Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship 003 (AUGUST 1992) URL = ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/stacks/sts/sts-003 ------------->> ---------- ---- -- ##### ####### ##### - # # # - # # # S - ##### # ##### T ELECTRONIC - # # # S COMMUNICATIONS -- # # # ---- ##### # ##### --------- ----------------------->> ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIANSHIP AUGUST 1992 NUMBER 3 __________________________________________________________________ ALA ACRL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTION __________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: FROM THE EDITOR: LINES 54-85 FROM THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR--GUEST COLUMN--CHANGING REQUIREMENTS FOR SCI-TECH LIBRARY BUILDINGS: LINES 86-235 BY JAY LUCKER, DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES: LINES 236-318 DTIC ANNUAL USERS TRAINING CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 2-5, 1992: LINES 239-264 RESEARCH LIBRARIES GROUP: LINES 265-318 AN EXPERIMENT IN ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO FULL-TEXT DOCUMENTS: INSTANT MATH PREPRINTS: LINES 319-459 BY KATHERINE BRANCH, HEAD, SCIENCE LIBRARIES, YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT THE STANFORD COMPUTER SCIENCE TECHNICAL REPORTS COLLECTION: LINES 460-675 BY RICHARD MANUCK, MATH & COMPUTER SCIENCE LIBRARY, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, STANFORD, CALIFORNIA ACCESSING EUROPEAN SCI-TECH ONLINE SERVICES: LINES 676-857 BY MARTIN KESSELMAN, HEAD, REFERENCE & INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE, PISCATAWAY, NEW JERSEY CROSSING THE INTERNET THRESHOLD, AUTHORED BY ROY TENNANT, JOHN OBER, AND ANNE G. LIPOW WITH A FOREWARD BY CLIFFORD A. LYNCH: A REVIEW: LINES 858-930 BY HARRY LLULL, DIRECTOR, CENTENNIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO ________________________________________________________________________ FROM THE EDITOR: I want to thank the contributors for an issue I hope our readers will find informative and interesting. I appreciate the feedback I have been receiving and encourage others to let me know how we can make the services of the STS Electronic Communications Program even more useful to you. Most importantly though, I would like to again encourage you to submit articles to us for publication. They may be submitted to these members of the editorial board based on the following broad topics: ACCESS SERVICES ISSUES: ALIGS@MTSUNIX1.BITNET--GREGG SAPP, MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY VIRTUAL LIBRARIANSHIP: JOHN_SAYLOR@QMRELAY.MAIL.CORNELL.EDU--JOHN SAYLOR, CORNELL UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOP REPORTS: LKACZOR@HAL.UNM.EDU--LYNN KACZOR, SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES OTHER TOPICS, PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU-- HARRY LLULL, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO With these days of tight budgets, we would especially like to receive reports from conferences and workshops that would be of either specific or general interest to science and technology librarians. Talking about conferences, will have to close and get ready to leave for LITA starting September 13, in Denver. Hope to see some of you there. Harry LLull University of New Mexico ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU ______________________________________________________________________________ {============} { } { } { } { } FROM THE { } -------------------------------------------- / D I R E C T O R ' S \ /----------------------------------------------\ || | { } | || || | { C H A I R } | || || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | || || | ( ) | || || | ( ) | || || | ( ) | || || %%%%%%%% || || @ @ || CHANGING REQUIREMENTS FOR SCI-TECH LIBRARY BUILDINGS BY: Jay Lucker, Director of Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts A recent spurt in building consulting involving a number of science and engi neering libraries has resulted in my thinking about some of the changes that have taken place in this arena over my career. The first major project in whic h I was involved was an engineering library at Princeton University for which planning began in 1959. The library was part of an entirely new School of Engi neering complex and would replace an outdated, overcrowded, and much-maligned facility in an old classroom building. The program for this library included spaces for library materials, for readers, and for library staff. As I recall, the library building committee had long and sometimes contentious discussions about the following: How should current periodicals be displayed? Should bound journals be shelved by call number or alphabetically? How should the reference collection be arranged and housed? Should there be special shelving for abstracts and indexes? The library was a depository for AEC reports in micro-format. (Remem ber the AEC, predecessor to the Department of Energy?) How should the micro cards and microfiche be stored? Where should we put the reading equipment? What kind of seating should be included? How many carrels, reading tables, lounge seats? Major issue: what should be the capacity of the building for collec tions and how long would that last and what do we do when the library is full? (Even 38 years ago we realized the need for some kind of remote storage!). We also spent lots of time talking about lighting, floor treatment, furniture and security. It was considered somewhat iconoclastic when we decide d to carpet the entire library: reading room, stacks, and staff areas. Hereto fore, asphalt or vinyl tile were the usual coverings. A most difficult issue was whether or not the faculty should have keys to the library! There were surely a lot of other matters that had to be decided but they were minor as compared to the foregoing. Now, almost 40 years later, I find that while, as in life in general, much has changed -- much has not. Almost without exception, all of the issues that we faced in the 1960's in designing libraries for science and technology are with us today, plus a whole lot of new ones. While there is general agreement that information stored in electronic formats will eventually replace a significant amount of what libraries currently acquire, no one is able to