Library Technology Guides

---

Volume 20 Number 06 (June 2000)

Distance learning impacts libraries

Distance learning, or education over the Internet, is now offered by 75 percent of all U.S. universities according to InterEd, and one-third of all colleges according to Market Data Retrieval (both are educational market research firms). As many as 5.8 million students have logged on from home or office. Even prestigious universities subh as Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford offer electronic courses. Phoenix University launched a for-profit venture that has more than 12,500 students in its on-line programs. The enrollment champ appears to be University of Maryland University College with 40,000 on-line students.

Although education via television or videotape has long been available, Internet courses are more popular because they let students interact with faculty and other students via e-mail and discussion boards.

Most institutions offer a select number of courses, rather than entire degree programs, but nearly one-third of on-line students are pursuing an accredited degree. The bulk of the on-line degree programs have concentrated on the MBA because MBA candidates typically are employed and want to pursue extra education.

The vast majority of institutions that offer courses and programs via the Internet do not require the student to come to a campus. Among the exceptions is Duke University, which offers an entire MBA program on-line, but requires students to spend five weeks on campus and an additional two weeks in a foreign country.

A faculty committee at a community college in California studied various options and concluded that only a program that combines “high tech” and “high touch” would succeed in keeping the majority of students in the program. “High tech” programs with no face-to-face contact between faculty and students and among students result in high dropout rates. The committee, therefore, devised a hybrid program similar to Duke's.

Dozens of studies show a reference to libraries is missing in many distant learning programs. Educational institutions spend as much as $1,200 per year per student to build and maintain collections and to provide reference service. A random check of 10 institutions revealed that distance educators have not approached the library to arrange for books by mail, remote access to full-text databases, or borrowing privileges at academic libraries near their students. If the students are using libraries, they appear to be limited to nearby public libraries.

Library directors could benefit by taking an active position with regard to distance learning. Here are some ways to increase library use among distant learners:

• Make sure all on-line products and services to which the library subscribes are available remotely to anyone who is currently registered as an on- or off-campus student.
• Provide off-campus students with information about the library and the necessary log-on instructions and user identification number.
• Make books available by mail and ensure borrowing privileges at an academic library near the student.

Since supporting distance learning affects a library's budget, directors likely need to submit a specific budget proposal to support it. To support the increased budget, directors can point out that library support makes an institution's program more attractive to potential students.

Librarians at institutions that offer distance education should obtain a copy of a Copyright Office report called “Copyright and Digital Distance Education.” The report recommends that Congress amend the U.S. Copyright Act to eliminate the physical classroom requirement in section 110(2). This would allow digital transmissions of copyrighted materials to students officially enrolled in courses. Currently these materials are only permitted in a physical classroom. Another recommendation, if adopted., would allow a copyrighted work to be uploaded onto a server for subsequent transmission to students. The report is available at www.loc.gov/copyright, or it may be purchased from the Government Printing Office by calling 202-512-1800.

Ex Libris opens east coast office

Ex Libris (USA) has opened a Boston area office to support its customers along the East Coast, including Boston College, Brandeis University, CUNY, Hebrew College, and SUNY. Some development work will be undertaken at the new office, which will be in the Boston suburb of Watertown, but most activity will continue to be centered in Chicago.

Ex Libris has also announced the signing of Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Ex Libris is well ahead of its business plan to establish itself as a serious contender in the North American library automation market.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Ex Libris (Deutschland) announced that the HBZ Consortium has gone on-line with a database of 10 million bibliographic records and 25 million holdings for 1,300 libraries. The system is configured for 655 concurrent staff users and 100 Web users. The system has an interface for downloading records from the consortium's ALEPH system to local library systems. Next year the system will add an interlibrary loan component.,

[Contact Ex Libris (USA) Inc., 1919 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL 60614; telephone 773-404-5527; fax 773-404-5601; Web: exlibris-usa.com]

Gaylord Polaris 1.4 offers improved performance

Gaylord Information Systems' latest release of its Polaris client/server product focuses on improved performance. Working with Microsoft engineers, Gaylord refined many database processes to optimize SQL server and other Microsoft BackOffice utilities. Several of the larger Polaris installations report improved record processing.

