Library Technology Guides
Document Repository
Volume 17 Number 02 (February 1997)
DRA development statusCalling VTLSDRA appears to be on schedule in the development of its next generation client/server automated library system, though it has not announced a name for it as yet. During 1997, DRA should complete development of a database server that uses either the UNIX or Microsoft Windows NT operating system. The industry-standard visual C++ programming language is being used-a choice which will facilitate the possible future use of extensions into Java, the popular programming language from Sun.
An object-oriented design is being pursued so that the new system will be able to accommodate not just bibliographic records, but also full-text, images, and multimedia. With object-oriented client/server, the client tasks and the server tasks are not specifically assigned. Software known as the "object broker" scans the network to detect which device is busy and which is not, and directs the object for the task at hand where it can get the job done the most quickly and efficiently.
Client development is also under way. DRA Find, a reference workstation featuring a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and which is Z39.50-compliant, is already in general release. By the end of 1997, DRA will offer a family of clients: acquisitions, serials control, cataloging and circulation.
Underlying the development process is a commitment to protect the investment of customers in their existing DRA systems. The new clients will work with the new servers as well as with the existing OpenVMS servers.
[Contact: DRA, 1276 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132; (314) 432-1100.]
One of the biggest challenges faced by any business is getting the word out about a change in address or telephone numbers. VTLS changed its phone system last year, but many callers are still using the old telephone and fax numbers. The numbers to call are:
Telephone: (540) 557-1200 Fax: (540) 557-1210 Z39.50 deployment grows
HP introduces new serverAccording to a random sampling of 100 library systems that offer remote access to their catalogs, 12 percent have installed Z39.50 server software. This means that the library catalogs can be accessed using any Z39.50 client without requiring the user to know the command language of the target system. This percentage was determined by accessing the 100 systems.
Over half of the systems which have installed Z39.50 server software are also accessible via the World Wide Web (WWW). For the most part, academic libraries have both access options available; public libraries are more likely to offer only Z39.50.
Telnet access without either WWW or Z39.50 is unusual: in the sample, only five percent of the libraries offered only telnet access.
Laser printer reviewsHewlett-Packard has introduced a new low-end server which has the potential to become a popular model for automated library system vendors. The NetServer LD Pro uses a 180Mhz Pentium Pro processor, memory beginning at 32MB, and disk storage ranging from 2.0 to 27GB. It can be upgraded to a dual processor by upgrading the motherboard. The base price is just $3,400.00.
HP's market share in the highly competitive server market rose to 22 percent in 1996, pushing it ahead of IBM for the first time.
Lower prices for 17-inch monitorsNow that laser printer prices have dropped to around $500, libraries are increasingly purchasing them as side printers for OPAC and Internet workstations. Before buying a new laser printer, a library may want to check out recent product reviews from the CRN Test Center, the testing unit of Computer Reseller News. The lengthy article in the January 13, 1997 issue critically evaluates 10 printers including models from Brother, Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, NEC, Okidata, Panasonic, and Xerox. Top ratings went to the HP LaserJet 5-FS and the Panasonic KX-P6500.
The reviews can be accessed on the WWW at http://www.crn.com. The home page is rather cluttered. To reach the product reviews, click on "Test Center Review Index." The CRN Test Center has reviewed many other PC and network products.
OCLC's CJK records increaseMagnavox, a major manufacturer of PC monitors, has begun selling a 17" monitor with a list price of $599. The unit features a resolution of l024x768 and an extended warranty: three years on parts and one year on labor. The "street price" is expected to be as low as $500.
The competing Wyse 17" monitor retails for $699, but is already being sold for under $600. Shinho, a somewhat smaller company, has already matched the Magnavox price. Prices for 17" monitors with a resolution of 1280x1024 sell for $800 to $850, but prices are expected to drop approximately 10 percent over the next few months. Prices of 15" monitors are in the $400 range and are not expected to drop much more; prices of 14" monitors are also stable at around $260.
Falling prices is not the only news in desktop computer monitors. Another trend in the industry is increasing attention to ergonomic standards. TCO'95, a standard developed by a Swedish trade union, has been adopted by 19 monitor manufacturers in the United States. TCO'95 limits emissions, requires energy efficiency, and sets minimum standards for graphics resolution.
Dawson launches new Web-based reference serviceThe total OCLC database, now comprising more than 36 million bibliographic records, includes approximately 550,000 Chinese, 700,000 Japanese, and more than 100,000 Korean records.
