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ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES
1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC. 20026
(202) 232-2466 FAX (202) 462-7849
Statement of the Association of Research Libraries
to the
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
for the Hearing Record of March 5, 1991
on S. 272 - The High-Performance Computing Act of 1991
The Association of Research Libraries is a non-profit Association of
119 research libraries in North America. The membership of ARL is
actively involved in the provision of information resources -
including those that are unique, to the research and education
communities of North America. Research libraries also are key
participants in numerous experiments and pilot programs that
demonstrate the utility of high capacity networks for the exchange
and use of information. ARL supports the passage of legislation that
will promote the development and use of expanded networking
capacities and capabilities to advance education and research.
The need for a high-speed computer communications network is
a reflection of a number of changes underway in the academic and
library communities. Three of these changes include the need to
connect researchers with facilities such as supercomputers,
databases, and library resources; the changing manner in which
scholars and researchers communicate; and finally, the ability of
these researchers to manipulate and combine large data sets or files
in new ways only possible through connecting users with high-speed,
high-capacity networks.
The NREN, the vision of the next generation network designed to
support -the work of the education and research communities -
must reflect the changes noted above as well as those efforts already
underway that address the new uses of information, while at the
same time, address the national goals of improving our Nation's
productivity and international competitive position. To realize these
goals and to build upon existing efforts, ARL with others in the
education community support the inclusion of the following points in
NREN legislation. These points build upon existing successful federal,
state, and local programs that facilitate access to information
resources.
NREN authorizing legislation should provide for:
- Recognition of education in its broadest sense as a reason for
development of the NREN;
- Eligibility of all types of libraries to link to the NREN as
resource providers and as access points for users;
- A voice for involved constituencies, including libraries, in
development of network policy and technical standards.
NREN legislation should authorize support for:
- High capacity network connections with all 50 states;
- A percentage of network development funds should be
allocated for education and training;
- Direct connections to the NREN for at least 200 key libraries
and library organizations and dial-up access for multi-type libraries
within each state to those key libraries. Prime candidates for direct
connections include:
*The three national libraries (Library of Congress, National
Agricultural Library, National Library of Medicine) and other federal
agency libraries and
information centers;
*51 regional depository libraries (generally one per state)
which have a responsibility to provide free public access to all
publications (including in electronic formats) of U.S. government
agencies;
*51 state library agencies (or their designated resource
libraries or library networks) which have responsibility for
statewide library development and which administer federal funds;
*Libraries in geographic areas which have a scarcity of
NREN connections;
*Libraries with specialized or unique resources of national
or international significance;
*Library networks and bibliographic utilities which act on
behalf of libraries.
The National Science Foundation, through its various programs,
including science education, should provide for:
- The inclusion of libraries both within and outside of higher
education and elementary/secondary education as part of the
research and education support structure;
- Education and training in network use at all levels of
education;
Experimentation and demonstrations in network applications.
The information infrastructure of the United States is a complex
conglomeration of public and private networks, institutions,
information resources, and users from educational, research, library,
and industrial communities with extensive ties to international
networks and infrastructures. Research libraries and the resources
that they acquire, organize, maintain, and/or provide access to, are
critical elements of this infrastructure. In support of their mission to
advance scholarship and research, these same libraries have been at
the forefront of the technological revolution that has made this
robust and evolving information infrastructure possible.
One of the most exciting and unanticipated results of the
NSFNET has been the explosive growth of the network as a
communications link. The enhanced connectivity permits scholars
and researchers to communicate in new and different ways and
stimulates innovation. Approximately one-quarter of the use of
NSFNET is for E-mail, one-quarter for file exchange, 20% for
interactive applications, and 30% for associated services. It is this
latter category that is growing at an extraordinary rate and includes
new and innovative library uses of networks. This growth rate
demonstrates the value that researchers place on access to library
and information resources in support of education and research. The
following examples demonstrate the types of activities underway in
academic and research libraries that utilize networks.