The release also includes customer-requested enhancements, such as scoping availability in the patron access catalog, purchase order templates in acquisitions, automatic prediction of serials without enumeration, and bulk change functionality in cataloging. Customer input affected some 85 percent of the enhancements.

[Contact: Gaylord Information Systems; telephone 800-272-3414; fax 315-457-5883; Web: www.gaylord.com]

Sirsi releases Version 99.4 of Unicorn

Sirsi Corp. has released version 99.4 of its Unicorn Library Management System. Its major enhancements are relevance ranking of searches in the patron access catalog, optional sound files for selected functions at circulation (for example, an audible signal that a patron has a hold), the availability of Hyperion Digital Media Archives in the NT version of Unicorn, and the availability of the Oracle relational database management system in the NT version of Unicorn.

[Contact: Sirsi Corp., 101 Washington St. SR, Huntsville, AL 35801; telephone 256-704-7000; fax 256-704-7007; Web: www.sirsi.com].

Follett releases v4.1

Follett Software has released v4.1 of Circulation Plus, Catalog Plus, Union Catalog Plus, and WebCollection Plus for Windows and Macintosh. Among the new features of Circulation Plus and Cataloging Plus are a visual search interface that provides icons to aid searching by younger patrons, customizable audible alerts, partial inventorying, and the ability to extract data in ASCII format from a variety of data fields. Union Catalog Plus has been enhanced with an automated data exchange option that updates related databases when additions and changes are made in one database. WebCollection Plus added quick links for sites frequently visited by a library's patrons and more scoping options—including the ability to specify areas of a school district to be searched, such as all high school libraries or all school libraries within three miles.

The products are limited to cataloging, circulation, and patron access catalog applications. The primary market for Follett software is school libraries.

[Contact: Follett Software Co.; telephone 800-323-3397; Web: www.fsc.follett.com]

Sagebrush releases Athena v8.1

Sagebrush Corp. has announced the release of Athena v8.1, its PC-based automated library system. The new release integrates Z39.50 search facilities, ranks search results by relevance, stores patron email addresses, prints patron circulation summaries, and improves backup. Also included is visual searching, an interface that helps younger patrons explore library resources with colorful icons.

Athena is not entirely Windows-based. Its acquisitions and serials control modules, which are used by less than 1 percent of the customers, are DOS-based. Athena is marketed to all types of libraries, but school libraries represent more than 85 percent of the installed sites.

[Contact: Sagebrush Corp.; telephone 512-342-2850; fax 512-342-2827; Web: www.nicholsinc.com]

Vendors' experience with large and small systems

Need to know to which vendors you should send an RFP? Perhaps knowing the number of users for a system as large or small as yours can help. Although some vendors do appear to specialize, the majority have sold systems ranging in size from very large to very small. The following chart shows the distribution for vendors of multiuser, multitasking systems as of the end of 1999:

Number of User Licenses
# of user licenses	200+	100-199	30-99	16-29	1-15
VENDOR
CARL	26	6	2	0	0
DRA	400	70	205	125	570
Endeavor	51	37	138	122	250
EOSi	0	0	2	32	26
epixtech	+191	118	440	351	1,934
Ex Libris	19	32	37	9	95
Gaylord	8	10	70	136	85
Geac	24	90	162	57	154
Innovative	76	110	502	(est.) 20	(est.) 23
Sirsi*	45	87	102	636	(combined response)
TLC	1	1	26	58	119
VTLS	89	55	134	63	84
+ All figures except the first column are for Dynix only. The first column includes Horizon. * 1998 data, plus estimates for 1999

SIRS Mandarin M3 v.1.1 released

SIRS Mandarin has released version 1.1 of Mandarin M3, its PC-based client/server automated library system. New features include a visual catalog, which is a graphical search method that enables patrons to perform searches based on visual cues as well as text. The system now has

multilanguage support (Spanish and French) and a self checkout and return feature. Scoping has been modified to more easily identify what is held locally when the system is shared. Booking lets librarians reserve holdings for a future date and time.

