357 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
357 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
+ Page 1 +
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Public-Access Computer Systems News
|
|
|
|
Volume 4, Number 9 (1993) ISSN 1050-6004
|
|
|
|
Editors: Dana Rooks (LIBL@UHUPVM1) and Linda Thompson
|
|
(LIB1J@UHUPVM1).
|
|
|
|
Issued on an irregular basis by University Libraries, University
|
|
of Houston, Houston,
|
|
TX 77204-2091.
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
CONTENTS
|
|
|
|
Library Literature Database is Now on FirstSearch and EPIC, 1
|
|
Online Journal for Electrical Engineers Scheduled for October, 2
|
|
RLG and ARL Announce Enhanced Service to Conspectus Users, 4
|
|
Sprint Expands Internet Connections to 12 Countries, 5
|
|
GRC Helps the Visually Impaired, 6
|
|
CARL Systems Z39.50 Interface in Test, 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIBRARY LITERATURE DATABASE IS NOW ON FIRSTSEARCH AND EPIC
|
|
|
|
Librarians, information specialists, library science students,
|
|
and educators can now monitor the latest trends and developments
|
|
in the library field through H.W. Wilson's Library Literature
|
|
database on OCLC's FirstSearch Catalog and the EPIC service.
|
|
|
|
Library Literature, created by librarians for librarians,
|
|
contains practical information published in virtually every area
|
|
of the library field to help library staffs face the challenges
|
|
of the future.
|
|
|
|
Library Literature indexes more than 200 periodicals and more
|
|
than 600 monographs each year, providing information crucial to
|
|
the operation of university, public, special, and school
|
|
libraries. The database is updated monthly.
|
|
|
|
The indexed publications include selected state library journals,
|
|
books, conference proceedings, American and foreign periodicals,
|
|
library school theses, films, filmstrips, pamphlets, microcards,
|
|
and microfilms.
|
|
|
|
As in numerous other FirstSearch and EPIC databases, Library
|
|
Literature citations include three-character OCLC symbols for the
|
|
libraries that own the publications cited in each entry.
|
|
|
|
+ Page 2 +
|
|
|
|
FirstSearch usage options include per-search purchase in blocks
|
|
of searches and flat-rate annual subscription. The annual
|
|
subscription includes a base package that is priced per
|
|
simultaneous log-on; additional databases can be added to the
|
|
base package. The FirstSearch subscription price for Library
|
|
Literature is $1,800 for 1-10 simultaneous log-ons and $3,600 for
|
|
11-20 simultaneous log-ons.
|
|
|
|
The cost for Library Literature on EPIC is $20 per hour, $10 per
|
|
hour for the practice database. Online and offline formats are
|
|
priced from 5 cents to 75 cents per record. (All prices are in
|
|
U.S. dollars.)
|
|
|
|
Library Literature is available via EPIC to participants of the
|
|
OCLC Library School Program, which provides ALA-accredited
|
|
library schools and their counterparts in Europe with free or
|
|
reduced-price access to most OCLC products and services.
|
|
|
|
The FirstSearch menu name for Library Literature is LibraryLit.
|
|
On the EPIC service, Library Literature is database 5 (practice
|
|
file 905).
|
|
|
|
The FirstSearch Catalog is designed for library patrons, with an
|
|
end-user interface that allows patrons to move easily through the
|
|
online search process in just a few simple steps, without
|
|
training or online searching experience.
|
|
|
|
EPIC, a full-featured online reference system that provides
|
|
subject access and keyword and Boolean searching to a variety of
|
|
databases, is used mostly by librarians and experienced
|
|
searchers.
