+ Page 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 4, Number 7 (1993) ISSN 1050-6004 Editors: Dana Rooks (LIBL@UHUPVM1) and Linda Thompson (LIB1J@UHUPVM1). Issued on an irregular basis by University Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2091. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS RLG RECEIVES $62,000 AWARD FROM NEH FOR AMERICAN LITERARY MATERIALS PROJECT, 1 RLG PROJECT ADDS 7,000 RECORDS FOR OLDER PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL TO RLIN AMC FILE, 2 UCSB TO CREATE FIRST Z39.50 LINK TO MELVYL, 3 28 NEW CAMBRIDGE DATABASES ON MAGNETIC TAPE, 3 PAIS INTERNATIONAL: 1993 JOURNALS INDEXED LIST AVAILABLE, 4 DYNIX PRESENTS "EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION" AWARD, 5 KSU EXPANDS ACCESS WITH INFOSHARE, 5 BIOSIS PREVIEWS AND BIP AVAILABLE WITH NOTIS, 5 AIDSLINE NOW AVAILABLE VIA PAPERCHASE, 6 BIBLIOFILE PAC/DRA INTERFACE AVAILABLE, 7 RLG RECEIVES $62,000 AWARD FROM NEH FOR AMERICAN LITERARY MATERIALS PROJECT The Research Libraries Group (RLG) has been awarded $62,000 by the National Endowment for the Humanities to begin developing a national database on RLIN of information about primary literary materials in American literature--correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, and ephemera--often critical to research but difficult or impossible to locate. Dubbed Research Resources in American Literature (RRAL), the one-year pilot project began on March 1, 1993, and involves four RLG members: the Beinecke Library at Yale University, Dartmouth College Library, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Houghton Library at Harvard College where the RRAL project's editorial office is located. + Page 2 + The four participants will first identify research materials relating to an initial list of 125 American authors and develop methodologies to survey, describe, and catalog them in RLIN. Later in the year, some 25 institutions with important collections related to American literature will be surveyed on the materials they hold for these authors. The pilot project will allow a more accurate estimate of the effort that would be required to expand into a nationwide project. The RRAL project will have a liaison with both the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) to avoid duplication of effort and ensure the project is responsive to the needs of scholars. For more information, contact La Vonne Galle, bl.lfg@rlg.stanford.edu. RLG PROJECT ADDS 7,000 RECORDS FOR OLDER PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL TO RLIN AMC FILE Approximately 7,000 cataloging records have been added to the RLIN Archives and Manuscripts Control (AMC) file as the result of a two-year cooperative retrospective conversion project organized by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and funded by a $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project brings to over 380,000 the number of records in the RLIN AMC file describing unique, primary source materials. The records, converted into machine-readable form from older printed cataloging records, were added by ten RLG member institutions participating in the project. The ten were chosen for their important collections in humanistic and scholarly research. Subjects of interest include the antebellum South and the Civil War, the rise of industrialism and trade unions, the settlement of the Old West, immigrants and immigration, the evolution of modern computing, Shakespeare, and French history. The other participating institutions were the American Antiquarian Society, Cornell University, the Hagley Museum and Library, Louisiana State University, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, the University of Pennsylvania, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and the Virginia State Library and Archives. + Page 3 + All the participants followed national standards in the creation of the records, conforming to the MARC AMC format; following cataloging rules set out in Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts; and forming headings according to the 1988 revision of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR 2) or the Library of Congress Name and Subject authority files. Additional access points were also derived from standardized thesauri. For more information, contact La Vonne Galle, bl.lfg@rlg.stanford.edu. UCSB TO CREATE FIRST Z39.50 LINK TO MELVYL One of the first Z39.50 links between different library systems will be implemented at the University of California-Santa Barbara by the fall of 1993 with the installation of PACLink from NOTIS Systems Inc. Patrons currently use two different terminals, one to access UCSB's catalog and one to access MELVYL. After PACLink is installed, patrons will need to use only one terminal and the NOTIS interface to access both catalogs. NOTIS screens and commands will be used to access resources available at UCSB as well as throughout the UC system via MELVYL. PACLink, together with PACLoan, form a complete collection sharing system. PACLink is a client/server application using the Z39.50 protocol to seamlessly search remote online catalogs using the same user interface as the home catalog. PACLoan allows patrons to initiate interlibrary loan requests, and enables ILL staff at both libraries to track the request and gather statistics. These products can be used together or separately. For additional information, contact Linda Sullivan, NOTIS, 708- 866-4917. 28 NEW CAMBRIDGE DATABASES ON MAGNETIC TAPE Cambridge Scientific Abstracts has introduced a new line of affordable magnetic tape databases for users of local area networks. The new Cambridge databases offer libraries unlimited access to vast amounts of data, along with faster search results- -all at a fixed cost and using the customer's existing hardware and software. + Page 4 + Cambridge has expanded and restructured its database library to create 28 new, discipline-specific magnetic tape options. The new choices are grouped by subject area: Environment & Pollution (six databases), Engineering & Computer Science (eight databases published jointly with Engineering Information Inc.), Aquatic Sciences, Marine Biology & Oceanography (three databases), and Biomedical Sciences (nine databases). To create this new series of magnetic tape offerings, Cambridge has drawn on over 2.5 million abstracts and citations from its 41 abstract journals, often combining these resources to create new configurations of greater value to researchers. For example, the Cambridge Pollution Database (one of the six databases in the area of environment and pollution) includes not only the Pollution Abstracts database available online from several vendors, but also CSA's