Library Technology Guides

---

Volume 9 Number 04 (April 1989)

Software for IBM system 36 and 38

It is common for a library considering automation, especially a public library, to be offered free computer hardware. The library director must be able to respond quickly and knowledgeably about the suitability of the computer and the peripherals. The computer most often offered is an IBM System 36 or 38 because there are tens-of-thousands of them installed, and several hundred sites a month are upgrading to the new IBM AS400.

There are a number of products available, all of them developed with the small to medium size library in mind--generally fewer than 125,000 titles and 600,000 circulations a year. All were begun as circulation systems, and some are still limited to a single function. If an online catalog module is available, it often is limited as to searching options. While some include an acquisitions module, none support serials control. Most do not support the MARC format so records output from the system would have to be reformatted at considerable expense before they could be used in another system. Only one has authority control. Ongoing enhancement programs generally are not offered: in the jargon of the trade they are "customer installed" products for which the vendor takes no responsibility except in the case of misrepresentation about defects.

The oldest of these products, known as Rosemary's Baby, is an in-house development effort by the Dow Memorial Library of Midland, Michigan. Written for an IBM System III more than a decade ago, it was rewritten five years ago for the IBM System 38. The package includes acquisitions, circulation, and limited online patron access catalog capability with Boolean and keyword. Records are brief, and in a non-MARC format. There is no authority control. The software has been made available to several other libraries. Documentation is limited. The current price is $5,000. While most users have invested little in further local development, one library has reportedly spent more than $50,000 to make the circulation module conform more closely to that available on commercial software packages.

At least eight years old, the Farmer's Branch (Texas) Public Library's system was originally a batch system. It has since been upgraded to an online system for the System 38 supporting circulation and patron access catalog with author, title and subject access, but no Boolean and keyword. There are no acquisitions and serials control modules. The records are brief and in non-MARC format, but could be upgraded to MARC. There is no authority control. The software is available upon submitting a blank tape and a letter committing that the software will not be duplicated for resale. There is no formal documentation available.

The automated system of the McKinney (Texas) Public Library is nearly seven years old. It was locally developed for a System 34, but has been migrated to a System 36. It supports circulation and staff searching with author, title, and subject access. Limited Boolean and keyword searching of titles and subjects is possible. An acquisitions module has recently been implemented. There are no serials control and patron access catalog modules. The software supports brief bibliographic records in a non-MARC format. There is no authority control. Documentation is limited. The terms for acquiring the software are negotiable.

Since they are not commercially marketed products, all three of the above packages are inexpensive to procure, but can be expensive to implement because documentation is limited. A great deal of programming would be required to make them functionally comparable to commercially marketed products.

The Editors are aware of four commercially marketed products for IBM System 36 and 38. The oldest is H.C.E. Library Automation System's IALPS. It was developed by the Hurst Public Library of Texas for the System 36 and made operational in 1982. It has been installed in at least three other libraries. The package includes circulation, acquisitions, and public access catalog. There is multi-branch capability. Boolean searching is supported. Records can be stored in the MARC format. There is no authority control. There is considerable documentation, and training and installation support are available. The price is $42,500 and up.

A product specifically for the school library market has been available for the last five years. Known as LMS, it was developed by J&K Computer Systems of Salt Lake City and Mesa, Arizona, to support circulation control on a System 36. It has been installed in more than 20 libraries. While in earlier versions the records were brief, full-length records became an option with the introduction of an online catalog module. However, the software does not support the MARC format. There is limited authority control. Inventorying is supported. There are indefinite plans for an acquisitions module, but none for a serials control module. Documentation is provided. Training is available in Mesa, Arizona. The license fee is $4,500 and up depending on the hardware environment. Software maintenance is $500 and up per year. Telephone support is $500 and up per year.

The most widely installed package in public libraries appears to be the Library Information System (LIS) by Municipal Software of Irving, Texas. It has been installed by at least eight public libraries. It has generally been marketed as one of a suite of packages which support municipal services by small and medium-size communities on System 36. The public library package supports circulation and limited inquiry by author, title, and subject. Title keyword searches also are available. The software can support multiple branch operations. It supports OCR and barcode scanning. There are no acquisition and serials control modules. Records can be stored in the MARC format--although all of the sample screens provided by the vendor show brief fixed field title records. There is no authority control. There is basic documentation. The license costs $10,000. Custom modification and training are additional. Software maintenance and enhancement are available for negotiated fees.

