Library Technology Guides

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Volume 9 Number 01 (January 1989)

Statewide telecommunications networks and libraries

A number of states are implementing special voice and data networks to link state agencies and/or educational institutions at costs they hope will be lower than relying on regular telephone service. Often local agencies such as police, fire, and libraries are offered access to the network. Projections of savings generally range from 50 to 90 percent as against regular Telco charges.

What is required to implement a private network is a network control center to house the voice and data switch; local nodes to which specific telephone, telefaxes, and computers can be connected; and circuits between the network control center and the local nodes. The first components of the network represent a capital investment for the users; the last usually represents the capital investment of a "common carrier" (a Telco such as a Hell operating company or independent) or a "specialized common carrier" (MCI, US Sprint, etc.). Almost all circuits are difficult and expensive to install because they involve extensive right-of-way negotiation as well as burying cable or suspending it from poles. The capacity of a cable (whether bundled twisted pairs of copper wire, coaxial, or fiber optic) is usually far in excess of that required by a single user, or group of users. Every state network we have been able to identify leases circuits from a common carrier or specialized common carrier. Lease rates per circuit usually are from 50 to 90 percent less than dial-access over similar circuits owned by the provider if a circuit is used near capacity. However, if a circuit is used fewer than three hours a day, the cost of dial-up service would be less.

Almost all state networks are "back-bone" networks consisting of circuits connecting the local nodes among which there is enough activity to achieve unit costs lower than dial-up. The backbone is not extended to low activity locations; instead these access the network by dialing into the nearest local node.

It would not be practical to implement a statewide or regional backbone network solely to support interlibrary loan because there would not be enough transactions. Very few of the participants would be using it more than three hours per day, and in many localities there would not be enough participants to share the circuit. In a typical state fewer than ten percent of the libraries have a high enough interlibrary loan volume to participate on a backbone network. The key is sharing the backbone network with non-library users, especially in the smaller communities.

Most statewide network plans envision local nodes in as many as 100 communities. In several studies undertaken by ISCI, most of the libraries with more than 300 interlibrary loans a year are located near a planned network node. The problem is, the network is often not yet fully implemented--the local node is not yet in place. When it is in place, the library must still get to the local node. That almost always is done over local telephone company circuits. In most cases such connections are by leased lines or by dial-access subject to "local measured service tariffs." The cost of accessing the local node--known as the "last mile cost"--usually is $10 per mile per month for leased service or up to $.05 per minute for dial-up.

A majority of libraries which handle more than 300 interlibrary loans a year participate in a bibliographic utility. For them the combined cost of the backbone network and the last-mile cost usually exceeds the cost of telecommunication using the bibliographic utility's network. For example, the traffic on OCLC's 243,000 miles of leased circuits is so great that the cost per hour of use is lower than that for any state network we have examined. Therefore, most larger libraries have a viable alternative to a state network for interlibrary loan.

Small libraries usually cannot be economically accommodated on a backbone network unless they are very close to a local node which serves larger institutions or a tight cluster of small institutions. Theoretically, if all of the eligible agencies in a small community used the backbone network, there would be enough activity to support the local node. Unfortunately, that involves a degree of organization that takes years to achieve.

A few states have sought to increase library activity on the backbone network by using it to link libraries sharing a local library system. Whereas the average library's interlibrary loans are measured in hundreds or thousands each year, patron access catalog look-ups and circulation transactions are measured in hundreds-of-thousands and millions. Almost all of these undertakings are pilot projects. The potential is limited because fewer than ten percent of local library systems are shared among several libraries.

The conclusions we draw from the foregoing is that the motivation for special networks is reduced costs, and that reduced costs are realizable only with high transaction levels. While special networks for libraries are cost effective when undertaken on a scale such as that achieved by OCLC, they are unlikely to be realized on a state or regional level. It is necessary to combine libraries with other users to bring the transaction levels up. The networks which have been installed to date are not yet sufficiently mature to extend to smaller communities, nor do they involve widespread participation by a variety of agencies. While libraries should have special networks in mind when planning automation, the majority should not expect to make cost effective use of them for several years.

