Library Technology Guides

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Volume 2 Number 04 (April 1982)

Utilities and vendors agree to use BISAC order format

OCLC, WLN, CLSI, and DataPhase have agreed to incorporate the purchase order communications format developed by the Book Industry Systems Advisory Committee (BISAC) into the design of their online acquisitions systems. This will facilitate online ordering, requiring the transfer of only limited amounts of data. BISAC is a committee of the Book Industry Study Group, Inc.

The format uses the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) as the primary item identifier for orders, or modified author-title information when an ISBN is not available. It also contains essential order data including customer ID (preferably Standard Address Number [SAN], see American Libraries, Feb. 1982, p. 133), purchase order number, date, price, and special handling instructions. However, a library could order online using only a SAN, quantity, ISBN, and control data showing the total number of books and titles per order. Most purchasers and vendors using the format exchange tapes through the mail, but the format is designed for computer-to-computer ordering.

BISAC has also developed a title update format through which vendors with online systems can update prices, publication dates, and other data in book records. An invoice format is also available.

Comments already received indicate that many wrong orders are the result of incorrect ISBNs in cataloging records or miskeyed ISBNs in order records. Therefore, BISAC representatives urge programmers working with online systems to incorporate verification routines to check the accuracy of ISBNs using the check digit at the end of each ISBN. Librarians developing in- house acquisitions systems are advised to use the BISAC order format so that they can take advantage of computer- to-computer order transmission in the future. The BISAC publicity committee is monitoring publishers' use of ISBNs in an effort to prevent the display of partial ISBNs and other problems.

Summaries and technical descriptions of BISAC purchase order, title update, and invoice formats are available free from BISAC, 160 5th Ave., N.Y., NY 10010. other free publications from the same address include descriptions of BISAC communications specifications; transmittal procedure for sending computer tape orders, invoices, or updates through the mail; and Book Industry Study Group information. Include $2.75 per order for postage. New York residents add appropriate sales tax.

The horse's mouth: users' thoughts on on-line public access catalogs

A pilot survey of some one thousand online public access catalog users conducted as part of the Online Public Access Catalog Evaluation Project contains findings of interest to librarians concerned with the selection or design of public access catalog facilities. Respondents were patrons of public and academic libraries. The project is being administered by the Council on Library Resources.

When asked to choose from a list of thirteen additional features which might be of fered in a computer catalog the most popular choices along with the percentage of the respondents who gave that choice were: the ability to search a books table of contents, summary or index (47 percent); the ability to view a list of words related to search words (40 percent); the ability to print search results (31 percent); and the ability to search by any word in a subject heading (28 percent).

In relation to service improvement, respondents most frequently selected statements that indicated the desire for: more terminals (41 percent); more of a library's books to be included in the computer catalog (38 percent); the inclusion of more kinds of materials such as journals, films, maps, etc. in the computer catalog (38 percent); and terminals to be available in places other than the library building (28 percent).

None of these desiderata is likely to surprise librarians in institutions which already have online public access catalogs; however, the results should be of interest to librarians who are currently planning automated library systems which incorporate, or may later be expanded to incorporate, an online public access catalog.

Emulog-ging Data General's D200 terminal

Libraries using Data General D200 terminals in applications such as DataPhase's automated library system may wish to consider the Emulog 200, a terminal which its manufacturer claims is fully compatible with the Data General D200/D100 and 6053/6052. Priced at $1250 in single quantities, the Emulog 200 is 35% less expensive than Data General's D200. The terminal features a detached keyboard with sculptured keycaps and a tiltable monitor with green character displays. Service is provided by General Electric Instrumentation and Communication Equipment Service Department. Not all DataPhase customers will be able to use the Emulog Terminal because a number of them accepted contract clauses that stipulate that all hardware must be purchased from DataPhase. [Contact: Emulog, Inc., 48881 Kato Road, Fremont, CA 94539, 415-490- 1290].

DataPhase systems interface to CLSI and SCI

DataPhase Systems has announced that the Harford County (MD) Library system has conducted a successful experiment using its ALIS II installation to gain online access to the systems of other Maryland libraries.

In the experiment, Harford conducted dialup title searches on Baltimore County Public Library's CLSI system, Montgomery County Public Library's Systems Control system, and the Towson State University's CLSI system.