The number of Chinese-language records in the OCLC database is growing very rapidly, not only on account of current cataloging by both U.S. and Chinese libraries, but also because there is a considerable amount of retrospective conversion activity under way. The largest such project is being undertaken by OCLC's CJK (Chinese/ Japanese/Korean) RetroCON unit for Cornell University. Over 70,000 records have been converted in the past few months, including 22,000 for titles not previously in the database. A total of 93,000 Chinese-language titles are to be converted by September, 1997.
Among the other reasons for the recent growth of Chinese-language materials are the opening of an OCLC office in Beijing and the availability of CJK software which makes it possible to display records in vernacular Chinese along with the Romanized form.
As the richness of OCLC's CJK database increases, more Asian libraries are joining OCLC. More than 150 Asian libraries joined OCLC in 1996.
[Contact: OCLC, Inc. , 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017-3395; (614) 764-6000; fax (614) 764-6096; or any OCLC regional network.]
In search of ISPsDawson, the British holding company whose holdings include Faxon and EOS International, has launched a new WWW-based online reference service called Information Quest (IQ). The service offers full-text searching of a database of six million table of contents entries from over 12,000 journals dating back to 1990. Coverage includes scientific, technical, medical, and business journals. Selected journal articles are delivered with any graphics which may have been included in the original document.
The service includes WWW-based ordering and subscription management from Faxon Acquire. Also available is an IQ Alert Service, which notifies clients via e-mail of results from searches based on previously established parameters.
Subscribing libraries will have 24-hour access, seven days a week. Group user password administration, as well as statistical management and usage information, will be provided.
[Contact: Portia La Touche, Information Quest, c/o EOS International, 5838 Edison Place, Carlsbad, CA 92008-6596; (800) 876-5484; fax (619) 431-8448; e-mail platouche@eosintl.com]
LC establishes links to state library agenciesThere are now more than 7,200 ISPs (Internet Service Providers) in North America. While most are small and serve a small geographic area, as many as 2,000 are national or regional. Libraries seeking an ISP now can consult a directory to identify candidate firms. The best of the directories is a list of 2,000 ISPs developed by the Library of Congress; the most comprehensive is one of 7,200 ISPs published by Boardwatch. For LC's list, the URL is http://www.bc.gov/gbobal/internet/access-providers.html. For Boardwatch's list, see http://www.boardwatch.com.
Domain name changes comingAccess to Web sites maintained by U.S. state library agencies (also known as state libraries and library commissions) is now available through the Library of Congress's Web site, http://www.loc.gov. This provides access without knowing each individual state's Web site address.
FCC rules against ISP access feesSome new top-level domain names will be implemented in 1997. The top-level domain name is the one which follows the last dot in a URL or e-mail address. While the existing names (coin, org, net, mil, gov, and edu) will be retained, additional names will be implemented later this year. The new names will not be limited to three characters, but may have as many as five. Among the names being considered by the Internet International Ad Hoc Committee (IIAHC) are "nfp" for not-for-profits, so that charities can be distinguished from trade groups; and "media" for newspapers and broadcasters.
The IIAIIC has posted the names it is considering on its web site (http://www.iahc.org) and invites comments.
CD-ROM drives now number 100+ millionThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will not be required to pay the relatively steep network access fees ($.06 per minute) to local telephone companies (telcos) to handle their Internet connections. The telcos argued that the fees are needed to finance network upgrades to handle the expansion of Internet activity. The 151's argued that the cost of switches is very low, therefore, the impact on the telcos is minor (approximately $.004 per minute of access), and infrastructure costs should be spread over the entire customer base.
The FCC noted that the proposed access fees would have curbed Internet use-a development which would not be in the public's interest.
Pricing for CD-ROM towers/serversCD-ROM is now generally considered to be a transitional technology, nevertheless, the number of installed drives continues to grow. By the end of 1996, more than 100 million CD-ROM drives were installed worldwide. Applications software is commonly distributed in this format, and the number of electronic publications on CD-ROM grows by more than 25 percent per year. We expect that the format will last at least another five years, but that eventually CD-ROM will be replaced by higher capacity media for electronic publications requiring several Gigabytes of storage, and also by online reference services available via the Internet.