Sirs Mandarin M3 includes acquisitions and serials control, although only 5 percent of the customers use it.

More than 80 percent of SIRS Mandarin M3 customers are school libraries, 10 percent are public libraries, and 5 percent each are academic and special libraries.

[Contact: SIRS Inc.; telephone 800-223-SIRS; Web: www.sirs.com]

Management Dynamics becomes Bibliostat.com

Management Dynamics, a vendor of statistical products for libraries—including Bibliostat, Bibliostat Collect, Bibliostat Connect, and Scholarstat Libraries—has announced a name change to Bibliostat.com. Ownership and management remain unchanged.

[Contact: Bibliostat.com, 250 W. Center #300, Provo, UT 84601; telephone 801-371-9222; fax 801-371-0644; Web: www.bibliostat.com]

XML hype and EDI reality

The technology industry has been buzzing about XML as a way of handling on-line ordering and claiming, but EDT continues to be dominant. The total value of transactions using EDT and EDIFACT, its international counterpart, was $3.1 trillion in 1999 according to Giga Information Group, Inc., a Cambridge, Mass-based market research group. The growth rate exceeds 15 percent per year.

Although XML holds promise with its more flexible format, the vast majority of 2,000 organizations surveyed by Gray's Electronic Commerce Research Group of Chicago say their satisfactory experience with EDI/EDIFACT and the lack of XML standards and XML product development

makes EDT their preferred solution for online commerce. In the past three years, many organizations have moved EDT/EDIFACT transactions to the Internet and have created Web-based forms to make data entry easier.

IBM, one of the firms surveyed and a seller of XML solutions, does more than 90 percent of its business with 12,000 suppliers using EDT/EDIFACT.

Libraries have not enjoyed the benefits of EDT/EDTFACT because of the confusion caused by various standards for on-line ordering and claiming. First BISAC was promoted, then EDT x.12, then. EDIFAC3T, and now XML. The current international standard is EDTFACT—now endorsed by the American National Standards Institute as the successor to EDT x.12 and by the National Information Standards Organization as the successor to BISAC. The standard is not due to be reviewed for possible replacement until 2003. When negotiating a contract, seek to include a clause that provides for conformity to a new standard for online ordering and claiming and ask to be included in the vendor's regular enhancement program.

XML is being used by at least one vendor in an application for which no standard currently exists. DRA has developed an XML patron authentication server that allows remote, third-party systems to query information in the patron databases of DRA systems. Once a third-party supports DRA's query format and understands the data elements, it can perform the same type of query with any DRA customer that uses the authentication server. DRA is promoting XIMIL as an industry standard. NISO, the standards body for the library community, may take as little as a year or as much as three years to adopt a standard.

Hubs versus switches

Libraries can consider inexpensive hubs for some applications, rather than more technologically sophisticated—and more expensive—switches, and now a major network diagnostic firm wrote a “white paper that makes a good case for hubs.

Network Diagnostic Clinic, which performs remote diagnostics of networks for a fee and does not sell hubs or switches, says no one should assume that installing switches improves response time for end users in a network. Its experience shows most networks are used at less than 25 percent of capacity. Only when the percentage goes above that do switches (and segmentation of the network) make sense. Switches resolve the problem of collisions in the network. If the 25 percent threshold has not been reached, using switches won't improve performance.

Do you need switches? You can use management tools that look at the relationship between network utilization and the collision rate. You can also pay for a performance analysis done on the network by a vendor that specializes in network diagnostics and does not sell hubs or switches.

Another factor is client/server connections. If most of the clients are connected to, and work with, one server, a switch probably will not provide much benefit because everyone has to wait for the same server. In this case upgrading from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps connections to hubs might be more beneficial than installing switches.

