Library Technology Guides

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Volume 17 Number 10 (October 1997)

Library automation market becomes increasingly international

North American vendors of automated library system are experiencing more and more success in the international market. In the last few weeks Ameritech, VTLS, and Innovative have won important awards outside North America.

In Germany, the German Library Institute (Deutsches Bibliothekinstitut) has awarded a contract to Dynix Deutschland, the official distributor for Ameritech Library Services in seven European countries, for a union catalog serving 600 academic libraries in Bavaria, North-Rhein, Westphalia, Baden-Wuttenterg, and Berlin. The system will consist of four union databases located in each state and one in Berlin-each with over ten million records. The Horizon software package will be used.

WebPAC, the GUI-based Horizon patron access catalog, will be deployed at the libraries in 1998-99. Ameritech's RSS product (Resource Sharing System) will also be installed to facilitate interlibrary lending among the institutions. Faculty and students throughout Germany will be able to access the resources via the Web.

There are more than 100 Horizon systems already installed in Europe. There are at least 60 others outside North America.

VTLS has also won a major international award. A consortium of 18 engineering libraries in Egypt's universities has selected VTLS as the vendor for their library network. When completed, the network will include three mirrored union catalogs at Cairo, Alexandria, and Assuit Universities and 15 local systems at the other institutions. In addition to the base systems consisting of acquisitions, serials, cataloging, circulation, and patron access catalog modules, the consortium purchased an OCLC Prism online cataloging interface, Web gateway, and union database software. Some 500,000 unique bibliographic records in both Arabic and English records will be included in the initial database loads. Patrons will be able to search in either language and will be able to change languages dynamically during a session.

There are at least seven other VTLS systems installed in the Middle East and Africa more than 100 in Europe.

Also in Egypt, the American University has selected Innovative Interfaces. The importance of this award is that INNOPAC will replace a DOBIS system the most widely installed library automation product in academic institutions in the Arab world. Key to the award was satisfying the requirement that Arabic characters be included in all fields, rather than in parallel 880 fields as the USMARC format specifies.

There is one other Innovative system installed in the Middle East and more than 60 in Asia and Europe.

A review of press releases and installation lists suggests that several vendors of automated library systems are experiencing far greater increases in sales outside North America than within. This is likely to influence development efforts in such areas as support of a wider choice of character sets, multilingual screens, distributed processing, document delivery, and provision for closed stacks libraries-all issues more important outside North America, but of interest to at least some North American libraries.

[Contact Ameritech-- Library Services, 400 Dynix Drive, Provo, UT 84604, telephone 801-223-5200, FAX 801-223-5202, Web page ://www.amlibs.com; Innovative Interfaces, 5950 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA 94608, telephone 510-655-6200, FAX 510- 450-6350; Web page http://www.iii.com; VTLS, 1800 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060, telephone 540-557-1200, FAX 540-557- 1210, Web page http://www.vtls.com].

The British Library chooses Amicus

Following the announcement that the British Library had chosen AMICUS, we were asked to supply some background on the product and how this decision came about. The AMICUS software and graphical user interface were evaluated by Joe Matthews in the January/February 1997 issue of Library Technology Reports, but the history and development of the product are somewhat unconventional. The first module, a patron access catalog, was developed for the National Library of Canada, a DOBIS library. CCI, a large consulting firm and software house in Canada, developed the software per the Library's specifications. Subsequently, ELiAS of Belgium, the company which took over the DOBIS product from IBM more than five years ago, obtained the AMICUS marketing rights for Europe and the rest of the world outside the Americas, and contracted for the development of acquisitions and circulation modules. ELiAS subsequently signed contracts to install AMICUS at the University of Leuven in Belgium and the University of Oviedo in Spain. These two AMICUS customers and the National Library of Canada have been using DOBIS for a number of years, and will phase out those systems as the AMICUS client/server modules are implemented.

AMICUS reached the British Library through Axis Resources, a systems integrator and facilities manager based in the United Kingdom. As the prime contractor, Axis retained IBM UK Limited for the hardware, ELIAS of Belgium for the software, and CCI of Canada for additional development work.

The British Library will use the AMICUS software for its Corporate Bibliographic System, a database of over 30 million bibliographic and authority records. When made operational in 1999, the system will be able to provide online data entry, editing, and database searching access to over 2,000 concurrent users. Axis will operate the system for the British Library for ten years.

AMICUS is not a "turnkey" system. Whereas truly "turnkey" products can be tailored to a particular library's needs-but only to the extent that there are options in the software parameters. the AMICUS system which is better characterized as a "kernel" product, is designed to be customized with additional programming to meet the needs of very complex organizations. The libraries most likely to consider it seriously are those which currently are using aging mainframe systems such as DOBIS and NOTIS.