The newest product is Library Solutions, a package written for the System 38 for the Dougherty County Library of Albany, Georgia and rewritten by Silverlake Systems of Norcross, Georgia, for the AS/400. It has been installed in five libraries. The package supports acquisitions, local cataloging, circulation, and online patron access catalog. Author, title and subject searching are supported. Boolean searching is supported. There is no serials control module. The system supports MARC records. There is no authority control. There is an OCLC interface. Documentation is still being written. The price is approximately $45,000. No decision had been made about an ongoing maintenance and enhancement program at the time LSN went to press.

The two packages which offer functionality which begins to approximate that offered by the major library system vendors such as CLSI, DRA, Dynix, Geac, INLEX, and OCLC Local Systems are those of H.C.E. for the System 36 and Silverlake for the System 38. Both are priced at over $42,500 the price one would expect to pay for software from one of the industry's major vendors.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to make a detailed comparison between the Silverlake product and those of the major vendors. However, we have been able to compare H.C.E.'s product against those of CLSI and Dynix. In both cases, H.C.E.'s product rated lower due to more limited functionality, more limited parameterization (options in the software) , the lack of authority control, more limited enhancement program, more limited vendor support, and higher five-year cost for hardware. Even when the CPU and disk storage were donated, the five-year cost was projected as higher because the combined cost of a tape drive, system printer, telecommunications hardware, terminals, side printers and five years of maintenance on all hardware, including that to be donated, exceeded the cost of buying all new hardware for the CLSI or Dynix alternative. A major factor was that the monthly maintenance on the System 36 CPU and disk drives was triple that for the new CPUs and disk drives offered by CLSI and Dynix. In fact, the difference in five-year maintenance cost between the System 36 and the supermicro options offered by CLSI and Dynix was nearly equal to the purchase price of the 32 bit supermicro and disk drive. This points up the need to use a five-year cost analysis whenever comparing options. What appeared to be a saving, albeit at some sacrifice of functionality and vendor support, turned out to be a more costly solution over a five-year period.

While the outcome might not be consistently the same, we urge that a library make the acceptance of a hardware donation contingent on an analysis of functionality, vendor support, and five-year cost so that the community's interest will be served. The acceptance of a gift which does not serve the community well or which costs more does not reflect well either on the donor or the library director.

[Contact: Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, 1710 W. St. Andrews Drive, Midland, MI; (517) 835-7151. Data Processing Department, Municipality of Farmers Branch, P.O. Box 819010, Farmers Branch, Texas 75381; (214) 247-3131. McKinney Memorial Public Library, 200 N. Kentucky St., McKinney, TX 75069; (214) 542-4461. H.C.E. Library Automation Systems, P.O. Box 18265, Ft. Worth, TX 76118; (817) 498-6350. J&K Computer Systems, 1819 South Dobson, Mesa, AZ 85202; (602) 897-7861. Municipal Software, 3021 Gateway Dr., #290, Irving, TX 75063; (214) 518-0728. Silverlake Systems, Inc., 6624 Jimmy Carter Blvd., Norcross, GA 30091; (404) 448-7652.]

New CEO for Geac

Geac Computer Corporation Limited has announced the appointment of Stefan R. Bothe as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. Mr. Bothe assumed his new role effective February 14, 1989. Prior to joining Geac, Mr. Bothe was President of the Applications Products Division of Computer Associates International, Inc., based in New York, the world's largest independent software vendor.

During his nearly seven years with Computer Associates, Mr. Bothe held the positions of Senior Vice President of Marketing, President of the Micro Division of the International Division, and, most recently, President of the Applications Products Division.

1988 results for Geac

Received too late for LSN's Annual Survey of Library Automation Vendors, the following information was submitted for Geac. The combined Geac and ALII stats turned out to be higher than what LSN Contributing Editors had estimated. Consolidated sales for Geac and ALII in 1988 totaled 12 new systems and 27 upgrades which brought the total number of installations to 175. The only other information supplied was that sales were in excess of $38 million. The other information comparable to that supplied by other vendors was not forthcoming.

