Library Technology Guides

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Volume 20 Number 09 (September 2000)

Compare maintenance charges to determine long-term costs

Libraries evaluating proposals from vendors usually make a careful comparison of the purchase prices, adjusting for missing or underconfigured components. But many do not look equally critically at the maintenance rates. Significant differences exist among maintenance rates. Vendors charge as little as 10% per year of the undiscounted purchase price of hardware and software for maintenance, and as much as 15% per year.

Vendors also differ in the amount of annual increase in maintenance rates they are willing to guarantee. One vendor often commits to holding the maintenance rate flat for five years, several accept a 5% per year cap on increases, one insists on 8%, one seeks 10%, and another accepts 5% on software but insists on no cap on increases in hardware maintenance rates.

By the time a library has paid four years of maintenance to a vendor that has pegged its rate at 15% of the undiscounted purchase price each year, plus increases of 8% per year, the annual maintenance rate has increased to well over 20% of the undiscounted purchase for year five.

If you add the purchase price plus five years of maintenance, the “five year cost” comparison among vendors may come out differently from a comparison based on purchase price alone.

Make sure the scope of the maintenance programs is comparable. If a vendor's maintenance program costs 30% more Or less than the average of the programs, look for a significant difference in scope, including hours of support, hours of field-service, components included/excluded, and so on.

Thin versus fat clients

Although most libraries with client/ server systems use regular PCs or fat clients, a limited number use intelligent terminals known as thin clients. A thin client differs from a dumb terminal in that it has memory, but differs from a PC in that it has no disk storage. The typical thin client is comparable with a 200 MHz PC running Windows 95.

Libraries using thin clients adopted the technology to save costs. The thin client devices themselves cost only $200 less than a robust fat client such as a 600 MHz PC, but they are less expensive to support. PCs must be configured with software and require ongoing support to keep that software current and to undo the effects of user tampering. When a thin client device has to be replaced, libraries need only pull out the old and plug in the new. They don't have to reinstall software. A technician can handle only 50 to 75 PCs, but well over twice that many thin clients.

Thin clients also are a benefit because viruses can't attack them since they have no direct Internet access, If a virus is downloaded, the server usually blocks it.

Libraries should analyze their needs before committing to thin clients. Although thin clients may be suitable for access to the patron access catalog and some staff applications, many of the devices access many different electronic sources of information. Choose each workstation based on demand for use. Devices dedicated to quick lookup in the patron access catalog or charge/ discharge of library materials can be thin clients, but fat clients better serve Internet users by having a PC capable of accessing graphics-rich sites and downloading and manipulating the data.

The libraries experiencing the greatest success with thin clients use a carefully planned mix of fat and thin clients.

Thin clients can be used with many automated library systems, but the vendors—such as Gaylord and Innovative Interfaces—that have promoted the idea have the most clients and experience. The former uses Microsoft's Terminal Server product on the clients. Innovative uses Java extensively.

DRA is shopping

DRA, the vendor that previously acquired INLEX and MultiLIS, is shopping again. Its board of directors has retained an investment banking firm, Crescendo Capital Partners, LLC, to “provide assistance in identifying and qualifying strategic acquisitions and investments As of June 30, 2000, DRA's cash and short-term investment position was $17.7 million. It has no long-term debt.

DRA may not be the only vendor looking for an acquisition. Sirsi, which is privately held and closed-mouthed, also appears to be looking for investment opportunities. Larry Smith, recently promoted to chief operating officer, is a certified public accountant who has previously expressed an interest in growing Sirsi through an acquisition.

[Contact: Data Research Associates, Inc., 1276 N. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132-1806; telephone: 800-325-0888 or 314-432-1100; fax: 314-993-8927; Web: www.dra.com]

Dynix to Horizon migrations increase

Between 1993 and 1999, 50 Dynix libraries migrated to Horizon, epixtech's client/server product. The pace in 2000 has increased significantly, leading to a projection that 35 to 50 more libraries will sign migration contracts before the end of the year, although a majority of those who have already signed appear to be waiting as long as a year to undertake the actual migration.

The increased pace appears to be because epixtech has recently detailed its plans. Specifically, all the features of Dynix not now in Horizon will be incorporated into Horizon, recently renamed “Horizon with Sunrise.” The first release of Horizon with Sunrise, numbered 6.0, is being distributed beginning this month.