Although the argument might be made that switches may be needed at some time in the future, Network Diagnostic Clinic advises that a library should proceed with caution because a simple network that uses hubs is easier to diagnose and maintain than one that uses switches. Only some relatively expensive high-end switches have built-in diagnostics that simplify that task.

Network Diagnostic Clinic advises that libraries should know why they are moving to switches. If not sure of network performance, have an analysis done (that's what Network Diagnostics Clinic wants to sell you). Finally, pick a switch not just for performance, but for its manageability.

A copy of the white paper, “To Switch or Not to Switch,” is available from Network Diagnostics Clinic.

[Contact: Network Diagnostic Clinic; telephone 800-257-DIAG]

RFID technology gains acceptance in Singapore

The size of the RFID technology sale made to the National University of Singapore Library by 3M warrants merits notice. The NUS Library will insert 2 million RFID tags in the library materials housed in its six library facilities. Each tag includes a tiny antenna and microprocessor chip that contains information unique to the item it marks. Decoded via radio frequency waves, the tag allows library staff to track items as they enter, move about, and exit the library with a patron. Among the appealing features of the system—designated the “3M Digital Identification System”—is a book drop that integrates digital identification technology so patrons receive a receipt for the returned item(s) and check-in occurs without staff intervention. A portable inventorying wand moved along a bookshelf can also scan the tags.

NUS made the purchase to optimize staff productivity by reducing the amount of time to charge and discharge books and to inventory collections. It also reduces unauthorized removal of library materials.

The system is expected to be fully operational in the Central Library within a year, and in all libraries in 2002. Although actual project cost isn't available, it may exceed $2 million as the tags are quoted at $0.85 each.

3M had previously announced the sale of its Digital Identification System to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 3M expects to officially show the product at library conferences beginning with the ALA Annual Conference in July 2000.

[Contact: 3M Library Systems; telephone 651-736-7168; Web: www.3M.com/library]

Arabic cataloging pilot seeks participants

OCLC is launching a pilot project to test software for cataloging Arabic language materials, including the Arabic vernacular characters. The pilot project allows libraries to search for MARC records, edit records, create and add records not found in WorldCat, and download copies of the MARC records to their automated library systems. The project begins midyear and will last several months. OCLC will evaluate the results and, if they are positive, will provide Arabic cataloging support on an ongoing basis.

The participants will have to use a Windows 2000 client to use the free pilot project software. Cataloging activity will be billed at prevailing rates.

[Contact: OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road., Dublin, OH 43017; telephone 614-764-6000; fax 614-764-6096; Web: www.oclc.org.]

Ovid adds Pre-MEDLINE

Pre-MEDLINE, which is the National Library of Medicine's in-process database for MEDLINE, has been added to Ovid's MEDLINE database. Pre-MEDLINE provides basic citation information and abstracts before the citation is indexed with NLM's MeSH headings and added to IVIEDLINE. Daily updates give researchers the most current possible database to search.

Pre-MEDLINE and MEDLINE can be searched concurrently with the 4.1.0 version of the Ovid Web Gateway search and retrieval software. MEDLINE customers pay no additional charge for Pre-MEDLINE.

Newly released, Ovid Web Gateway 4.1.0 lets you combine multiple Ovid databases, search them simultaneously, and automatically remove duplicate records from the search results.

[Contact: Ovid Technologies, Inc., 333 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001; telephone 800-950-2035; fax 212-563-3784; Web: www.ovid.com]

JSTOR's General Science Collection selected by 220 libraries

JSTOR, the not-for-profit group that completed the electronic full-text of 117 academic journals in the humanities and social sciences in 1999, has had considerable success in its second venture, a collection of electronic full-text journals in the sciences. Some 220 libraries have become participants since February 2000. Each participant pays a one-time fee and an annual access fee based on the size and type of institution. After payment, the library has access to the full-text of Science from 1880 to five years from the present, Scientific Monthly from 1915 to 1957, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from 1915 to two years from the present, and the various Royal Society of London Transactions and proceedings from their beginnings as far back as 1664 to five years from the present. Each year the files will be brought forward one more year.

