home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Internet Info 1994 March
/
Internet Info CD-ROM (Walnut Creek) (March 1994).iso
/
inet
/
isoc
/
isoc_news
/
issue1-1
/
n-1-1-020.20.3a
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-03-05
|
4KB
|
85 lines
N-1-1-020.20.3 Library Science,
by Michael Breaks, <LIBMLB@vaxb.heriot-watt.ac.uk>
Libraries are becoming heavy users of the network both for their
operations and to provide information services for their users. There
are a range of applications already in use, including:
(i) electronic mail for individual communication and for
the provision of specialist discussion lists, exchange
of information;
(ii) access to OPAC's (Online Public Access Catalogues)
connected to campus networks;
(iii) exchange of bibliographic records, which are more
cost-effectively produced on a shared basis;
(iv) transmission of inter-lending requests and experiments
with transmission of full text documents for direct
supply to end-users;
(v) access to remote databases, such as the UNCOVER journal
article database or to the three ISI Citation Indexes
available over the JANET network to staff and students
in UK universities.
However, as the number of resources available on the network
increases, there are several major problems emerging:
* it is increasingly difficult for a user to identify and
locate potential relevant resources to satisfy a need for
information in a specific area, particularly if the user is
not a specialist in that area.
* each resource is mounted as part of its own independent
information retrieval system and there is a need to learn a
new, unique user interface for each resource.
* there is no simple way to move results from one system to
another for consolidation, analysis, and storage since access
to each system is through remote login.
These problems are is being addressed in a number of ways:
(i) through the development of Internet resource directories,
but they will need to provide the facilities of deep
indexing and convenient searching.
(ii) front-end based systems that provide the user with a
common interface to a range of disparate systems, but
this is currently only in the form of menu gateways which
provide login facilities to remote services.
(iii) the development of applications-layer protocols, such
as Z39.50 or Search and Retrieve, which allow a client
machine to submit a search to a server, manage the search
process and learn the outcome.
The establishment of the NREN (National Research and Education Network)
in the USA has been strongly supported by the library community and
the Association for Research Libraries (ARL), EDUCOM, and CAUSE have
recently formed the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) to
promote and address issues related to the availability and role of
networked information resources. CNI's agenda is "to develop a set of
initiatives to address the public policy issues and to identify and
assign priorities for the provision of information resources on the
NREN." Issues will include:
* intellectual property rights
* standards
* licensing
* service arrangements
* charging algorithms and cost-recovery fees
* economic models
* identifying information resources for NREN.
The recent approval for funding for the SuperJANET network in the UK,
will be encouraging similar organisational initiatives there building
on the already close relations between libraries and computing
centres. Access to networked information resources will soon be one
of the major issues in the development of national computer networks.