Toxicology Abstracts and Environmental Impact Statements databases. Cambridge regularly scans more than 6,500 print journals, conference proceedings, reports, books, patents, and other sources to collect citations for its databases. Sample tapes are available for no-obligation trials. For a catalog or other information, contact Tina Long, Magnetic Tape Services Dept., Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, 7200 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda MD 20814-4823; 301-961-6737; or e-mail: MCI Mail ID# CAMSCI. PAIS INTERNATIONAL: 1993 JOURNALS INDEXED LIST AVAILABLE PAIS has available a new free publication PAIS International: 1993 Journals Indexed List. This publication is a listing of all journals from which material was taken for indexing in 1992 PAIS International publications and services including: PAIS International in Print; PAIS International Online with Data-Star, DIALOG, and OCLC; PAIS on CD-ROM, and PAIS International on SilverPlatter. For journals cited, this list includes: abbreviated journal name, full journal name, publication frequency, subscription rate, ISSN, publisher address, distributor address, and informative notes such as title changes or publication cessation information. Current subscribers to PAIS International in Print will find this list printed in the front of the 1992 annual volume mailed in March 1993. This publication will be distributed at conferences at which PAIS exhibits. Copies can be requested by writing to PAIS--Public Affairs Information Service, 521 West 43rd St., New York NY 10036-4396, Attention: Mrs. Saladin. + Page 5 + DYNIX PRESENTS "EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION" AWARD The recipient of the 1993 Dynix "Excellence in Information" award is the Portland Public School District's Educational Media Department for its creation of "PL Super Service: Topical Bibliographies", a program to develop and distribute topical bibliographies from its professional library. Developed by Samuel R. Skopp and Connie Stanton, the program generates on- demand bibliographies by searching the Dynix Scholar system and ERIC. The bibliographies are created using Pro-Cite and Biblio- Link software. Dynix's "Excellence in Information" award was initiated to acknowledge efforts by Dynix clients to keep their patrons educated and informed. KSU EXPANDS ACCESS WITH INFOSHARE Kansas State University will install NOTIS System's InfoShare, the first commercially available database server to fully integrate the Z39.50 communication protocol, in its central library and four branches. InfoShare uses the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol and runs under the TCP/IP standard on the Internet. After the KSU libraries implement InfoShare, patrons will be able to perform multiple searches through a single terminal interface that can access the OPAC and other databases. Faculty and students will be able to access these resources via the campus network from a variety of locations. For additional information, contact Linda Sullivan, NOTIS, 708- 866-4917. BIOSIS PREVIEWS AND BIP AVAILABLE WITH NOTIS Libraries can expand patron searches with two additional databases now supported by the NOTIS Systems database access systems. Access to BIOSIS Previews, the world's most comprehensive bibliographic database for the life science community, and Books in Print, an online source of available books, is now available with NOTIS InfoShare and Multiple Database Access System (MDAS). + Page 6 + InfoShare is a Z39.50-compliant server that allows NOTIS and non- NOTIS sites to load databases, including full-text, on a UNIX- based platform. Databases are delivered pre-indexed, making the loading process simple. MDAS, which is also designed according to the client/server architecture, enables libraries to load abstract and citation databases on the same hardware platform as the NOTIS OPAC. For additional information, contact Linda Sullivan, NOTIS, 708- 866-4917. AIDSLINE NOW AVAILABLE VIA PAPERCHASE AIDSLINE, the National Library of Medicine's database of clinical, research, and health care policy information on AIDS, is now available via PaperChase. AIDSLINE contains 77,000 references selected from 4,000 sources. References found in AIDSLINE are taken from a variety of NLM databases, including MEDLINE, Health Planning and Administration (HEALTH), CANCERLIT, CATLINE, and AVLINE. Also included are meeting abstracts from the Fifth through the Eighth International Conferences on AIDS, the 90th and the 91st Symposia on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS, and, when appropriate, the 1990 and 1991 annual meetings of the American Society for Microbiology. PaperChase combines all references from all years of MEDLINE, HEALTH, and AIDSLINE into a single database. Duplicate references are shown to the searcher only once. Searching the three databases simultaneously offers savings in both time and costs. The search may be limited to a single database if needed. PaperChase is a service of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, a major teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School. Designed by physicians, PaperChase allows the searcher access to MEDLINE, HEALTH, and AIDSLINE without the need to know either Medical Subject Headings or a search language. PaperChase offers a variety of options to hospitals, departments, and individuals who wish to set up accounts. There is no subscription fee or minimum monthly charge. For additional information, contact Rick Lawson, Director of User Services, PaperChase, 800-722-2075 or 617-278-3900. + Page 7 + BIBLIOFILE PAC/DRA INTERFACE AVAILABLE The Library Corporation has installed an interface that links its BiblioFile Public Access Catalog with Data Research Associates' circulation system. The new interface allows patrons to view an item's circulation status from within the BiblioFile PAC. The Beta test site is a branch of the Queens Borough Public Library in Jamaica NY. For additional information, contact Thomas Loy, 800-624-0559. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News is an electronic newsletter that is distributed on BITNET, Internet, and other computer networks. There is no subscription fee. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 (BITNET) or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU (Internet) that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-P First Name Last Name. PACS-P subscribers also receive two other electronic serials: Current Cites and The Public-Access Computer Systems Review. Public-Access Computer Systems News is Copyright (C) 1993 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. 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