_________________________________________________________________________
SYDNEY LIBRARY SYSTEM
Jane Reynolds
Johnson & Gibbs, Dallas
Sydney Library System (a product of International Library Systems,
Vancouver, British Columbia) is a relational database with six
interactive modules. Base cataloging and inquiry are the required
components; purchase of serials control, MARC conversion, acquisitions,
and circulation is optional. In its 1988 conversion to Sydney, the
Johnson & Gibbs' library acquired all modules except Circulation; use of
the Acquisition module has yet to be implemented however.
Integration among modules is achieved by use of an accession code (a four
character alpha code) assigned to each title within the catalog module.
An advantage of the accession code system is that it allows for serials
check-ins to be written to a text file in the catalog record. One
shortcoming, however, is that serial catalog records lack the inventory
information that monograph records contain; as a result looseleaf
materials (which are all classified) are not picked up on the shelflist.
Also, because the menu-driven system is hierarchical, moving between
modules is awkward, requiring the user to exit the current program and
return to the menu before accessing another module. This does not affect
patrons, who only have access to the search module, Inquiry.
Many of our Sydney users are knowledgeable, experienced searchers; some
are comparative novices. Although somewhat difficult for the new user,
Inquiry does allow novice-to-expert searching and provides quick response
time, even on complex search strategies. Only four searches may be
performed simultaneously, and the data files must be "reorganized" or
reindexed once or twice weekly to maintain the fast response time.
Keyword searching is available within specific fields, but the lack of a
Boolean "not" command and the necessity of searching authorities from a
controlled vocabulary are definite hindrances. For security purposes,
access to nine different levels of the database may be structured, keyed
to user name and password.
Sydney's catalog module provides a helpful degree of latitude for dealing
with unique items, in addition to the already-mentioned capacity to
handle both monographs and serials. To the system defaults (Author,
Corporate Author, Conference, Series, and Subject) we added Publisher;
we could also create other authorities for unique needs or text fields
for data incompatible with Sydney's standard fields.
The MARC data conversion module permits the Librarian to transfer data
from another system without rekeying. Our catalog records were all
obtained from OCLC in MARC format, but Marcive, RLIN, Utlas and CD-ROM
records are also transferable through Sydney. Potential problems with
this module can be avoided by paying careful attention to mapping tables
(assisted by Sydney Customer Service), and by mapping small batches at a
time with frequent verification of the transfer process.
As noted earlier, the Serials module is used to maintain check-in
records; it also provides printed routing lists, and produces labels for
the materials checked in. The module contains a procedure for
"purchasing" a serial that creates a database record for each serial
record within the module, complete with flexible calendar for the dates
of the expected issues in that title. Not surprisingly, this module is
the most difficult to master.
Which brings us to Sydney Customer Service -- one of the best selling
points of the system. The service representatives are either librarians
or computer experts; they listen to complaints and suggestions, they are
open to user criticisms and will even provide access to the programmers
if necessary. There is no "800" number, but phone time is the only cost
to the user. Instead, a maintenance agreement provides for unlimited
Customer Service consultations and new programming updates at a nominal
charge. The maintenance agreement is mandatory for the first year, but
should be considered as a necessary ongoing cost of the system.
Other helpful services are the newsletter, a customer list organized
geographically and by type of library, and a looseleaf instruction volume
for each module purchased. The workbook for original installation and
setting up conversion of catalog records was very helpful, but more
attention could be devoted to year-end procedures, and to indexing.
Online help is accessed at anytime by the F3 key; occasionally the
response has been "no help available". The system manager can modify the
online help feature in the Inquiry module, but only there.
Frequent updates and improvements in programming that benefit all Sydney
users are important features of Sydney's maintenance agreement.
Currently written in PCBUS programming language, the new "C" programming
language (previewed at SLA in San Antonio) will be released in 1992. In
addition, specialized programming is available on a fee per hour basis.