[Contact: CCI, 1130 Sherbrooke Street West, 5th Floor, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2M8, telephone 514-841-3200, FAX 514-841-3299 or ELIAS, Kapeldreef 60, B-300l Heverlee, Belgium, telephone 011-32-16-298390, FAX 011-32-16-298319]

UniVerse RDBMS

We were recently asked to explain why Ameritech's Dynix product includes both Dynix and UniVerse licenses. The simple answer is that Universe is a relational database management system (RDBMS). A database management system is an important component of a product as complex as library automation software. It makes it possible to modify the database without rewriting the software, or to enhance the software without making changes in the database. While not as well known as Oracle or Sybase, Universe is a good choice because it goes beyond a traditional RDBMS to include enhanced access, storage, manipulation, and retrieval capabilities. Universe licenses are purchased by Ameritech from VMark Software, Inc., on behalf of its Dynix licensees just as each other automated library system vendor purchases licenses for its database management system from any one of several companies.

Northwestern University will replace NOTIS with Voyager

On September 29th, Jane Burke, President and CEO of Endeavor Information Systems Incorporated, announced that Northwestern University will convert to Voyager, Endeavor's information management system for academic and research libraries. The United Library of the Garrett Evangelical and Seabury Western theological seminaries will be participating with Northwestern University in the Voyager implementation.

[Contact: Endeavor, 2200 E. Devon, Suite 382, Des Plaines, IL 60018, telephone 847-296-2200, FAX 847-296-5636, URL http://www.endinfosys .com].

Endeavor launches media scheduling development effort

Endeavor Information Systems has entered into partnership with Villanova University and the Red River Community College of Manitoba to develop a media scheduling module for its integrated Voyager system. Scheduled for release in early 1998, the module will allow library staff to use Voyager to reserve audio and visual equipment and materials for faculty and students. Pricing has not yet been announced.

[Contact: Endeavor, 2200 E. Devon, Suite 382, Des Plaines, IL 60018, telephone 847-296-2200, FAX 847-296-5636, URL http://www.endinfosys.com].

Sirsi has record sales year

Sirsi Corporation announced that sales for the year ending June 30th were a record 114 new North American contracts. The majority of sales were to small academic, public, and special libraries, but there were four major academic libraries signed: Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Stanford, and the University of Virginia.

[Contact: Sirsi Corporation, 689 Discovery Drive, Huntsville, AL 35806, telephone 205-922-9825, FAX 205-922-9818]

Innovative introduces Web access management

Innovative Interfaces has introduced a new product which controls access through its INNOPAC Web page to resources on the Web. The software makes it possible for a library to deliver subscription-based electronic information to library patrons no matter where they are. One of the first libraries to use it is the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. Its faculty and students are scattered around the world, therefore, making it essential to provide remote access without opening up a gateway for unaffiliated searchers.

[Contact: Innovative Interfaces, 5850 Shellmound St., Emeryville, CA 94608, telephone 510-655-6200, FAX 510-450- 6350]

Academic administrators see client/server as the wave of the future

Academic institutions spend approximately $4.5 billion on computer technology each year. In an informal telephone survey of computer center heads of 60 of the nation's 3,000 colleges and universities it was asked if they expect to move to client/server technology in the next few years. Twenty percent said that their campuses have already virtually completed the transition to client/server; another 40 percent expect that transition to take until the end of 1998. A total of 75 percent (45 of 60) believe that campus departments, including libraries, will be required to specify client/server technology by the beginning of 1999.

Air blown optical fiber offers network upgradability

Libraries and their parent organizations (colleges, schools, corporations, municipalities) are increasingly using fiber optic cabling for the network backbone. Despite its substantial capacity, the rapidly growing demand for bandwidth may require that the network be upgraded by adding more fiber bundles. An expensive alternative has been to pull more fiber bundles than are needed initially. British Telecomm has developed an interesting solution. A tube with two to 19 cells is installed, and as many fiber bundles as currently needed are blown-in using compressed air or nitrogen. The standard blowing distance is 3,300 feet for up to six fiber bundles; 1,650 feet for up to 18 fiber bundles. Distances can be doubled by running two sets of blowing equipment in tandem. Couplers are used to connect the tubes. When more capacity is needed, additional fiber bundles can be blown in. It is even possible to blow out fiber when capacity is determined to be substantially greater than needed.

The U.S. licensee for the product, which British Telecomm calls ABF, is Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation. Sumitomo calls the product FutureFlex. Sumitomo has distributors throughout the country. Among the institutions using the technology are the University of Utah, Getty Center Museum, General Motors Corporation, and Kaiser Permanente Hospitals.

[Contact: Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation, 781 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, telephone 919-541-8100, FAX 919-541-8265]

USMARC and CAN/MARC harmonized

Staff from the Library of Congress and the National Library of Canada have completed work to make the MARC formats of the two countries consistent with one another. The work was done by the MARC Harmonization Committee appointed by the two libraries and the British Library. Work is still continuing on extending the harmonization to include UKMARC.