MultiLIS opens second U.S. sales office

The multiLlS Corporation has announced the opening of a second U.S. sales office in Washington, D.C. in addition to the Norman, Oklahoma, office. In the past three years, multiLlS has become the most installed library automation vendor in Canada with 62 sites serving 120 libraries. The commercial release was made available in 1986 after a major development effort to generalize the original University of Quebec version.

The software is supported on NCR Tower computers using the Unix System V operating system and on Digital's VAX computers using the VMS operating system.

MultiLIS also has recently announced that it has fully integrated MARC authority control into its software. The authorities are available online for both patrons and staff. In the patron access catalog module patrons can access "see" and "see also" authority records in a window without interrupting the search session and can select any of the listed items immediately without rekeying.

[Contact: Mu1tiLIS Corporation, 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Suite 265, Washington, D.C., 20006; (202) 429-2850 or Sobeco Group, 505 Dorchester Blvd. West, Montreal, Quebec, H2Z lY7 Canada; (514) 878-9090.]

VTLS- 89 goes into distribution

VTLS has begun to provide its users with a new version of its software. The most significant change is the move to an open architecture. Language, dialogue, commands, punctuation, character sets, terminals support, database access, user capabilities, and system security are all external to software and can be defined and changed at the user's discretion. For example, the system can be configured to change languages on command, or to change from one version of a language to another--such as from English for adults to English for children. VTLS-89 can support any character set for data storage and retrieval, a feature of interest particularly to libraries with large holdings of materials in other than English. The open architecture will make it simple to implement a change to the common command language when it is adopted.

VTLS moved to a new headquarters in 1988 and recently changed its telephone numbers.

[Contact: VTLS, Inc., 1800 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060; (703) 231-3605, fax 703-231-3648.]

RLG announces special database for research in progress

The Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) now has available in RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) a special database on research in progress. Developed in conjunction with Modern Language Association (MLA), this is a pilot project designed to capture information about articles in the areas of language, literature, linguistics, and folk lore that have been accepted by journals for publication but not yet published.

The database has been designed so that scholars can search it easily without help. It is menu-driven and can be searched by such information as author, subject, journal, and title phrase. Included in some entries are article abstracts that run between 200 and 500 words in length.

The original group of ten journal editors who have been contributing data for over a year has been expanded to 52. In addition, the database contains records of publications grants awarded by the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Later this spring, the National Council for Research on Women will also be contributing information about work in progress by and about women--both material awaiting publication and papers being prepared for conferences and seminars.

[Contact: Leslie Hume, Associate Director, RLG Program Development, The Research Libraries Group, Inc., Jordan Quadrangle, Stanford, CA 94305; (415) 328-0920.]

Voice of Z-39 replaced

The National Information Standard Organization's newsletter, Voice of Z-39, ceased publication at the end of 1988. It has been replaced by Information Standards Quarterly. The new editor will be Walt Crawford of the Research Libraries Group. The annual subscription cost of the new publication is $40.

[Contact: NISO, P.O. Box 1056, Bethesda, MD 20817.]

OCLC adds Australian records

OCLC will begin loading bibliographic records from the National Library of Australia in the U.S. MARC format as part of a September 1988 agreement. In exchange, over 400 Australian libraries will be able to use the OCLC Microcon Service for retrospective conversion and cataloging. Records will be loaded into Australia's National Bibliographic Database where they will be available through the Australian Bibliographic Network.

The fax with many features

Canon has announced a new fax machine that appears to have just about everything: high speed (rated at 12 seconds per page) , high resolution (up to 406 x 392) , half tone differentiation (16 shades of grey) , enlargement and reduction, book copying, up to 32MB of memory (for storing up to 238 document pages, plus storage of 150 fax nunbers and memory reception if the machine runs out of paper) , plain paper, and RS-232 interface. The list price of the Canon Fax-L 92J is $8,395, but the price is negotiable.

