[1527] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Current Cites 3, no. 10 (1992), Pt. II
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Mon Oct 19 23:06:38 1992
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1992 21:57:17 CDT
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Hinnebusch, Mark "A Primer on Z39.50: Part SevenS Academic and
Library Computing 9(8) (September 1992):13-15. Hinnebusch uses
his "Integrated Library Systems" column to present a primer on
the some of the guts of Z39.50's data transfer syntax Abstract
Syntax Notation (ASN.1) as defined in OSI 8824. This is not
for the faint of heart. - DR
Krol, Ed. The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog. Sebastopol,
CA: O'Reilley & Assoc., 1992. Krol brings us the next generation
of user guide for the Internet. This book is chock full of useful
information in a clear and concise format, although sometimes it
seems that depth of coverage has been sacrificed to breadth. But
breadth there is! Krol covers the background on what the Internet
is and how it works, including a chapter on what is allowed on the
net; descriptions and examples of remote login, ftp, e-mail, and
network news, finding software, finding someone, Gopher, WAIS, and
World Wide Web; problems one may encounter; an impressive topical
list of resources available; and getting a network connection.
This is clearly a handy volume both as an introduction to the net,
but also as a reference tool for resources and services that one
may not already be familiar with. The only real problem may be
that as the network develops and resources change, this guide may
become out of date before we'd like. - DR
Lukanuski, Mary. "Help is on the WAIS" American Libraries 23(9)
(October 1992):742-744. Lukanuski provides a quick introduction
to the Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) as a slick alternative
to what Steve Cisler of Apple calls "savage interfaces" of
database searching. Lukanuski does point out that although WAIS
is a nice interface, it is not without drawbacks, especially
considering its newness. As she says, easy multi-database
searching has a "WAIS to go." - DR
Molka, Judith A. "Surrounded by Standards, There is a Simpler
View" Journal of the American Society for Information Science
43(8) (1992):526-530. Molka takes us on a journey through the
myriad acronyms of the US and international (and other national)
information technology standards organizations. The author
explains the relationships that some of these organizations have
with each other (e.g., ISO and ANSI) and helps us to understand
the relationships between their standards (e.g., OSI and Z39.50).
The author also groups the standards into four functional areas:
Communications or Interconnection, Information and Resources
Sharing, Operating System Access, and the Human Computer
Interface. - DR
Noonan, Dana. "Special Collections on the Internet" Network-
News 7 (September 1992) [To subscribe, send the following
message to listserv@ndsuvm1 or listserv@vm1.nodak.edu:
"subscribe nnews firstname lastname" for example, subscribe
nnews David Robison]. Noonan offers a four page list of special
collections that are cataloged on Internet-accessible catalogs.
The author has verified many of the collections and provided
occasional descriptive notes. - DR
Phillips, Gary Lee. "Z39.50 and the Scholar's Workstation
Concept" Information Technology and Libraries 11(3) (September
1992):261-270. Have you been trying to figure out how the
glowing promise of Z39.50 interoperability will translate to the
desktop? Phillips provides some answers by explaining how users
with access to Z39.50 implementations will be able to take
dvantage of the wealth of resources that will hopefully be
available. In addition to detailing how scholars will be able to
easily collect and organize information from disparate sources on
their desktop computer, Phillips also provides charts that help
the reader understand the process. Also included is a
bibliography. - DR
Tillman, Hope. "Internet Restrictions: Why You Can't or Shouldn't
Access or Do Something" Internet World 3(7) (September 1992):11-
12. Tillman helps clear up some of the confusion that often
confronts new (and not so new) users of the Internet regarding
acceptable use of the networks that make up the Internet. - DR
Tomer, Christinger "Information Technology Standards for
Libraries" Journal of the American Society for Information
Science 43(8) (1992):566-570. Tomer provides us with a non-
technical description of IT standards, and Z39.50 in particular,
from the perspective of their importance to libraries. Tomer
covers the development of the standard as well as the
implementations that are currently in place (WAIS, Gopher, and
UC Berkeley's InfoCal server). Also discussed are some of the
limitations of the current Z39.50 standard and suggested
improvements. - DR
--. "Instructional Computing: Integrating Network-Based
Information Services into Instructional Settings" Academic and
Library Computing 9(8) (September 1992):16-22. In the first
installment of a planned series on instructional computing,
Tomer addresses the growing utility and importance of computer
mediated conferences (concentrating on BITNET). In addition to
the conferences themselves, Tomer also covers some of the
additional services, such as e-journals, available on the net.
