Library Technology Guides

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Volume 17 Number 12 (December 1997)

Preventing repetitive stress injury (RSI)

The explosive growth of personal computers in homes, offices, and libraries means that more Americans are being sidelined with repetitive strain injuries. In 1994, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that 93,000 people suffered injuries as a result of repetitive motion, including typing or key entry, repetitive grasping of tools, and repeated placing, grasping, or moving objects. The median lost time from work was 18 days.

RSI sufferers spend millions of dollars each year searching for ergonomic devices that enable them to work without pain. Among the products that are touted to help reduce pain and injury are wrist rests, negative tilting keyboards, sliding mouse trays, and ergonomically correct keyboards that keep hands and wrists from contorting during typing. There has been little research and virtually no data to suggest that any of the devices soothe damaged tendons and muscles or prevent future injury. A NIOSH study of computer keyboards released earlier this year found that computer keyboard design was "not a significant factor for user comfort."

What computer users should not ignore is pain in the hand, wrist or forearm, numbness (especially at night) , and a burning or tingling sensation that may stretch up to the elbows and even the shoulders. These symptoms can signal RSI and should be checked out promptly by a physician.

Bad posture, work habits, and generally poor physical conditioning can also play a role, which is why many experts often prescribe special exercises to help lessen the effects of long hours at the computer. Experts say that warm-up and stretching exercises are essential to condition hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders as well as the upper back and neck.

Among the exercises that can help is making a tepee with the hands by gently pressing fingertips of each hand against each other. Use the fingers of one hand to gently push away the fingers of the other.

Finger curls are another way to stretch tendons. They are done by resting one hand on a table with the palm up. Keeping the hand relaxed, gently push one finger at a time back toward the palm. Go only as far as is completely comfortable.

Simply rubbing hands together until palms and fingers heat up, followed by massaging the back of each hand thoroughly can warm up muscles and tendons prior to typing. Massage is also good for forearms. Gently rub up and down the upper side of the forearm, all the way from the elbows to the fingertips and back. Linger on any sore spots.

Frequent rest breaks help reduce strain, and the careful alignment of the workstation can also cut the risk of injury. The computer monitor should be at or slightly below eye level, and elbows and legs should make a 90-degree angle with the body while the hands are on the keyboard.

The chair should have as much adjustability as possible and be easy to adjust. The seat should not be so long that it digs into the back of the legs, and the chair's height should be adjusted so that the feet can touch the floor without dangling.

Many experts also favor a touch pad instead of a mouse or trackball. both of which often promote unnatural gripping actions that can cause Injury.

Dialog@CARL 1.3 released

CARL Corporation has released version 1.3 of Dialog@CARL, its Web-based interface to Dialog databases. In addition to several new features, the new interface introduces cleaner, more professional screen designs (which can be seen at http://dialog.carl.org/slides/)

New customization features provide better integration of Dialog@CARL into a library's existing Web resources. Dialog@CARL groups databases into subject hierarchies to aid the user in searching the nearly 300 databases; version 1.3 allows the library to choose one major topic in the subject hierarchy for presentation to the user, simplifying database selection. This option is particularly desirable for sites choosing the NEWSPAPER COLLECTION or for sites selecting a subset of databases targeted to a particular subject area.

The SEARCH HISTORY page now allows users to combine previous result sets with floolean operators. For integrated document requesting, Dialog@CARL 1.3 includes an optional ILL request form that allows the user to send an ILL request via third party e-mail to a library-defined address.

From a citation or full record, Dialog@CARL seamlessly links to UnCover to retrieve documents from UnCover's 8 million article database. UnCover provides fax or desktop image delivery of the entire document, including illustrations, graphs, and sidebars.

Dialog@CARL is offered on a per simultaneous connection, flat annual fee basis, which allows libraries to accurately calculate budget requirements.

CARL Corporation has also announced the development of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for three staff modules of the CARL System: Circulation, Acquisitions, and Serials. These three client modules-planned for release in early 1998-complement CARL's graphical cataloginq utility, ITS for CARL, to provide an integrated suite of graphical interfaces to library management functions.

