Library Technology Guides

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Volume 6 Number 05 (May 1986)

Annual review of supported software vendors

In the last issue of LSN we presented our annual review of turnkey automated library systems. In this issue we report on our survey of companies which offer multi—user supported software packages——those which include ongoing software maintenance and development, and installation support, documentation and training. Some of the software vendors are also beginning to give libraries assistance in configuring the hardware on which to mount the software. Comparisons cannot be drawn between the gross revenues of supported software vendors and turnkey system vendors, as the figures for the former do not include the hardware price.

The Battelle Software Products Center reported that there were 38 installed and accepted BASIS Technical Library systems at the end of 1985. Twenty-three systems were sold during the year, of which five were awaiting installation or acceptance. Gross sales were under $1 million. The library division of the company realized an after tax profit during 1985. Circulation, acquisitions, local cataloging, global authority control, serials control, interlibrary loan, materials booking, report generator and an OCLC tape interface were all operational. Battelle has a total of 22 staff committed to software maintenance and support. The group is responsible for the company's basic BASIS software as well as for the library systems based on that software.

[Battelle Software Products Center, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201— 2693, (614) 424—6424.]

Comstow Information Services, vendor of the BiblioTech Library Software reports that 22 libraries were using the software by the end of 1985. Nine packages were sold during the year, one of which was awaiting installation and acceptance. Gross sales were under $1 million, and the company realized an after tax profit. All users had implemented the local cataloging, global authority control, patron access catalog, interlibrary loan, word processing and report generator modules. Circulation was operational on 19 systems, acquisitions on six, and serials control on 15. Some libraries were using the OCLC offline interface. Eight staff were committed to software maintenance and development, an increase of three over the previous year.

[Comstow Information Services, 302 Boxboro Road, Stow, MA 01775, (617) 897— 7163.]

Georgetown University Medical Center Library reported that it had eight installed and accepted library Information system sites at the end of 1985. Seven packages were sold during the year and a total of ten were awaiting installation or acceptance. Gross sales were under $1 million. The institution is nonprofit and did not comment as to whether revenues exceeded expenses. The eight fully operational systems were utilizing the acquisitions, serials control, local cataloging, global authority control and OCLC interface components of the system, and three installations were using the interlibrary loan module.

The system's word processing capabilities were being used at 15 sites. The MiniMEDLINE component, available as part of the LIS or as a standalone system, was being used at six sites. Georgetown had seven staff members assigned to software maintenance and development.

[Dahlgren Memorial Library, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3900 Reservoir Road, Washington, DC 20007, (202) 625-7673.]

IBM reentered the market as a software vendor in late 1985 after leaving it at the end of 1984. The product will be known as DOBIS, but it will be a rewritten and better supported version than that previously offered. IBM has never revealed how many DOBIS sites there. are in the U.S., but the editors estimate it to be between five and ten. The revived DOBIS will be offered by IBM Academic Information Systems, a different division than that which previously handled DOBIS. One sale was made in 1985. The company did not provide any particulars.

[IBM Academic Information Systems, 472 Wheelers Farms Road, Milford, CT 06460, (203) 783—7385.]

Info/Doc (Information Documentation) offers a software package called CAIRS, which is claimed to operate on a wide range of mainframe, mini, and micro-based systems. The company would not answer questions about the number of installations, sales, income, or profitability. The editors have not been able to confirm any U.S. installations, but did establish that there is at least one installation in the United Kingdom. Info/Doc claimed to have 50 persons devoted to software maintenance and development.

[Info/Doc, Box 17109, Dulles International Airport, Washington, DC 20041, (800) 336—0800/(703) 486—0900.]

Northwestern University reported that it made 21 sales of its NOTIS software during 1985. By the end of the year 43 systems were installed and accepted and four were awaiting installation. Gross sales revenues were between $1 and $2.5 million and revenues exceeded expenses. The modules reported to be operational on various NOTIS installations were: acquisitions, local cataloging, global authority control, circulation, serials control, patron access catalog,. and interlibrary loan. A MARC tape interface and an OCLC interface were also being used, as were word processing and COM output capabilities. Northwestern has 18 staff devoted to software maintenance and development.

[Northwestern University Library, 1935 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201, (312) 492—7004.]

The Pennsylvania State University Libraries are supporting two installations of the Library Information Automated System (LIAS), one in a multiprocessor configuration. No systems were sold during 1985 nor were any awaiting installation or acceptance. Penn State received revenues of less than $1 million from LIAS during the year. The local cataloging and online patron access catalog functions are operational on both installations, and the circulation and word processing capabilities have been implemented on one system. The RLIN interface and the interface with remote data base service vendors are each being used on one system. Penn State has a staff of eight persons devoted to software maintenance and development.