predict with certainty when enough of this will hap pen so that we are in a "zero-growth" mode. In addition, neither technology no r economics assures that any substantial portion of what libraries currently own will soon -- or ever -- be replaced by electronic surrogates. So, we continue to wrestle with the same old issue: how big, how much, for how long? The science and engineering libraries that are currently being planned all assume the continued requirement for on-site access to collections, services, and staff. Even as we expand remote access to bibliographic and other data bases as well as electronic reference librarians, document delivery, and the like, there is a common thread in all of the programs that envisions a future for the "library as place." The philosophical underpinnings include such ideas as the need for space for contemplation and discovery; the library as scientifi c common; the importance of face to face contact with librarians; the library as a social center; the need for space for collaboration and group study. Along with this continuum of concern for collection and reader space, a lot of the other issues cited above remain: reference collections, periodical display and storage, staff offices and work areas. In addition, however, there are a plethora of new problems and new challenges. -- The need for building flexibility so that staff areas, reader spaces, and collection spaces can be shifted, enlarged, or reduced in size as technology and economics require. -- The almost overwhelming demand for technological sophistication an d functionality that responds to current and anticipated needs as well as the unknown requirements of the 21st century. Lots of conduit; full power; full wiring! -- Provide convenient and easy access to collections with special attention to the needs of handicapped persons. -- Consider the physical environment as it affects readers, staff and collections. Critical areas include: air filtration and circulation; light, temperature and humidity effects on books and microforms; ergonomics of public and staff work spaces, furniture, and equipment. -- Provide an adequate number of well designed spaces for user instruction and orientation. -- Make the library as inviting, as self-guiding, and as convenient t o use as possible. -- Integrate library space planning with campus information technolo gies, and with local and remote networks. In many cases, we are expected to do all of this with smaller staffs, smaller budgets, exponentially increasing serial prices, and an ever growing corpus of scientific and technical information. Whew! I do, however, see a number of very positive and potentially useful trends and capacities that should make planning science and technology libraries just a little easier: -- There is growing acceptance by faculty and researchers of the use of remote storage for low use items when accompanied by good bibliographic con trol and document delivery. -- Modern materials and methods of construction make it easier to design flexible libraries. -- The emphasis on energy conservation meshes nicely with environmen tal requirements. -- Building monumentality has generally been replaced by functional ity. -- The range and variety of what is available in furniture, interior landscaping, and modular design offers a huge set of options for staff workroom s and offices as well as for public reading and study areas. -- Technologies supporting building protection and security are much more sophisticated and generally much more effective than ever before, espe cially sprinkler systems, alarm systems, and smoke and heat detection. -- There has been a general trend toward the consolidation of branch and departmental libraries into a single science and/or engineering library. Surely there are lots of holdouts but consolidation has been implemented effectively in a number of institutions. Motivating factors include the need t o reduce duplication and overlap; online bibliographic access within and without the library; the growth of interdisciplinary education and research; the need to recover library space for laboratories and classrooms in an environment wher e new building funding is difficult to find. In retrospect, it probably wasn't any easier to plan a science and technology library 35 years ago -- it only feels that way! ______________________________________________________________________________ ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES FROM DTIC DTIC '92 ANNUAL USERS TRAINING CONFERENCE: EXPANDING HORIZONS IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT--NOVEMBER 2-5, 1992, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) is presenting its annual users training conference November 2-5, 1992, at the Ramada Hotel, Old-Town, Alexandria, Virginia. The theme of the conference, Expanding Horizons in a Changing Environment, reflects DTIC's goal to assist our customer community in meeting tomorrow's challenges by providing you with the most relevant information in the most appropriate format possible. We are particularly pleased that this year we are able to offer a number of speakers from other federal agencies as well as from the Department of Defense. All of the presentations will address the most current issues affecting the research, development, and acquisition communities. Not only will these speakers acquaint you with the latest policy and operational developments, but they will also provide you with practical details on valuable and diverse information resources. The changing environment promises to present exciting new challenges--DTIC '92 promises to provide the tools to expand your horizons and meet these challenges! For further information, including a flyer detailing the preliminary agenda that has been planned, please contact Ms. Patti Miller (703) 274-3848. FROM RESEARCH LIBRARIES GROUP FREE 30-DAY TRIALS FOR RLG's CITADEL SERVICE Free 30-day trials of CitaDel's citation files are now available to interested institutions. The files include: ABI/INFORM, Periodical Abstracts, Newspaper Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, Ei Page One, PAIS '80+, History of Technology Bibliography, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Index to Hispanic Legislation (World Law Index, pt. 1), and Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. THE