OCLC Local Systems anticipates the future

In a presentation to library automation consultants on November 7, 1988, OCLC Local Systems unveiled its plans for the future. While it has a customer base of more than 150 LS/2 and 2000 systems, and has added 15 more in the first ten months of 1988, it must continue to evolve the product to keep pace with changing demand. Among the capabilities future systems should offer are journal citation data bases, full-text data bases, and conformity to OSI standards to facilitate linkages with other systems. An integral part of OCLC's plan is to standardize the product on the operating systems of the future UNIX and IBM's MVS and VM. The programming language will be "C."

OCLC follows CLSI, Geac, and Innovative Interfaces in the movement toward a more open system. The OCLC change is expected to be evolutionary, rather then revolutionary. Phase I, which will consist of the journal citation and full-text data base capability, will be tested in early 1989, with general release later in the year. Additional modules will be offered over the next few years. An interface to OCLC's present systems also will be offered.

[Contact: OCLC Local Systems, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017; (614) 764-6000.]

DRA releases LBPH 3.1

Version 3.1 of LBPH, Data Research's automated system for libraries for the blind and physically handicapped, has been released. The earlier version of the system is installed at 18 sites, accounting for a majority Of all online transactions at libraries for the blind and physically handicapped.

The new version includes an interface to the Comprehensive Mailing List System (CMLS), the Library of Congress' nationwide registry of all users of libraries for the blind and physically handicapped. The interface allows transactions performed by LBPH users to be transmitted automatically to CMLS.

Other major enhancements include substantial migration to the C programming language, expansion of data base size to more than 4 billion titles and patrons, use of Digital VT-220 terminal mode in all programs, and new and revised documentation.

[Contact: Data Research Associates, 1276 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132; (800) 325-0888, fax 314-993-8927.]

Diskless workstations emerge

Traditionally a computer user has had to choose between an inexpensive "dumb' terminal and a relatively expensive PC-based workstation. The former usually costs $500 or less, while the latter rarely costs less than $1,250. Over the past few months a third type of peripheral device has become available: the diskless workstation. It is a display device which has been characterized as the smartest of the terminals and the dumbest of the personal computers. It is a desktop device with the memory and processing features of a PC, but with no storage device or additional card slots. The typical diskless workstation has 640KB of RAM and up to 2MB of ROM, thus permitting it to be programmed and to store small quantities of data. The device usually costs under $800, thus offering attractive price/ performance.

VDT standard published

Now that ANSI has approved the American National Standard for Human Factors Engineering of Visual Display Terminal Workstations, the U.S. finally has a standard for the design and use of video display terminals (VDTs). The standard represents five years of effort by a committee of representatives from academia, industry, and large scale users of information systems.

The standard covers three areas: text processing, data entry, and data inquiry. It may also provide guidance for other situations where VDTs are used. Design guidelines cover the complete workstation, including displays and keyboards, illumination, noise and thermal environment, and furniture. Only design issues for which there is reliable scientific research are covered. This means that full compliance with the standard does not assure that a workplace will be ergonomically correct.

Like all ANSI standards, this one is voluntary. No one is obligated to adopt it. There are, however, strong reasons for manufacturers to incorporate it into their products: the standard allows manufacturers to ensure their products meet a minimum degree of ergonomic quality and it keeps them competitive in the market. Many manufacturers are aggressively adopting the standard and will be promoting this fact. Buyers also gradually will require the standard as part of their purchasing requirements.

Copies of the standard are available for $25 each.

[Contact: Human Factors Society, P.O. Box 1369, Santa Monica, CA 90406 or ANSI.]

More on power conditioning

We have had several inquiries about our recent article on power conditioning (LSN, November, 1988). Some expressed surprise that there is a need for such equipment because they assume that a computer manufacturer would build in such protection because equipment is sensitive to power problems. In fact, computer manufacturers take no special precautions about protecting their devices from the problems associated with using unconditioned commercial power beyond installing low pass filters to deal with line noise. Some also provide a voltage regulation device in the computer processor cabinet which protects against minimal voltage disturbances. If purchased separately, such a device would be called a voltage regulator. While this is of some value, it only protects one device of the system, and it only protects it against conditions which have a ten percent probability of occurring.

