Library Technology Guides

NOTIS demonstrated a prototype of its new serial control module at the 1991 ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta. The new module is fully interwoven into the NOTIS library management software, maintaining its fully integrated nature. The new module includes streamlined check-in, utilizing SII or UPC barcodes. Issue receipt can be accomplished with as few as four keystrokes. Predictive check-in-based on thirteen (13) levels of enumeration and chronology-is also an important new feature. The new module includes online help for each screen display and extensive use of function keys for fast and efficient workflow. Online receipt/status history and a variety of management reports are included in the new module. Full support for the USMARC Format for Holdings Data, introduced to NOTIS users in March 1991, will be continued in the new module.

NOTIS has scheduled beta testing of the new serials control module for fourth quarter 1991. General distribution to NOTIS sites will occur in the first half of 1992.

NOTIS and Blackwell North America have announced a joint pilot project to test direct transmission of book orders using the X12 standard. A NOTIS user will also participate as a development partner and test site. Blackwell and NOTIS expect to reach an agreement with a site in the near future. NOTIS is also experimenting with X12 transmission of serials' claims in another pilot project with Faxon and the University of Minnesota.

[Contact: NOTIS Systems, Inc., 1007 Church Street, 2nd Floor, Evanston, IL 60201-3622; (708) 866-0150; Fax (708) 866-0176.]

We have recently been asked why a library implementing a turnkey system needs a systems manager. After all, wrote one librarian, we were told that no data processing expertise is required. The key is the word "manager." While the design of turnkey systems means that no systems analysis or programming is required, every system, whether consisting of 8 terminals or of 80, requires someone to manage it. The person, usually designated the "system manager," should be appointed no later than the completion of contract negotiation. While the person selected as system manager need not be a data processing expert, he or she should understand the requirements of the library and have good interpersonal skills because it will be necessary to reconcile the library's needs with the capabilities of the vendor, coordinate conformity with standards, coordinate installation and training, implement new system features, oversee vendor compliance with the contract, etc. The system manager should work near the central site in order to maintain close contact with the operating staff and the vendor's technical support personnel. A system with fewer than 30 terminals may require only a quarter time manager; for a system of 30 to 60 terminals, the system manager should be available on at least a one-third to one- half time basis. Larger systems require a full-time manager.

We now have a profile of persons holding the position of system manager. In a December 1990 survey of 148 managers of its systems, most of them overseeing small or mid-size systems, Dynix determined that 80 percent held the MLS, reinforcing the importance of librarianship in managing a local library system. Eighty percent moved into the position of system manager from another position in the same library. Two-thirds changed job title on assuming system management responsibilities, although only 25 percent received a pay increase. For the entire group, the average time spent per week on systems management is 11.5 hours, with half spending half-time or less on system administration.

Carlyle Systems, Inc., celebrated its 10th anniversary in June. Carlyle, which began as a vendor of proprietary online catalog and circulation systems--including both hardware and software--has evolved into a vendor of Unix-based open systems and software supporting a broad range of functionality.

The first commercial version of Carlyle's catalog system (TOMUS) was designed to reduce the high cost of telecommunications. It used a device developed by Carlyle called a remote processor, first installed at the New York Public Library in the spring of 1984. Each library terminal connected to a processor, which connected to the mainframe. Carlyle subsequently incorporated a proprietary data base management system to manage variable-length records, with variable-length fields and subfields. This not only increased storage efficiency, but made it possible to rewrite software without affecting the data base. Finally, the interface processor was developed, which incorporated true parallel processing and modularity, allowing Carlyle to move away from relatively expensive mainframe technology.

By September 1984, a network of eight New York State institutions had installed TOMUS, Carlyle's online public access catalog, and in November, a complete, stand-alone OPAC system was installed at the New York Public Library and at Rice University in Houston. The company grew steadily through 1987 when the Carlyle catalog was installed at 44 institutions. It then went through two turbulent years, including a brief period in Chapter 11.