In the past year, the number of library online catalogs available
on the Internet has jumped from thirty to over 160, including those
in Canada, Australia, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Israel, and the
United Kingdom. A single point of access to 100 online public access
catalogs is possible today through a midwestern university. Access to
resources identified in online public access catalogs are of increasing
importance to researchers as they can access a greatly expanded
array of information resources and in a more timely and efficient
fashion. Needed information can be located at another institution,
and depending upon the nature and format of the information,
downloaded directly, and/or requested via interlibrary loan. Over
time, this practice will likely change to the researcher obtaining the
information directly online versus "ordering the information online."
Typical use of an online catalog at a major research institution is that
of LIAS at the Pennsylvania State University Library - there are
approximately 33,000 searches each day of the LIAS system.
The National Agricultural Library, NAL, is supporting a project
with the North Carolina State University Libraries to provide
Internet-based document delivery for library materials. Scanned
images of documents generate machine readable texts which are
transmitted via the NSFNET/Internet to libraries, researchers work
stations, and agricultural research extension offices. Images of
documents can be delivered directly to the researchers computer,
placed on diskette, or printed. This program will be extended to the
entire land- grant community of over 100 institutions as well as to
other federal agencies and to the international agricultural research
community.
Another example of new library services that are possible with
the use of the information technologies and networks, that meet a
growing demand in the research community, and represent a
network growth area are the licensing of commercial journal
databases by libraries. Four of the last five years of the National
Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database is accessible to the
University of California community and there are approximately
50,000 searches of the system each week. There are numerous
benefits to researchers and libraries including enhanced access to
journal literature, there are lower costs to the library than from use
of commercial systems, and the lower costs encourages greater use of
the files by researchers thus promoting innovation. As other research
libraries mount files, similar use patterns have occurred.
Although Internet access to proprietary files is not permitted,
there are other services available such as UNCOVER that are more
widely accessible. UNCOVER is a database with the tables of contents
for approximately 10,000 multi-disciplinary journals developed by
the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. The increasing demand
for UNCOVER demonstrates the need for such services in the
academic community and one that is available at a low cost for those
institutions unable to locally mount proprietary files.
One area of networked services forecast to present new
opportunities for dissemination and exchange of information in the
scholarly and research communities and where a significant amount
of experimentation and "rethinking" is anticipated, is in electronic
publishing. Publishing electronically is in its infancy. Today, there are
ten refereed journals on the Internet and it is anticipated that there
will be many times this number in a short while. These journals,
available via the Internet, range from Postmodern Culture, (North
Carolina State University) to New Horizons in Adult Education,
(Syracuse University) to PSYCOLOQUY, (American Psychological
Association and Princeton University).
The nature and format of the electronic journal is evolving. To
some, the electronic journal is a substitute to the "printed" journal.
There are an increasing number of "paper- replicating electronic
journals" and the growing number of titles on CD-ROM and the rapid
rate of acceptance of this format, is a testament to the value of the
electronic format. It is anticipated that many of the paper publishers
will offer an electronic version of their journals via intermediaries
such as DIALOG and CARL as the use of and capabilities of networks
expand. This model also presents new dissemination choices to
government agencies. The National Agricultural Library has begun to
negotiate agreements with scholarly societies for the optical scanning
of agricultural titles and information.
Another view of the electronic journal is one more of process,
than product. Information or an idea is disseminated on the network
for open critique, comment, dialog, and exchange. In this instance,
publishing is an ongoing, interactive, non-static function, and one
that encourages creativity, connectivity, and interactivity.
Researchers experimenting in this camp are referred to as
"skywriters" or "trailblazers." In fact, publishing in this arena takes
on a new meaning due to the network's capabilities. The use of
multi-media including sound, text, and graphics, the significantly
expanded collaborative nature of the scholarly exchange not possible
with a printed scholarly publication, and finally, the potential for a
continuously changing information source, distinguishes this
electronic journal from its counterpart, the paper-replicating
electronic journal. An online publishing program on the Genome
Project at the Welch Library at Johns Hopkins University is an
example of this type of electronic publishing. Text is mounted on a
database, accessed by geneticists, students, and critics who respond
directly via electronic mail to the author. In this case, a computerized
textbook is the end result but one which constantly changes to reflect
new advances in the field. Funding from the National Library of
Medicine has supported this project.
