+ Page 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 6, Number 4 (1995) ISSN 1050-6004 Editors: Linda Thompson (LTHOMPSON@UH.EDU) and Ann Thornton (ATHORNTON@UH.EDU). Issued on an irregular basis by University Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2091. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS New Customizable Web Interface Announced by Cuadra, 1 UnCover Reveal Announces New Features, 2 DRA and UC's Melvyl Establish Z39.50 Connection for Circulation Status, 3 Two More Resources to Be Included in NoveList Database, 3 Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Now on FirstSearch and Epic, 4 UMI Announces Hartlib Papers on CD-ROM, 4 Internet Information Center Established on Year 2000 Computer Crisis, 5 New CD-ROM Finds Art and Architecture Films Fast, 6 UMI's New ProQuest Direct Online Service Will Include Disclosure Company Data, 7 VTLS Announces Virtua, 7 NEW CUSTOMIZABLE WEB INTERFACE ANNOUNCED BY CUADRA World Wide Web surfers can now use Netscape and other NCSA- compliant browsers for interactive searching of STAR databases. STAR/Web, the new Common Gateway Interface developed by Cuadra Associates, is designed specifically to provide "assisted searching" in a WWW client/server environment--either on the Internet or on in-house networks. In contrast to hierarchical Web menu systems or interfaces that require special retrieval know-how, STAR/Web and CA's other GUI option, STAR/Client, are designed to provide fast and precise retrieval of both structured and full-text data using STAR, CA's information management and retrieval system. STAR/Web's assisted searching, which masks STAR's underlying powerful retrieval tools, gives even the most inexperienced searcher the benefit of those tools without a learning curve. + Page 2 + With Web hypertext links, STAR users can access image and other electronic files stored on the STAR host system or on some other Web server. And, like STAR itself, STAR/Web includes powerful and easy-to-use customizing tools that do not require any programmer support. STAR, first introduced by CA in 1982, is a multi-user information management system designed for large databases of structured and unstructured text. It runs under Unix on a wide variety of high- performance Intel-based and RISC hardware platforms. Further information on STAR is available from: Carlos A Cuadra, Cuadra Associates, Inc., 11835 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 855, Los Angeles, CA, 90064. Phone: (310) 478-0066; FAX: (310) 477-1078. UNCOVER REVEAL ANNOUNCES NEW FEATURES UnCover Reveal, an electronic table of contents alert service, has added several new subscription options and has greatly enhanced its service. Now, UnCover Reveal users can receive the most current information directly to their e-mail address in two ways--by creating a personal list of journal titles or by creating and storing special "search strategies" (either author or topic searches). In addition, libraries and other institutions can now get a site license for the service. UnCover Reveal is just one service of UnCover, a database that provides table of contents indexing from nearly 17,000 journals worldwide. It allows users with profiles to create a list of journal titles in which they are interested. When the next issue of any of those titles is entered into the UnCover database, the table of contents is automatically e-mailed to them. Users can also store "search strategies," which are run automatically against new articles added to the UnCover database on a weekly basis. The results of the searches are also sent to the user's e-mail address. Documents may then be ordered through reply e-mail or by fax and will be delivered by fax for a service charge. Users may sign up individually for the UnCover Reveal Alert Service at $20 per year. This can include a table of contents from 50 titles and up to 25 search strategies. Libraries and other institutions who have a large number of users can get a site license that allows all users at their site to each receive tables of contents from 50 titles and store up to 25 search strategies. There are many levels, starting at $750 per year for a maximum of 50 subscribers and going up to a special level that allows unlimited subscribers. + Page 3 + The UnCover database may be accessed through the Internet by telnetting to database.carl.org or by dial-up at (303) 756-3600. Customized Internet access is also available. For more information, contact Brenda Bailey, The UnCover Company, (800) 787-7979, or (303) 758-3030 (outside U.S. and Canada) or send e-mail to uncover@carl.org. DRA AND UC'S MELVYL ESTABLISH Z39.50 CONNECTION FOR CIRCULATION STATUS The University of California Division of Library Automation and Data Research Associates (DRA) have each developed Z39.50- compliant clients and servers that allow the University's MELVYL system's online catalog to display circulation status information retrieved from the DRA circulation database at the University of California-Davis. This interface is important in that it represents the world's first use of Z39.50 to provide real-time item status from one automated system to another automated system's online catalog. Most applications of Z39.50 to date have involved online bibliographic information exchange. Every time a borrower displays a record that has holdings at UC- Davis, the circulation status is displayed. It is fast enough to produce an acceptable online catalog display response time to borrowers, even though each one of