Philips launches digital cellular voice and data phoneRecently, we were asked to evaluate a $30,000 bid from an automated library system vendor for a CD-ROM server capable of supporting 25 concurrent users and configured with a 28-drive tower. While automated library system vendors often offer more services than do CD-ROM vendors, including installation, setting up menus on remote peripherals, and limited training, these services usually have a value of $5,000 to $7,500. A library should be careful to determine how much the vendor proposes to charge for the CD-ROM server and tower.
Assuming that a library already has a LAN in place, the outlay for a 25-concurrent user CD-ROM server with 28-drive 4x tower should not exceed $11,000. If 8x drives are substituted, the price goes up to no more than $14,000. These price estimates include everything necessary to connect the server to the network.
Combining the higher of the two cost components, $7,500 and $14,000, it appears that the library was being asked to pay a premium of $8,500 or more for the convenience of folding its CD-ROM server/tower procurement into its automated library system contract. If the library could negotiate an overall discount of 25 percent or more on everything to be included in the purchase contract, it would benefit the library to purchase the CD-ROM server and tower from the automated library system vendor. Any smaller discount would cost the library a substantial premium for the perceived convenience of hiring a single vendor to install the complete system.
WordPerfect Suite 8 announcedN.V. Philips of the Netherlands demonstrated a digital cellular voice and data telephone at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada last month. The phone not only provides voice and data capabilities, but also provides access to the Web. This may be an attractive method of providing online access from bookmobiles in areas where digital cellular telephone service is available. Sprint United now offers this service in most major metropolitan areas. CellularOne and AT&T are planning to augment their analog cellular service with digital.
Philips Electronics North America will distribute the new phones in the U.S. beginning in mid-1997. The price has not yet been announced.
Microsoft to release Windows97Corel Corp., the company which purchased WordPerfect from Novell last year, will soon release a new version of the product, WordPerfect Suite 8, a response to the recent release of Microsoft Office 97. Unlike previous versions of WordPerfect that consisted of word processing software alone, the suite will include a wide range of office applications. It will also integrate Netscape's browser, e-mail, and Web development tools-specifically Netscape 4.0, the version dubbed "Communicator."
WordPerfect Suite 8 is expected to be in computer stores by April and the upgrade price probably will be around $90.
3COM merges Token Ring and Fast Ethernet networksMicrosoft will release Windows97 this summer-the second anniversary of the introduction of Windows95. Details are not yet available, but it is likely that Windows97 will incorporate Microsoft Explorer, the company's Web browser, and support disk storage in excess of 2.0GB, probably up to 8.0GB. The user interface will look the same as Windows95. Over 45 million copies of Windows95 were sold in 1996.
Java standard study group appointedIn the trend to increase network speed, Ethernet has been outpacing Token Ring. Token Ring users have been limited to speeds of 16 Mbps (million bits per second), while Ethernet users have experienced speeds of up to 100 Mbps. This level of Ethernet is commonly called "Fast Ethernet." Work is well under way on 1.0 Gbps (billion bits per second) Ethernet.
3Com, a major vendor of network hardware and software, has unveiled a technology which embeds Token Ring frames in Ethernet traffic flows, allowing Token Ring users access to the much faster Ethernet backbone.
A typical network using 3Com's new approach would consist of Token Ring switches equipped with new one-port Fast Ethernet modules that allow the Token Ring ports to talk to a Fast Ethernet switch. The new module does not translate between Token Ring and Fast Ethernet frames; instead, it puts Fast Ethernet headers and trailers on Token Ring frames, thus disguising them as Ethernet packets.
This development may have little meaning for most public libraries, but it is significant for academic and special libraries, many of which are a part of a larger organization of which a considerable number are Token ring users. These libraries are interested in the faster speeds of Fast Ethernet in anticipation of the that time when they move to full-text, imaging, and multimedia applications.
Metcalfe predicts e-mail "postage"The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has appointed a study group to work on the potential standardization of Sun Microsystems's Java programming language. The group held its organizational meeting in Cupertino, Calif. , in January. It may not report until 1998. An unresolved issue is whether Sun will fully support the effort to standardize its proprietary product. It has had no difficulty licensing Java in the 18 months since its initial roll-out.
A major reason for Java's success is that IBM has embraced it as a way of extending the life of its mainframes. By replacing IBM 3270 terminals with network computers, large organizations can relatively inexpensively realize the benefits of GUIs (graphical user interfaces) and frequent software updates for desktop users.