- DR
Weiss, Martin and Carl Cargill. "Consortia in the Standards
Development Process" Journal of the American Society for
Information Science 43(8) (1992):559-565. In this article, the
authors provide us with some of the background of how
information technology standards consortia have developed and
where they seem to be heading. Weiss and Cargill also explain a
taxonomy of standards groups (implementation, application, and
proof-of-technology consortia) that helps us understand the
relationships between what we might consider to be competing
organizations, when in fact they are working in different areas
of standardization. - DR
Optical Disc Technologies
Au, Ka-Neng. "CD-ROM Interoperability" CD-ROM Librarian 7(8)
(September 1992):22-25. Au provides a summary of a two-day
symposium on CD-ROM standards presented by AFCEA International
(Armed Force Communications and Electronics Association). The
two major standards proposals discussed were CD-RDx which will
enable interoperability across platforms (MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2,
Unix, Macintosh) and across systems (stand-alone and networked)
and Structured Full-text Query Language (SFQL) based upon the
client-server model, which provides extensions to SQL for
access to full-text data. SFQL is both software and database
independent. Other standards outlined in the article are Silver-
Platter's Data Exchange Standard (DXS), Z39.50, the Rockridge
protocols, and proposals from the Frankfurt Group. - TR
Bowers, F. John and Neil R. Shapiro. "CD-ROM Standards:
Essentials for Progress" CD-ROM Librarian 7(8) (September 1992):
33-36. This article describes yet another CD-ROM standard being
jointly developed by the Air Transport Association (ATA) and the
Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), appropriately titled the
ATA/AIA standard. CD-ROM is currently being used by the airline
industry to replace the hundreds of thousands of pages of printed
maintenance data required for aircraft. The ATA/AIA standard
addresses three fundamental obstacles to CD-ROM compatibility:
hardware device dependence, file format dependence, and software
dependence. The standard supports client-server architecture and
SFQL (see above). - TR
Ciuffetti, Peter D. "CD-ROM Data Exchange Standard (DXS) Version
1.0 Overview" CD-ROM Librarian 7(8) (September 1992):26-32.
Ciuffetti provides an in-depth overview of SilverPlatter's
proposed DXS standard. The goal of DXS is to allow information
retrieval system designers to build systems that are user
interface independent. Ciuffetti includes an admirably coherent
explanation of client-server architecture. - TR
Cosden, Chris. "The Real World Advantages of Double Speed Drives"
CD-ROM Professional 5(5) (September 1992):66-67. Fourth
generation CD-ROM drive technology allows for variable increases
in the rotational velocity of the CD-ROM disc, up to twice the
current speeds. While past speed improvements have centered upon
the access times, these new machines improve upon the data
transfer rates. Cosden tests the new NEC double speed drive and
discovers the "biggest real-world improvement in a CD-ROM drive
since the first generation shipped in 1986." - TR
Herther, Nancy K. "The New Information Age for the Federal
Government: CP Interviews SIGCAT's Jerry McFaul" CD-ROM
Professional 5(5) (September 1992):17-21. USGS computer
scientist Jerry McFaul has played a major role in the CD-ROM
community since the very beginning, founding the Special Interest
Group for CD-ROM Applications and Technology (SIGCAT). In this
interview he discusses his background, the genesis and phenomenal
growth of SIGCAT, and the U.S. Government's enthusiasm toward CD-
ROM technology. He explains how CD-ROM has precipitated a
"revolution in the democratization of the Government's data." - TR
Koren, Judy. "Providing Access to CD-ROM Databases in a Campus
Setting Part II: Networking CD-ROMs via a LAN" CD-ROM
Professional 5(5) (September 1992):83-94. Koren concludes her
discussion of networking CD-ROMs with an explanation of the
rapidly evolving local-area network (LAN) environment. She
outlines popular LAN systems and CD-ROM towers used on the
majority of university campuses. Systems include industry giant
Novell, Network O/S, OS/2 LAN Manager, and LANtastic; LAN towers
include CD Net, CD-Connection by CBIS, Opti-Net, LANtastic,
MultiPlatter, Corel, and SCSI Express. Koren also discusses four
different configurations providing LAN access from the campus
network, Macintosh LANs, and network site licensing. - TR
Pemberton, Adam C. "Retail Distribution of CD-ROMs: The Sony
Affiliated Label Program (Or, If You Build It, Will They Come?)"
CD-ROM Professional 5(5) (September 1992):9-10. For the past
two years, CD-ROM industry watchers have been predicting mass
consumer market penetration of CD-ROM products. This prediction
may finally have a fighting chance of coming true, thanks to the
Sony Corporation. The Sony Affiliated Label Program is designed
facilitate the distribution of CD-ROM products to retail outlets.
Under the program, Pemberton explains, Sony will manufacture,
market, and distribute nearly 5,000 CD-ROM titles from leading US
publishers to software specialty stores, consumer electronic
stores, bookstores, record stores, and mass merchandisers. Sony
will coordinate and execute the packaging, manufacturing,
warehousing, drop shipments, retail support, co-op advertising,
invoicing, inventory adjustments and supplier payments for all
Affiliated titles. Pemberton concludes with the obvious
question: "will they sell?" - TR
General
Kelley, Kimberly Banks. "Managing Technology in Libraries"
Library Administration & Management 6(3) (summer 1992):141-145.
The changing role of libraries, forced by social needs and
economic pressures can be characterized by a shift in emphasis -
away from the role of the library as repository (collections)
and toward its role/place in the network of information
providers (access). In this article, Kelley identifies the
organizational evaluation and development which must occur in
order for libraries to effectively carve out a position in the
newly defined information marketplace. She maintains that the
development of a strategic technology policy is crucial. First,
such a policy requires a thorough review of the institution's
technology base and an examination of the valuable technologies
which may be brought into the organization. Second and of
equal importance, is the need for education and training in
areas of new technology. The role of management in these efforts
is key. While the number of managers is likely to become fewer to
make way for needed technology specialists, those remaining
will need a means for not only keeping abreast of technology,
but also cultivate the management skills necessary for managing
technology and the many choices which attend change. One
effective way to ensure that there is proper education and
development in new technology, according to Kelley, is to create
a department within the library which concerns itself with the
research and development in new technology. Such a department
would serve as both a technology "look out" and, combined with
apprenticeship, would serve as a source for "home grown"
technology experts. - LR
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Current Cites 3(10) (October 1992) ISSN: 1060-2356
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