A final area where electronic publishing activities are underway
is in the academic publishing community. Two examples of activities
include efforts in the high energy physics and mathematics
communities. A preprint database in high energy physics has been
maintained for fifteen years by a university research facility with
approximately 200 preprints added each week to the database of
over 200,000 article citations. Instant Math Preprints (IMP), a new
initiative that will maintain a searchable database of abstracts, will
permit electronic file transfer of the full text of preprints. The project
will be accessible via ten universities and "e-math," the American
Mathematical Society's electronic service. The value to the research
community of timely and effective exchange of research results will
be enormous.
There are two predominant reasons that pilot projects and
experiments such as these have been possible, have flourished, and
been successful. First, a high value has been placed and a significant
investment has been made in carefully constructed cooperative
programs in the library community to advance research through the
sharing of resources. The creation and support of bibliographic
utilities such as the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN)
and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) has resulted in access
by scholars to enormous databases of bibliographic records and
information. Cooperative programs have been supported and
encouraged by federal programs such as the Library Services and
Construction Act of 1964 and the Higher Education Act of 1965. The
Higher Education Act and in particular Title II-C and Title II-D
programs have emphasized the sharing of resources between all
types of libraries and users, and provided needed funds for support
of technological innovations and developments. These programs have
also promoted equality of access to information, ensuring that those
collections housed in major research institutions, be broadly
accessible.
The second reason that libraries have succeeded in advancing
the exchange of information resources is the effective use of
technologies to promote access. Most, if not all of these cooperative
programs, are dependent upon networks in part, as the means to
identify and share information resources. What will be required as
more resources become available through the Internet will be the
development of network directories. These directories will assist
users in learning of what resources are available and how to access
them. Provision of these electronic resources and the development of
the ensuing access tools such as directories are already presenting
many challenges to library and information science professionals and
will require continuing attention if the NREN is to succeed.
As a consequence, the needed infrastructure to connect a
diversity of users to a wide array of information resources is in place
today. Networks interconnecting information resources and users
throughout all parts of the United States and internationally, have
been operational and effective for a number of years. A key factor
that will permit the NREN to be a success is that much of the
infrastructure is already in place. There are networks that
interconnect academic institutions - public and private, industrial
users, and state consortiums, that include library networks and that
do not distinguish between rural and urban, academic and K-12. The
NREN vision must continue to encourage and demand enhanced
interconnectivity between all users and all types of institutions.
As Congress considers how to best design the NREN to meet the
needs of the research and academic communities, it will be important
more than ever to include the goals and objectives of ongoing
programs. In a time when there are 1,000 books published
internationally each day, 9,600 different journals are published
annually in the United States, the total of all printed knowledge is
doubling every eight years, electronic information is just beginning
to be exploited, and financial and funding resources are shrinking, it
is critical that the research and education communities with
continued federal support, strive for increased connectivity between
all types of libraries and users. This connectivity will result in
improved productivity and a strengthening of U.S. position in the
international marketplace.
S. 272 should provide the necessary framework to achieve this
enhanced connectivity. S.272 should build upon existing programs
and identify new means to permit information resources to be
broadly available to the education and research communities.
Ensuring connectivity through multiple types of libraries, throughout
the United States, is a critical component to several existing statutes
and should be included in NREN legislation. By so doing, the
legislation would leverage existing federal, state, and local programs.
As libraries and users alike employ information technologies to
access information resources, new opportunities and applications will
develop that exploit the wealth of information and knowledge
available in research libraries. Network applications today primarily
focus on the provision of access to resources such as books, journals,
and online files. Electronic publishing ventures are just beginning. In
the years ahead, scholars and researchers will be able to access and
use those research materials and collections generally unaccessible
but of extreme research value including photographs, satellite data,
archival data, videos and movies, sound recordings, slides of
paintings and other artifacts, and more. Access to and manipulation
of these information resources advances scholarship and research,
and scholars will expect a network with the capacity and capabilities
to achieve effective access. Clearly, to be successful, effective, and of
use to the academic and research communities, the NREN must be
designed to nurture and accommodate both the current as well as
future yet unknown uses of these valuable information resources.