[75] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Summary of responses
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (KKLUEGEL%UIUCVMD.BITNET@RICEVM1.RI)
Fri Apr 24 16:03:58 1992
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1992 14:54:15 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: KKLUEGEL%UIUCVMD.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
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This message is being cross-posed to LIBREF-L and PACS-L.
Apologies for the duplication.
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A SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO THE QUERY ON INTERNET USE (posted to
PACS-L and LIBREF-L 3/20/92)
I would first like to thank all of those who responded to my
request for information regarding how librarians have been using
the Internet for reference work. Almost half of the respondents
indicated that they're exploring similar questions, so the topic
appears to be a hot one!
A NOTE ON THE SURVEY:
Since this was an informal survey, I'm just posting the range
of replies and not the relative frequency of specific responses.
A total of 20 responses were received. Though the
institutional affiliation and position of the respondents were
not always evident, the responses came from academic libraries of
all sizes. The respondents ranged from reference librarians to
systems officers, with good representation from online services
co-ordinators and science/technology librarians...and a few
enterprising library school students!
SUMMARY OF RESPONSES
Direct use of Internet databases:
--remote OPACS (especially for holding of libraries in the
same region and for items not in one's own OPAC, such as
government publications)
--access to bibliographic databases such as RLIN, DIALOG,
CARL
--access to specialized databases to answer ready reference
questions (e.g., a geographic name server, electronic
directories, etc.)
--mediated searches for 'outsiders' who don't have access to
the network
Other uses of Internet for reference:
--use of e-mail to facilitate answering specific reference
questions (i.e, posting queries on specialized or library-
related bulletin boards such as LIBREF-L or STUMPERS)
Instruction:
--individual 'tutoring' done for faculty members
--campus-wide introductory workshops on the full range of
networking services (telneting, FTP, etc) offered in
conjunction with computing services offices
--Computer-assisted instruction modules
--demonstrations for faculty on library resources on the
network (e.g. CARL Uncover)
--documentation developed for assisting patrons in searching
other OPACs when public terminal access is provided for
telneting
--little specific mention was made of incorporating
networked information into BI sessions for undergrads
If anyone has further comments or questions, please get in touch
with me. If the response warrants, I will post yet another
summary! Again, thanks to all who responded.
Jo Kibbee
Head of Reference
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: jkibbee@uiucvmd
