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Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 4 Number 10
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Public-Access Computer Systems News
Volume 4, Number 10 (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.
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CONTENTS
U.S. Air Force Chooses Medianet for Its Media Scheduling
System, 1
NYSERNet Awarded Apple & Kaplan Grants, 2
Journal of Fluids Engineering Offers Research Data
Electronically, 3
OCLC Begins Massive Automated Authority Control Project, 4
OCLC to Extend PRISM Service Availability, 5
Legal Researchers Get Help Using Internet, 5
RLG at ALA, 6
U.S. AIR FORCE CHOOSES MEDIANET FOR ITS MEDIA SCHEDULING SYSTEM
The U.S. Air Force has chosen Medianet scheduling system for its
central media collection--the Air Force Central Visual
Information Library at Norton AFB, California. The acquisition
of Medianet will allow their custom developed system to be
retired. Medianet will be used for loans, media tracking through
the duplication process, and will be interfaced with the new
automated storage and retrieval system.
The Medianet system of media and equipment scheduling handles the
information processing requirements of individual media centers
as well as networks of media centers.
Features of Medianet include: online public access catalog,
time-of-day booking, electronic mail, and catalog production. For
commercial sites, optional modules include accounting, sales,
rentals and royalties.
For additional information, contact Karen Backman, Dymaxion
Research Ltd., 5515 Cogswell St., Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 1R2;
902-422-1973, ext.135; fax: 902 421-1267.
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NYSERNET AWARDED APPLE & KAPLAN GRANTS
Apple Computer has named NYSERNet, Inc. as one of four 1993
"Apple Libraries of Tomorrow", and has given a generous equipment
grant in support of Project GAIN--the Global Access Information
Network. NYSERNet has also received $65,000 from the J.M. Kaplan
Fund to help fund the Project GAIN initiative.
The pilot system features library connections to the Internet.
Libraries will be able to exchange electronic mail with over a
million other users around the world. They will tap into remote
databases, transfer files and software from distant host
computers, and use resources previously available mostly to
academic researchers.
Computer equipment, software, one year of Internet connection
service, and training will be given to five rural public
libraries and one Indian Nation school. The sites are:
Baldwinsville Public Library, Baldwinsville, NY;
Morrisville Free Library, Morrisville, NY; Old Forge Public
Library, Old Forge, NY; Onondaga Nation School, Nedrow, NY; Smith
Memorial Library, Chautauqua, NY; and Woodstock Public Library
District, Woodstock, NY.
Additional project sponsors include OCLC, which is donating First
Search and several other major electronic database products.
Publishers O'Reilly and Associates are contributing copies of The
Whole Internet and Addison-Wesley has donated copies of The
Internet Companion. Both books are well-known and popular
introductory texts on Internet use.
The project is not only concerned with how the rural libraries
will make use of the Internet, but also how the Internet
community can benefit from local resources generated by the
Project GAIN sites. Examples which the project libraries might
choose to make available to other Internet users are: local
government or tribal information, local genealogical information,
regional history, travel and tourism suggestions, specialized
databases, and more.
Throughout, the project will be evaluated by Dr. Charles McClure,
of Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, and his
research associates to assess Project GAIN's impact on the
quality of rural life, and the feasibility of providing networked
information in this manner. A report detailing the results of
this study, and how a community might choose to replicate this
project, will be disseminated.
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A CD-ROM and videotape will also be produced. The CD-ROM will
include training materials and public domain software. It will
also hold QuickTime movies of voyages on the Internet, software
installations, and network demonstrations. The videotape will
document the experiences of the Project GAIN libraries. Both will
be made available free to the participating libraries, and will
be offered for sale at cost or slightly above cost to interested
others.
For additional information, contact Jean Armour Polly, NYSERNet,
Inc., 200 Elwood Davis Rd., Suite 103, Liverpool, NY 13088-6147;
315-453-2912; fax: 315-453-3052; email: jpolly@nysernet.org.
JOURNAL OF FLUIDS ENGINEERING OFFERS RESEARCH DATA ELECTRONICALLY
The Journal of Fluids Engineering, published by The American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, has begun offering its readers
the opportunity to obtain electronic files, via the Internet, of
the full data on which some of its published research papers are
based. It appears that many readers already are using the
service.
In its two most recent issues (December 1992 and March 1993), the
Journal has published a total of five research papers accompanied
by extensive research data--far too voluminous to be included in
the print journal; the data are archived electronically in the
Newman Library at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University and available via the Internet as electronic files.
Readers are advised, through notes accompanying each article and
instructions at the back of each journal issue, how they can
retrieve the files electronically via File Transfer Protocol
(ftp).
The service was initiated on an experimental basis through the
cooperation of the Scholarly Communications Project at Virginia
Tech, which publishes several electronic journals, and the
University Libraries, which contributed the storage space.
Early indications are that readers are using the service. More
than 1,500 files were retrieved from the electronic archive
during April, 1993, according to James Powell, Technical Director
of the Project, and well over half of those files were data sets.
The retrievals came from more than thirty sites, including sites
in Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, Chile, Canada and the United
States. Most appeared to be from university sites.
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OCLC BEGINS MASSIVE AUTOMATED AUTHORITY CONTROL PROJECT
The largest authority control corrections project in OCLC's
history began May 14 with automated software programs that
work their way through the 28-million-record Online Union
Catalog, identifying and linking variant forms to the correct
form of name and subject headings. At least 5 million
corrections are expected. OCLC is also applying the corrections
software to Harvard University's online catalog, HOLLIS.