Beginning in 1989, Carlyle initiated a new systems methodology and marketing effort. The strategic redirection focused on open systems and a complete line of library automation modules. Carlyle's online catalog (TOMUS) and cataloging system (CATIE) , were reconfigured to operate on a Unix-based platform, the industry's most popular operating system. CAROLINE, Carlyle's new circulation system, was also developed on this platform. Carlyle's fully integrated library automation system, the IS/90 Series, was introduced in January 1991. CASS, the acquisitions and serials subsystem, was introduced at the 1991 ALA Annual Conference.

Carlyle is one of several companies which have moved away from proprietary products to open systems. The others include CLSI, Geac, and Innovative Interfaces. Like Carlyle, Innovative Interfaces has moved beyond a limited number of modules to a fully integrated system with a broad range of functionality.

Carlyle has recently moved beyond the industry as a whole by introducing MCMANIS, a collection and image management system that gives access to records and associated images via state-of-the-art imaging technology. MCMANIS incorporates ImageQuery, a versatile imaging system that provides online access to digital images.

[Contact: Carlyle Systems, Inc., 2000 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403; (415) 345-2500; Fax (415) 349-3874.]

Dynix continues to battle an image that it is a system for public libraries. The company, therefore, has deluged professional publications with announcements of six academic library signings in the past two months. Most recently, it has announced the signing of its 152nd contract for the automation of an academic library. The account is Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The system will be configured on an IBM RS/6000 model 550. Dynix is closing in on Innovative Interfaces, the leading academic library system vendor with approximately 180 library installations.

[Contact: Dynix, Inc., 151 E. 1700 South, Provo, UT 84606; (801) 375-2770; Fax (801) 373-1889.]

Innovative Interfaces continues to be the predominant library automation system in law libraries--so far, 56 of them have implemented INNOPAC. The pace is now slowing: ten law libraries have implemented INNOPAC systems over the past ten months. The most recent installations include state, county, and academic law libraries: Alabama State Law Library (Montgomery, Alabama), Allegheny County Law Library (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), District of Columbia School of Law, Law Library (Washington, D.C.), Loyola University, Law Library (Los Angeles, California), Loyola University, Law Library (New Orleans, Louisiana), Rutgers University, Law Library (Newark, New Jersey), Stetson University, Charles A. Dana Law Library (St. Petersburg, Florida), Thomas Cooley Law School, Law Library (Lansing, Michigan), University of Michigan, Law Library (Ann Arbor, Michigan), and Wisconsin State Law Library (Madison, Wisconsin).

Some of the law libraries using the Innovative system are making their online catalogs available to others via the Internet, an international network which interconnects more than 2,000 institutions. Among the institutions offering Internet access are the law libraries of Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Innovative Interfaces has also signed its fourth contract with a major art library, the National Gallery of Canada. Previously, Innovative was selected by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[Contact: Innovative Interfaces, 2344 Sixth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; (800) 444-2344 or (415) 644-3600.]

A MITINET/BiblioFile interface, which makes original cataloging easier and faster, has been jointly announced by The Library Corporation and Information Transform, Inc. The library automation suppliers developed the interface to offer librarians a cataloging package that combines the features of their cataloging tools.

MITINET/marc is used to catalog all titles not found in LC MARC or one of seven other BiblioFile CD-ROM data bases. Simple English instructions guide the user through the cataloging process to create bibliographic records in the industry standard MARC II communications format. While original cataloging can be performed with BiblioFile, the user is expected to understand basic MARC structure and rules. MITINET/marc allows beginning catalogers to create full MARC records without learning these rules. Correct MARC field tags (including 007, 008 and leader information), subfield codes, indicators, GMD (General Materials Description), ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) punctuation, and even local holdings data (copy and volume) are automatically generated as the user enters text.

A new user can be trained within two hours to create MARC records and then import them into BiblioFile. After using the system for a day or two, the average user can produce at the rate of about ten original cataloging records per hour.

BiblioFile and MITINET both received excellent ratings in the three-part report on PC-based products published in Library Technology Reports March/April and May/June 1990 and May/June 1991. The BiblioFile version of MITINET/marc is available in MS-DOS format on either 5.25" or 3.5" diskettes for a one-time cost of $399. User support, including software upgrades, is $150 per year. A free demo disk is available.

