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Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 4 Number 11
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Public-Access Computer Systems News
Volume 4, Number 11 (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
OCLC CJK Plus Adds Pinyin-to-Wade-Giles Conversion Feature, 1
ARL/RLG ILL Report, 2
Two New Files Added to RLG's CitaDel Service, 3
Assistance Offered to Flood-Damaged Libraries, 4
EPIC Prices to be Standardized, 4
The COOK Report on Internet, 5
OCLC Awards Three Research Grants, 6
OCLC CJK PLUS ADDS PINYIN-TO-WADE-GILES CONVERSION FEATURE
The OCLC CJK Plus system for cataloging materials written in the
Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages can now convert
automatically words and phrases from Pinyin, the recently
developed Chinese romanization system, into the Wade-Giles
Romanization system, which librarians have used since the 19th
century for transliterating Chinese words into Roman characters.
For example, books about the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the last
imperial dynasty before the Republican Period, have titles and
subject headings that spell the dynasty name "Ch'ing," according
to the Wade-Giles system. Catalogers who use the Pinyin spelling
("Qing") have not been able to search online for items about this
period because they are all listed as "Ch'ing."
CJK Plus helps catalogers who are more familiar with the Pinyin
system search for bibliographic records that have Wade-Giles
romanizations in the OCLC Online Union Catalog. The system
converts the Pinyin text to Wade-Giles text and formulates it
into an OCLC search key. For example, the Pinyin search phrase
for the Chinese Communist Party, Zhongguo gungchandang, is
converted to its Wade-Giles equivalent, Chung-kuo kung ch'an
tang. When the searcher clicks on "corporate name search," the
search phrase is formulated into =chun,kun,c and the search is
begun.
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The new conversion capability was introduced at OCLC CJK Plus
user meetings held at the Association for Asian Studies annual
meeting in Los Angeles in March 1993. OCLC based its conversion
program on the Pinyin-to-Wade-Giles algorithm written by Karl K.
Lo, head of the International Relations and Pacific Studies
Library at the University of California, San Diego.
The CJK Plus system, released in 1993, is the second generation
of the CJK350 system, which OCLC introduced in 1987. CJK Plus
displays machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records with author,
title, and other fields written in both the transliterated Roman
characters and in the language's actual characters.
CJK Plus runs on a 486 microcomputer in the Microsoft Windows
environment. Its powerful hardware and graphical user interface
support the standard East Asian Character Code; five methods
(including phonetic and graphic) of inputting CJK characters;
efficient text editing (through COPY and PASTE commands);
comprehensive user documentation (including workbook, template,
input code dictionary, and online user manual); and the ability
to print catalog cards at a local site or to export records to a
local system.
For additional information, contact Andrew Wang, 614-764-6188; or
Nita Dean, 614-761-5002.
ARL/RLG ILL REPORT
The Association of Research Libraries and the Research Libraries
Group have recently issued the findings of a joint project to
determine the present costs of interlibrary lending and borrowing
in North American research libraries. The 64-page report,
"ARL/RLG Interlibrary Loan Cost Study," is being distributed by
ARL.
Seventy-six U.S. and Canadian research libraries collected
interlibrary loan (ILL) cost data for 1991, which was then
verified, analyzed, and distilled into the published study.
Some findings, presented in statistical detail in the study:
o The major cost of ILL operations is for staff; less than
one-fourth of the total goes to all other elements--
communications, photocopying, supplies, equipment, materials
delivery, etc.
o More than half of all filled ILL transactions are done
through photocopies rather than transmitting the original
item.
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o The average cost for a completed ILL transaction (incurred
by both the lender and the borrower) is close to $30--nearly
$19 for the requester and $11 for the lender.
The study is available for $10 per copy (includes shipping and
handling) prepaid. Prepaid orders go to: ARL Publications
Department, P.O. Box 0692, Washington, DC 20073-0692. For
further ordering information, contact Gloria Haws, Program
Assistant for Customer Services, 202-296-2296 (e-mail:
osap@cni.org; fax: 202-872-0884).
For other information concerning the study, contact C. Brigid
Welch, 202-206-8656, brigid@cni.org.
TWO NEW FILES ADDED TO RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE
Two new files--Hispanic American Periodicals Index and Isis
History of Science Bibliography--have been added to CitaDel, the
article-citation and document-delivery service from the Research
Libraries Group (RLG).
Hispanic Studies Index
Hispanic American Periodicals Index, an ongoing project of UCLA's
Latin American Center, contains over 165,000 citations to
articles from more than 400 scholarly social science and
humanities journals published in Latin America or treating Latin
American and U.S. Hispanic topics. The journals are selected and
indexed by an international panel of librarians and scholars.
The index is updated annually; coverage at present is 1970 to
1991.
History of Science Index, Exclusive to CitaDel
Isis History of Science Bibliography, compiled by the History
of Science Society, currently contains 60,000 citations to books
and articles about the history of science and the influence of
science on culture. It indexes more than 600 journals and is
updated annually; coverage is 1976 to the present. The index is
available online only through RLG's CitaDel service. The Isis
index has been combined with CitaDel's History of Technology file
to form a new CitaDel file called History of Science and
Technology.
For more information, please call the RLIN Information Center at
1-800-537-7546; email bl.ric@rlg.bitnet or
bl.ric@rlg.stanford.edu (Internet).
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ASSISTANCE OFFERED TO FLOOD-DAMAGED LIBRARIES
OCLC is offering assistance to flood-damaged libraries in the
Midwest. OCLC will help with recovery of damaged workstations
and offline products, expedite telecommunications line and
workstation installations, and provide general systems advice and
counsel.