As a result, and in an effort to strengthen Maryland Interlibrary Loan Services, Harford County has distributed instructions for dialup access to ALIS to the Cooperating Libraries of Central Maryland (CLCM) and has provided a special password for their convenience.

Online access among Maryland systems will supplement an overworked and underfinanced interlibrary loan system. Access among systems installed by different vendors is fundamental to future interlibrary cooperation. [Contact: DataPhase Systems, Eastern Region, 140 Little Falls Street, Suite 8, Falls Church, VA 22043 (703) 237- 8444].

IBM recall

Computerland has had to return 1,500 IBM personal computers because of wiring problems--in the leads that connect the computers to the wall socket plugs.

Swapping DECs

The American Computer Group, Inc. offers DEC users hardware and software swapping facilities whereby micros, peripherals, VDUs and software may be exchanged for other DEC products. The company maintains an in-house database of available products and patron requirements. Librarians wishing to investigate the service are advised to contact the company, as the range of approaches appears to be somewhat fluid.

[Contact: American Computer Group, Inc., 712 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215 (617) 437-1100]

Sears maps 45 more CPU Centers

Calling its 1981 experiment with five business and computer systems centers a "successful test," Sears Roebuck & Co. has announced that it will open 45 additional business centers across the country this fall. The five test stores were located in Boston, Chicago, and Dallas. Sears said the stores are designed to meet the needs of small businesses and small business professionals. Each location will include a display area for various product lines and a learning center designed for instructing customers in machine operations and business problem solving.

The stores will sell small computer systems, software, electronic typewriters, word processors, printers, desktop copiers, calculators, dictation and communications equipment, and supplies. Sears said equipment lines will include IBM, NEC, Vector Graphic Computers, Exxon, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Olivetti, Panasonic, Saxon, Texas Instruments and Okidata. The equipment will be sold under "a broad range" of Sears and other brand names.

Hewlett-Packard re-marketing

Libraries interested in purchasing the Virginia Tech Library System (VTLS) software might wish to consider the purchase of a reconditioned Hewlett- Packard computer. The lowest priced machine in the HP-3000 line--the model 30--is priced at $70,275 new and $39,490 as a reconditioned model 30R. The top of the line Series III is $104,755 new, and $70,245 reconditioned as the model IIIR.

The reconditioned machines are available from a new division of the Hewlett-Packard Company known as the Systems Re-Marketing Operation. Most of the equipment has been returned because the users have installed larger machines. The reconditioned machines have warranties and maintenance coverage similar to that available for new machines.

How much for a Monet?: on-line access to art sales information

The SCIPIO data base developed by the libraries of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is now available on the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN). SCIPIO lists announcements of forthcoming art sales, subsequent sales price lists and art sales catalogs from major auction houses in the United States and Europe.

Libraries which are not members of RLIN may obtain dial-up access to SCIPTO through the California Library Authority for Systems and Services (CLASS), a multi-type library agency which offers its products and services nationally. [Contact: Lois M. Kershner, The Research Libraries Group, Inc., Jordan Quadrangle, Stanford, CA 94305, 415-328-0920 and CLASS, 1415 Koll Circle, Suite 101, San Jose, CA 95112, 408-289-1756].

Boss, Richard W., OCLC announces new policy on partial use

The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) has announced a new policy which permits partial use of the OCLC system for libraries which do not catalog on the system and allows full OCLC membership for institutions that wish to contribute their current Roman-alphabet cataloging on tape. The tapeloading option means, in effect, that an institution could be a full member of OCLC while performing online cataloging on another utility or an in-house system. However, in its announcement, OCLC cautions that its tapeloading facilities are limited and there will be some delay before actual loading can start. Tapeload pricing will be on a per- record-processed basis. The price may be $.20-.25 per record.

Under the new policy, three categories of participation are defined. The first, participant, includes any library that contributes all of its Roman-alphabet cataloging online or by tapeloading. The second category, special user, is for libraries that use the online system but do not qualify as participants (e.g., national libraries, library schools). The third category, partial user, is for libraries that elect not to contribute their Roman-alphabet cataloging to the OCLC data base but do use some of OCLC's non-cataloging subsystems, including searching. A library must apply for partial user status and OCLC will, at its discretion, grant or disapprove this application. Online system charges for partial users are somewhat higher than those for participants.

Since dial access to the OCLC system is not available at this time, all searching will have to be done on dedicated OCLC terminals.