the displays involves a conversation among two systems that are nearly 100 miles apart. Terminals in the UC-Davis library are set to display the circulation status automatically. Since the interface's debut, response to the feature has been enthusiastic. Just within the first two weeks of operation, for example, more than 400,000 DRA searches were made from MELVYL. For more information, please contact Joe Bonwich, Data Research Associates, Inc., (800) 325-0888. TWO MORE RESOURCES TO BE INCLUDED IN NOVELIST DATABASE Entries from two more reader's advisory resources, Anatomy of Wonder 4 (1995) and To Be Continued: An Annotated Guide to Sequels (1995), will now be included in the NoveList database. Anatomy of Wonder is Reed Reference Publishing's award-winning and critically acclaimed science fiction bibliography. Each entry identifies a title's author, publisher, year of publication, as well as a descriptive and evaluative annotation. + Page 4 + To Be Continued, published by Oryx Press, will include 1300 entries which provide access by author, title of the series, a listing of the book titles contained in the series arranged chronologically by fictional events or by recommended reading order, and a concise annotation that describes the narrative threads that tie the various novels together. Added access points include genre, subject, and time/place. The data sources join cataloging from Hennepin County Library and book reviews from ALA's Booklist, further enhancing the effectiveness of the Novelist readers' advisory tool and expanding the number of titles contained in the product's 34,000 item database. For more information about NoveList or these resources, contact Dodie Ownes at CARL Corporation, (303) 758- 3030. INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS AND BOOKS NOW ON FIRSTSEARCH AND EPIC OCLC has added the Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (ILP) from H.W. Wilson Company to its databases on the OCLC FirstSearch and EPIC services. ILP indexes articles from leading legal periodicals published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. ILP provides coverage of some 620 legal journals, yearbooks, institutes, bar association organs, law reviews, and government publications from August 1981 to present. Book reviews are also included. Aspects of law covered in ILP include copyright and patent law; changes in tax law and estate planning; international law; commercial and bankruptcy law; constitutional law; labor law; criminal law; corporate, securities, and antitrust law; real property; and procedural law. ILP is available on a per-search or subscription basis through FirstSearch, as well as through the EPIC service. For more information, please contact Nita Dean at (614) 761-5002 or e-mail nita_dean@oclc.org. UMI ANNOUNCES HARTLIB PAPERS ON CD-ROM Once of the 17th century's most remarkable collections of documents is now accessible to scholars for the first time on CD- ROM. Taking the whole field of knowledge as its province, the Hartlib Papers provides new insights into one of the crucial periods in the development of modern science and society. The two-disc set provides views of every document and complete text, together with powerful search software that researchers will find both flexible and easy to use. + Page 5 + The Hartlib Papers includes all the surviving papers of British polymath Samuel Hartlib (c. 1600-1662), edited from the originals in the University of Sheffield Library, England. A vast compendium of correspondence, working papers, treatises, poems, and diaries by Hartlib and his many collaborators, this new research collection gives unparalleled access to one of the most dramatic periods in political and intellectual history. The Hartlib Papers combines the transcribed text of 25,000 manuscript pages with digitized images of each folio, linked so users can move from the text to an image of the original. It also incorporates TOPIC, a search program that offers access by words, phrases, approximate spellings, dates, names, and other elements. Users may choose from a range of pre-constructed topics or create their own to locate material on key themes. For more information, please contact UMI at (800) 521-0600, ext. 3895, or (313) 761-4700, ext. 3702 (outside the U.S. and Canada). INTERNET INFORMATION CENTER ESTABLISHED ON YEAR 2000 COMPUTER CRISIS The Tenagra Corporation has announced the opening of the Year 2000 Information Center on the Internet World Wide Web. For many computer and software systems, the year 2000 will bring a host of problems related to software programs that record the year using only the last two digits. This faulty standard will cost the worldwide computer community billion of dollars in programming effort. The Year 2000 Information Center allows Internet users to get the latest facts and information on the Year 2000 computer crisis, and provides a forum for the discussion of possible solutions. Hosting a continually updated clock showing the number os years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining until the Year 2000, the Information Center also provides free access to information made available by vendors and service providers that offer consulting and solutions. The Year 2000 Information Center is available via the following URL: http://www.year2000.com/cgi-bin/clock.cgi/. For more information, please contact Peter de Jager at pdejager@hookup.net. + Page 6 + NEW CD-ROM FINDS ART AND ARCHITECTURE FILMS FAST G.K. Hall & Co. announces the publication