Libraries that need assistance should contact their regional
network. Independent institutions should contact the OCLC
support and training specialist, 614-764-6000 or 800-848-5878.
EPIC PRICES TO BE STANDARDIZED
As part of OCLC's overall pricing simplification plan, some
connect-hour and display-format charges for the EPIC service
have changed effective July 1, 1993. The changes are being made
primarily to allow libraries to more easily predict search costs
and to remember prices across databases.
Highlights of the changes:
o database connect-hour charges are now multiples of 10:
$30, $40, $50, etc.
o record-display charges are now standardized across
databases
o online and offline record-display charges are now the
same
o practice database connect-hour prices are now all $10
per hour
o display list is the free display format for browsing
search results
For most databases on EPIC, charges for connect time have either
stayed the same or decreased. They were increased for 11
databases. Record-display prices, which varied widely, will
increase somewhat for most databases. Prices for most databases
added since January 1993 have followed the new pricing standard.
Copies of the new EPIC price list are available from
OCLC-affiliated regional networks or OCLC reference services.
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THE COOK REPORT ON INTERNET
The COOK Report is a monthly newsletter focusing on the policy
complexities of NREN, and National Information Infrastructure
(NII) development as well as Internet commercialization.
Published by the former Director of a US Congress Office of
Technology assessment of the NREN, who is beholden to no federal
agencies or private companies for funds, it contains views not
generally found within the community of NREN and NII "boosters."
The COOK Report helps subscribers:
o to understand the so far, convoluted evolution of Federal
Policy toward the commercialization and privatization of the
Internet, the creation of an NREN and a National Information
Infrastructure;
o to understand the economic trends linking the development of
multi-protocol routers and public network transport
technologies from Federally sponsored testbeds to commercial
implementation;
o to understand whether commercial internet providers can
satisfy corporate needs to link LANs over a wide area
network;
o to understand developments and issues affecting k-12 and
library access to the network infrastructure;
o to understand the commercialization's impact on the
cooperative nature of the Internet and its standards
process;
o and to track changes in policy by the new administration.
Subscriptions available for volume one at slightly reduced prices
or starting with volume two (April 1993).
Price List for one year subscription (effective April 1993):
Individual: $85
Non-Profit, Small Government Agency, or Corporation: $175 (Site
License $300)
University or college library: $175 (subscriptions available
through Readmore and Faxon)
Corporate (revenues greater than $10 million a year) or Cabinet
Level Agency: $350
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Corporate Site License (hardcopy and electronic with right to
redistribute within corporation): $500
Foreign Subscriptions: add $50 in each category
Call, write or email: Gordon Cook, COOK Network Consultants,431
Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618; 609-882-2572; Internet:
cook@path.net
OCLC AWARDS THREE RESEARCH GRANTS
The OCLC Office of Research has awarded three Library and
Information Science Research Grants (LISRG) to university
researchers for 1993.
The grant recipients and their projects are:
o Carolyn O. Frost, Ph.D., Associate Dean, School of
Information and Library Studies, University of Michigan: "An
Empirical Test of Gopher Searching Using Three Organization
Schemes"
Gopher is an example of a commonly used protocol for
searching networked information. Although the use of
networked information is proliferating at an astounding
rate and is providing unprecedented access to
information, the organization of this information has
not kept up with its use. Likewise, there is need for a
greater understanding of information searching in order
to design better searching tools, organize networked
information more effectively, and assist information
providers in the mounting of networked sources. There
has been little research on how people use Gopher, or
its effectiveness as a searching tool. The proposed
project will study Gopher users' information searching
behavior, identify patterns and problems in the
searching behavior or with the information retrieval,
and recommend changes for improvement.
o Richard P. Smiraglia, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Palmer
School of Library and Information Science, Long Island
University: "Toward the Bibliographic Control of Works:
Derivative Bibliographic Relationships in the Online Union
Catalog"
The purpose of this project is to further the
bibliographic control of works by verifying the extent
of derivative bibliographic relationships in the OCLC
Online Union Catalog and by testing a conceptual model
for a database of bibliographic works. The methodology
employed will be descriptive survey research of a random
sample of bibliographic families from the Online Union
Catalog and qualitative examination of the most complex
families to assess the efficacy of the conceptual model.
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o James H. Sweetland, Ph.D., Associate Professor, and Judith J.
Senkevitch, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Library and
Information Science, University of Wisconsin at Madison:
"Evaluating Public Library Fiction Collections: Is There a
Core List of Classics?"
The project will address the following research
questions: Is there a core of widely held adult fiction
in the OCLC database which can be used as a list of
classics? Does this core list relate to standard lists
of recommended fiction supposedly relied upon by public
libraries in selection and evaluation? Can one or more
standard lists be recommended as those most likely to
predict librarians' behavior? Is it feasible for OCLC
to consider using the core list concept to develop a
machine-readable product to assist public librarians in
evaluating their fiction collections?
The OCLC Library and Information Science Research Grant program
awards grants of up to $10,000 to help foster quality research by
faculty in schools of library and information science. Projects
are generally completed within one year, and findings are
published in the OCLC Annual Review of Research and in other
scholarly communications. Application materials for 1994 will be
available this November. For more information, contact the
Office of Research, 614-764-6000 or 800-848-5878.
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Public-Access Computer Systems News is an electronic newsletter
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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
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message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use
requires permission.
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