OCLC acquires BNA authority control services

OCLC is strengthening its tape processing services by acquiring Blackwell North America's authority control services business. BNA will focus on bookselling and directly related technical services. OCLC began providing authority control services only a year ago; BNA had been the leading service in the industry for more than twenty years.

[Contact: OCLC, Inc., 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 53017, telephone 614-764-6000, FAX 614-764-6096, URL www.oclc.org.]

PCs absorb NetPC features

Even as the first NetPCs are becoming available, standard PCs are being modified to incorporate many of the same management features so that they will be less expensive to manage. Hewlett-Packard's NetVectra is already available. It can be centrally managed and diagnosed, and remotely loaded with new software. IBM has announced it will not build a separate NetPC but will modify its standard PCs to be highly manageable. Compaq, having introduced a NetPC in late October, is now introducing NetPC features into its Deskpro 2000 and 4000 PCs.

The software which gives PCs remote management capabilities is called DMI (Desktop Management Interface). DMI conforms to a protocol developed by an industry-wide panel. Version 2.0 was recently adopted.

Early estimates suggest savings up to 30 percent per year in PC management costs when the need to go to each machine for changes in configuration is eliminated.

Novell moving to TCP/IP

Earlier this year Novell, Inc., announced plans to phase out IPX, its proprietary NetWare communications protocol, in favor of standard TCP/IP. It began by relieving the core NetWare directory, security, file, and print services of their IPX dependency. It is now rolling out native TCP/IP, but in a way that will make customers' TCP/IP as easy to manage as IPX. One application which will be much easier with the Novell version is IP administration because it will be controlled by Novell's NDS (Network Directory Services). For an indefinite period customers will be able to choose among straight IPX, IPX encapsulated in TCP/IP, or native TCP/IP, but the future will be TCP/IP.

Apple losing its grip in the school market

We are currently working with several school districts on district-level planning for future library automation. One of the issues which arises in almost every case is the future of Apple. Should Apple/OS be mandated as the operating system for the desktop?

As recently as five years ago Apple dominated the school market, but a recent report by Carol Cotton & Associates Consulting determined that as of mid-1997 over 53 percent of the 8.4 million PCs installed in schools were PCs. Further, school officials interviewed estimated that 68 percent of the nearly 900,000 computers they will purchase in 1997 will be PCs with Windows.

Apple's grip on the school market has been affected not only by the declining confidence in its future, but also by the fact that far more students use IBM PCs at home than Macs. Parents are beginning to question why there is a difference in operating systems and user interfaces between home and school.

Apple continues to be easier for the first-time user, but there are fewer and fewer of those; and Windows is becoming increasingly more user friendly. There is a wider range of applications software available for the PC environment-especially so with regard to library automation. While Apple does retain a lead in imaging, that lead is also shrinking as Pentium PCs with 32 and 64 MB of memory for under $2,500 become available.

Our recommendation usually is to specify PCs for library staff because there are more PC-based products available for library automation and other applications common in libraries. We usually recommend Web-based patron access catalogs so that patron access can be from either a Mac or a PC.

Internet access policies

The majority of public libraries have developed written Internet access policies. For those who have not yet done so, the task is made easier by consulting an online file of the policies of some 75 libraries. The compilation was under-taken by the Lake Oswego (Oregon) Public Library. The Library also has created links to a number of other Web sites, including some which have access policies for K-12 and academic libraries.

The URL for the Library is http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library and the option on which to click is "other Internet resources."

Windows 3.11 support drying up

Compaq and IBM have stopped shipping Windows 3.11 on new systems, and will continue to support the operating system on previously purchased machines only through 1998. Most other PC manufacturers are expected to follow their lead. Only Hewlett-Packard has announced that it will continue to support the operating system as long as customers need it.

Microsoft will support Windows 3.11 only if it was purchased directly from Microsoft. Its position is that PC manufacturers are responsible for the software they install.

Libraries still using Windows 3.11- as a majority are-should plan to move to Windows98 or Windows NT by the second half of 1998 to be sure that they have an adequately supported operating system.

SilverPlatter signs 15 CSU campuses

The trend toward consortia and academic systems signing with online reference services continues. The most recent major signing was between 15 campuses of the California State University and SilverPlatter. Faculty, staff, and students will be able to access a wide variety of electronic products (reportedly more than 30) via the Internet using WebSPIRS, SilverPlatters' search software. A new WebSPIRS Guide for end users has been developed.