[LIAS Program Office, E 1 Pattee Library, University Park, PA 16802, (814) 865— 1818.]

McLeod-Bishop Systems Ltd., the North American agent for the MINISIS system software reported that as of the end of 1985 approximately 170 systems were in use throughout the world. Since many of the systems are made available to developing countries by the International Development Research Centre, it is inappropriate to report in terms of system “sales.” However, the company estimated that nine new installations were arranged during 1985. Two systems were pending installation in North America. During 1985 the company realized MINISIS-related revenues of under $1 million and made an after tax profit on this aspect of its business.

The capabilities supported by the version of the system designed to support library automation include: acquisitions, cataloging, authority control, circulation, serials control, patron access catalog, interlibrary loan, and materials booking. A report generator and generalized MARC interface are also available. Circulation, serials control and patron access catalog are up in only a small number of installations. There are no interfaces to the bibliographic utilities. Some three persons were committed to MINISIS software development and maintenance at the end of 1985. Other versions of MINISIS are available to support records management and museum inventory systems.

[McLeod-Bishop Systems Ltd., 1600 Carling Avenue, #400, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Z 8R7, (613) 728—7781.]

Swets and Zeitlinger BV reported that SAILS is not yet commercially available. It was being tested at University College (Dublin, Ireland) and Oklahoma State University. The former site has serials control and circulation and the latter has acquisitions, serials control, circulation, and patron access catalog.

The Washington University School of Medicine Library did not respond to the questionnaire. Last year it was reported that one sale of its Bibliographic Access & Control System (BACS) software had been made. At the end of 1984 it was supporting two installations, both multiprocessor systems, and had one system awaiting installation or acceptance. Gross sales for 1984 were under $1 million. Acquisitions, local cataloging, global authority control, circulation, serials control, patron access catalog, report generator, word processing and an interface to provide linkage with other BACS systems were all operational at two sites. One site was using the interlibrary loan capability, one the OCLC interface, and one the interface to remote data base services. Three people were committed to software maintenance and development.

[Washington University School of Medicine Library, 4580 Scott Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, (314) 454—3711.]

Software packages for personal micros

A number of vendors continue to offer software packages for personal micros. Those that responded to the LSN survey were Comstow Information Services, Data Trek, and Gaylord Brothers.

Comstow Information Services reported that there were 22 installed and accepted packages by the end of 1985. Nine packages were sold during the year and one of these was awaiting installation. Sales were under $1 million and the company realized an after-tax profit for the year. A total of eight staff were committed to software maintenance and enhancement. All 22 sites were using local cataloging, online patron access catalog, report generator and word processing. Circulation was being used by 19, serials control by 15, and acquisitions by six. Tape loading interfaces only were available from bibliographic utilities.

[Contact: Comstow Information Services, 302 Boxboro Road, Stow, MA 01775, (617) 897-7163.]

Data Trek Inc. reported having sold a total of 250 packages by the end of 1985, with sales of 150 packages during the year. Ten were awaiting installation or acceptance at the end of the year. Sales were between $1 and $2.5 million and the firm realized an after-tax profit. Seven full time staff were committed to software maintenance and development. Data Trek offers support for acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, serials control, patron access catalog, authority control, remote data base searching, word processing, and materials booking. All were in use by at least 150 customers except remote data base searching and word processing, which were in use by 10 and 50 users respectively.

[Contact: DTI Data Trek, 621 Second Street, Encinitas, CA 92024, (619) 436-5055.]

Gaylord Systems Division offers libraries a number of automated support options. The offerings range from single-function, sIngle-user software packages for acquisitions, serials control, circulation, and patron access catalog software packages; multi-function packages tailored to the school library market, and standalone minicomputer-based systems for circulation and patron access catalog functions.

As of the end of 1985 Gaylord reported seven installed and accepted single-user acquisitions or serials control systems, 34 single-user circulation systems, 40 single-user school library systems, 20 multi-user circulation systems, and two multi-user online patron access catalog systems. The 1985 sales were between $2.5 and $5 million and the company made an after—tax profit. The company had eight staff devoted to software maintenance and development.

[Contact: Gaylord Systems Division, Box 4901, Syracuse, NY 13221, (800) 448-6160.]