The circulation and patron access catalog modules are substantially complete; work is underway on acquisitions and serials control—with completion of acquisitions as long as 15 months away. Features available in Horizon that were not in Dynix include: capture of MARC records via Z39.50; real-time record indexing; editing of diacritics using a pull-down diacritics menu; customized screens and data displays without calling the vendor; local creation and modification of the MARC loading profiles; a proxy-borrowing feature to connect child records to parents; the date an item was renewed; pre-search limiting; search restriction to view only items that are current on the shelf; proximity, adjacency, advanced Boolean, and broadcast searching using the new iPAC; and customizing of the PAC to meet the needs of different users and various collections.

ConnectLib products, such as PC Reliance, TeleCirc II, 3M SelfCheck, RSS/URSA, WebPAC, PAC for Windows, and Net Connect that have been used with Dynix, can be used with Horizon with Sunrise.

A library need not replace the hardware unless it is four or five years old, but a library does have to replace the database management system with Sybase.

Horizon with Sunrise staff clients will not run on Windows 95!98; they require Windows 2000 or Windows NT. Both operating systems require higher-level PCs, preferably a 500 MHz machine with at least 128 MB of RAM.

Use only parallel receipt printers; serial receipt printers do not work with Horizon.

Portable terminals can be used for inventory but not for circulation backup, so use PC Reliance, the PC-based circulation backup product.

Most libraries will require about seven days of onsite training in the new software. The actual cutover time between systems is about 72 hours.

[Contact: epixtech, inc., 400 W. 5050 North, Provo, UT 84604-5650; telephone: 801-223-5200 or 800-223-5413; fax: 801-223-5202; Web: www.epixtech.com.]

Innovative introduces new products

Among new products introduced by Innovative Interfaces is a Java-based interlibrary loan module replacing the existing one. The new module includes patron-initiated requesting and electronic transmission of requests via the ISO ILL protocol.

Also new is an interface to netLibrary eBooks that allows libraries to display titles available from netLibrary in the patron access catalog.

Computerized speech functionality has been added to the telephone renewal product. Using a combination of prerecorded messages and synthesized speech, it can not only deliver general information but has a text-to-speech output that can say aloud titles of outstanding materials.

My Millennium is a feature that allows patrons to choose the format by which their circulation will be sent (mail, e-mail, telephone); view check-out items by many parameters; and build, save, modify, and add to preferred searches. Patrons can also suggest titles for acquisition and receive notification when the titles become available.

Another new product is a palm device interface that allows patrons to use a Palm Pilot or other palm device to transfer and store information. For example, from the circulation mqdule, users can transfer the due date and a brief citation of checked-out items into the calendar of the palm device, setting an alarm to remind users of the date. Also, from the patron access catalog, users can now transfer bibliographic citations into the palm device as a finding aid at the shelves or for future reference.

[Contact: Innovative Interfaces, Inc., 5850 Shellmound Way, Emeryville, CA 94608; telephone: 800-878-6600; Web: www.iii.com.]

Sirsi establishes itself in consortium market

Sirsi Corp. has developed many database options to enable consortia to operate as one unit but retain the individual policies and security of each separate library. Since doing so, Sirsi has established itself in the consortium market. The latest consortia to select Sirsi's UnicornConsorti@ are the Capital Region Library Council of Connecticut (34 multitype libraries), the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (26 public libraries with 98 facilities), SAILS. Library Network of Massachusetts (48 multitype libraries with 64 facilities), and the North Carolina Community College System (59 institutions).

[Contact: Sirsi Corp1 101 Washington St. SE, Huntsville, Al 35801; telephone: 256-256-7000; fax: 256-704-7007; Web: www.sirsi.com.]

Sagebrush introduces serials control product

Sagebrush Corp., vendor of the Athena and Winnebago Spectrum automated library systems for small libraries, has introduced a standalone Web-based serials control product called “serials manager.” Its Athena product has a DOS-based serials control module that has been purchased by only 1% of its customers; its Winnebago Spectrum product has no serials control module.

The new product supports creating and maintaining subscription lists using MARC 21 records, ordering, claiming, check-in, routing, and reporting. The product can export MARC records, including holdings, to any automated library system that can read MARC records.

A Pentium 133 or Mac 160 or higher with at least 32 MB of memory is required. The operating system options are Windows 95!98, 2000, NT, and Mac 05 8.0-9.0. The NT operating system requires at least 64 MIS of RAM.