[Contact: CARL Corporation, 3801 B. Florida Avenue, Bldg. D, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80210; 303-758-3030; FAX 303- 758-0606; http://www.carl.org]

DRA announces FY '97 results

Data Research Associates, Inc. (DRA) has announced that earnings for its f iscal year, ended September 30, 1997, were a record $4.49 million, compared with $4.45 million earned in fiscal 1996. Revenues for fiscal 1997 were $35.4 million, a decrease of 8 percent compared with $38.6 million for fiscal 1996. For the fourth quarter, revenues were $9.7 million, a decrease of 10 percent compared with $10.8 million in the same period last year.

As DRA moved into the latter stages of development on its new library automation system, Taos, during the past fiscal year, revenues from new software sales fell. DRA's ability to keep pace with its earnings of last year, despite the slow-down in new-system sales, is indicative of its underlying base of business from its existing customers.

At fiscal year-end, DRA had three signed contracts for Taos systems awaiting completion and delivery of the product.

[Contact: Data Research Associates, Inc., 1276 North Warson Road, P.O. Box 8495, St. Louis, MO 63121-1806; 314-432-1100 or or 800-325-0888; FAX 314-993-8927; http://www.dra.com].

SydneyPLUS for Windows NT

International Library Systems (ILS) has announced a new release of its SydneyPLUS library automation system. This version is designed for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 running on Digital Equipment Corporation's 500 MHz Alpha microprocessor.

ILS engineers modified SydneyPLUS to optimize it for the faster server architecture. With an Alpha server handling network traffic, users still access the library through regular PCs as SydneyPLUS clients, running Windows 95 or NT 4.0.

[Contact: ILS International Library Systems, Corporation, #1135 - 13560 Maycrest Way, Richmond, B.C., Canada VGV 2J7; 604- 278-6717; FAX 604-278-9161; http://www.ils.ca]

New customers for Library.Solution

The Library Corporation (TLC) has announced that its turnkey, fully integrated library automation system-Library.Solutions-has now been selected by seven additional libraries, bringing the number of contracted installations to 67. The new libraries contracting for installation of LibrarySolutions include: Antioch Public Library (Ohio) , Baxter County Library (Arkansas) , Berkeley College (New Jersey) , Grafton-Midview Public Library (Ohio) , Lord Fairfax Community College (Virginia), Southern Pines Public Library (North Carolina), and U.S. Department of State FSI/Library (virginia)

Library.Solutions utilizes the Windows NT operating system, Intel compatible hardware, and Oracle database and Internet linkage.

[Contact: The Library Corporation, Research Park, Inwood, WV 25428; 800-624-0559 or 304-229-0100; FAX 304-229-0295]

News from OCLC

OCLC recently made the following product announcements:

PromptCat gains new processing options

New functionality added to PromptCat has been designed to increase library productivity by providing records with location and copy information that can be loaded into a local system without additional staff intervention to create local item records and overlay order records.

Using call numbers from records supplied by PromptCat, OCLC creates an electronic file of labels. Libraries may choose type of call number, format, and whether the book vendor or the library retrieves the file. Libraries can print the file in-house using the OCLC Cataloging Label Program or may have a vendor pick up the file for the preparation of shelf-ready materials.

OCLC can now also add location, and copy and volume numbers, to the bibliographic record so that a library's local system can create both order and item records automatically. The order record number can also be provided to allow the overlay of the order record in local systems.

Another new feature gives libraries the option of receiving separate files for approval plan titles and firm order titles while allowing vendors to mix firm and approval titles in one manifest. This can simplify shipping, which, in turn, can reduce the shipping costs charged back to libraries.

PromptCat offers automatic copy cataloging of materials supplied by participating book vendors. PromptCat delivers a cataloging record for any title with a monographic record in WorldCat (the OCLC Online Union Catalog). PromptCat allows libraries to choose a book vendor and record delivery method, to add local data or to edit locally, and to create electronic files of labels that can be used for shelf-ready materials. Libraries can contact their book vendor for information on availability of shelf-ready books through PromptCat.