Microsoft has also been enthusiastic about Java, but has developed a variant on Sun's version of Java, thereby raising the possibility that Microsoft and Sun will take different positions in standards deliberations. Sun's latest response to Microsoft has been the "100% Pure Java Initiative," a testing and certification program to determine whether developers are in full compliance with Sun's specifications.
Neato CD/CD-ROM labelerBob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet and the founder of 3Com Corp. has predicted that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will soon begin charging "postage" for electronic mail. The charges are likely to be based on message size, distance, urgency, and level of privacy. It is essential, Metcalfe says, because most ISP's are losing money, and e-mail is the key reason. On January 6, 1997, Metcalfe wrote in his regular column in InfoWorld: "If e-postage doesn't strike you as a good idea, consider that it will also deter spamming." "Spamming" is the flooding of hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses with material promoting a cause, product, or service-the online equivalent of "junk mail."
Monitoring internet and CD-ROM useHow to label CDs and CD-ROMs is a problem for many libraries. NeatO, an inexpensive labeler software, does an excellent job of creating labels with library identification, bibliographic records, and call numbers.
Neato software includes templates for the Mac and PC that allow users to choose from a variety of label styles which work directly with PageMaker, FileMaker Pro, Quarkxpress, and Corel Draw. Neato also includes Design Express for Windows, which provides even greater flexibility to Windows users.
The software is priced at $79.95 and includes 100 labels. Additional labels are available in boxes of 500, which also cost $79.95.
[Contact: MicroPatent, (800) 984-9800; or major software retailers.]
Full-text reference databases expand branch library resourcesRecently we were asked to identify a software product which could be loaded on PCs or Macs used by library patrons to access the Internet and CD-ROM products. The purpose of such software would not be to censor what is being displayed by patrons, but to record what has been displayed, so that the library can determine what is popular and, equally important, what is not.
The most cost-effective product we found is Internet WatchDog, a soft, ware package from Charles River Media. The $29.95 product can be loaded onto a PC or Mac to record what has been displayed. The software captures screen and other information during computer use. Individual users are anonymous. The display record can later be viewed by staff with the appropriate password.
While initially developed to monitor Internet usage, Internet WatchDog also will capture information about the use of CD-ROMs accessed from the PC or Mac, and applications run using software on the PC or Mac.
[Contact: Charles River Media, 403 VFW Drive, Rockland, MA 02370; (617) 871-4184; fax: (617) 871-4376.]
More than 500 public libraries including nearly all U.S. public libraries in communities of 100,000+, now expand the resources available to staff and patrons in branch libraries by offering Internet access to full-text reference databases.
While a public library may subscribe to hundreds or thousands of periodicals, the typical branch library may have only 50 to 75 print subscriptions. By subscribing to any one of a dozen online reference services, a library can provide online access to the full text of up to 1,000 periodicals and a number of other reference databases to staff and patrons in each branch.
Online services are expensive, but staff and patrons indicate that the money is well spent. We recently interviewed 75 staff and patrons at three branches of a major urban public library and were told again and again that services in their branch are better than ever. It is now possible to do homework or business research at a branch, rather than going downtown. Formerly, patrons opted to do without the desired information, rather than travel to another branch or to the central library. Fewer than one-third of the patrons interviewed had visited the main library downtown in the past year.
When we asked about access to library resources from home, we found that fewer than 10 percent of those interviewed had access to a PC with a modem, which is consistent with the findings of national studies. Given this, it is not enough to provide online access; computer facilities at the branches must also be available for patron use.
The costs exceed the investment in hardware, software, and subscription fees. Many libraries find it necessary to add one or more PC configuration specialists to their staffs; some have also had to appoint a network specialist, but all on the headquarters level.
Most libraries have not added staff to the branch libraries, even though demands on branch staff members' time have increased. Branch staff report that many users require a considerable amount of assistance the first time they use an online database or other new technology-based library service. Ten minutes or more per first-time user is not uncommon. (In general, while persons over 50 are sometimes uncomfortable using technology by themselves, those under 20 usually are eager to proceed without staff assistance.) Another added duty for staff is the need to regularly load paper in the side printers.
Publication Information
Publisher Library Systems Newsletter was published by the American Library Association. Editor-in-Chief: Howard S. White Contributing Editor: Richard W. Boss ISSN: 0277-0288 Publication Period 1981-2000 Business model Available on Library Technology Guides with permission of the American Library Association.