Sydney Library System requires a 286 computer or better, but there is no
proprietary hardware to purchase. Sydney's internal capabilities
approach a half million records (26 to the 4th power) making it useful to
the largest library. Our data storage capacity on a local area network
is relatively infinite; we use over 33 megabytes for all programs and
data files. Early problems integrating Sydney within our LAN were
overcome last year with network upgrading. Editing reports still
requires downloading to a spool file, however, and transferring to
WordPerfect, since Sydney's report defaults to not match the standard
defaults for the firm. Sydney insists that the user need not be a
computer expert to make use of their software. Occasionally, however,
Sydney does quirky things at the DOS level that require the system
manager to be DOS-acquainted, if not DOS-literate.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sydney PLUS Library System
International Library Systems
320-2600 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V3
Canada
Telephone: 604-734-8882
Fax: 604-734-8854
Contact Person: Leanne Cowie
Number of Sales to Law Libraries
Aprox. 12 law libraries total
Figures not available by type
Hardware Required:
DOS compatible microcomputer
or DEC VAX
Software Required:
Appropriate operating system for hardware chosen
_________________________________________________________________________
WHAT'S WHAT
Computer World News
Carl Christenson
University of Wisconsin Law Library
"What's What" is a column addressing what's new in the computer software
and hardware world with a bent toward law libraries. In each issue of
_Automatome_, "What's What" will present computer news gleaned from
various PC and Macintosh magazines in hopes of reducing librarians
reading loads and eliminating stacks of unread computer literature from
their desks. This article will focus mainly on new hardware and feature
Notepad computers.
Space: The Final Frontier. Will we ever have enough room in the library?
Fortunately in the micro-computer world the trend is smaller, lighter,
faster, more powerful and sometimes cheaper.
Want power in small places? Check out Zenith's Supersport 486. This 486-
25MHz laptop comes with 4MB RAM expandable to 16MB, a 120MB hard drive,
and a VGA/64 gray scale 10.7" edgelit screen. It weighs 15 lbs. and
lists at only $8899. Zenith recently introduced four other portables
including their 286 and 386 Mastersport notebooks weighing in at 6.6 lbs.
and priced from $2699 to $4999. (800-523- 9393).
From the planet Xircom (818-884-8755) comes a Pocket Ethernet Adapter, an
external ethernet LAN card. This pocket-size adapter plugs into the
parallel port of any IBM compatible PC and attaches to an ethernet
network via thick or thin coax or 10 base T twisted pair wiring. This
Xircom adapter is especially useful for laptops or for slot filled PC's.
At the University of Wisconsin Law Library students can check out these
adapters for use with laptops and connect to the library's network at
various study carrels throughout the library. Software drivers for
various LANS are provided with the product as well as an AC adapter
that's necessary for operation.
Looking for a Hayes compatible modem? Why not buy a Hayes? (404-441-
1617) The Hayes Pocket Edition 2400 at 3 oz., 3 inches, is guaranteed to
save space on the over-crowded desk. At $179 it's a steal compared to
some competitors listed at $300. Best of all it runs completely off the
power from the telephone lines and the PC so no battery or AC power is
needed.
MO Knows! MO's magneto optical drives are 3.5" drives that write and
rewrite up to 128MB on a slim disk. These super floppies hold 88 times
more data per disk and are excellent for graphic images. Access times of
48ms are about twice as slow as hard disk drives. Prices vary from $1700-
$3000 for IBM's 3.5" Rewritable Optical Drive, SONY's SMO, and PINNACLE's
REO-130. Disks may run as much as $70 each.
What's 2.5 lbs. and spits out paper? A Citizen PN48 portable printer.
Now you can really save space on your desk with this 11.7" x 3.5" x 2"
printer. The Citizen PN48 at $549 prints out one page per minute at
360dpi. (213-453-0614) There are three other portable printers just
under 5 lbs: the Canon BJ-10e ink jet printer at $499, the Kodak Diconix
150 Plus ink jet at $519, and the Seikosha LT-20 24 pin dot matrix
printer at $499.
16 Million Colors In: Hewlett Packard's Scanjet IIc captures 256 shades
of gray or up to 16 million colors at 400dpi. Priced at $2195, the
ScanJet operates on Windows 3.0 based software. Pages are scanned in 20
seconds with text recognized through a $595 Accuscan program.
16 Million Colors Out: The Tektronix Phaser Jet PXi prints 16 million
colors at 300dpi on virtually any kind of paper and handles paper sizes
up to 12" x 18". Priced at $9995, a page of graphics prints in about 2
minutes. The best feature of the Phaser Jet is the automatic switching
from parallel, serial, and AppleTalk ports which is ideal for mixed
networks.
Get Hyper! SmarText from Lotus (800-831-9679) lets you build hypertext
applications fast and easy. SmarText reads documents from most word
processing programs including Windows, MS-Word, WordPerfect, Ami
Professional and ASCII, as well as TIFF, .PCX, .PIC, HPGL, Ami Draw,
.BMP, and WPG graphics files. SmarText builds a word index, an outline,
and then generates text links of frequently used phrases. Lists at $495.