There are currently eight active PromptCat book vendors: Academic Book Center, Ambassador Book Service, Inc., Baker & Taylor, Blackwell's Book Services, DA Information Services Ltd., Majors Scientific Books, Inc., Rittenhouse Books, Inc., and Yankee Book Peddler, Inc. Five other vendors are in process of becoming active participants: Book Clearing House, Casalini Libri, Eastern Book Company, Iberbook International S.L., and Puvill Libros S.A.

OCLC Electronic Collections Online offers access to more than 1,100 journals from 23 publishers

Academic Press, one of the world's largest publishers of scientific information (175 journals) , will broaden its online delivery activity by partnering with the OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online service. With the addition of the Academic Press collection, Electronic Collections Online will offer users more than 1,100 electronic journals from 23 publishers. With FirstSearch, approximately 200 journal titles are already available. OCLC plans to have at least 500 titles available by the first quarter of 1998.

Through Electronic Collections Online, libraries can search across hundreds of journals from many different publishers, using a single interface and access point. OCLC is aggregating a broad collection of titles in many different subject areas, including life and physical science, social science, and the humanities. In 1998, OCLC will begin linking the 65 databases from the OCLC FirstSearch service with the full-text journals available on Electronic Collections Online to create a fully integrated system for library users.

Academic Press will participage in the Electronic Collection Online archiving service, which will provide access in perpetuity to licensed material.

Four other publishers-Jossey-Bass Publishers, the Ohio State University Press, Plenum Publishing and Sage Publications-have also agreed to contribute their journals to the OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online Service.

Libraries using Electronic Collections Online subscribe to journals directly with publishers or subscription agents and access them remotely through the World Wide Web at OCLC's headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.

Periodicals Contents Index to be added to FirstSearch

Periodicals Contents Index, a database published by Chadwyck-Healey that indexes the contents of pre-1991 issues of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, will be added to the OCLC FirstSearch service in December.

Periodicals Contents Index makes it possible to search back volumes of journals with the same ease and convenience as more recently published ones. It contains journals in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other western languages, and includes the complete table of contents for each issue of each journal.

Every year, Periodicals Contents Index adds records for more than one million articles. It already covers more than 2,076 journals and includes records for more than 8.5 million articles. It will grow to encompass 3,500 journals and 15 million articles.

Periodicals Contents Index will be offered in two editions: Complete, with coverage from 1770 to 1990/91; and Subset, with coverage from 1960/61 to 1990/91. The full file will be available on FirstSearch via subscription only; the subset will be available under all FirstSearch pricing options.

For the current complete list of titles on the Chadwyck-Healey's PCI Home Page: (http://pci.chadwyck.com/titles-titles.html or http://pco.chadwyck.co.uk/titles/titles.htm

Periodicals Contents Index will include a link to OCLC holdings and OCLC Interlibrary Loan via FirstSearch.

Cataloging Micro Enhancer for Windows

OCLC Cataloging Micro Enhancer for Windows software, which is scheduled to be introduced by the end of this year as a replacement for the DOS-based CAT ME Plus, is being tested in 15 libraries across the United States and Europe. With this new service, users will be able to access WorldCat, OCLC Authority File, PromptCat, and Bibliographic Notification records through one user-friendly interface.

[Contact: OCLC Regional Networks; or OCLC, Inc., 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017-3395; 614-764-6000; FAX 614-764-6096; http://www.oclc.org].

Gates Library Foundation releases grant guidelines

The Gates Library Foundation has released its first grant guidelines for U.S. public libraries to help provide public access to computers and the Internet across the country. The guidelines and application forms are available at www.glf.org.

During the first round of funding, the Foundation will work with approximately 1,000 individual libraries, with a special emphasis on serving low-income communities. Grants will be used to provide new computers for library patrons. Portions of the grants also will be dedicated to staff technical training and support. Grants will range from $4,000 for a small rural library requiring only one computer, to $30,000 or more for larger library buildings which will receive 10 or more PCs.