Pricing is $695 until the end of 200Q anC$795 afterward. No network version is available at this time. One year of support is included in the price.

[Contact: Sagebrush Corp.; telephone: 800-533-5430, ext. 2001]

Hubs and switches revisited

Last year libraries with fewer than 100 computers on a LAN were advised to use inexpensive hubs, rather than more expensive switches. But this recommendation did not address security issues. In some libraries some patron access catalogs and Internet stations are in areas hidden from view. A library with switches and a security feature could protect the network from a laptop being plugged into the LAN. A switch detects a change in the address and shuts down the port if it detects an unknown device.

Switches do offer greater security than hubs, but most libraries don't have patrons disconnecting library PCs to connect a laptop. If that might be a problem, libraries could use a combination of hubs and switches, with the former installed only where the PCs are visible to library staff where laptops are common, libraries could consider installing jacks in many tables and carrels specifically for laptops.

One public library in a high-tech community installed 50 jacks in a building that has only 150 permanently installed devices. As many as 12 are in use at any one time. No one tried to disconnect any of the library's equipment.

Wireless for bookmobiles

AT&T's recent expenditure of $3.3 billion for wireless systems in San Francisco, San Diego, and Houston, brings its customer base to more than 3.3 million in a score of cities. This growth has prompted several readers to inquire about the feasibility of using AT&T wireless for connecting bookmobiles to their automated library systems and the Internet. Unfortunately, AT&T's cellular digital packet data technology is limited to 14.4 Kbps— enough for charge and discharge of library materials but not enough to download HTML code.

Its major competitors don't do any better. Sprint PCS is limited to 2.4 Kbps and BellSouth's Mobility, when it becomes available, will be at 14.4 Kbps. The strategy of the companies at this time is to build their customer bases and to invest in service upgrades later.

AT&T is working on a new offering called “Edge” that will offer a top speed of 384 Kbps. It may be available as early as 2002.

Library Systems Newsletter welccomes questions from readers Please email them to the contributing editor at dickboss@erold.com if the topic is appropriate for LSN readers, the contributing editor will draft an article for the next issue of LSN and will e-mail a copy to the person who asked the question.

Intel developing the Pentium 4

Intel expects to roll out a new series of processors that will run at clock speeds of 1.4 GHz and higher. The product line, code named “Willamette,” will probably be designated the Pentium 4. PCs with the new processors should be available late this year. The main impact on libraries will likely be a drop in prices of Pentium III machines.

American Memory Collections reach 70

The Library of Congress' Web site has 70 American Memory collections available. The total number of items is nearing 5 million, including presidential papers, photographs from the Civil War, early films of Thomas Edison, civil rights and women's suffrage documents, and maps.

[Contact: www.loc.gov.]

Ebsco adds Biological Abstracts

Ebsco Publishing has reached agreement with BIOSIS to include Biological Abstracts via EBSCOhost, its online reference service. The database is a collection of bibliographic references to life sciences journals published around the world. It contains about 360,000 references in the backfile, 90% of them with abstracts. More than 4,000 journals are included. Ebsco's SmartLinks allows users to link from a citation in the result list of the database to the corresponding full text in another. Links to local holdings are also available.

EBSCOhost now offers access to more than 60 proprietary and licensed databases and includes the full-text of articles in more than 2,800 journals.

[Contact: Ebsco Publishing; Web; www.esrn.com.]

Ebsco introduces Reading Room

Ebsco Publishing has introduced a new service for schools that lets teachers or librarians search EBSCOhost for current, relevant articles that support particular units or lessons and tag them for transfer into a special “reading room” file. Once the articles have been transferred to the file, teachers may assign the articles to an individual student or an entire class for classroom or home reading. In addition, teachers can add other assignments to the file—including questions that must be answered online. More information is available at the company's Web site. [Contact: Ebsco Publishing; Web: www.esrn.com.]

Internet filtering legislation update

Before he leaves office, President Clinton may not be seeing a law requiring schools and libraries to implement filtering or blocking technology for computers with Internet access as a condition of universal service discounts. H. R. 4600, the House's version of the Senate bill championed by Senator McCain for the last two years, was referred to the House Committee on Commerce on June 8, 2000, and referred by the Committee to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection on June 21, 2000. With the busy campaign season, the Subcommittee, the Committee, and the full House likely won't have time to work out differences with a version that the Senate might have approved by the end of the year.

