Two years ago Library Systems Newsletter (Vol. 2, no. 1) described electronic mail service as the fastest growing technology in libraries. The intervening months have borne witness to that appraisal.
- As the largest broker of electronic mail service to libraries, CLASS (Cooperative Library Agency for Systems and Services) estimates that the number of its institutional subscribers has doubled in the past two years, bringing the total number of passwords to nearly 1,200.
- Only two months after beginning operation in January 1984, the American Library Association has assigned over 300 mailboxes on its new ALANET electronic mail service.
- The well-known Cleveland market research firm Predicasts, Inc. recently estimated that the number of messages sent via electronic mail in the U.S. will reach eleven billion by 1995, nearly twelve times the number in 1980.
The most common library applications continue to be interlibrary loan requests, reference referrals, meeting announcements, and conference or committee work. Online publishing, legislative alerting programs, shared files, and materials ordering are becoming more available. All are activities which demonstrate the benefits of electronic mail: instantaneous transmission, the ability to leave a message even when the recipient is not present, and the ability to send the same message to many people simultaneously.
Despite its popularity, there is still no consensus on the correct definition of electronic mail. Perhaps the most useful definition for the library user is that electronic mail is the transfer of messages, graphics, and text from one computer terminal to another using digital electronic transmission. Of the several types of electronic mail systems, node-to-node networks and computer-based message systems are the most common in library applications. As detailed in previous issues of LSN, the development of high-speed digital telefacsimile machines using non-impact printers could result in fax machines carrying a larger proportion of the electronic mail traffic among libraries in the years ahead.
In node-to-node transmission, terminals communicate directly. Each station, or node, must have a "smart" terminal capable not only of composing and transmitting messages, but also of receiving and storing them. Using modems, transmission is made over the telephone system. Node-to-node communication is generally most cost-effective in local networks where local phone service expenses are minimal. For longer distances, the terminals can be configured with special equipment and software which allow messages to be transmitted automatically overnight, taking advantage of late night phone rates as well as freeing the terminal for other users during the day. Node-to-node electronic mail has been in use in libraries in Montana since 1981. Ten libraries communicate directly with one another using Apple computers as terminals and MicroCourier software. In spite of the long distances involved, the Montana State Library reports that node-to-node communication has proven to be an inexpensive alternative to surface mail for-ILL, legislative updating and general messaging.
Five other Montana libraries have chosen to utilize an alternative approach: that of a computer-based messaging system. These libraries also use Apple computers and Micro-Courier software. However, the micros operate as "dumb" terminals to access ONTYME II, a service offered by Tymnet on its host computer. The host computer acts as a depository for messages, storing them until the user dials in to retrieve them. The terminals communicate only with the host computer rather than with each other. Because the users of such systems are often dispersed over great geographic distances, transmission generally takes place over a value-added network such as Tymnet rather than over long distance telephone lines. This results in lower communications costs over long distances.
The advantages of a computer-based messaging system over the node-to-node alternative include: access to greater text editing and storage capacity in the host computer, lower costs over long distances, ability to use any general purpose ASCII terminal, and the ability to send the same message to many recipients with a single command. Of the available computer-based messaging systems, Tymnet's ONTYME is the largest. Acting as a broker for libraries, CLASS (Cooperative Library Agency for Systems and Services) provides a special version of the system called ONTYME II, which includes an interlibrary loan messaging format. It recently developed an interface also allowing ONTYME II users to communicate with libraries using TWX. CLASS currently has over 1,200 users, many of them library network members such as the Montana libraries. The standard rates for ONTYME II include an annual subscription fee of $100 and a monthly maintenance charge of $10. Connect time costs vary from $2.85 to $5.75 per hour.
The American Library Association's ALANET system, which was officially launched in January 1984, offers libraries an alternative computer-based messaging system (see LSN, Vol. 3, no. 10). Along with ILL, reference referral, Association committee work and general message capabilities, users will have access to new ALA data bases for current information on legislation, conferences, and publications, as well as external data bases. Subscribers will be able to communicate directly with both the Chicago and Washington Association offices and with a number of library suppliers such as H.W. Wilson, Blackwell North America, and University Microfilms. The Washington office of ALA is planning a comprehensive legislative alert program, and several newsletters will be available online, among them the ALA Washington Newsline and the ALA News Bulletin.
Computer services for ALANET are being provided by ITT Dialcom of Silver Springs Maryland. Unlike ONTYME II, ALANET will allow dial-up access over several of the major telecommunication networks, including Tymnet, Telenet, Unmet, and TWC. Except for the initial $30 subscriber fee and a $7.50 monthly account maintenance fee, subscribers will be billed based on connect time. Pates range from $17 to $20 per hour in prime time, and are $4 lower in non- prime hours.
As increasing numbers of libraries take advantage of the benefits of electronic mail services, competition will become keener as vendors vie for market dollars. The result is likely to be continued improvement in the systems available at reasonable cost.