Notepad Computers - The next generation. Notepad computers are portable
laptop-like computers without the traditional input devices. Instead of
a keyboard or mouse, data is entered by writing with a pen on the
computer screen. Handwriting recognition software allows the computer to
read what is written. It's like taking notes on a clipboard which
automatically gets stored in a computer. Your notes can then be
retrieved into your favorite word processor or emailed around the world.
Unfortunately the software and hardware for this new technology are still
under development. There are only a few systems available with even fewer
applications.
Microsoft's Pen Windows and Go Corporation's PenPoint are the current
world series contenders in notebook operating software. Microsoft's Pen
Windows is an extension of Windows 3.1 and features menus and icons
similar to Windows 3.0 with the pen substituting for the mouse. Hand
printed notes and diagrams can be saved as graphic images or the notes
can be converted to ASCII text. Go's Penpoint was designed from scratch
to allow "pen-centric" applications, programs designed specifically for
pen-based computers such as Slate Corporation's Penapps. Penapps is a
forms creation package. Forms are easily filled in on a notepad computer
eliminating errors in transcribing.
On the hardware side NCR, Microslate, and Grid all have products
available, however NCR's 3125 Notepad is the only one that currently runs
PenWindows or PenPoint software. NCR's 3125 Notepad dimensions measure
1" x 9.8" x 11.7" and weighs 3.9 pounds. The Notepad is configured to
run either Pen Windows or PenPoint and comes with DOS 5.0 and PenOS,
NCR's operating system for the pen input device. The Notebook contains a
16 shade VGA screen, uses a 20Mhz 386SL chip and has room for 8MB RAM
with a 20MB hard drive. Price ranges from $4600 to $6740. The Notepad is
water resistant and drop proof, has 4 - 6 hours of battery life, and
provides connections for a keyboard and fax/modem. Trainable handwriting
software is also available from NCR. (800-544-3333)
Datellite 300 from Microslate (514-444-3600) is simply a 386SX notebook
computer with a pen replacing a mouse. The $5995 Datellite 300 has a
20MHz 386SX CPU, 2MB memory expandable to 16MB and a 40 MB hard drive. A
touch sensitive screen responds to pen or finger. The Datellite 300 can
connect through its SCSI port to a CD-ROM drive. Ports are also
available for a VGA monitor and keyboard. At 6.6 lbs. it runs DOS
applications and Windows. The Datellite 300 does not have handwriting
recognition software; however Microslate promises to support the
capabilities of Pen Windows and PenPoint. Options include a $350 1.44 MB
floppy, a $1000 120 MB internal drive, a $300 internal 2400 modem, and
$198 battery packs that last 4 hours. (514-444-3680)
The two year old Gridpad has sold 10,000 units but lacks power to run Pen
Windows and PenPoint. The 4.6 lb. Gridpad/HD includes a 20 MB hard drive
and costs $3570. Grid Systems Corporation is planning to move to a 386
CPU next year. IBM is working on a pen-based portable and Apple Computer
Inc. has built its own pen-based Macintosh with possible PenPoint
compatibility.
Notepad computers are an exciting technology especially for the computer
phobic. Users just need to be able to write. The future of notepad
computers lie in the power of the pen.
NEWS BRIEFS
Intel's 50-MHz 486 chip introduced in June will ship in large quantities
during the fourth quarter. Expect products from IBM, Compaq and
Dell........ IBM released three new 386SX 20MHz machines: the PS/2
models 35, 40, and 57. Surprisingly the model 35 and 40 return to the
AT-bus. The model 57 sports a 2.88MB 3.5" disk drive that also reads
1.44MB and 720K diskettes. The 2.88MB diskettes are $10 each and operate
with DOS 5.0........ Hewlett Packard's new color printer, the DeskWriter
C for the Macintosh retails for only $1095, a break through for color
printers........ Norton Backup for Windows takes advantage of 386
multitasking and works on Novell Netware 2.12 or up. Backups occur in
the background enabling you to run other applications simultaneously.
List $129 (800-441- 7234)........ Picture Packer, a $79 program from
Video & Image Compression Corp. (800-472-1888) squashes images down to
1/50th of their original size.