In a related development, a federal judge has barred Virginia from enforcing its law aimed at protecting children from “harmful” material on the Internet. U.S. District Judge James H. Michael Jr. ruled that the law violates the First Amendment and that Internet businesses would have no practical way of preventing minors from viewing material online except to eliminate the material altogether.

European Commission moves against Microsoft

The European Commission has charged Microsoft with a violation of European Union antitrust rules. It says Microsoft engaged in discriminatory licensing and refused to give some of its server operating system competitors sufficient information about its Windows interfaces so the servers can work properly with Windows-based PCs.

Specifically, the issue addresses Windows 2000 and UNIX servers from Sun and other manufacturers. Under the Commission's rules, Microsoft has two months to reply in writing and also can ask for a hearing. After the hearing, the Commission would issue a final decision that could include fines against the company.

The action by the European Commission differs from the U.S. Department of Justice's suit in that it focuses on interfaces to servers, rather than the desktop operating system and other desktop applications.

With the DOJ case, the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear Microsoft's appeal or send the case to the U-S. Court of Appeals in Washington for an initial review of U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling against the company.

Identifying full-text sources

A directory of electronic full-text files known as Fulltext Sources Online has more than 11,000 entries in alphabetical order by title, with subject and geographic indexes. It is an excellent source if you know the title of the publication and have a specific subject area in mind; or, in the case of a newspaper, the city of publication.

Look for a complete new edition each January and July. Among the online reference services covered are Burelle's Broadcast Database, DataStar, Dialog, Dow Jones Interactive, Ebsco, EDD, FT Profile, Gale, GBL Genios, Infomart Online, Intelligence Data, LEXIS/NEXIS, Nikkei Net Interactive, OCLC, Ovid, Profound, QL Systems, Questel, Reuters Business Briefing, STN International, and Westlaw.

The directory describes dates of coverage for each online reference and offers the title, update frequency, and lag times. It lists URLs for publications with Web sites.

A single issue costs $119.50, both issues are $199, or a standing order for both issues is $179—plus shipping. An online edition has pricing individually quoted.

[Contact: Information Today; telephone: 800-300-9868; fax: 609-654-4309; e-mail: custserv@infotoday.com]

Canon introduces 2,750 lumen portable digital projector

A workshop presenter often must cope with the performance limitations of a digital projector, especially a portable that appears to have been chosen for its light weight, rather than for its brightness. You can't project a clear image in a lighted room using a digital projector rated at 600, 900 or 1,200 lumens. For optimum results, you need at least 2,000 lumens.

Canon has introduced a new digital projector, the LV-7525, that is no lightweight (15.4 pounds), but it outshines other portables. The projector has two brightness modes: “standard” at 2,200 ANSI lumens and “brighter” at 2,750 ANSI lumens. The latter mode shifts the color of the image slightly toward red. The projector has most of the features of other high-end units, but has a particular strength that any projector used in many rooms should have: keystone control, which corrects for a broad range of angles. A screen can be as much as 40 degrees above or below, or to the right or the left, of the projector without distorting the image.

Although marketed as a portable, it has an optional ceiling mount for a fixed installation.

The list price of $11,995 is comparable with high-end fixed-installation digital projectors, but that is reasonable since the performance meets or exceeds any fixed-installation projectors priced at under $15,000.

[Contact: Canon USA; telephone; 516-328-5960; Web: www.usa.canon.com]

LITA announces Third Annual National Forum

“High Tech/High Touch: The Human Aspect of Technology” will be the theme of the Third Annual LITA National Forum in Portland, Ore., Nov. 2 to 5, 2000. Although the theme will be emphasized in the three plenary sessions, 40 or so concurrent sessions talk about e-books, configuring public computers, creating and maintaining dynamic links between database citations and their corresponding full-text files, creating dynamic Web pages, library access via wireless LAN, implementing multiple interfaces, transforming cataloging into metadata production, and XHTML.

The registration fee is $250 to $405 depending on LITA or ALA membership, nonmembership, and date of registration—the discounted fees expire Sept. 30. The headquarters hotel is the DoubleTree Portland-Lloyd Center.

[Contact: LIlA; Web: www.lita.org/ forumY2K.]

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