Personal computers not very personal

Fifty percent of the microcomputers bought at computer retail stores are purchased by Fortune 500 companies. The other 50 percent of sales from these outlets is divided among professionals such as stockbrokers and accountants (35 percent), small businesses (8 percent) and finally, personal users (7 percent). Such sales figures will undoubtedly influence the future development of both hardware capabilities and software.

Reformatting remote search results

Many libraries undertake computer- aided searching of remote bibliographic and statistical databases using a variety of terminals, some with printers attached. A common practice is to display search results on the CRT and output relevant citations on the printer. Unfortunately, the format of many of the printed citations must be modified before being given to the person for whom the search was performed. This requires retyping the information, incurring, added costs and delays.

Such libraries may be interested in three relatively straightforward ways of capturing search results so that they can be manipulated before being printed. All involve a device which can function on-line as a terminal and off-line as a computer. The three choices to be described are: 1) The use of a microcomputer as a terminal. 2) The use of a word processing system as a terminal. 3) Upgrading an existing terminal to make it a microcomputer.

1) The use of a microcomputer as a terminal. Any microcomputer can do double duty, accessing remote databases as an on-line terminal, and performing text editing and driving a printer off-line. All that is needed is an interface card, a modem (probably the one previously used with the dumb terminal), and a "smart terminal" package. The interface card is standard with many microcomputers, but optional with personal computers such as the Apple, Atari or Radio Shack TRS 80 machines. The "smart terminal package" can cost as little as $30 or as much as $199. It is usually available from any dealer who handles the micro. The more expensive packages, those priced at over $100, offer more features--usually including automatic dialing, automatic setting of the baud rate, transmission of the account number and password with a single keystroke, and automatic transfer of data without the presence of the terminal operator. Any of the packages permit the formulation of search strategies off-line, reducing connect-time charges. By stripping off search results into the secondary or auxiliary storage of the micro (usually a floppy disk) without printing them, connect-time can further be reduced and on-line print-out charges are avoided altogether.

The information in secondary storage can be recalled after the operator has logged off the distant system. It can then be edited for presentation to the end-user. The only drawback to this approach is the text editing package--most text editing/ word processing software packages for micros are quite limited.

The cost of this option is low if a library already has access to a micro. If not, any one of the following systems is available for under $5,000 (without modem and "smart-terminal" package) unless a letter quality printer is specified: DEC VT1SX; Hewlett-Packard 85; IBM Personal Computer; Intertec Superbrain; NEC America PC-SOl2A; Xerox 820; or Zenith X89. Each has a primary memory of 64KB (64,000 characters). The IBM and DEC can be upgraded to 256KB and 1,024KB of primary memory respectively. Each has floppy disk storage (the standard option ranges from 81KB to 285KB) and also includes a video display of at least 11 1/2" with 24 or 25 lines of display and 80 characters per line.

2) The use of a word processing system as a terminal. Almost all of the foregoing also applies to the use of word processing system as a terminal. Word processors are also configured around micros, but their emphasis is on the application software. The most significant difference is that the text editing capabilities of a word processing system are much greater. The initial cost of the system is, of bourse, higher. While a typical microbased system costs under $6,000 after being upgraded, a good word processing system costs in excess of $10,000 before being adapted. As in the case of the micro, a modem must be used. No "smart terminal" package is necessary, but a telecommunications software package must be purchased from the vendor of the word processing system. The price for this can go as high as $1,800. Not all word processing vendors offer this option.

3) Upgrading an existing terminal to make it a microcomputer. Some terminals have been designed to be modified into microcomputers. The outstanding example is Digital Equipment Corporation's VT 100 video terminal. Over 250,000 of these terminals have been sold. Any VT 100 terminal can be up-graded to a micro in less than 30 minutes. The resulting machine is the DEC VT18X. The upgrade involves adding a $900 memory board inside the terminal and hooking up secondary memory, a printer, etc. After than, the option is much like the first.

All of the foregoing options appear expensive at first glance. However, if a system were to be used for searching eight hours a day, the reductions in connect-time charges and citation printing charges could pay for the additional cost of a micro within three years. The extra cost of word processing equipment would probably not be recovered in less than five years. However, were the micro or word processor to be used for other applications besides on-line searching and off-line text editing, the break even point would be reached much more quickly.