Online record transfer accomplished

Geac Computer Corporation and the Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) have successfully accomplished a transfer of bibliographic records between a library information network and a local library system using the communications protocols developed by LSP (the Linked Systems Project).

RLG has sent cataloging records from its Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) host computer, an Aindahl 5880 in Palo Alto, California, to a Geac Concept 9000 system in Geac's Markham, Ontario, facility. These records were in the MARC format. After the records' transfer, Geac's standard MARC loader software successfully processed them.

LSP is a joint multi-year activity of several major bibliographic utilities, including RLG, and the Library of Congress to develop computer-to—computer links between their otherwise incompatible library systems. The resulting communications protocols, referred to as Standard Network Interconnection (SNI), are based on the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnection model (ISO/OSI).

New York University will be the Beta test installation site for an operational record transfer program. Subsequent phases of the RLG-Geac project will address the development of a broad range of intersystem searching capabilities, based on ISO/OSI and LSP/SNI protocols.

[Contact: Jack Senett, Geac Computer Corporation, 350 Steelcase Road West, Markham, Ontario L3R 1B3, (416) 475— 0525.]

Information delivery grants

Five grants, totaling nearly $3/4 million, to improve the information delivery among colleges, universities, public libraries, government agencies, and other organizations in the Pacific Northwest were announced in March by the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust in Portland, Oregon.

The University of Alaska, Fairbanks, received $228,400 to deliver information via satellite to remote sites around the state, utilizing a unique television transmission system known as “teletext.” A scanning device in the University Library will convert text into digital form and teletext decoders connected to microcomputers will transform the “invisible” signal into printed text at the remote sites.

The Oregon Health Sciences University will receive $188,300 to create and operate a prototype electronic library network that will link 65 hospitals and medical centers in Oregon and southwestern Washington. The system will allow health care professionals in the network to use their own microcomputers to locate information in the data base of the network's several libraries, request copies of needed materials, and initiate searches of national data bases. They will also be able to ask reference questions of the network's librarians and exchange advice electronically with other professionals on medical problems.

Eastern Oregon State College will receive $51,800 to create a model network that will provide improved access to sophisticated information resources along with immediate electronic transfer of the full text of articles to users in this rural area. The network will include 19 public and hospital libraries, 2 community colleges, and a county school district office. Health care professionals, students, teachers, librarians, business leaders, government officials and others, using microcomputers and telefacsimile machines, will be able to dial network libraries, as well as the Oregon State Library and Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene. They will then be able to search for and receive needed materials.

Montana State University will receive $136,900 to create a system of rapid document delivery between the land-grant universities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, arid Washington. The library at each university will use optical scanning technology to convert both text and graphic information into a computer-readable format that will then be transmitted electronically to another site. Through one of these library transmission centers, a person will be able to request information from a distant location and have it delivered either to the requestor's own microcomputer or to an intermediary.

Montana State Law Library will receive $134,600 to create an electronic document delivery network in Helena, Montana that later will be expanded to other parts of the state. Using telefacsimile machines, the system will allow much more rapid delivery of materials to persons in government, medicine, law, education, business, and other fields in the state capital and other Montana sites. These users will be able to obtain materials not only from other libraries, local and national, but also from other institutions having telefacsimile machines.

[Contact: Douglas Ferguson, Fred Meyer Charitable Trust, 1515 S.W. Fifth Avenue, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97201, (503) 241—8242.]

End-user searching kit

The Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) of the Association of Research Libraries has just published the results of a survey of librarians at 23 universities in the U.S. and Canada on end—user searching. The 112-page report (SPEC Kit 122) summarizes the responses and includes one grant proposal, five program descriptions, four examples of publicity, nine sets of instructional aids, six evaluation instruments, and a bibliography. The price of the report is $10 for ARL members, and $20 for nonmembers. Prepayment is required. [Contact: Maxine Sitts, Office of Management Studies, Association of Research Libraries, 1527 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036, (202) 232—8656.]

NISO holds annual meeting

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) held its 1986 Annual Meeting at the Library of Congress on April 17. Three topics of interest to the library and information science community were presented.

Carolyn Morrow of the Library of Congress Preservation Office reported on recent work in preservation-related standards. Study results reveal that up to 25 percent of America's paper-based research library collections are “brittle” and need to be transferred to another medium. Development of standards for acid—free coated and uncoated book paper is underway which will help to alleviate this problem in the future. Standards for Environmental Conditions for Storing of Paper-based Library and Archival Materials was circulated in final draft form in December 1985 and is available for comment from the NISO office. The process of developing specifications for hard cover bindings will begin soon. Morrow suggested that similar standards for soft cover and juvenile books are expected to follow. Standards dealing with fire protection, optimum storage conditions for rare materials, and optical digital disk preservation and storage are being considered or are in various stages of development. Morrow reported that with many of the new technologies, the efforts to develop standards are handicapped by a lack of research on which to base the standards.