_________________________________________________________________________
MINUTES OF THE BUSINESS MEETING
AUTOMATION AND SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT SIS
July 21, 1991
Hilton, New Orleans
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. by ASD/SIS Chair Carol
Ebbinghouse. She introduced Nuchine Nobari, the Vice-Chair/Chair Elect,
Jo Ann Humphreys, Secretary/Treasurer, and Anna Belle Leiserson, the
newsletter editor.
Carol gave a report on the SIS sponsored programs to be held at this
annual meeting. There will be a program on "Standards and 'Standards' in
the Library Computerization: Surviving the High Technology Tower of
Babel" and "Micros to Mainframes: Annual Software, Hardware, and
Applications Update".
Jo Ann Humphreys, the Secretary/Treasurer, gave the financial status
report. As of May 31, 1991, the SIS has $3,743.50.
The results of the SIS election were announced. Ruth Armstrong is the
new Vice-Chair/Chair Elect. Jo Ann Humphreys will remain the
Secretary/Treasurer. A motion was made and passed that the election
ballots be destroyed.
Anna Belle Leiserson gave a report on the newsletter. The next issue
will be a double issue and will include reviews of library automation
software. Volunteers are needed to write reviews. Questionnaires were
passed out. Anna Belle also announced that volunteers are needed to
staff the SIS table in the exhibit area.
Carol Ebbinghouse gave the Chair's report: (1) Election results will
need to be available two months before the annual meeting. Our bylaws
covered this sufficiently already. For the 1991 election, the ballots
will need to be counted by May 17, 1992. (2) SIS dues have been
increased to $12 per year. This increase will start with the 1992/1993
year. There has been no increase in 15 years. It will be possible for a
person to subscribe to all the SIS newsletters without joining an SIS.
Our membership may go down. By raising dues, the loss in membership may
be offset. (3) For projects, the SIS will have to go to the Executive
Board for funding.
Carol Ebbinghouse passed the gavel to Nuchine Nobari, and she assumed the
Chair of the SIS.
A discussion was held on possible project ideas. There is a gap between
the academic law libraries and the private law libraries. A lot of the
ASD/SIS members are from firm libraries, but most of the activity is done
by academic law librarians. Good projects would be those that would help
the private firm librarians to become more automated. The academic
librarians could be relied upon to give help and assistance based on past
experiences.
AALL has urged more participation by the members. A database has been
started which lists people who have given talks, have been officers, or
have made some other contribution to AALL.
Nuchine Nobari asked for program ideas for next year's annual meeting.
Possible topics included Internet/NREN; beyond e-mail (what is out there
on the networks); LEXIS/WESTLAW on the Internet; optical scanners; and
CD-ROM networking.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jo Ann Humphreys
Secretary/Treasurer
_________________________________________________________________________
AUTOMATION AND SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT SIS
FINANCIAL REPORT
As of August 31, 1991
*Beginning Balance $4,411.43
Income:
Dues $25.00
Income to 8/31/91 +$25.00
Subtotal $4,436.43
Expenses:
Postage $541.20
Printing $983.75
Refunds $ 5.00
Expenses to 8/31/91 $1,529.95
Balance on August 31, 1991 $2,906.48
*Beginning balance equals balance on September 30, 1990
($2,978.93) plus one half of the dues collected for the
1990-91 dues year.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jo Ann Humphreys
Secretary/Treasurer
ASD-SIS
_________________________________________________________________________
SURVEY OF COMPUTER LIBRARIANS
Please send responses via U.S. Mail or the Internet to:
Mitch Fontenot
University of Nebraska College of Law Library
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
Internet: mitchf@unllib.unl.edu
What is your official title?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
In what type of law library do you work?
Academic_______
Firm___________
Government_____
Other_______________________________________________________
In which department of the library are you located?
Public Services___________
Technical Services________
Administration____________
Other_______________________________________________________
What is your level of education?
Master of Library and/or Information Science_______
Juris Doctorate__________
Both MLS and JD__________
Other____________________
Do you have other duties in addition to computers such as reference,
cataloging, or administration? _______If so, which?
____________________________________________________________
Do you serve areas of your institution outside the library such as
faculty, attorneys' offices, judges' offices, etc.?_______ If so,
which?__________________________________
What specific computer duties do you perform? Check as many as are
applicable.
Installation of software_______________
Installation of hardware_______________
Hardware maintenance___________________
Collection development of computer software____________
Teaching of various computer classes___________________
Preparation of computer guides_________________________
Managing a LAN (Local Area Network)____________________
Other_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
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