In future years restrictions may be placed on the capturing of information from remote databases in machine- readable form with the intent of controlling resale of information. However, it is likely that the application of reformatting data to better serve the end-user would be allowed.

claremOnt? CLaremont? Claremont?

Since OCLC's announcement that it has selected The Claremont Colleges' Total Library System (TLS) as a vehicle in its drive to market services to libraries that are unwilling to sustain the high telecommunications charges entailed in operating all library automated services on the host computer in Dublin, Ohio, librarians throughout the country have been checking their files for further details on the Claremont system. Help is at hand in an OCLC "Preliminary Overview' document which references a November 1980 report in Wilson Library Bulletin.

As described in these sources, TLS provides automated support for a full range of library functions covering all facets of acquisitions, funds control, catalog maintenance, circulation and an on-line catalog. OCLC's adoption of TLS signals its entry into the turnkey systems market, where it is packaging TLS with Hewlett-Packard 3000 minicomputers. The appropriate HP-3000 will be chosen in accord with the size of individual clients' operations.

Under the terms of the agreement with OCLC, The Claremont Colleges will not be able to sell the TLS software during the period of the marketing contract with OCLC. Although planning to sell TLS as a single package of hardware and software, OCLC is prepared to negotiate "software only" sales to libraries which already have Hewlett-Packard minis. Such negotiations would be conducted individually.

While other turnkey vendors can offer their customers software interfaces to the OCLC database, OCLC's sponsorship of TLS encompasses a hard- wired linkage between the OCLC terminal and the TLS mini. As part of the TLS service package, OCLC is providing for the transfer of records from its database to the on-line file in the local system during low rate night-time hours.

In publicizing the system, OCLC stresses its circulation and local on-line catalog capabilities--the areas in which libraries using the OCLC mainframe system would carry a particularly heavy communications cost burden. The TLS reserve room support module is considered to be particularly strong, having been developed to meet the needs of an academic library system.

OCLC has reported much interest in the system, particularly from the academic community. It expects to demonstrate TLS, with 90% of its initial installation software in place, at the American Library Association meeting in Philadelphia next summer, and hopes to make the first installation of TLS in late summer/early fall, 1982.

Parallel with TLS, OCLC is continuing to develop its Local Library System (LLS) to provide comprehensive integrated services to libraries which do not wish to install an in-house computer. The LLS alternative will address the communication costs problem by establishing local area computer centers to handle high transaction volume functions such as circulation and on-line catalogs. Libraries using LLS will be unaware of which functions are being performed locally and which are being processed at OCLC's Ohio facility. [Contact: OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017. (614) 764-6000.]

TOMUS online catalog service announced

Carlyle Systems, a new California company formed by librarians working on the University of California Online Catalog Project, has announced TOMUS (The Online Multiple User System), an online catalog service that makes it possible for libraries in a region or metropolitan area to share a system with sophisticated searching techniques and resource-sharing capabilities without investing in hardware and software development.

With TOMUS, terminals are connected by dedicated lines to a powerful computer located centrally within the geographic region. Carlyle will supply terminals for approximately $750 each, but a library may use any terminal which meets the ASCII standard.

A regional data base is created from records from bibliographic utilities (OCLC, RLIN, or WLN); libraries' own systems; or, if necessary, by Carlyle. Once stored, the records can be maintained directly online. Each regional data base will contain only one bibliographic record for each item, but all holdings and other local information will be retained for each copy of an item. With this system, users may access a particular library's holdings or all holdings for a title in the region.

Patrons can search without previous training, and without prior knowledge of computers. Instructions and information are conveyed in simple English. The system provides a choice os search approaches, permitting simple menu-like searching or more advanced Boolean capabilities. Browsing is provided and authority records are incorporated in the searching process, providing automatic "switching" from a non-preferred term input in a search to the preferred term used in the data base.

Displays may be requested in four different formats, each designed for quick assimilation of information.

The cost is $400 per month per port, plus a one-time charge of 15 cents per record stored. It is claimed that most libraries will be able to save most--if not all--of the cost by eliminating the filing and maintenance of card catalogs.

Geac, a Canadian-based library automation systems vendor and Carlyle have announced a joint marketing agreement under which each company will market the other's product as well as its own. The agreement will "provide libraries with an integrated approach to sophisticated catalog searching and circulation control" according to Carlyle officials. [Contact: Carlyle Systems, Inc., 2000 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94704. (415) 549-0541 Ext. 1158.]

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