[149] in Information Retrieval
LC On-Line
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim McGovern)
Fri Mar 19 13:49:47 1993
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 13:49:28 EST
From: tjm@MIT.EDU (Tim McGovern)
To: elibdev@MIT.EDU
From the Public-Access Computer Systems News 4, no. 4 (1993)
delivered on the PACS-P list...
INTERNET ACCESS TO LC INFORMATION FILES
The Library of Congress has announced a major new initiative
to increase the availability of its resources to the public.
In a statement before the House Legislative Branch
Appropriations Subcommittee on January 25, 1993, during
hearings on the Library's fiscal year 1994 budget request,
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said that the Joint
Committee on the Library had approved online access to the
Library's automated information files through Internet beginning
in late April 1993.
These files, containing more than 28 million records in over 30
files, have been available to congressional offices, state
libraries, and cooperative cataloging libraries in the past. The
files to be offered by the Library include all LC MARC
(machine-readable cataloging) files; copyright files, 1978 to the
present; public policy citations, 1976 to the present; and
federal bill status files. Both the technical
processing/cataloging system (MUMS) and the reference/retrieval
system (SCORPIO) will be accessible for searches over the
Internet.
The Library has experimented with various forms of remote access
to its public files--initially in a pilot project called ROLLUP,
and most recently in its LC DIRECT fee-based service to state
library agencies. Online access to Library of Congress databases
is useful to a variety of libraries. The Internet will provide a
means by which access can be had at minimal cost to all. No fees
will be charged.
The Library of Congress is able to offer remote access to its
public databases via Internet as a free service, but must limit
its customer support to documentation download over the Internet.
The Library will begin by providing system availability to 60
simultaneous Internet users to ensure that service to Congress
and on-site users is not degraded. Usage will be monitored to
determine if this number can be expanded if needed, but service
to congressional users will continue to be the Library's primary
goal for its online systems.
Specific details regarding when and how one can connect to the
Library's public online files through Internet will be available
in April.