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Tam Dalrymple, 614-761-5054,
|
|
or Nita Dean, 614-761-5002.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ONLINE JOURNAL FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER
|
|
|
|
Electronics Letters, the prestigious biweekly journal of
|
|
international electronics research, will also be available as an
|
|
online journal beginning in October 1993. Electronics Letters
|
|
Online will be published by the Institution of Electrical
|
|
Engineers (IEE) and distributed to subscribers by OCLC Online
|
|
Computer Library Center via the Internet and dial-up
|
|
telecommunications networks.
|
|
|
|
+ Page 3 +
|
|
|
|
The new electronic journal will carry the same 1,400 to 1,500
|
|
articles per year as the print version but will display them
|
|
through the GUIDON interface, a Windows-based graphical user
|
|
interface developed by OCLC. GUIDON supports full-text searching
|
|
by subject, title, author, keyword, date, and a full range of
|
|
Boolean and proximity operators. It displays full text, figures,
|
|
tables, and equations in quality that rivals the printed page.
|
|
GUIDON operates in the Microsoft Windows environment on an 80286
|
|
or higher PC. Electronics Letters Online will also be available
|
|
with a command-driven ASCII user interface that runs on a
|
|
terminal or PC with software emulating a VT100 terminal.
|
|
|
|
Through links to IEE's INSPEC database, subscribers to
|
|
Electronics Letters Online will also have access to abstracts
|
|
of references cited in the articles. The INSPEC database is the
|
|
world's largest and most comprehensive source of reference
|
|
literature in the fields of physics, electrical and control
|
|
engineering, electronics, and computing.
|
|
|
|
Subscription pricing and ordering information for Electronics
|
|
Letters Online will be announced soon.
|
|
|
|
Professor Peter Clarricoats, FEng, FRS, is honorary editor of
|
|
Electronics Letters. Gill Wheeler is managing editor of both
|
|
Electronics Letters and Electronics Letters Online.
|
|
|
|
Electronics Letters Online will be the second electronic
|
|
journal distributed by OCLC. Last July, the Online Journal of
|
|
Current Clinical Trials, published by the American Association
|
|
for the Advancement of Science, was launched. The Online
|
|
Journal of Knowledge Synthesis for Nursing, published by Sigma
|
|
Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing, is scheduled
|
|
to begin distribution in November 1993.
|
|
|
|
The Institution of Electrical Engineers is the largest
|
|
professional engineering society in Europe and has worldwide
|
|
membership of over 130,000. It covers every aspect of electrical
|
|
and manufacturing engineering from power generation to software
|
|
engineering, medical electronics, and satellite communications.
|
|
The IEE is best known to the information industry as the
|
|
publisher of the INSPEC database.
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Andrea Keyhani, OCLC, 614-
|
|
764-6474; Michele Day, IEE, 908-562-5556; or Nita Dean, OCLC 614-
|
|
761-5002.
|
|
|
|
+ Page 4 +
|
|
|
|
RLG AND ARL ANNOUNCE ENHANCED SERVICE TO CONSPECTUS USERS
|
|
|
|
The Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the Association
|
|
of Research Libraries (ARL) are pleased to announce a new level
|
|
of support for institutions interested in using the Conspectus
|
|
originated by RLG and adopted by ARL. The RLG Conspectus is an
|
|
approach to inventorying research libraries' collection strengths
|
|
and current collecting patterns that has produced a national
|
|
database of comparative results. It is based on the Library of
|
|
Congress classification system and arranged hierarchically by
|
|
subject divisions (major disciplines), categories (major
|
|
subfields), and subject descriptors (detailed topics).
|
|
Librarians complete the Conspectus by assigning values ranging
|
|
from 0 to 5 to indicate collection strength and alphabetic codes
|
|
to indicate language coverage or (for music) principal recording
|
|
origins.
|
|
|
|
WLN, the library network and services provider based in the
|
|
Pacific Northwest, has developed to RLG's specifications, with
|
|
funding from RLG and ARL, a PC-based Conspectus system that gives
|
|
users the ability to input and update their assessment data
|
|
locally--yet maintain their cooperative effort to build a central
|
|
database of collection assessment data.