[Contact: The Library Corporation, Research ?ark, Inwood, WV 25428; (800) 624-0559 or (304) 229-0100; Fax (304) 229-0295.]

TCP/IP is the most popular protocol for networking according to Data Business Research Group, a market research firm, but OSI is only a few percentage points behind. SNA and DECnet, the proprietary protocols of IBM and Digital, are beginning to slip. TCP/IP is the choice of more than 22 percent of those surveyed because it is here now, and it is not proprietary. OSI is preferred by 18 percent because it is seen as the protocol of the future. Unfortunately, OSI remains incomplete. The solution for an increasing number of organizations, including 85 percent of the Fortune 1000, is to use TCP/IP for linking different host computers, connecting PC LANs to hosts, and building new Unix-based client server networks; and to implement OSI, as it becomes available, on top of the TCP/IP. Over 80 percent of large networks now combine protocols, rather than being single protocol implementations.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Standards Review approved the Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI) on July 15, 1991. Kluwer Academic Publishers was printing the SISAC Symbol, a barcoded version of the item identifier section of this Standard, on all of their journals for several years. B.H. Blackwelj. Periodicals Division, Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Pergamon Press, and John Wiley & Sons have all agreed that they will print the barcode symbol on all of their journals by the end of 1991.

Approval of this standard, identified as ANSI/NISO Z39.56-1991, culminates an almost 10 year effort begun in 1982 with the founding of the Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee (SISAC) of the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. At its inception, SISAC set out to develop methods for improving communication of business transactions for the serial industry using current technology. The first need they isolated was a standard method to uniquely identify specific issues of serial publications, so that orders and claims could be processed electronically. They agreed to create such an identification standard down to the article level for use in document delivery.

Working as both a SISAC Subcommittee and a National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Standards Committee, a group of volunteers was established to develop a national standard that was compatible with the International Standard for Bibliographic Identification of Contributions in Serials and Books (ISO 9115) under development in 1982 and approved in 1987.

SISAC was also determined to find a standard method for representing the issue-level identifier in barcoding on the cover of professional, scientific, and technical journals, to allow for their automatic check-in at America's many automated libraries. After much debate, SISAC selected barcode 128 as the symbology to be used to encode the SICI, since it is the most compact code which can handle the alphabetic and numeric characters and punctuation found in the SICI. Starting in May 1986, 56 publications of 22 publishers began carrying the serial issue identifier in barcode and eye-readable form on the front or back cover of each issue. At that time, systems vendors began programming interfaces to their systems that would allow their library customers to scan the code to record receipt and, possibly, for tracking serials circulated to patrons. The test concluded in November 1986, confirmed the speed with which journals carrying this "SISAC Symbol" can be identified, supporting the belief that scanning of journals at check-in will significantly reduce claims for missing issues.

In addition to Kluwer journals, the SISAC Symbol now appears on one Springer and several Academic Press journals, on SCAN Newsletters, SISAC News, Against the Grain, and will, with the next issue, on Scholarly Publishing.

The method of converting the SICI to Code 128 is explained in SERIAL ISSUE IDENTIFICATION: CODE AND SYMBOL GUIDELINES. This publication is available for $7.50 from the Book Industry Study Group, 160 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010; (212) 929-1393; Fax (212) 989-7542. The Serial Item and Contribution Identifier Standard will be published in late 1991. Advanced orders are being accepted.

[Contact: Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ 08903; (908) 932-2280; Fax (908) 932-3138.]

OCLC has contracted with Blackwell North America to review 700,000 subject headings in the Online Union Catalog (OLUC). Blackwell NA will use its subject authority control system to correct errors and update the headings to match current Library of Congress (LC) headings. The headings are in the 650 and 651 fields--topical and geographic subject-added entries. When the project is complete, the corrections will be loaded into OCLC's master data base. The Blackwell review will not affect libraries' archive tapes. The Blackwell Subject Heading Correction project is intended to improve the quality of subject headings in the OLUC.

Libraries interested in networking CD-ROM drives, but not requiring more than eight CD-ROM drives, may want to consider Meridian's CD-NET 100 NC. The 100NC is a low-cost CD-ROM turnkey networking solution designed to integrate up to 8 CD-ROM drives (or 5.3 GBytes of information) on a standard Local Area Network (LAN).