CITADEL SERVICE CitaDel is the new article-citation and document-delivery service from the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Through CitaDel, libraries, universities, and other institutions can make citation databases available to their users over a library or campuswide network without having to load and maintain large files locally. To subscribe to CitaDel files, institutions simply pay a fixed annual fee for the file (or files) of their choice, and their users receive unlimited searching free of charge. DOCUMENT DELIVERY Full-text copies of articles cited in ABI/INFORM, Periodical Abstracts, Newspaper Abstracts, and Ei Page One can be ordered online through CitaDel. Document-delivery options include first class mail, fax, and Ariel (RLG's document-transmission system for the Internet). FREE TRIAL SUBSCRIPTIONS Institutions may try one CitaDel file or several for 30 days without charge. There is no obligation to purchase a subscription after a 30-day trial. (Limit per institution: One free 30-day trial per file; however, several CitaDel files may be tried concurrently.) COMING SOON TO CITADEL * More files, including Hispanic American Periodical Index, Isis History of Science Bibliography, and the INION Bibliographies (from the Russian Institute of Scientific Information in the Social Sciences). * Pricing by the search (for institutions not desiring subscription pricing). * Document delivery for more files. For more information about CitaDel and free 30-day trials, please contact: The RLIN Information Center, 1200 Villa Street, Mountain View, CA 94041-1100 USA; e-mail: BL.RIC@RLG.BITNET or BL.RIC@RLG.STANFORD.EDU (Internet); phone:1-800-537-RLIN (US & Canada); FAX: 415-964-0943 __________________________________________________________________________ AN EXPERIMENT IN ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO FULL-TEXT DOCUMENTS: INSTANT MATH PREPRINTS BY: Katherine Branch, Head, Science Libraries, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University has developed a prototype electronic network for the distribution of mathematics preprints, partially funded via a grant from the Council on Library Resources. Abstracts of the preprints are stored in a database at Yale that is available via the Internet. Various mathematicians at Yale University, the University of Texas at Austin, Oklahoma State University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Paris have submitted abstracts to the database. The full text of the preprints exist in a series of files at participating universities which can be downloaded via anonymous ftp (file transfer protocol). This article will summarize how to access the database and how to submit abstracts to the database. Some preliminary thoughts about various technical and other barriers encountered during the project will be offered. Possible next steps will be discussed. The file of abstracts for preprints from all participating universities has been mounted on an IBM3083 at the Yale Computer Center, using the Documaster text management software. Once the abstracts are entered into the Documaster file, they can be searched by author, title, author's address, date, the status of the preprint (accepted for publication, preliminary draft, class notes, book draft, etc), words in the abstract, keywords supplied by the author, and the Math Reviews subject classification code. Mathematicians interested in obtaining the full text of the preprint download directly from the originating university. TO SEARCH THE IMP DATABASE To use IMP via Internet, you need a copy of a communications software package called TN3270. Usually the easiest way to obtain the package is to ask your local computer center or computer guru. TN 3270 is also available free of charge from various sources on the internet, via ftp. Once you have TN3270 installed, use it to telnet to yalevm.ycc.yale.edu. You can also dial up using standard long distance lines, if you have ASCII terminal emulation. Set your communications software for even parity, 7 data bits, and 1 stop bit and then dial 203-432-5800 for 1200 baud or 203-432-5804 for 2400 baud. PASSWORDS After the connection is made, you will be prompted: USERID: Math1 (or Math2, 3, 4, or 5) PASSWORD: Math1 (or Math2, 3, 4, or 5) OPERATOR ID: Math1 After this point, the screen menus will guide your search. Each abstract in the database has a computer address from which the electronic full text of the preprint can be obtained via ftp. INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPATION We are actively encouraging more institutions to submit abstracts to IMP. Each participating institution should designate a local coordinator who has an electronic mail account that can be used to send and receive electronic mail via BITNET or the Internet. This person is responsible for managing their institution's participation and needs to make sure that the following tasks are delegated or assigned: --Submitting abstracts of your university's preprints via electronic mail to Yale University. --Arranging for the storage of the full text of their institution's preprints on a computer that is accessible via the Internet through anonymous FTP. --Writing a README file, based on a sample that Yale will provide, so that mathematicians at other institutions can download electronic copies of your institution's preprints. --Obtaining a copy of tn3270 and distributing it appropriately to those individuals at your institution who wish to use IMP. --Distributing for signature and retaining signed copies of the IMP License Agreement for all original authors of abstracts. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED This project originally grew out of a series of conversations between the head of the science libraries at Yale and the chairman of the math department. Participants in the project came from the math department, the central campus computer center, the library systems office, and the science libraries. The project group also received advice from the general counsel's office of the University and the American Mathematical Society. Each participant had different reasons for being involved, varying goals and varying levels of commitment to the project. As the project evolved, three individuals took most of the responsibility for pushing the project along. One of these individuals was a visiting professor in the mathematics department who left after two years for another university. Though this individual remains involved in the project via electronic mail, it wasn't possible to find another faculty member in the Yale math department who was as knowledgeable, committed and energetic about the project as he was. This experience illustrated the importance of a "technological gatekeeper" (as defined by Thomas Allen in Managing the Flow of Technology) to the ultimate success of a project. We selected an IBM mainframe application for mounting the abstracts database, largely because the computer center was interested in developing text-based applications for the machine and made the database software available for the project. Though we learned much about the flexibility of the Documaster application, we also learned that the special communications software and the peculiar keyboard mappings required to use the IBM mainframe effectively presented significant hurdles. Acquiring the TN3270 communications program, even though it was available free of charge via ftp, was probably the major barrier for participants. We received many queries about how to obtain the program but I suspect many people were so confused about how to do things like unpack and install the program that they didn't ever get logged on to the system. In addition to technological barriers, I suspect that barriers of a more sociological and organizational nature also exist. Some mathematicians expressed worries about their intellectual property and asked serious questions about copyright protections. The recommended process for adding abstracts to the database involve appointing an IMP coordinator at each institution. Some institutions may have organizational structures that are too decentralized to implement that recommendation easily. NEXT STEPS The IMP project has been extremely valuable in learning more about how preprints fit into the literature of a particular discipline and how such documents can be distributed more efficiently. The topic of electronic preprint distribution has caught the attention of the Association of Research Libraries. ARL sponsored an informal meeting of librarians, scientists and other scholars in May 1992 to discuss how to facilitate electronic distribution of preprints. Depending on the direction of the ARL initiative, there may be exciting opportunities for the Yale Instant Math Preprints project to become part of an even broader network of preprints. FOR MORE INFORMATION A brochure (electronic or printed) describing IMP is available from Katherine Branch, Head, Science Libraries, Kline Library, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, katherine_branch@yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu. General suggestions/inquiries/services/policies/participation/instructions for obtaining TN3270: Katherine Branch, katherine_branch @yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu, 203-432-3447 (voice); Search System Bugs: David Bruce, bruce@yalevm (Abstract searching only); Problems: Victor Wickerhauser, victor@jezebel.wustl.edu _____________________________________________________________________________ THE STANFORD COMPUTER SCIENCE TECHNICAL REPORTS COLLECTION BY: Richard Manuck, Math & Computer Science Library, Stanford University, California, library@cs.stanford.edu The Math & Computer Science Library at Stanford University collects technical reports from approximately 100 computer science departments and re- search groups worldwide. The greatest concentration is in the US, but there is a substantial representation of institutions from Canada, England, and Scandi- navia with a smaller number from the rest of Europe and Japan. We receive approximately 4500 reports a year, and the collection now totals over 50,000 reports. The reports we get are determined by the interests of our faculty. Of course, we receive the report series of all the major computer science institu- tions and all the reports in those series. However, in the case of smaller US and foreign institutions, the specific interests of our immediate community may determine that we get the reports from one institution and not those from an- other or that we order all reports from one institution and only order selec- tively from another. We acquire all reports from about 60% of institutions and we order selectively from the rest. Reports are obtained through exchange arrangements with other institu- tions. These arrangements are of two kinds: automatic exchanges and abstracts- based exchanges. Under the automatic scheme, we send one copy of every new Stanford Computer Science Department report to the other institution - auto- matically as issued and free-of-charge, and they provide the same service to us. With an abstracts-based exchange, we send each other periodic announce- ments of new reports - with the option of ordering each other's reports free- of-charge. The advantage of an automatic exchange is the minimal effort re- quired to keep it going (you don't need to have a staff member or committee at each end to select and order reports) and the assurance that no matter what report someone needs, it will be there. The disadvantage is the terrific cost of sending out full sets of your reports - especially when institutions may only have an interest in some of them. Twenty-five years ago, all of our exchanges were automatic ones. But, as departments became organized and started producing periodic announcements (with abstracts) of their new reports, they went more and more to abstracts-based exchanges. Today, three quarters of our exchanges are abstracts-based. The automatic exchange is usually re- served for major institutions which, because of their large research community, may have a use for all of our reports. The technical reports in our collection are indexed in the Stanford Li- braries database system, SOCRATES. A typical record gives the author(s), title, issuing agency, report number, and date of a report. In addition, sub- ject keywords have been assigned to many of the reports to assist in retrieval: years ago, we assigned keywords to all reports, but, today we only input those supplied by the author. If a report is also a thesis, this is indicated and there are various