Far more common than line voltages which are too high or low, are power surges, which are short bursts of voltage 10 to 20 percent above normal; and spikes, short bursts which last thousands to trillionths of a second, but may involve thousands of volts. These are much more damaging, and have nearly a 90 percent probability of occurring. Lightning is a common source of such surges and spikes. An equally frequent form of surge or spike is that caused by inductive kicks created when major electrical motors in a building are turned on or off. The condition caused by an elevator, air conditioner or furnace motor snapping on or off is an example of an internally generated spike. A third type of power surge or spike results from faulty or arcing switches. Finally, surges and spikes result from the restoration of service after an outage. Surge/spike suppressors are designed to intercept surges and spikes, and to deal with the effect of a sag (a very short drop), rather than the longer term over-or-under voltages that effect performance. Therefore, surge/spike suppression needs to be added to voltage regulation.

Actual outages have a less than one percent probability of occurring. While an uninterruptible power supply can be used to provide continuing power, that is less important than protecting the system against the possible adverse effect of restoration of power. A power conditioner which includes both voltage regulation and surge/spike suppression will accomplish that. Ideally, the vendor of a local library system will respond to a specification calling for power conditioning. If not, the following major vendors of equipment might be contacted:

POWER SUPPLY VENDORS

Atlas Energy Systems
9457 Rush Street
El Monte, CA 91733 Eigar
8225 Mercury Court
San Diego, CA 92111

Emerson Electric
3300 South Standard Street
Santa Ana, CA 92702

Franklin Electric
995 Benicia Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086

General Power Systems
1400 North Baxter Street
Anaheim, CA 92806

Topaz Electronics
9192 Topaz Way
San Diego, CA 92123

Magnetic, optical drives combined

Epoch Systems, Inc. has introduced a high-capacity data storage server that combines magnetic and optical disk drives for workstations supporting Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Network File System protocol. The storage system, called Epoch-l InfinateStorage Server, is aimed at the Unix marketplace. It provides online storage capacity of up to 150 Gbytes and is based on a hierarchical storage architecture that stores very active files on magnetic disk and less active files on optical disk. Through virtual disk algorithms, files are moved between the magnetic and optical storage media in a manner transparent to the user.

There are three Epoch-l models available, including the Model 2, which is priced at $95,000 and consists of a system unit, two 700-Mbyte magnetic disk drives and a 600-Mbyte optical disk drive for user-mounted optical disk cartridges. The Model 30, priced at $155,000, features a 7-Gbyte disk drive and a 28.8-Gbyte Optical Disk Library Unit, which is a jukebox housing 48 600-Mbyte optical disk cartridges and four optical disk drives. The high-end model is the 150-Gbyte Model 150, which includes a system unit with a 700-Mbyte magnetic disk drive and five Optical Disk Library Units each with 28.8 Gbytes of optical disk storage. Epoch-l will ship to customers 90 days after the order is placed.

While most libraries may want to rely on a local system vendor to integrate magnetic and optical disk storage, the news of the availability of such hardware combinations should assist libraries in negotiations with their vendors.

[Contact: Epoch Systems, Inc., 313 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough, MA 01752; (508) 481-3717.]

TCP/IP, a versatile protocol

We were recently asked to explain TCP/IP because a number of academic institutions and corporations require that libraries purchasing systems specify support of this protocol. TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It is a set of non-proprietary networking protocols developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a standard for linking disparate systems and networks. It was initially implemented on the ARPANET network, the network used by tens-of-thousands of Department of Defense contractors. The IP portion of the protocol is responsible for routing data between hosts; and the TCP portion makes sure that the data arrives intact.