Meridian's CD NET 100NC supports Novell networking software through the Novell iPX interface, as well as 3Com, Ungermann-Bass, and LAN Manager compatible software through NetBIOS. The system can be configured for Ethernet, ARCNET, or Token Ring networks. The CD NET 100NC featurer up to 4MB of memory for caching capabilities which enhances the access speed of the system's CD-ROM drives on a network. CD NET 100NC connects to LANs like any other node, insulating the user from network complexities. This simplifies installation and prevents CD NET from impacting overall network performance. The unit's hardware configuration consists of an Intel 80286 microprocessor, integrated network board, CD-ROM drive(s) specified by the user, and power supply.

The unit is $4,995 for a single CD- ROM drive configuration. Additional CD-ROM drives can be added at a cost of $895 each.

A purchaser's existing CD-ROM drives cannot be used because the racks accommodate only half-height Toshiba or Philips drives. A library probably will also have to purchase Microsoft extensions and, in the case of a token ring LAN, token ring cards.

[Contact: Meridian Data, 5615 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066; (408) 438- 3100; Fax (408) 438-6108.]

Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) are beginning to spread their wings. The wireless office LAN market generated only $20 million in sales in 1990, but projections for 1991 exceed $150 million. Not only are wireless LANs operating in very large indoor areas, but even outside and in scattered buildings. The port of Singapore recently installed a LAN with 500 users, some of them two miles away from a base station. The terminals include not only desktops with radio transmitters, but also handheld and vehicle-based devices. There are multiple RF base stations.

The Singapore port installation was made by LXE, Inc., of Norcross, Georgia.

Among the possible applications for libraries are the networking of campus libraries (academic or corporate) and the linking of portable inventorying terminals to a local library system. Branch public libraries are less likely, not only because the distances may be too great, but also because there may be too much interference in a built-up area.

[Contact: LXE, Inc., 303 Research Drive, Norcross, GA 30092; (404) 447-4224.]

Martha Williams of the University of Illinois has been tracking the online industry for more than a decade. She has recently brought the count of the number of data bases available online to 6,750. While there are some data base producers who have several titles, the average is only three. With some 2,224 data base producers, it is no wonder we all have difficulty keeping track. Other impressive numbers compiled by Williams include 3.6 billion data base records, 31.3 million searches in 1989, and 3.9 million connect hours in 1989. The average cost per search in 1989 was $18.20. The data was presented in Williams' address at the National Online Meeting, and will be included in several future publications.

Windows and MS-DOS will capture 41 percent of the desktop operating system market by 1995, double OS/2's share, predicts the Gartner Group, Inc., a market research firm.

Despite the growing popularity of Windows, readers should be aware that library systems using Windows and MS-DOS are not the same as the multitasking OS/2. Windows improves on the MS-DOS user interface and facilitates rapid switching among tasks. In contrast, OS/2 supports true multitasking, the simultaneous operation of multiple applications with interactive communication among them--all without degradation of performance. True multitasking also can force a task to relinquish the CPU in favor of a more important task; for example, deferring a file update to accommodate the look-up of a record or the charging of a book.

IBM has launched a $40 million advertising campaign to educate users to the benefits of multitasking.

A number of studies of CD-ROM have inquired of patrons whether hard copy editions of periodical indexes can be cancelled when the CD-ROM is made available. From 49 to 66 percent say "no." Reasons given are that CD-ROM devices are too often unavailable; browsing print copies might be slower, but it results in more relevant information; and CD-ROM products often have no printers available [whereas one may photocopy a print product] Libraries appear to be listening because nearly three out of four contacted by the Contributing Editor are retaining their print subscriptions.

WordPerfect 5.1 continued to be the best selling business software package in mid-1991. No other word processing package was in the top ten. Following closely behind WordPerfect were Lotus 1-2-3 R2.2 and Microsoft Windows 3.0.

Despite WordPerfect's success in the PC marketplace, now estimated to be 47 percent of all installations, it remains an also-ran in the Macintosh market with only a 5 percent market share. Microsoft Word has over half of the Mac market.