Library fax directory published

The fourth edition of The Directory of Telefacsimile Sites in North American Libraries has just been published. It has 1,700 entries, more than double the number in the previous edition. Pennsylvania libraries with fax machines now number over 200. Other states with over 100 sites are California, Illinois and Michigan. Ten states have more than 50 sites each. The greater the concentration of machines, the greater the usefulness of fax equipment. The price of the Directory is $26.00, including postage and handling.

[Contact: CBR Consulting Service, Inc., P.O. Box 248, Buchanan Dam, TX 786091; (512) 793-6118, fax 512-793-6521.]

PC-fax boards

We have had a number of inquiries from readers who have a PC and would like to add a PC-fax board to it, rather than buy a standalone fax machine. A PC-fax board, also known simply as a fax board, is a hardware add-in device with a modem--and, sometimes, its own processor, memory and software--that fits into an expansion slot of a PC.

The board lets users send and receive documents directly from their PC to another PC or to a standalone fax machine. The resident modem converts ASCII document files on a PC to an image, or facsimile, format and transmits the converted data over telephone lines. If the receiving device is a standalone fax machine, no conversion is necessary when the document arrives, since the transmission already is in a fax format. If the receiver is a PC, the image format is stored on the PC's hard disk. Special software then converts the image format back to an ASCII format.

There are three categories of PC-fax boards. Low-end boards, priced at less than $700, are unintelligent devices that feature only an on-board modem. These boards take up a significant amount of a PC's CPU power and memory to send or receive a fax.

Intelligent fax boards, ranging in price from $700 to $1,000. contain a modem, a microprocessor, memory and software. These boards allow a fax transmission to be executed in a background mode while a user continues running another program. The added processing and memory needed for the fax transmission is provided by the board's own microprocessor and memory.

The third type of fax board, priced from $1,0O0 to $1,500, is an intelligent board that is integrated with third-party software that can serve multiple workstations on a local area network (LAN).

Most standalone and network-based fax speeds support the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee's Group 3 telefacsimile format and coding standard. Group 3 standards specify that conformant equipment transmit a standard letter-sized page in less than one minute over voice-grade telephone lines.

PC-fax boards are not a low-cost alternative to standalone fax machines. A PC-fax solution requires additional equipment. A scanning device is needed convert hard copies to electronic documents. Dot-matrix and laser printers are usually necessary for users to generate hard copies of documents they receive through PCs.

While the cost of standalone facsimile machines are approaching $1,000I, the total cost of a PC-fax solution with scanner and printer could be three times the cost of a standalone fax machine. Another drawback is that not all users are willing to install equipment and learn another set of commands to execute fax transmissions from their PCs. Everyone can operate a fax, but not everybody can install and load software. Users who can benefit from a PC-fax solution are the PC "power" users: those people who do a majority of their work from a PC and who are comfortable working with one.

"Hypering" with a PC

According to recently received hype PC users who have envied Apple users their HyperCard now can "pull even" with an outlay of less than $100. HyperPAD--a new product scheduled to be released after the closing date for this issue of LSN, is claimed to have many of the same capabilities for any IBM-PC, AT, XT or clone with DOS 2.1 or higher. A minimum of 384K of available memory is required. Microsoft Mouse or compatible is recommended.

[Contact: Brightbill-Roberts, 120 East Washington Street, #421, Syracuse, NY 13202; (315) 474-3400, fax 315-472-1732.]

Journal claiming via electronic mail

We have recently learned of an innovative solution to journal claiming when it is impractical to interface systems with a vendor--in this case a European vendor. The objective of the University of Florida Health Science Center Library's project was to create a mechanism for the transmission of claims and other data to a major foreign subscription agency. It was hoped that this would speed up the claiming process by a week to 10 days.

The subscription agency, Harrassowitz in Western Germany, was already using Dialcom E-mail (brokered through ALANET) for linking its U.S. office with its headquarters in Wiesbaden. At the request of some of its customers, in January 1988, Harrassowitz provided a template for ordering and claiming via ALANET's SERVICE subsystem. In November 1988, the University of Florida Health Science Center Library became a member of this network and developed the electronic mail claiming mechanism.