[Contact: SilverPlatter Information, Inc., 100 River Ridge Drive, Norwood, MA 02062, telephone 617-769-2599, FAX 617-769-8763]

OCLC FirstSearch adds IAC databases

Three Information Access Corporation (IAC) full-text databases have been added to OCLC FirstSearch. The three are Health Reference Center, Health Reference Center-Academic and ilnforme!. OCLC will load the current year and three previous years of each database. Health Reference Center includes indexing for 165 medical journals and consumer health magazines, with full-text of more than 110 of the titles. The full-text of selected pamphlets, medical reference books, and selected articles drawn from general interest magazines also are included. Health Reference Center-Academic augments the content of the foregoing with the full-text of 40 nursing and allied health journals. ilnforme! is an index to more than 60 Spanish language magazines and 100 pamphlets.

[Contact: OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 53017, telephone 614-764-6000, FAX 614-764-6096, URL www.oclc.org].

Faxing via the Internet

For the past year Internet fax services have been offering a relatively low cost alternative to the public switched telephone network: $.15 per page for domestic faxes and $.50 up for international faxes. Soon there will be an even more attractive alternative.

Facsimile machine companies are beginning to offer "black boxes" which, when connected to a fax machine, will give it IP addressability. The fax machine can then send the faxes as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions attachments with e-mail messages readable by any TIFF-compliant software or as realtime transmissions across the Internet using a RealAudio application. Because there is no additional charge to send faxes as e-mail, and the middleman is removed, the cost savings can be substantial.

Leading manufacturers are going to put faxmail directly into new fax machines-a feature which should be on the functionality checklist when purchasing a new fax machine.

Don't wait for Web search engines to find your site

A library which has created a Web site should consider submitting the terms under which its site will be indexed and described in search hit lists. This riot only avoids being overlooked by the spiders that look for new pages and periodically refresh the index information in search engines, but also allows a library to minimize the number of "accidental" Visitors to its site. With most engines, there is a link or button for submitting an entry at or near the bottom of the main search page. Typically, this will open up a form that asks for the URL of the page, contact information and connection to the page, and any indexing and summary information.

There also are pages with links to search engines that invite submission. Two of these are FreeLinks (http://www.freelinks.com) and Maher's Practical Guide to the Best Places to List your Web Site (http://www.lx.com/promote/mosts.htm) . These pages not only make it unnecessary to look for search engines separately, but provide useful tips for making submissions.

Search engine "shoot-out" results published

PC Computing recently reported on the results of its "Second Annual Search Engine Shoot-out." The magazine tested four popular search engines in its PC Computing Usability Labs: Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot, and Infoseek. Each of these search engines has a large index of between 24 million and 60 million Web pages.

The highest rated product in the tests was HotBot. The product not only includes more search options than the others (for example, date, location, and media type), but recognizes last-name-first listings. The ability to exclude words from the search results also was noted. Finally, testers like the ability to save search criteria in a personal profile to reuse later.

Infoseek rated almost as high. Among the features singled out for praise was the elimination of duplicate and dead links from 100 million pages to provide a searchable index of 24 million pages. The support for natural-language queries also was cited.

Excite was rated much lower. Only the relevance ranking feature was singled out for praise. The user interface was deemed more difficult to use than the others. Alta Vista was rated lowest. The testers particularly disliked the relatively complex Boolean commands of NOT and NEAR for advanced searches.

It has been our experience that the best results are obtained when more than one search engine is used. That is why we are attracted to WebFerret, a product of FerretSoft LLC. It simultaneously searches nine of the Internet's top search engines. It then produces an index of the results showing each page's title, Internet address, and the search engine in which it was found. Duplicates are discarded. Holding the cursor over the result, gives one two or three sentences from that page, thus allowing one to make an assessment before retrieving the entire page.

The URI. for WebFerret is http://www.webferret.com/.

Alexa, a new Internet search tool

Alexa Internet, Inc., a small San Francisco area start-up company, has launched a new Internet search tool called "Alexa" which looks for patterns within the Web. Rather than bringing up all sites which contain the keywords which has been entered, it retrieves a limited number of sites. Once the user has identified a site which is suitable, Alexa points the user to similar sites. A search on package delivery services which retrieves UPS will, if that site is selected as suitable, provide references to FedEx, DHL, Worldwide Express, and a score of other services. Alexa does this by looking for Web sites with similar content, then linking them together. Pat-terns of use affect the subsequent link-ages. If few users jump from the initial site to a linked site, that site is dropped as a future link. Alexa provides a brief profile of each suggested site, including the name of the organization running the site, the speed of its com-puters, and the number of pages in the site.

Alexa can be downloaded free. The company hopes to make money from its ser-vice by means of advertising in a box at the bottom of each screen. Currently, however, it is relying on venture capital provided by Etoile, the Swiss company that owns Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Alexa is a software add-on for Web browsers. It requires that Netscape or Microsoft Explorer by loaded. It also requires 16MB of RAM. The URL is http://www.alexa.com/..

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