Structurally the TCP/IP protocol is separated into layers, much like IBM's SNA, Digital's DECnet, and the rapidly emerging Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model standards. The widespread need to link with the Department of Defense, and the common design features of the major protocols, resulted in bridges from SNA and DECnet to TCP/IP. The popular Ethernet Local Area Network was designed with TCP/IP in mind; and when UC Berkeley released UNIX Version 4.2, TCP/IP was included in the kernel. In short, TCP/IP has been the ideal solution in a non-standardized environment. A library can specify TCP/IP support without fear of getting negative responses from library system vendors.

A library should not specify TCP/IP support without also addressing support for the OSI Reference Model standards. The Department of Defense has committed itself to migrating TCP/IP to OSI over the next two years. It also is expected to introduce OSI to ARPANET, although no timetable has been announced. Therefore, specifying only TCP/IP support would fail to provide for the long-term.

IFLA bibliography on OSI

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) issued a fifteen page bibliography on the Open Systems Interconnection (OS!) Reference Model in its June, 1988 "UDT Newsletter." Libraries which do not subscribe and retain the publication may want to request the single issue.

[Contact: IFLA, c/o National Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0N4.]

SONY forms optical division

Sony Corporation of America has announced the formation of an Optical Storage Systems Division, which will be responsible for all of the company's optical storage products. The Division will market, support and service Sony's CD-ROM, Write Once/Read Many and rewritable optical products. It will also take over Sony's CD-ROM publishing business and oversee future product development. The move apparently reflects the company's enthusiasm about the long-term prospects for optical technologies.

Sony Corporation of America also has announced the general availability of 5.25- inch rewritable optical disk drives and media. It precedes several. competitors to the market, including Maxtor Corporation, whose rewritable drives should become available in another month, and Cannon USA, Inc., whose drive will be included in Next, Inc.'s computer system, due next spring.

The Sony drives have a sustained transfer date of 7.4 Mbits per second and a short stroke seek time of 20 milliseconds. The optical disks can store up to 650 Mbytes of data. The drives are priced at about $4,650. Disks should cost about $250 each.

Electronic art series announced

EBook, Inc., of San Leandro, California, has announced a series of art technology data bases on CD-ROM. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Electronic Art Anthology series, scheduled for release in January 1989, is a single disk featuring European paintings and containing more than 1,000 entries with electronic images, information about the work, the artist and the collection to which it belongs. Each entry is fully indexed and cross-referenced. The hardware configuration required is an IBM PS/2 or equivalent PC with a VGA graphics card and a CD-ROM player. According to EBook, an Apple Macintosh version will follow the IBM version.

EBook has spent more than a year and a half in the development of the series, including the establishment of relationships with major international museums such as the British National Gallery and Tate Gallery. Plans call for the release of eight more disks, including ones for ancient, Asian, medieval, renaissance, baroque and modern art. Each volume will be periodically enhanced and updated to include additional collections and data. Unfortunately the price for the series had not been set as of press time. EBSCO Subscription Services is the designated distributor.

[Contact: Ebsco Subscription Service, P.O. Box 1943, Birmingham, AL 35201; (205) 991-6600.]

Bookshelf wins Byte award

Byte Magazine has bestowed a BYTE Award of Excellence to Microsoft's Bookshelf as the first substantial application of CD-ROM technology. The award is given to products which are distinguished among those evaluated each year through a combination of factors such as exemplary innovation, technical elegance, and outstanding value. It is not just the amount of information included in Bookshelf- quotations, almanac, zip code directory, thesaurus, style manual, etc. but the quality of the user interface and the ease of access from any one of several word processing programs which earned the award for Microsoft. The January, 1989, issue of Byte also identified several other products which had awards bestowed on them, including the Compaq Deskpro 386/25 personal computer, the NEXT Computer, the Toshiba T1000 portable computer, and the TrueScan optical character recognition system.

Inovatic PC system helps blind to read

Inovatic, a French company with a subsidiary in Arlington, Virginia, has introduced NightStar, a PC-based reading system for blind and visually impaired people. The system includes new optical character recognition software, a voice synthesizer, a desktop scanning device and an IBM p6 AT w?th an extended memory board. NightStar works by scanning in printed material, storing that text in standard ASCII computer files and reading the text aloud via the voice synthesizer. The NightStar system works with a variety of voice synthesizers, which start at about $390. The one with the highest-quality voice signal output is Digital Equipment Corporation's DECtalk, which sells for $4,500.