Aspen Systems Corporation's J. Sperling Martin, the project director of the American Association of Publishers (AAP) Electronic Manuscript Project, described the efforts to develop publishing industry standards and author guidelines for electronic manuscript exchange. Martin explained the purpose of the project was to capitalize on the growth of electronically captured manuscripts, to develop a compatible information exchange between authors and publishers, and to establish standards for industry use. Martin identified a series of tasks which the committee has undertaken including: a study to determine industry requirements and efforts to process manuscripts electronically; preparation of a requirements document for developing standard codes and author guidelines; creation of draft standards and codes; the setting in motion of a process to validate the standards and secure widespread endorsement through consensus; and finally the publication and dissemination of the results of the project. Requirements for the standards include: author tagging and keyboarding; code sets for special characters, symbols and images; and bibliographic description and markup. Martin reported that the author guidelines and reference manual are nearly ready for distribution; a mathematical model is currently being tested.

John Gale of the Information Workstation Group, Inc. addressed issues relating to CD-ROM standards. The NISO Compact Disc Data Format standards committee is currently reviewing the basic functional requirements which the standard should address. Gale identified several different standards needed to encourage development of systems using removable and portable media. These include a standard for file managers that would permit application developers to consider optical media as if they were magnetic media; standards for interfacing with regard to drives, graphics and networks; and the equivalent of an ISBN or ISSN. Gale was quick to acknowledge that progress has been made recently through the Philips/Sony standards, but he reminded the audience that these are physical and performance specifications and not standards for how data should be placed on discs.

In a related area, Gale reported that the High Sierra Group, an informal ad hoc industry group focusing on file manager issues, will present a proposed standard in late May. This standard will enable operating system extensions to accommodate read-only optical media. The High Sierra proposal will not consider issues of write-only media, software interfaces for drives, hardware standards, indexing of data, or user data retrieval commands. Gale suggested that it might be better to address overall file manager standards through an interim standard for CD-ROM which later could be-come a subset of a more complete standard.

[Contact: NISO, National Bureau of Standards, Administration 101, Library E-106, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, (301) 921-3241.]

LSN contributing editor change

Judy McQueen, for the past three years one of the contributing editors to LSN, has resigned from Information Systems Consultants Inc. to join Library Systems & Services Inc. Richard W. Boss of ISCI will continue to serve as a contributing editor. He will be assisted by Hal Espo of ISCI.

The mailing address for the contributing editor is P.O. Box 30212, Bethesda, MD 20814. The telephone numbers are: (301) 654-7655 and 654—6624. Mr. Boss can also be reached by telefacsimile on (301) 656—6832.

Joe Matthews and Joan Fry Williams join INLEX

Joseph R. Matthews, president of J. Matthews & Associates, Grass Valley, California, starts a new job on May 15 as vice president of INLEX, Inc., a vendor of automated library systems. Matthews' specific areas of responsibility will include product development, customer support, and training and documentation.

Matthews has been an LTR contributor since 1979. His most recent study “Microcomputer Circulation Control Systems: An Assessment” was published in the January/February 1986 issue (Volume 22 Number 1).

Joan Fry Williams, the other principal of J. Matthews and Associates will also be joining INLEX and will be in charge of client services. While with J. Matthews & Associates, she was also an LTR contributor. Her report on PBX telephone systems with a survey of available hardware will be published in LTR later this year.

[Contact: INLEX, Inc., P.O. Box 1349, Monterey, CA 93942, (408) 646—9666.]

A reader responds

An LSN reader has responded to an article that enumerated potential problems in seeking to mount library applications software on the same computer as other applications. This person wrote that their library is sharing a system and with good results. The name of the library applications package used was not identified, but it apparently is not a supported one. The library can, therefore, make changes in the software without jeopardizing its eligibility for the vendor's maintenance program. The reader cited control over software development as one of the major benefits of the approach that their library had taken. There is a tradeoff here, however. The institution gains control over software maintenance and enhancement at the cost of losing the services of a vendor's programming staff. For example, each of the top ten vendors of library turnkey systems and supported software packages has at least ten persons committed to software maintenance and enhancement.

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