other notes provided. Unfortunately, abstracts are not in- cluded in the records. Reports in the SOCRATES Technical Reports database are searchable by author, title, subject, issuing agency, and report number. Our technical reports collection began when the Computer Science Library was founded at Stanford in 1962. In the 60's, we received reports on a regular basis from a couple of dozen groups, including the Project MAC and the Lincoln Laboratory at MIT, the Center for the Study of Information Processing at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois. In those days, prior to the formation of many academic departments, a larger percentage of our reports came from government research laboratories (such as the Argonne National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and companies (such as Boeing, GE, and SDC) than do today. When Professor Donald Knuth came to Stanford in 1969, he saw to it that the reports collection was greatly expanded. He got our Computer Science Department to centralize its reports publication and distribution. He then wrote his colleagues at dozens of fledgling computer science departments and research laboratories, proposing reports exchange arrangements. Most of these groups responded and, when their reports were added to those we were already receiving, our reports collection became more or less comprehensive which it has remained to this day. Professor Knuth also got a graduate student to write a program to generate KWIC indexes of our reports collection. These KWIC in- dexes were produced from 1969 until 1984 when the present online database was brought up. For a long time, we were aware that the vast majority of the reports in our collection were not indexed anywhere other than at Stanford. For example, in the early 80's, we did a study which showed that only 20% of the reports in our collection were indexed in the primary source for technical report litera- ture, NTIS's "Government Reports Announcements & Index." A couple of years ago, we finally arranged with the American Mathematical Society to make our technical reports database available as a part of the MathSci database on DIALOG and European Space Agency. And this fall, the American Mathematical Society will publish a printed catalog (with an author index) of the 100+ major report series and (reasonably complete) smaller report series in our collection from 1960 to the present. It is fitting that such a catalog should be produced at this time because it is really the end of an era. With rising printing and mailing costs, the time when we could afford to exchange reports on such a large scale is past. The storage problem with so many reports is also becoming acute. Other insti- tutions besides ourselves are reaching these limits. Fortunately, disk storage has become cheap enough that an electronic alternative to paper collections is evolving. There are a number of institutions which are now making some or all of their reports available in electronic form - either on a server accessible through the Internet or, in some cases, by email request to their publications secretary (to appreciate the dizzying pace at which this is happening, take a look at the newsgroup "comp.doc.techreports"). Soon only bibliographical cita- tions (with abstracts) will need to be exchanged and reports will be retrieved as needed over the net. Although there are some thorny problems regarding copyright and printing formats to be overcome, I suspect that, within five years, collections of printed reports such as ours will be obsolete. INSTITUTIONS from which we currently receive technical reports (by exchange or otherwise): Aarhus University. Computer Science Department. AT&T Bell Laboratories. Computing Science. Boston University. Computer Science Department. Brown University. Computer Science Department. California Institute of Technology. Computer Science Department. Carnegie Mellon University. Department of Computer Science. Carnegie Mellon University. Information Technology Center. Carnegie Mellon University. Robotics Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Software Engineering Institute. Columbia University. Department of Computer Science. Cornell University. Department of Computer Science. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Cambridge Research Laboratory. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Paris Research Laboratory. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Systems Research Center. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Western Research Laboratory. DIMACS - Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science. ETH-Zentrum. Departement Informatik. General Motors. Research Laboratories. Computer Science Department. Gesellschaft fur Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung mbH (GMD). Harvard University. Center for Research in Computing Technology. Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Department of Computer Science. Hewlett Packard Company. HP Laboratories. Imperial College (London). Department of Computing. Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE). Institute for New Generation Computer Technology (ICOT). International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Research Division. International Computer Science Institute (ICSI). Iowa State University. Department of Computer Science. Linkoping University. Department of Computer and Information Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Computer Science. Mathematisch Centrum. Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (CWI). New York University. Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Computer Science Department. New York University. Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Ultracomputer Research Laboratory. Oxford University. Computing Laboratory. Programming Research Group. Polish Academy of Sciences. Institute of Computer Science. Princeton University. Computer Science Department. Purdue University. Department of Computer Sciences. Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS). Rice University. Department of Computer Science. Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm). Department of Numerical Analysis & Computing Science. Rutgers University. Department of Computer Science. SRI International. Artificial Intelligence Center. SRI International. Computer Science Laboratory. Simon Fraser University. Centre for System Science. Simon Fraser University. Department of Computing Science. Stanford University. Center for Large Scale Scientific Computation (CLaSSiC). Stanford University. Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI). Stanford University. Department of Computer Science. Stanford University. Department of Computer Science. Knowledge Systems Laboratory. Stanford University. Department of Computer Science. Logic Group. Stanford University. Department of Computer Science. Numerical Analysis Group. Stanford University. Computer Systems Laboratory. State University of New York at Stony Brook. Department of Computer Science. TECHNION - Israel Institute of Technology. Department of Computer Science. Technische Universitat Munchen. Institut fur Informatik. Turing Institute. U.K. National Physical Laboratory. Division of Information Technology & Computing. Universitat Hamburg. Fachbereich Informatik. Universite de Montreal. Departement d'Informatique et de Recherche Operation- nelle. University of Arizona. Department of Computer Science. University of British Columbia. Department of Computer Science. University of California, Berkeley. Computer Science Division. University of California, Berkeley. Project POSTGRES. University of California, Los Angeles. Computer Science Department. University of Cambridge. Computer Laboratory. University of Edinburgh. Department of Artificial Intelligence. University of Edinburgh. Department of Computer Science. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Center for Supercomputing Research and Development. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Coordinated Science Laboratory. Center for Reliable and High Performance Computing. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Department of Computer Science. University of Iowa. Department of Computer Science. University of Maryland. Computer Science Center. University of Massachusetts. Department of Computer and Information Science. University of Michigan. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Computer Science and Engineering Division. University of Minnesota. Computer Science Department. University of Minnesota. Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Computing Laboratory. University of Oregon. Department of Computer and Information Science. University of Oslo. Institute of Informatics. University of Pennsylvania. Department of Computer and Information Science. University of Rochester. Department of Computer Science. University of Southern California. Information Sciences Institute. University of Texas, Austin. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. University of Texas, Austin. Department of Computer Sciences. University of Tokyo. Department of Information Science. University of Toronto. Computer Systems Research Institute. University of Toronto. Department of Computer Science. University of Uppsala. Department of Scientific Computing. University of Warwick. Department of Comnputer Science. University of Washington. Department of Computer Science & Engineering. University of Waterloo. Department of Computer Science. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Computer Sciences Department. Weizmann Institute of Science. Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. Xerox Corporation. Palo Alto Research Center. Computer Science Laboratory. Yale University. Department of Computer Science. _____________________________________________________________________________ ACCESSING EUROPEAN SCI-TECH ONLINE SERVICES BY: Martin Kesselman, Head, Reference & Instructional Services, Rutgers University Library of Science and Medicine, Piscataway, New Jersey kesselman@zodiac.rutgers.edu Please note: this is the revised text of a presentation made for the Science and Technology Section Research Forum at the American Library Association Conference in San Francisco, June 1992. Last year as a Visiting Librarian at Brunel University in England, I had the opportunity to explore various European online services. European databases that are not available on the major U.S. online systems are virtually unknown by the U.S. academic community. Many of these services are operated as non-profit organizations, which may have a lower profile and still do not have active marketing representation in this country. Finding out about and learning new systems and databases takes time. U.S. academic and research libraries spend a great deal of time collecting the major monographic and journal literature throughout the world in the sciences. I believe they should seek out worldwide electronic information sources as well. Why access European online services? These services may be very important to the U.S. academic community, as non-profit organizations frequently will mount specialized databases that cater to a limited audience whether or not they provide a great return on investment. Many of these services specialize in particular subject areas, i.e. Fiz Technik in engineering, DIMDI in biomedicine,and ESA/IRS in aerospace sciences and transportation. Due to their non-profit status, many of these services offer special pricing and discounts. As the emphasis is on providing access to information rather than profit, several services have developed extensive search retrieval capabilities. Learning a new system need not be difficult as many European services offer menu search options or are similar to U.S. systems as they started out utilizing the same search software. Most important now to U.S. academic librarians is that many European hosts are available via the Internet or via gateways from the Internet. To access many of these services, the first step is access to JANET, the U.K. Joint Academic Network. JANET was established in 1984 and is now managed by the Joint Network Team based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford and funded by the Information Systems Committee of the U.K. Universities Funding Council. JANET could be thought of as the U.K. equivalent of Bitnet, and as such, supports electronic mail, library OPACs, conferences, bulletin boards, and gateways to other networks and services. As JANET is an x.25 packet switched network and the Internet uses the TCP/IP protocols, there is a gateway between