's procedures in delivering Dialog searches to their users via e-
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mail, as well as the benefits and limitations of this method of delivery. --
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VR
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Flanders, Bruce. "Taking Scanning to UMAX." Apple Library Users Group
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Newsletter 10(1) (January 1992):74-75. Scanning technology continues to
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grow finding new applications and new users. Flanders describes a
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sophisticated and advanced OCR device, ReadStation, produced by UMAX
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Technologies, which he claims is the most accurate device available. -- VR
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Miller, Michael J. "Communicating a Document: Not by Text Alone" PC
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Magazine 11(2) (January 28, 1992):81-82. Miller describes systems
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designed to improve character recognition to transmit documents "intact,
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including fonts, graphics, and formatting." -- VR
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Thompson, Keith M. "No Frills, Less Hassle: Three Products for File Transfer,
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Printer Sharing, Electronic Mail" PC Magazine 11(3) (February 11,
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1992):297-98. This brief article describes an alternative to LANs for those
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who do not need the full power, by reviewing three wireless products that
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provide printer-sharing, e-mail, and file-transfer. -- VR
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Treloar, Andrew. "Wordscan Plus." Apple Library Users Group Newsletter
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10(1) (January 1992):66-70. This is a review of Wordscan Plus, "the first
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of a new generation of powerful" OCR software. -- VR
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Networks & Networking
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Caplan, Priscilla "Providing Access to Online Information Resources: a Paper
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for Discussion" Posted on PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET (March 11, 1992) as
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well as on USMARC-L@MAINE.BITNET and CNIDIR-L@UNMVM.BITNET.
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Responding to MARBI Discussion Papers 49 and 54, Caplan offers a new
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proposal for the categorization of electronic documents. She suggests at
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least two categories of documents: "electronic data resources" and "online
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systems/services." The first category would act more like typical
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bibliographic data, whereas the second would need to be described by
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something like the community information format. -- DR
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Coalition for Networked Information "Call for Statement of Interest and
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Experience" Posted on CNIDIR-L@UNMVM.BITNET (February 20, 1992) and
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on PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET and GOVDOC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU. The Coalition asks
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list participants and others for help in its endeavors. CNI is looking
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for individuals, institutions, or organizations that are willing and
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able to contribute toward the Coalition's goals. Specifically, they are
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looking for help in developing cost/benefit analyses of alternative models
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for the Government Printing Office Wide Area Information Network Data
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Online (GPO WINDO) Act. For more information on this project check out
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this posting, or contact Joan Lippincott, Assistant Director, Coalition for
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Networked Information (joan@cni.org / joancni@umdc).
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"Hearing on the National Science Foundation Network" U.S. House of
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Representatives, Subcommittee on Science (March 12, 1992). [Available as
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a Postscript file via anonymous FTP from nic.cic.net as
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/pub/reports/nsfnethearing.ps courtesy of CICNet, Inc.] This reporting of
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hearings before the Congressional subcommittee of Science addresses some
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of the questions surrounding the privatization of the Internet as the NREN
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is pursued.J Testimony was heard from representatives of Douglas E. Van
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Houweling of Merit; Dr. Eric S. Hood, President, Federation of American
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Research Networks and Executive Director, North WestNet; Dr. A. Nico
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Habermann and Dr. Stephen S. Wolff of the National Science Foundation;
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Michael M. Roberts, Vice President, EDUCOM; Mitchell Kapor, President,
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Electronic Frontier Foundation and Chairman, Commercial Internet
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Exchange; William L. Schrader, President and CEO, Performance Systems
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International, Inc.; and the Honorable Robert Traxler, Chairman of the
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Independent Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations
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Committee. -- DR
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Kahin, Brian "Publication of Building Information Inferase" Posted on PACS-
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L@UHUPVM1.BITNET (March 5, 1992). Kahin has posted an announcement
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from Harvard and McGraw-Hill describing the publication of a new book:
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Building Information Infrastructure. According to the announcement, the
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book "presents the NREN as a practical enterprise in developing
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information infrastructure that must be informed by economic, legal, and
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technological insights. -- DR
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Kirk, Thomas G. and Noreen S. Alldredge "Coalition for Networked
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Information: The Second Year, parts 1-2" C&RL News (January & February,
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1992):10-11, 98-99. A report on the activities and accomplishments of CNI
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in the past year. Among other activities, CNI increased its membership
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from 117 to 143 organizations and institutions, an ad hoc group was set up
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to address Z39.50 and CWISP client/server information retrieval protocols,