Authority control is necessary for ensuring that all access
points for a particular name or subject are consistent and that
users can search online catalogs efficiently. Variant forms of
the same personal or corporate name or subject, changes in
cataloging rules, coding mistakes, and typographical errors
mean that headings need to be corrected on an ongoing basis to
maintain consistency.
The corrections project uses "intelligent software" that can
correct widely varying forms of names and subjects. Rather than
simply comparing headings to a file of authorized headings and
cross references, OCLC's programs use algorithms that weigh
factors within the record to identify matching headings and link
them to the correct form.
The names correction software will correct personal and corporate
names found in main entry, added entry, and series fields. The
subject headings correction software will correct topical and
geographic subject headings that are coded as Library of Congress
subject headings as well as personal and corporate names that are
used as subjects. The corporate names portion of the project
began in May. The personal names and subject headings portions
are scheduled to begin in August.
OCLC researchers have been studying the quality of the OCLC
database since 1986 and have designed two earlier phases of
subject heading correction programs and duplicate detection and
resolution programs which have upgraded millions of Online Union
Catalog records.
In 1992, OCLC began a six-year retrospective conversion project
for Harvard which includes automated authority control processing
of Harvard's existing local system database, older records that
OCLC will be converting to machine-readable form, and Harvard's
ongoing cataloging.
For additional information, contact Karen Calhoun, 614-764-6113,
or Nita Dean, 614-761-5002.
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OCLC TO EXTEND PRISM SERVICE AVAILABILITY
OCLC will extend PRISM service hours beginning July 11. The
PRISM service will be available Sundays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Eastern time--3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the West Coast.
The extended PRISM service will impact users worldwide. While
those in the continental United States will have more time Sunday
afternoon and evening to access PRISM service, libraries in the
Asia Pacific region will have PRISM service available most of the
Monday workday. For users in Japan, the extended PRISM service
hours are 7 a.m. to noon Monday.
In addition to the new Sunday hours, the PRISM service will
continue to be available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 11
p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The extended hours also apply to the OCLC CJK-Plus System, the
Linked Systems Project, Name-Address Directory, and Union
Listing.
For additional information, contact Nita Dean, 614-761-5002.
LEGAL RESEARCHERS GET HELP USING INTERNET
The world's largest law library is available to everyone, 24
hours a day, virtually for free. But most attorneys don't even
know it exists. The INTERNET computer network provides free
access to such invaluable resources as the Library of Congress,
the Federal Register and Supreme Court opinions. The expertise
required to access the network is now being provided by Legal
Research of New York, Inc., an attorney support firm based in
Brooklyn.
Despite the vast resources available on the INTERNET, knowing
how to access the network can prove difficult, because the
INTERNET has no owner, nor central help desk. Users desiring
access are generally dependent on the few books available or
colleagues who have expertise.
Using the system, however is very cost-effective, especially
when compared with the typical $4 per minute charged by such
legal computer "superbureaus" as Lexis and Westlaw. INTERNET
costs vary, depending on how the network is accessed, but can be
as low as a flat $19 per month. The INTERNET does not yet have
all the features or resources available on the superbureaus,
though additional services become available regularly.
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Legal Research of New York, Inc., offers training in using the
INTERNET for legal research, and uses the system to fulfill
attorney research needs. In addition, the firm provides such
attorney support services as document delivery, legal writing,
translations and computer consulting services. The firm is
staffed by attorneys, law librarians and computer professionals
who use the INTERNET, CD-ROM, computer bulletin boards and other
resources to provide the information lawyers need.
For additional information, contact Legal Research, 36 Plaza
St., Suite 10E, Brooklyn, NY 11238; 718-399-6136.
RLG AT ALA
For the first time since 1980 the Research Libraries Group will
be exhibiting at ALA's annual summer conference. The following
products will be demonstrated at booth 2382.
Eureka: RLG's new streamlined interface to RLIN and CitaDel
files. It combines ease of use with powerful features that
enable researchers to perform even the most complex searches
simply and quickly without special training or documentation.
A short online demonstration of Eureka's features is available to
Internet users. Simply type either of the following commands:
TELNET EUREKA-INFO.STANFORD.EDU or TELNET 36.26.0.172
CitaDel: RLG's citation and document delivery service. This year
RLG will offer substantial savings on CitaDel subscriptions to
institutions that also purchase annual search subscriptions to
RLIN. As part of this special offer, institutions will receive
free access to the newest CitaDel file, Inside Information, the
table-of-contents database just introduced by the British Library
and to be available on CitaDel by September 1. Inside
Information indexes the contents of the 10,000 most requested
journals at the British Library's Document Supply Centre (BLDSC).
Full text of each article can be ordered through CitaDel.
Currently, CitaDel offers eleven files--six general information
files and five special-interest files.
Ariel Software: This state-of-the-art software enables users to
send and receive crisp, clear copies of documents (including
photos and diagrams) over the Internet with the ease and speed of
a fax.
Free copies of the Ariel software are available to institutions
purchasing annual subscriptions to RLIN or any CitaDel general
information file.
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Zephyr: RLG's Z39.50 server enables users of other online systems
to search RLIN and CitaDel using the same commands they use to
search their local system.
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Public-Access Computer Systems News is Copyright (C) 1993 by the
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Reserved.
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