the two known as "fat pipe," which unfortunately is often slow at times due to the ever increasing traffic between the two networks. Access to JANET from the Internet is quite easy, just telnet to: 128.86.8.7 (sun.nsf.ac.uk) and then login as janet in lower case. When asked for the hostname, type in the NRS (name registration scheme) name beginning with uk.ac. For example, to access the opac at Brunel University, the hostname would be uk.ac.brunel.library. To access the JANET news service, type uk.ac.janet.news. Many of the Internet and JANET directories of opacs, databases, mail groups, etc. are available on BUBL, the Bulletin Board for Librarians. BUBL is available on JANET from Glasgow University (hostname: uk.ac.glasgow.bubl). BUBL also includes a glossary, a current contents service of most library and information science journals, information on various library projects, archives of several electronic newsletters and journals, and news from the British Library. The NISS (National Information on Software and Services) gateway on JANET (hostname: uk.ac.niss) provides access to several U.K. and European online services. NISS also includes an information bulletin board and an online catalog of software and datasets held by U.K. academic institutions. The bulletin board has various subject discipline sections, e.g. physics, mathematics, etc. and for each provides information on subject-specific bulletin boards, electronic newsletters, databases, information file servers, upcoming meetings, research and development projects and CTI (computer teaching initiatives). The gateway provides access to various UK information services such as BUBL, British Telecom's Electronic Yellow Pages, and the National Public Domain Software Archive at Lancaster University. Specific information on five major non-profit European online services strong in science and technology databases is provided below: BLAISE, the British Library National Bibliographic Service includes the British National Bibliography database, Whitakers British Books In Print, Conference Proceedings database (conferences received by the library's document supply center since 1964), HMSO Publications database, catalog of the Science Reference Information Service, and SIGLE (System for Grey Literature in Europe). Access to BLAISE is via the Internet/JANET gateway using the hostname: uk.bl.xblaise. Overseas subscription costs 83 pounds which includes user manual and subscription to Blaise-Line newsletter, online costs are 10 pounds per hour and 45 pence per record online or 9 pence per record offline plus 35 pence per page. Contact: British Library National Bibliographic Service, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, England or email to B.Kefford@GEC-B.RL.AC.UK. DIMDI includes several unique German files in the health sciences, psychology, and social medicine, several of which include English language materials and English summaries and indexing. DIMDI also includes the unique Sovmed Books and Journals databases dealing with medicine in Russia and Eastern Europe in Russian and English. DIMDI provides several special search features such as statistical evaluation of search fields from a preliminary search and expert system menu front-ends designed for specific databases. DIMDI can be accessed via the NISS gateway and an online discount is provided for academic institutions. Contact: DIMDI, Postfach 42 05 80, Weibhausstrabe 27, D5000 Koln 41, Germany; Tel: +49/22147241. ECHO (European Community Host Organization) includes IM (Information Marketplace) Guide, a very comprehensive directory database of databases, CD-ROM services, online hosts, producers, and brokers; EURODICAUTOM, a multilingual online terminology databank of scientific and technical terms, THESAURI, an analytical inventory of thesauri in various subjects, and files of current European R&D activities in various science areas (e.g. biotechnology, transportation). ECHO can be accessed via NISS gateway. Access is free using ECHO as the password. Search options include menus or the Common Command Language. Contact: ECHO, B.P. 2373, L-1023 Luxembourg; Tel: +352/488041. ESA/IRS (European Space Agency Information Retrieval Service) is strong in aerospace and engineering and also includes major sci-tech databases -- BIOSIS, CHEMABS, etc. As of April 1992, ESA can be accessed directly via the Internet (telnet 192.106.252.1) as part of the European Space Information System. ESA's search software is similar to Dialog and thus easy to learn. ESA's zoom command provides frequency analysis postings of all common search terms from a preliminary search. Unlike most online services, ESA's Pricing is based on the information obtained and not on connect time. Of major interest to academic libraries, ESA offers a free classroom instruction program, discount for academic institutions and non-prime time searching, and new users receive 150 accounting units of free time their first month (for 1991 this was the equivalent of 107 pounds). Contact: IRS-Dialtech, British Library SRIS, 25 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1AW, England; Tel: +071/323-7951. FIZ TECHNIK has unique files in engineering (automotive, ceramics, explosives, friction, safety, textiles), geosciences, and standards and specifications. Although German, several databases include English language items, abstracts, and indexing. The search software for Fiz Technik is similar to BRS and is the same as Data Star as Fiz Technik is mounted on the DataStar computer. Fiz Technik is available via a gateway from DataStar, a European service available in the U.S. Contact: Fiz Technik, Ostbahnhofstrasse 13, D-6000, Frankfurt/M.1, Germany; Tel: +4969/4308225 Of course there are drawbacks to accessing these services. Although, there are similarities with U.S. services, there are sufficient differences which means to some extent having to learn a new system. Language differences such as British spellings must be taken into account. Also, consider the speed of delivery of offline printouts from Europe and the lack of a toll-free help desk in the U.S. Well, I hope I've whetted your appetite and have provided a few stepping stones for you to explore some European online services on your own. For those of you interested in searching these systems, I recommend the sources