The Gates Library Foundation was formed in June 1997, with a commitment from Bill and Melinda Gates of $200 million to purchase computers for public library patrons and provide technical training and support for library staffs in low-income communities. Microsoft Corporation will donate software for each computer purchased through Gates Foundation grants.

The Foundation has developed three programs: 1) statewide partnership; 2) an approach for urban library system serving large low-income communities; and 3) a program for individual library participation. For the current round of funding, only those states which, according to the 1990 U.S. Census, had a poverty rate of at least 19 percent are eligible to apply for partnership consideration. Census figures indicate those states are: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and West Virginia. The other programs are open to public libraries in all states.

ISPs go 56 Kbps

Online access is gaining speed as Internet service providers and online services adopt 56 Kbps modem technology.

AT&T WorldNet has launched 56-Kbps service in 11 markets using 56-Kbps equipment from 3Com Corporation. It plans to begin service in 15 more cities in the near future. BellSouth Corporation's BellSouth.net's Internet services unit and Microsoft Corporation's Microsoft Network (MSN) also now offer 56-Kbps dial-up access, both based on Rockwell Semiconductor Systems' K56flex technology. BellSouth now offers its 56 Kbps service at no additional charge in four cities and plans to have it available to all of its market area by March, 1998. MSN is offering its 56-Kbps service through UUnet Technologies, Inc., its U.S. access supplier. MSN's 56-Kbps access is now available in 250 markets. Over the next several weeks, the company plans to make 56 Kbps access available, at no additional fee, in all MSN service areas.

While new 56 Kbps modems hold the allure of dramatically faster data transfer, users need to be aware of potential performance issues. There are three assumptions that underlie the 56 Kbps technology and they are not always realizable. The assumptions are:

1. The public telephone network is increasingly becoming a digital network that can support high-speed connections.
2. Internet service providers are installing digital links to the upgraded network through channelized T1 or ISDN lines.
3. Noise, which degrades data transfer rates, can be equalized on the client side when downstream Internet data hits the last remaining analog piece on the public lines.

If any of these factors do not apply to a particular connection, the user will not be able to achieve a data transfer rate much faster than 33.6 Kbps. Unfortunately, users have to buy, install, and place calls using 56 Kbps modems to discover if they will benefit from the technology. An ISP might support 56 1Kbps transmission, but if the data is subjected to more than one analog-to-digital conversion as it moves across the network, the call cannot be carried at 56 Kbps.

To transfer digital data across the analog local loop, sending and receiving modems transform incoming digital signals into their analog equivalents. While a necessary process, modulation also creates noise that significantly reduces the achievable throughput rate. Without such noise, the data transfer rate over a communications path would be 56 Kbps.

In the past, analog modems have been technically unable to reduce or equalize noise. Reducing the noise seemed impossible because most data transfers encountered multiple points of modulation on the client and server sides. Equalizing noise at numerous points appeared too difficult, resulting in modems that assumed data could be transferred at a rate no greater than 33.6 Kbps. However, with ISPs installing digital links on the server side, modem manufacturers recognized an opportunity to increase data transfer speeds by equalizing noise on the client side. Manufacturers have done this by treating the noise as a known impairment that could be directly counterbalanced. Previously, the noise was regarded as random and incapable of being equalized.

By identifying and equalizing each noise source, the data signal could be directly translated from digital to analog as it passed through the analog local loop. In other words, the noise could be neutralized, resulting in little loss of throughput. For example, an ISP server with a direct digital link to a telephone company s central office receives a user s request for information. In responding, the server sends the requested data through the phone company's digital network. The message stays digital until it hits the analog local loop.

Tests conducted by independent labs have shown that most users can expect only about a 20 percent increase in data speed over 33.6 Kbps. To make matters more troublesome, the promise of 56 1Kbps holds only for the downlink. Users shouldn't expect any improvement on the uplink.