of Art on Screen on CD- ROM, the database from the Program for Art on Film, published in its entirety for the first time in this electronic format. Media specialists, film and video professionals, curators, and educators will find extensive information on more than 22,000 films and videos about the visual arts, representing productions from more than 70 countries. The majority of the publications date from 1970 to the present, with selective coverage from 1915 through 1969. The films and videos cover a wide variety of subjects, including painting, sculpture, drawing, architecture, archaeology, photography, decorative arts, design, costume, crafts, folk art, and related topics such as aesthetics and creativity. Each citation includes the title of the film, a synopsis, credits, country, language, production date, format, and other filmographic data. About one-third of the entries also include a critical evaluation or reference to published reviews or festival awards--a unique feature of this authoritative information resource. Art on Screen on CD-ROM assembles in one central source information on thousands of productions and makes searching quick and easy. Users can search the entire database by typing a key word. For more precise searches, users can choose from a wide variety of indexes, such as artist names, style or period, materials or techniques, associated concepts, and genre. Each database entry includes information about distribution sources for the production, and Art on Screen on CD-ROM provides addresses and telephone numbers of some 8,000 distribution sources. Art on Screen on CD-ROM uses G.K. Hall & Co.'s CD Searcher software for access to the database. With Configurize capabilities, the interface can be edited and modified to suit requirements at individual stations or within user groups. The CD includes a site license for a local area network at no additional charge. Art on Screen on CD-ROM requires an IBM-compatible computer with 640K RAM, a CD-ROM drive, and MS-DOS Extensions 2.0 or higher. Art on Screen on CD-ROM is available from G.K. Hall & Co., for $495. To place an order or for more inforMation, call 1-800-223- 2336 or write to ATTN: Library Reference Order Processing, Simon & Schuster, 200 Old Tappan Rd., Old Tappan, NJ 07675. + Page 7 + UMI'S NEW PROQUEST DIRECT ONLINE SERVICE WILL INCLUDE DISCLOSURE COMPANY DATA UMI and Disclosure have announced that UMI's new client-server host computer system, ProQuest Direct, will provide access to U.S. and foreign company data from Disclosure. The service, scheduled to launch this month, will be unique in its offering of vital company data in both image-based and searchable ASCII-text formats. ProQuest Direct users will have full functionality of Access Disclosure, a uniquely comprehensive electronic index of more than four million U.S. and international company documents. Company documents available in electronic form can be accessed immediately. Other documents, such as historical SEC filings from Disclosure's one-of-a-kind archive, can be ordered online and obtained via two-hour, overnight, or other delivery method. For more information, please contact Connie Kinnear, Eiler Communications, (313) 761-3399. VTLS ANNOUNCES VIRTUA VIRTUA, a new library automation system, was recently announced by VTLS, Inc. The new system offers numerous advanced features that will help information centers not only manage their collections better but also improve the user of their computing resources. VIRTUA is based on six key technologies: Relational Database Management Systems, Rapid Development Tools, Three-tier Client/Server Architecture, Database Warehousing, UNICODE Support, and ATM Network Optimized Applications. These key technologies work together in allowing VIRTUA to be the first system designed specifically to handle multimedia applications in a distributed network environment. The emphasis in VIRTUA is to improve workflow management for library staff and to provide powerful flexible and convenient access to distributed multimedia information. VIRTUA relies on object-oriented design, which will make it malleable and responsive to the ever-changing needs of the information industry. Its stateless OPAC server will permit many users to be supported simultaneously with less impact on computer resources. Support of UNICODE, multilingual dialog, and a variety of international MARC formats are built into the product. + Page 8 + The availability of VTLS Application Program Interfaces will allow customers to interface the VIRTUA system in their working environments. In addition, the distributed architecture of VIRTUA will allow easier deployment of resources and address the special needs of very large systems. For more information, please contact Gail Gulbenkian, VTLS, Inc., (703) 231-3605. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News is an electronic newsletter that is distributed on Internet and other computer networks. There is no subscription fee. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-P First Name Last Name. Public-Access Computer Systems News is Copyright (C) 1995 by the University Libraries, University of Houston. All Rights Reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by academic computer centers, computer conferences, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collection, in electronic or printed form, at no charge. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission. -----------------------------------------------------------------