Users control the system with the numeric keypad on the PC-AT keyboard. Users can read an entire document at once or just choose to read a single paragraph, sentence or word. Users can skim the document by selecting a function that reads only the first sentence in every paragraph.

The software was codeveloped and tested at the Institut Nazereth et Louis Braille, a leading rehabilitation center for the blind and visually impaired in Canada. Inovatic's product competes with that of Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc., a Xerox corporation subsidiary based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The NightStar system is being distributed through a select network of dealers. The software component will be available in the first quarter of 1989, priced at $2,995.

[Contact: Inovatic, 1911 North Fort Myer Dr., Suite 708, Arlington, VA 22209; (703) 522-3053.]

Overcoming videotape incompatibility

We were recently asked how a library might play videotapes produced in another country using a different television standard than the NTSC standard of the U.S. After some research we found a VCR which operates the same as any other domestically sold unit, but which can also play and record in all 16 world standards: the U.S.' NTSC, Europe's PAL and SECPAM, etc. The device, known as the Image Translator, costs from $659 to $1,995, depending on features. The manufacturer also offers a Standards Converter which makes copies from PAL or SECAM tapes to NTSC, or vice versa. The price for that device is under $4,000.

[Contact.: Instant Replay, Inc., 2951 South Bayshore Drive, Miami, FL 33133; (305) 445-1998.]

Acoustics: another facet of ergonomics

Acoustics is listed as a key element in virtually all productivity studies. Poor acoustics adversely affect the amount of work people get done. Despite the increasing use of computers and other equipment in libraries, acoustics appears to be getting little attention in the literature of library planning. This is particularly unfortunate because most workers can't do anything about the acoustics. While the lights, temperature, and chairs may be somewhat adjustable, the "acoustical system" is just there.

In most organizations the emphasis is on the ceiling, it almost always is treated with a sound absorbing material. The floor also may be treated--usually for aesthetic as well as acoustic reasons. The problem is the walls. Gypsum board, plaster, and concrete--the most common construction materials--are acoustical mirrors, reflecting a high percentage of all sound.

The most effective treatment for walls is the use of panels consisting of a 1" thick glass fiber board covered with an open weave fabric. At a minimum they should be placed on the walls near workstations. Workstations should not be placed directly against window walls because there is virtually no way to treat these short of hanging heavy, lined drapes.

Background masking of sound is probably the most overlooked approach to acoustics. Consisting of electronic components similar to a conventional speaker system, a masking system incorporates a sound generator, frequency filters to shape the sound spectrum, and a power amplifier. The result is a signal which sounds like the air noise in an air conditioning system distributed through specially designed speakers installed in the ceiling plenum. A background masking system has to be carefully tuned because if it is too quiet it will be ineffective, and if it is too loud it will be distracting. A well tuned system effectively masks equipment noises and conversation.

While not every organization may have the resources to install a masking system, there is no organization which can't afford at least a few well placed panels.

NOTIS sales for 1988

NOTIS Systems, Inc. had another ex-cellent year for the installation of its library management software. For 1988, NOTIS will have installed 30 library man-agement systems. In 1987, NOTIS installed 34 library management systems. NOTIS will have a total of 120 customers.

NOTIS installations now include most of the major academic research libraries in the United States. The NOTIS library management software is also the basis for two statewide library networks.

NOTIS library management software is now in release 4.5. A new product, GTO (Generic Transfer and Overlay), was re-cently made available to customers. GTO permits the online transfer of RLIN, OCLC and UTLAS bibliographic and authority records into the local NOTIS data base. Access to locally mounted external data bases through the interface of the NOTIS online public access catalog will be a feature available in 1989.

[Contact: NOTIS, 1007 Church St., 2nd Floor, Evanston, IL 60201-3622.]

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