To further complicate this situation, 56 1Kbps products are being developed to two different standards-one promoted by Rockwell International Corporation and the other by U.S. Robotics. Before buying a 56 Kbps, users will have to find out which standard their ISP supports.

Indeed, 56 Kbps modem technology holds potential and hazards. The key is confirming the right to return a 56 Kbps modem within 30 days if it does not deliver the sought-for speed.

We will continue to monitor 56 Kbps progress.

Diamond, Rockwell look past 56k benchmark

Rockwell Semiconductor Systems and Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., are working on technology that boosts the performance of modems past the recently established 56 Kbps benchmark.

Rockwell has introduced digital modem technology, based on Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) technology, that is designed to deliver data to modem owners at a top speed of 1 megabit per second (Mbps). Diamond has introduced its Shotgun technology, which enables customers and businesses to combine two analog modems into a single channel with potential connection speeds of 112 Kbps.

Rockwell is pitching its technology, which it calls Consumer Digital Subscriber Line (CDSL) , as a stepping stone from highspeed analog modems, capable of delivering data at a rate of 56 Kbps, to xDSL modems, which boast downstream transfer rates as high as 8 Mbps. Products based on the technology, which are likely to be priced around $100, could be available as early as the first half of next year.

Although telephone companies will still have to install additional equipment in their central offices to enable the operation of modems based on CDSL technology, Rockwell officials said the overall deployment process is simpler, because local phone companies do not have to make any changes at the subscriber's residence for CDSL-based modems. To install faster versions of xDSL technology, telephone companies are currently required to install a "splitter" device at the customer's home, which enables the existing copper wire to host simultaneous voice and data calls.

Diamond's Shotgun technology will go into trial in early December and will be bundled with Diamond's modems in the first quarter of 1998. Shotgun technology makes it possible for customers or businesses to link, or bond, two modems and two analog lines to create a single pipe to the Internet or a corporate network. Shotgun can enable older modems to be tied in tandem to a 56-Kbps modem. Consumers can link a 28.8-Kbps modem to a new modem for an aggregate speed of more than 80 Kbps.

The best U.S. government sites

Here's a sampling of the best U.S. government online resources available; these are well-designed, easy-to-use references offering an array of pertinent information. They are well worth including as icons on patron Web access devices.

The Library of Congress Website lets you search the national library's catalog and browse American Memory (www.loc.gov

THOMAS-U.S. Congress on the Internet is a Library of Congress Web server posting the text of bills before the House and Senate (thomas.loc.gov)

U.S. Census Bureau features statistical and demographic data and maps, and includes the U.S. Gazetteer place name/ zip code search engine and the Tiger Map Server, which generates maps for any U.S. location (www.census.gov)

U.S. Government Printing Office offers online access to government publications, including the Congressional Record and Federal Register; and documents from sources such as the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (www.gpo.ucop.edu).

Online news is booming

Rare is the daily newspaper of any size that cannot be found on the Web. A comprehensive, searchable list is available at the American Journalism Review's AJR Newslink site (http://www.newslink.org/menu.html).

The Internet has also opened up access to foreign press sources some in English; most in their native languages- which were hitherto too expensive and/or nearly impossible to find. Everest News Central (http://www.everest.siplenet.com) has links to more than 1,900 newspapers worldwide. NeWO News Resource (http://newo.com/news) allows you to access regional news by clicking on different parts of a world map. Of course, there is also Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/Regional/Countries).

Some newspapers provide the full-text of their print stories, banking on advertising revenue to generate income. Others provide selected articles, abstracts, or content that is unique to the online edition. What they offer in the way of archives is a mixed bag, too. By and large, you won't find extensive newspaper archives on the Web-especially without charge. Still, it's Worth checking "Full Text Daily News Archives With Search Engines" (http://www.chs.chico.K12.ca.us/libr/webres/news-ss.html) , a list of annotated links. You might be pleasantly surprised at what's freely accessible from the site, including 15 years of the Christian Science Monitor, as well as the archives of CNN NS and the New York Daily News.

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