listed below for more information. JANET OPACS: Online Public Access Catalogues in the U.K., compiled by Peter Stone. Cost: 2 pounds. From: University of Sussex Library, Brighton, BN1 9QL, England. JUGL Newsletter. Cost: 10 pounds/year. From: JANET Users Group for Libraries c/o Janice Yeadon, Lyon Playfair Library, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, England. Online Searching in Science and Technology. London: British Library Science Reference and Information Service, 1991. ISBN 0712307605. Cost: 25 pounds. UK Online User Group Newsletter. Included in membership to UKOLUG. Cost: 12 pounds/year. From: UKOLUG Membership Department, Institute of Information Scientists, 44-45 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LY, England. UKOLUG Quick Guide to Online Commands, 3d ed., compiled by Sheilah Webber and Chris Baile. London: UKOLUG, 1991. ISBN 1870254058. Cost: 20 pounds. Includes comparison charts for commands from 19 different hosts. From: Christine Baker, The Old Chapel, Walden, West Burton, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, DL8 4LE. XIII Magaxine. Free bimonthly magazine from the Commission of the European Communities Directorate General for Telecommunications, Information Industries, and Innovation. From: C.E.C. DGXIII, XIII Magazine, Room 1/3, Avenue Beaulieu 24, B-1049, Bruxelles, Belgium. __________________________________________________________________________ CROSSING THE INTERNET THRESHOLD, AUTHORED BY ROY TENNANT, JOHN OBER, AND ANNE G. LIPOW WITH A FOREWARD BY CLIFFORD A. LYNCH: A REVIEW BY: Harry LLull, Director, Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico HLLULL@HAL.UNM.EDU The strength of this publication is based as much on the educational, instructional, and consulting backgrounds of the authors as it is their excellent overall knowledge of the internet. Roy Tennant is the Coordinator of Library Instruction at the University of California at Berkeley as well as the Public Service Automated Systems Coordinator. John Ober is a professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Berkeley who designed and instituted a graduate level course in Networks and Networked Information. Anne G. Lipow was formerly Director of Instructional Services at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently a training and management consultant to libraries. She is director of the Library Solutions Institute, located in Berkeley, California. The subtitle of their publication is "An Instructional Handbook." It is that and much more: it is also a history and current status of networking and the internet, a directory, a bibliography, a philosophical presentation on how the internet has and is changing our communication patterns, and includes some common sense advice on how to communicate electronically and make the best use of the network. My initial experience with networking was in the early 80's on the ARPANET. The next thing I remember using was BITNET and then somewhere along the line things evolved into the CSNET, NSFNET, many regional networks, the internet and eventually it will all become the NREN. Although I use the internet daily in my work, I learned the things that I needed to learn and I did not always know how things fit together. "Crossing the Internet Threshold" will not only be of interest to the beginner but also to those of us who need to fill in some "gaps" in our understanding of the internet. I found reading it straight through to be very worthwhile. I will also find it extremely helpful in preparing training sessions for faculty, staff and student workshops. I feel it will find its way into many people's hands as a basic manual to have close by at all times. The handbook covers such topics as electronic mail, remote login and telnet, file transfer protocol, and a section of fact sheets covering Archie, Freenets, Gopher, HYTELNET, Project Gutenberg, Usenet News, and Wide Area Information Servers, just to name a few. There is a section on trainer's aids which is supplemented in other chapters by exercises for beginners and additional exercises for all levels of users. As you would expect from a group of librarians as authors, the table of contents, index, glossary, and bibliographies make the handbook even more useful and valuable. The bibliography at the end of the e-mail section even included the electronic mail etiquette publication by Shapiro and Anderson of RAND Corporation in 1985 and available through ERIC. However, in the long term, most active users of the internet will find the directory type of information included to be the most helpful. The publication is 133 pages. THE PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE VALID UNTIL NOVEMBER 1, 1992, is $40. After the first of November it will be $45. Some may think the price is a little high for a "manual", but I think you will find it worth your money. Because it is presented as a training manual, there are significant discounts for ordering multiple copies. After November 1, six or more copies will get a 30% discount. Before that time, six to ten copies will receive a 20% discount and over ten copies will receive a 30% discount. Shipping and handling rates vary from book rate to overnight delivery. The publisher, Library Solutions Institute And Press, has its sales office at 1100 Industrial Road, Suite 9, San Carlos, California, 94070: Phone 510-841-2933 or Fax 510-841-2926. Prepayment is required for prepublication/pre-Nov. 1, 1992 orders. The publication should be available by late September. ***************************************************************** Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship is a publication of the Science and Technology Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. The Editor: Harry LLull. Editorial Board: Lynn Kaczor, Gregg Sapp, and John Saylor. This publication is produced at the Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and sent out in electronic form only over the internet. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Section or Division. Articles and requests for subscriptions may be sent to the editor at ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU. ***************************************************************** END OF FILE *****************************************************************