The initial release includes more than 323,000 journal pages. At least 1.4 million pages of scientific journal literature are included. An institution can determine the fees to participate by logging onto the organization's Web site at www.JSTOR.org.

[Contact: Carol MacAdam, Director for Library Relations; telephone 212-229-3700; e-mail clm@jstor.org]

Web of Science Proceedings on the Internet

ISI has introduced Internet access to the Web of Science Proceedings. The database consists of current and retrospective bibliographic information and author abstracts from papers delivered at conferences worldwide. The initial database consists of 2 million proceedings and conference papers in two editions: science and technology, and social sciences and humanities. 151 expects to increase the database by about 225,000 additions a year.

[Contact: Institute for Scientific Information; telephone 800-336-4474; Web: www.isinet.com.]

The price point goes up to 700 MHz

Oftentimes avoiding the latest high-end PCs, with the fastest chips, and looking instead at the third-level computers that offer a price point that is the best value for your money is wiser.

The industry is turning out new models so rapidly that the third-level machine is now a Pentium III with a 700 MHz chip. The widely available 800 MHz machines cost a minimum of $1,900; the second-level machines with 733 MHz cost at least $1,600. In contrast, 700 MHz machines with 64 MB of memory and a 20GB hard drive, 17-inch monitor, video card, sound card, 48x CD-ROM drive, internal 56Kbps modem, an office software suite, and anti-virus software cost about $1,300.

AMD and Intel announced 1 GHz chips and Compaq and Gateway have begun production of machines using them. The machines will be priced at a minimum of $3,000 because the chips alone cost $1,300 each when purchased in quantity. This new chip will move the price point up one more level within the next three months.

Most libraries will have few applications that require more than what a Pentium III/700 or 733 can handle.

More significant than the increased processing speed of the chips is the possible increase in data transfer rate between the CPU and peripherals. Intel has announced the release of the final specification of USB 2.0, which is expected to transfer data among devices at a rate of up to 40 times faster than the current specification. Initially, “discrete host-controllers” will have to be fixed on the motherboards or as an off board component, but integrated host controllers are expected to become avail able on PCs in 2001.

PC manufacturers move to on-line support

Using the telephone to reach the customer support desk of a PC manufacturer is often an exercise in frustration. Compaq, Dell, Gateway, HP, and IBM have augmented their telephone support with on-line tools for diagnosing problems and answering questions. If you must talk with a technician, the software forwards the information to a technician in a snapshot (a succinct synopsis of the problem).

The companies are rolling out the services in stages, so not all PC owners can use the on-line support. Unfortunately, the best way to determine eligibility is to call the manufacturer's telephone support desk.

Microsoft ruling expected in fall

Expect several months of sparring as parties react to one another's positions in the Microsoft monopoly case. The Department of Justice has recommended to District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson that Microsoft be broken into two companies (one for operating systems and one for applications). Microsoft has filed its objections and recommended less onerous remedies, such as allowing PC manufacturers to change the opening page, providing the operating system without a browser as an option, not promoting third-party software through Windows in exchange for developers agreeing to limit distribution on non-Microsoft platforms, not withholding the release of a commercially ready application on a non-Windows platform to punish the platform vendor, and not trying to extinguish the market for older versions of Windows by charging original equipment manufacturers more for those versions after it has released a new version of Windows.

Jackson will likely wait till fall to hand down his opinion regarding the remedies. Thereafter, the DOJ will seek to have any appeal go directly to the Supreme Court, and Microsoft will want to lengthen the appeals process. If Jackson orders a breakup, it would not occur before Microsoft exhausts all appeals. The industry forecasts that DOJ and Microsoft will be in court another two, to three years, and that Microsoft may exchange some ,of its practices during that time so that it can argue that the original case brought by DOJ no longer has merit

Digital signature legislation expected this year

Representative Tom Davis ofVirginia says Congress will clear digital signature legislation before the end of the year. If he is right, and President Clinton signs the bill, digital signatures will have the same legal validity as written ones.

---

Maintained by Marshall Breeding

Copyright 1994-2024