[607] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Post-OPAC Era -Reply
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (BALLARD)
Fri Jun 26 11:34:15 1992
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1992 10:29:56 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: BALLARD <BALLARD.FRANKLIN@panther.adelphi.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I've been following this discussion for some time, and much as
I would like to stay on the sidelines, I cannot resist putting in
my 2 cents worth.
My own perspective on library technology is that we cannot
ignore the extent to which our services are driven by the demands
of patrons. We do not have all of those CD-ROMs in our libraries
because the technology experts thought CD-ROMs were a good idea.
(I remember reading articles from the mid-80's explaining in very
logical terms why CD-ROMs were inferior to online retrieval).
They are there because we put in a few terminals and the patrons
loved them and wanted more, so we bought more and here we are.
What people are expecting now is that the computer that they
look at to see what the library owns will tell them not only our
holdings but what is in all of those journals. By the year 2000,
I expect OPACs to do exactly that. The companies that maintain
the databases that we now access on CD-ROM could supply citations
and abstracts based on the journals owned in our individual
libraries, and, thanks to increased storage availability, we
could load these into our local systems. Today it is quite
common to have ERIC data available through the OPAC as a separate
option, but users need to go back and forth between those
databases and the library's own database. It seems like a modest
proposal to expect a marriage of this data.
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| | |
| Terry Ballard | ballard@panther.adelphi.edu |
| Systems Librarian | or ballard@auvax1.adelphi.edu |
| Adelphi University | Garden City, New York |
| 516-877-3547 | 11530 |
| Fax: 516-877-3592 | |
| | |
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
* "Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time - *
* I think I've forgotten this before." *
* *
* Stephen Wright *
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