+ Page 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 4, Number 9 (1993) ISSN 1050-6004 Editors: Dana Rooks (LIBL@UHUPVM1) and Linda Thompson (LIB1J@UHUPVM1). Issued on an irregular basis by University Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2091. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Library Literature Database is Now on FirstSearch and EPIC, 1 Online Journal for Electrical Engineers Scheduled for October, 2 RLG and ARL Announce Enhanced Service to Conspectus Users, 4 Sprint Expands Internet Connections to 12 Countries, 5 GRC Helps the Visually Impaired, 6 CARL Systems Z39.50 Interface in Test, 7 LIBRARY LITERATURE DATABASE IS NOW ON FIRSTSEARCH AND EPIC Librarians, information specialists, library science students, and educators can now monitor the latest trends and developments in the library field through H.W. Wilson's Library Literature database on OCLC's FirstSearch Catalog and the EPIC service. Library Literature, created by librarians for librarians, contains practical information published in virtually every area of the library field to help library staffs face the challenges of the future. Library Literature indexes more than 200 periodicals and more than 600 monographs each year, providing information crucial to the operation of university, public, special, and school libraries. The database is updated monthly. The indexed publications include selected state library journals, books, conference proceedings, American and foreign periodicals, library school theses, films, filmstrips, pamphlets, microcards, and microfilms. As in numerous other FirstSearch and EPIC databases, Library Literature citations include three-character OCLC symbols for the libraries that own the publications cited in each entry. + Page 2 + FirstSearch usage options include per-search purchase in blocks of searches and flat-rate annual subscription. The annual subscription includes a base package that is priced per simultaneous log-on; additional databases can be added to the base package. The FirstSearch subscription price for Library Literature is $1,800 for 1-10 simultaneous log-ons and $3,600 for 11-20 simultaneous log-ons. The cost for Library Literature on EPIC is $20 per hour, $10 per hour for the practice database. Online and offline formats are priced from 5 cents to 75 cents per record. (All prices are in U.S. dollars.) Library Literature is available via EPIC to participants of the OCLC Library School Program, which provides ALA-accredited library schools and their counterparts in Europe with free or reduced-price access to most OCLC products and services. The FirstSearch menu name for Library Literature is LibraryLit. On the EPIC service, Library Literature is database 5 (practice file 905). The FirstSearch Catalog is designed for library patrons, with an end-user interface that allows patrons to move easily through the online search process in just a few simple steps, without training or online searching experience. EPIC, a full-featured online reference system that provides subject access and keyword and Boolean searching to a variety of databases, is used mostly by librarians and experienced searchers. For additional information, contact Tam Dalrymple, 614-761-5054, or Nita Dean, 614-761-5002. ONLINE JOURNAL FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER Electronics Letters, the prestigious biweekly journal of international electronics research, will also be available as an online journal beginning in October 1993. Electronics Letters Online will be published by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and distributed to subscribers by OCLC Online Computer Library Center via the Internet and dial-up telecommunications networks. + Page 3 + The new electronic journal will carry the same 1,400 to 1,500 articles per year as the print version but will display them through the GUIDON interface, a Windows-based graphical user interface developed by OCLC. GUIDON supports full-text searching by subject, title, author, keyword, date, and a full range of Boolean and proximity operators. It displays full text, figures, tables, and equations in quality that rivals the printed page. GUIDON operates in the Microsoft Windows environment on an 80286 or higher PC. Electronics Letters Online will also be available with a command-driven ASCII user interface that runs on a terminal or PC with software emulating a VT100 terminal. Through links to IEE's INSPEC database, subscribers to Electronics Letters Online will also have access to abstracts of references cited in the articles. The INSPEC database is the world's largest and most comprehensive source of reference literature in the fields of physics, electrical and control engineering, electronics, and computing. Subscription pricing and ordering information for Electronics Letters Online will be announced soon. Professor Peter Clarricoats, FEng, FRS, is honorary editor of Electronics Letters. Gill Wheeler is managing editor of both Electronics Letters and Electronics Letters Online. Electronics Letters Online will be the second electronic journal distributed by OCLC. Last July, the Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was launched. The Online Journal of Knowledge Synthesis for Nursing, published by Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing, is scheduled to begin distribution in November 1993. The Institution of Electrical Engineers is the largest professional engineering society in Europe and has worldwide membership of over 130,000. It covers every aspect of electrical and manufacturing engineering from power generation to software engineering, medical electronics, and satellite communications. The IEE is best known to the information industry as the publisher of the INSPEC database. For additional information, contact Andrea Keyhani, OCLC, 614- 764-6474; Michele Day, IEE, 908-562-5556; or Nita Dean, OCLC 614- 761-5002. + Page 4 + RLG AND ARL ANNOUNCE ENHANCED SERVICE TO CONSPECTUS USERS The Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are pleased to announce a new level of support for institutions interested in using the Conspectus originated by RLG and adopted by ARL. The RLG Conspectus is an approach to inventorying research libraries' collection strengths and current collecting patterns that has produced a national database of comparative results. It is based on the Library of Congress classification system and arranged hierarchically by subject divisions (major disciplines), categories (major subfields), and subject descriptors (detailed topics). Librarians complete the Conspectus by assigning values ranging from 0 to 5 to indicate collection strength and alphabetic codes to indicate language coverage or (for music) principal recording origins. WLN, the library network and services provider based in the Pacific Northwest, has developed to RLG's specifications, with funding from RLG and ARL, a PC-based Conspectus system that gives users the ability to input and update their assessment data locally--yet maintain their cooperative effort to build a central database of collection assessment data. RLG members and other participants in ARL's North American Collections Inventory Project that subscribe to the WLN/RLG Conspectus Software will be able to load data from the RLG Conspectus Online into their local assessment files, as well as to produce assessment data for uploading into the national database, where it is accessible to all RLIN