|
|
|
|
RLG members and other participants in ARL's North American
|
|
Collections Inventory Project that subscribe to the WLN/RLG
|
|
Conspectus Software will be able to load data from the RLG
|
|
Conspectus Online into their local assessment files, as well as
|
|
to produce assessment data for uploading into the national
|
|
database, where it is accessible to all RLIN users.
|
|
|
|
For more information about the software, please contact Sally
|
|
Loken at 800-342-5956, or WLN, P.O Box 3888, Lacey, WA
|
|
98503-0888; or send electronic mail to Internet address
|
|
loken@wln.com.
|
|
|
|
RLG will maintain responsibility for the Conspectus "union
|
|
database" on RLIN (the Research Libraries Information Network),
|
|
adding data from institutions who choose regularly to send in
|
|
diskettes generated from their local WLN/RLG Conspectus Software.
|
|
|
|
RLG will also be the source for all products derived from the
|
|
national database (such as printed reports of online data, blank
|
|
Conspectus worksheets, supplemental guidelines for preparing
|
|
individual data on these worksheets, and information on which to
|
|
base verification studies that confirm reported collection
|
|
levels).
|
|
|
|
+ Page 5 +
|
|
|
|
ARL began using the Conspectus in mid-1983 for its North American
|
|
Collections Inventory Project (NCIP), a cooperative effort
|
|
intended eventually to involve research libraries throughout the
|
|
U.S. and Canada. ARL will now assume responsibility for the
|
|
maintenance and development of Conspectus divisions, guidelines,
|
|
verification studies, and any other assessment tools to be used
|
|
in conjunction with the national database.
|
|
|
|
Among these, RLG and ARL are pleased to announce the release of
|
|
the revised History Division of the Conspectus. This revision
|
|
contains contributions by many RLG/ARL subject specialists, as
|
|
well as additions by the LIBER Conspectus Committee, the primary
|
|
European body promoting the Conspectus as a tool for cooperative
|
|
collection development. In coming months RLG will release the
|
|
updated divisions for Physical Geography and Earth Sciences and
|
|
for Technology, prepared under its supervision. ARL will assume
|
|
this role in preparing a revised Economics and Sociology Division
|
|
and developing comprehensive supplemental guidelines for its use.
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Jennifer Hartzell (RLG),
|
|
bl.jlh@rlg.stanford.edu, or Jutta Reed-Scott (ARL), 202-296-2296.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPRINT EXPANDS INTERNET CONNECTIONS TO 12 COUNTRIES
|
|
|
|
In conjunction with a live demonstration of new Internet video
|
|
conference capabilities, Sprint announced the expansion of its
|
|
SprintLink Internet service through connections between the
|
|
National Science Foundation's U.S. computer communications
|
|
network (NSFNet)--and scientific research networks in Costa Rica,
|
|
Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, South
|
|
Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the U.K.
|
|
|
|
Over the last two years, Sprint has expanded access to the
|
|
Internet and today offers extensive Internet interconnection
|
|
service throughout the world. In 1991, Sprint was the first
|
|
carrier to provide a managed network linking the NSFNet with
|
|
other Internet networks, providing connectivity with all major
|
|
federal networks including the NASA Science Internet and the
|
|
Energy Sciences Network (ESNet). Last year, Sprint became the
|
|
first carrier to extend the TCP/IP service to commercial
|
|
customers under the name SprintLink. The company is also a
|
|
member of the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) which provides
|
|
an interconnection point for most commercial U.S. and several
|
|
foreign Internet service providers.
|
|
|
|
Sprint plans to announce additional Internet connections with
|
|
networks in Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, the
|
|
Philippines, Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as additional
|
|
connectivity in Japan and the U.K., throughout this year.
|
|
|
|
+ Page 6 +
|
|
|
|
Students in the U.S. and U.K. participating in the NSF "Global
|
|
Schoolhouse" project recently used Sprint's growing Internet
|
|
infrastructure to exchange environmental information in an event
|
|
recognizing National Science and Technology Week (April 26 - May
|
|
1). A demonstration of Internet video conference capabilities,
|
|
sponsored by the National Science Foundation, enabled fifth
|
|
through eighth grade students in Virginia, California, Tennessee
|
|
and the United Kingdom to discuss the results of a six-week
|
|
course on the environment which included reading Vice President
|
|
Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance." Students shared the results
|
|
of a study of ground water pollution with one other--and with
|
|
national leaders in Washington, D.C.--using the Internet and
|
|
personal computers specially equipped with video conference
|
|
capabilities.