On a weekly basis, claiming information is edited into a "HARRASSOWITZ CLAIM" template using WordPerfect software on a PC with a hard disk and modem. For each claim, the title, local order number, and any notes are entered. The data is saved and transferred as an ASCII file to the SMARTCOM subdirectory of the hard disk. The edited template is not saved. By remaining unedited, the template is ready for the next claim document.

The claim document is then transmitted to Wiesbaden via ALANET's PCMAIL subsystem. The claiming document typically includes three to five claims consisting of between 30 and 50 lines of data (SO bytes per line) and is transmitted from the hard disk in a matter of seconds.

The result has been that the Library's claims are received and a response returned in less time than previously needed for a claim to reach the subscription agency via airmail. Multiple claims are sent in one data transfer; multiple responses are returned on one electronic mail message.

Other anticipated byproducts are the forwarding of new orders and approval plan responses through the weekly data transfer.

[Contact: Lenny Rhine, Chairman, Technical Services, University of Florida Health Science Center Library, Box J-206 Gainesville, FL 32610; (904) 392-4014.]

AT&T, Dialcom sign e-mail pact

AT&T and Dialcom Inc. said they have established the first commercial interconnection between two domestic electronic mail services, letting users of both exchange messages. AT&T Mail was already linked with Telecom Canada's Envoy 100. The X.400-based interconnection between AT&T and Dialcom was completed in March.

AT&T also has announced that it will be delivering electronic mail to Japan and France through its Nail Gateway 400 Service. The new links, based on the X.400 standard, will permit interconnection of AT&T Mail with France's Transpac Atlas 400 and Japan's Messavia. Users of AT&T's service can create messages offline using AT&T's Access Plus or Mail PNX private messaging system software without charge. Sending charges are 40 cents for a message under 400 characters and 80 cents for messages up to 7,500 characters. A surcharge is added for international messages: S cents for shorter messages and 10 cents for the longer messages to Canada. Other international locations are 20 cents for the shorter messages and 50 cents for the longer messages.

AT&T and Dialcom also have reached an agreement whereby users of FTS-Mail--the electronic mail service AT&T is providing to the federal government under the FTS- 2000 telecommunications contract--can access Dialcom's information services and proprietary databases for the government. Dialcom will provide access to Reuters, United Press International and McGraw-Hill news services. Government users also will be able to access Procurement, a service allowing government agencies to send bid solicitations electronically to a typesetter for publication in the Commerce Business Daily.

CD-ROM edition of Serials Directory worth the price

We recently had the opportunity to evaluate The Serials Directory, Ebsco's CD-ROM version of its popular print publication. Of course, our first criterion was completeness. We looked up 30 relatively obscure titles, including ten foreign, five newly introduced, and five ceased titles. We found all of them--not too surprising since the publisher claims that there are nearly 120,000 entries, including 7,000 ceased titles.

Every entry includes title, main entry, series statement, variant title, dates of publication and volume information, ISSN, language, frequency, price, address, telephone and fax numbers, indexing and abstracting information, classification numbers, index availability, circulation, and a general description among other things. The unique features which are particularly appealing are NLM classification numbers and availability r through subscription agencies. A single CD includes all of the text of the three volume, 4,000-page hardcopy edition of The Serials Directory. Among the commonly sought access points are title, subject, ISSN, variant forms of the title, main entry, and ISSN. There are a total of 23 search types and qualifiers. Boolean operators can be used. It is possible to use any words or phrases in searches and to browse the subject authority list. There is a comprehensive online "help" facility.

The Directory was published in early 1989 and comes with three quarterly updates for a total price of $495, as compared with $289 for the hardcopy edition. Libraries that already have the necessary equipment can recover the difference in cost in reduced look-up time.

The required equipment includes an IBM-XT or clone with 640KB of memory and a 10MB hard disk drive, a CD-ROM player, and MS-DOS CD-ROM extensions. The PC must support MS-DOS 3.2 or higher. The search software is included on the CD-ROM.

[Contact: Ebsco Publishing, P.O. Box 1943, Birmingham, AL 35201.]

---

Maintained by Marshall Breeding

Copyright 1994-2024