users. For more information about the software, please contact Sally Loken at 800-342-5956, or WLN, P.O Box 3888, Lacey, WA 98503-0888; or send electronic mail to Internet address loken@wln.com. RLG will maintain responsibility for the Conspectus "union database" on RLIN (the Research Libraries Information Network), adding data from institutions who choose regularly to send in diskettes generated from their local WLN/RLG Conspectus Software. RLG will also be the source for all products derived from the national database (such as printed reports of online data, blank Conspectus worksheets, supplemental guidelines for preparing individual data on these worksheets, and information on which to base verification studies that confirm reported collection levels). + Page 5 + ARL began using the Conspectus in mid-1983 for its North American Collections Inventory Project (NCIP), a cooperative effort intended eventually to involve research libraries throughout the U.S. and Canada. ARL will now assume responsibility for the maintenance and development of Conspectus divisions, guidelines, verification studies, and any other assessment tools to be used in conjunction with the national database. Among these, RLG and ARL are pleased to announce the release of the revised History Division of the Conspectus. This revision contains contributions by many RLG/ARL subject specialists, as well as additions by the LIBER Conspectus Committee, the primary European body promoting the Conspectus as a tool for cooperative collection development. In coming months RLG will release the updated divisions for Physical Geography and Earth Sciences and for Technology, prepared under its supervision. ARL will assume this role in preparing a revised Economics and Sociology Division and developing comprehensive supplemental guidelines for its use. For additional information, contact Jennifer Hartzell (RLG), bl.jlh@rlg.stanford.edu, or Jutta Reed-Scott (ARL), 202-296-2296. SPRINT EXPANDS INTERNET CONNECTIONS TO 12 COUNTRIES In conjunction with a live demonstration of new Internet video conference capabilities, Sprint announced the expansion of its SprintLink Internet service through connections between the National Science Foundation's U.S. computer communications network (NSFNet)--and scientific research networks in Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the U.K. Over the last two years, Sprint has expanded access to the Internet and today offers extensive Internet interconnection service throughout the world. In 1991, Sprint was the first carrier to provide a managed network linking the NSFNet with other Internet networks, providing connectivity with all major federal networks including the NASA Science Internet and the Energy Sciences Network (ESNet). Last year, Sprint became the first carrier to extend the TCP/IP service to commercial customers under the name SprintLink. The company is also a member of the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) which provides an interconnection point for most commercial U.S. and several foreign Internet service providers. Sprint plans to announce additional Internet connections with networks in Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as additional connectivity in Japan and the U.K., throughout this year. + Page 6 + Students in the U.S. and U.K. participating in the NSF "Global Schoolhouse" project recently used Sprint's growing Internet infrastructure to exchange environmental information in an event recognizing National Science and Technology Week (April 26 - May 1). A demonstration of Internet video conference capabilities, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, enabled fifth through eighth grade students in Virginia, California, Tennessee and the United Kingdom to discuss the results of a six-week course on the environment which included reading Vice President Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance." Students shared the results of a study of ground water pollution with one other--and with national leaders in Washington, D.C.--using the Internet and personal computers specially equipped with video conference capabilities. For additional information, contact Janis Langley, 202-828-7427 or 703-533-3322; or Evette Fulton, 202-828-7411 or 301-230-0978. GRC HELPS THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED LaserGuide CD-ROM patron access catalogs now assist the visually impaired by means of a screen magnification system, V View from Telesensory. V View on LaserGuide catalogs provides magnification that can be continually adjusted, up to 16 times, by users. A visually impaired user can choose to magnify the full screen, a single line, or a combination of both. Additionally, the reverse video feature can be used to change display colors to provide the contrasts needed to improve visual acuity. The magnification and reverse video features also apply to graphics. This allows the floor plans in LaserGuide catalogs to be enlarged and enhanced. The maps of the library's floor plans point with a flashing arrow to where the user's selected materials are located. Both visually impaired and physically challenged patrons can then find direct routes to their materials. Using LaserGuide's shelf browse feature, any patron can "look" at titles on a shelf without leaving the catalog. Physically challenged and visually impaired patrons have easy access without actually wandering through the stacks. For additional information, contact Darcy Cook, GRC Library Systems, 5383 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara CA 93111; 800-933- 5383 or 805-964-7724; fax: 805-967-7094. + Page 7 + CARL SYSTEMS Z39.50 INTERFACE IN TEST CARL Systems announces the availability for testing purposes of a Z39.50 server providing access to several public access databases. Z39.50 is the emerging ANSI standard for interoperability of information systems, and will allow other online systems which support Z39.50 to interact with CARL Systems using their native commands and displays. The test server is available at Internet address: Z3950.carl.org (192.54.81.12). Z3950.carl.org accesses the bibliographic catalogs of the following institutions: Library Database Code Denver Public Library DPL Colorado School of Mines MIN Auraria Higher Education Center AUR University of Colorado at Boulder CUB University of Northern Colorado UNC University of Denver Law Library LAW University of Wyoming WYO For additional information, contact Melissa Stockton, CARL Systems, 3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 300, Denver CO 80210; 303- 758-3030. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News is an electronic newsletter that is distributed on BITNET, Internet, and other computer networks. There is no subscription fee. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 (BITNET) or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU (Internet) that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-P First Name Last Name. PACS-P subscribers also receive two other electronic serials: Current Cites and The Public-Access Computer Systems Review. Public-Access Computer Systems News is Copyright (C) 1993 by the University Libraries, University of Houston. All Rights Reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by academic computer centers, computer conferences, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission. ----------------------------------------------------------------- .