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Janis Langley, 202-828-7427
|
|
or 703-533-3322; or Evette Fulton, 202-828-7411 or 301-230-0978.
|
|
|
|
|
|
GRC HELPS THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
|
|
|
|
LaserGuide CD-ROM patron access catalogs now assist the visually
|
|
impaired by means of a screen magnification system, V View from
|
|
Telesensory. V View on LaserGuide catalogs provides
|
|
magnification that can be continually adjusted, up to 16 times,
|
|
by users. A visually impaired user can choose to magnify the
|
|
full screen, a single line, or a combination of both.
|
|
Additionally, the reverse video feature can be used to change
|
|
display colors to provide the contrasts needed to improve visual
|
|
acuity.
|
|
|
|
The magnification and reverse video features also apply to
|
|
graphics. This allows the floor plans in LaserGuide catalogs to
|
|
be enlarged and enhanced. The maps of the library's floor plans
|
|
point with a flashing arrow to where the user's selected
|
|
materials are located. Both visually impaired and physically
|
|
challenged patrons can then find direct routes to their
|
|
materials.
|
|
|
|
Using LaserGuide's shelf browse feature, any patron can "look" at
|
|
titles on a shelf without leaving the catalog. Physically
|
|
challenged and visually impaired patrons have easy access without
|
|
actually wandering through the stacks.
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Darcy Cook, GRC Library
|
|
Systems, 5383 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara CA 93111; 800-933-
|
|
5383 or 805-964-7724; fax: 805-967-7094.
|
|
|
|
+ Page 7 +
|
|
|
|
CARL SYSTEMS Z39.50 INTERFACE IN TEST
|
|
|
|
CARL Systems announces the availability for testing purposes of a
|
|
Z39.50 server providing access to several public access
|
|
databases. Z39.50 is the emerging ANSI standard for
|
|
interoperability of information systems, and will allow other
|
|
online systems which support Z39.50 to interact with CARL Systems
|
|
using their native commands and displays. The test server is
|
|
available at Internet address: Z3950.carl.org (192.54.81.12).
|
|
|
|
Z3950.carl.org accesses the bibliographic catalogs of the
|
|
following institutions:
|
|
|
|
Library Database Code
|
|
Denver Public Library DPL
|
|
Colorado School of Mines MIN
|
|
Auraria Higher Education Center AUR
|
|
University of Colorado at Boulder CUB
|
|
University of Northern Colorado UNC
|
|
University of Denver Law Library LAW
|
|
University of Wyoming WYO
|
|
|
|
For additional information, contact Melissa Stockton, CARL
|
|
Systems, 3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 300, Denver CO 80210; 303-
|
|
758-3030.
|
|
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Public-Access Computer Systems News is an electronic newsletter
|
|
that is distributed on BITNET, Internet, and other computer
|
|
networks. There is no subscription fee.
|
|
|
|
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 (BITNET)
|
|
or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU (Internet) that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-P
|
|
First Name Last Name. PACS-P subscribers also receive two other
|
|
electronic serials: Current Cites and The Public-Access Computer
|
|
Systems Review.
|
|
|
|
Public-Access Computer Systems News is Copyright (C) 1993 by the
|
|
University Libraries, University of Houston. All Rights
|
|
Reserved.
|
|
|
|
Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by academic computer
|
|
centers, computer conferences, individual scholars, and
|
|
libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their
|
|
collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This
|
|
message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use
|
|
requires permission.
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
|
|
|