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and the Working Group for Management, Professional & User Education has
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begun developing a "packet of information for use in formulating and
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addressing institutional and organizational issues arising from the
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emergence of a national networked information infrastructure and
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environment." -- DR
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Meeks, Brock N. "House Subcommittee to Investigate National Science
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Foundation's NSFNET" Communications Daily (February 21, 1992) as posted
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in truncated form by Gordon Cook on COM-PRIV@PSI.COM (February 28,
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1992). This article gives some of the background on the hearings cited
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above. According to the Subcommittee's Chairman, the NSF "will be called
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on to answer questions 'for the record' on policy and management issues
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raised in articles published by Communications Daily." -- DR
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Optical Disc Technologies
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Bouley, Raymond J. "The Life and Death of CD-ROM" CD-ROM Librarian 7(1)
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(January 1992):10-17. Bouley provides an overview of the research into
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the longevity of CD-ROMs. He discusses the differences between longevity,
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durability, and stress-resistance, as well as the different types of
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accelerated aging test methods. Since not all the research results are
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available yet, he strongly urges the library community to listen carefully
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for the announcement of these results. As it now stands, the preferred
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preservation medium in Bouley's estimation is an optical disc composed of
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etched glass substrate coated with gold alloy. -- TR
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"CD-ROM Consistent User Interface Guidelines: A Final Report" CD-ROM
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Librarian 7(2) (February 1992):18-29. This is the final proposal of the CD-
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ROM Consistent Interface Committee (CD-CINC), a working group of the
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Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications and Technology (SIGCAT).
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This proposal is now being submitted for consideration as an industry-wide
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standard. CD-CINC was formed to investigate what could be done to
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encourage some consistency across user interfaces, particularly with
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respect to functionality and terminology. The proposal's guidelines identify
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thirteen basic user functions, grouped into three areas: top-level,
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operational, and navigational. The proposal also encourages the use of good
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design principles and provides guidelines for developing CD-ROM
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installation procedures. A useful bibliography of related materials is
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appended to the proposal. -- TR
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Flanders, Bruce "Protecting the Vulnerable CD-ROM Workstation: Safe
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Computing in an Age of Computer Viruses" CD-ROM Librarian 7(1)
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(January 1992):26-29. With over 400 known viruses in the MS-DOS
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environment, virus protection has become a matter of increasing
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importance to librarians; CD-ROM workstations that allow users to
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download data to a floppy disk are particularly vulnerable. Flanders
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evaluates two leading virus protection software packages available-the
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Norton Anti-Virus and Central Point Anti-Virus. -- TR
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Stewart, Mary R. "Users, Standards, and Access: In Search of the Standard
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User" CD-ROM Librarian 7(2) (February 1992):10-17. This article focuses
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on the need for accurate observations of the library user before developing
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a standard user interface for CD-ROMs. Stewart contends that without a
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more complete understanding of the current user, user culture, and
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capabilities, we create or perpetuate our systems and standards around a
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"standard" user, a mythical creature as rare as the "average person" or
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"normal behavior" Stewart challenges library and information professionals
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to become more than armchair or reference desk philosophers,and act as
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anthropological observer of the library user. -- TR
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General
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DIAC-92. The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility's DIAC
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Symposium "Are Computers Part of the Solution or ...?" This symposium
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will be held on the Berkeley campus May 2-3, 1992. For further
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information, contact Doug Schuler: dschuler@cs.washington.edu, (206)865-
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3832.
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Mendelsohn, Loren D. "Technology Transfer Policy: its Role as a Scientific
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and Technical Information Policy and its Impact on Technological Growth"
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JASIS 43(1) (January 1992):80-88. This article gives us an interesting
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overview of the history of the technology transfer policy in the U.S.,
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presents a summary of comparative foreign technological capabilities, and
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makes recommendations to U.S. policy makers for future technology
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transfer policies. -- VR
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Current Cites 3(3)(March 1992) 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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All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of
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their respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication
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does not necessarily imply endorsement of the product.
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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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