+ Page 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 6, Number 1 (1995) ISSN 1050-6004 Editors: Linda Thompson (LIB1J@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU) and Ann Thornton (AThornton@UH.EDU). Issued on an irregular basis by University Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2091. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS UMI ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR THE LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY AWARD, 1 COMING SOON: ABI/INFORM ON NEXIS, 2 R.R. BOWKER IN AGREEMENT WITH MUZE, INC., TO OFFER BOOKS IN PRINT DATABASE IN BOOKSTORE KIOSKS NATIONWIDE, 2 VTLS AUTOMATES TWO LIBRARIES IN KUWAIT WITH UNIX VERSION OF SOFTWARE, 3 RESEARCH INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES REFERENCE MANAGER VERSION FRANCAISE, 4 INTERNET ON-RAMP DESIGNED FOR LIBRARIES, 4 UMI ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR THE LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY AWARD UMI is now accepting nominations for the Library Technology Award. Established in 1991 in cooperation with Learned Information, Inc., the award honors a librarian who has used technology to better serve library patrons. Last year's winner was Randal Putnam, Systems Operator and Librarian at the Washoe County Library in Reno, Nevada. He established an electronic bulletin board system for the Reno-Sparks area to provide community access to the library catalog, the Internet, White House press releases, and public domain files. Mr. Putnam will serve as the judge for the 1995 Award. The winner will receive $1,500, which will be presented in May at the National Online Meeting in New York. + Page 2 + To nominate a librarian, you do not need a special entry form. Just write a 1-2 page essay that includes the name of the librarian, where he or she works, and a brief description of his or her accomplishments. (If you are a librarian, you may nominate yourself.) Any technology is eligible if it was established in 1994 and directly benefits public, academic, or corporate library patrons. Entries must be postmarked by March 31, 1995, and mailed to the following address: UMI Library Technology Award, Attn: Thomas Pack, 620 South Third St., Louisville, KY, 40202-2475. COMING SOON: ABI/INFORM ON NEXIS UMI announced that ABI/INFORM will be available in 1995 as an individual file and as part of appropriate NEXIS group files. ABI/INFORM offers nearly a million records for articles published in more than 1,000 business journals. Abstract-and-indexing coverage dates from 1971. Online full-text coverage dates from 1991 for selected publications. Currently, more than 500 sources are available in full-text format. For a free ABI/INFORM search help, call UMI at (800) 626-2823 (U.S. and Canada) or (502) 583-4111. Press 5 twice to reach the help desk. For more information about NEXIS, call (800) 543-6862 (U.S. and Canada). R.R. BOWKER IN AGREEMENT WITH MUZE, INC., TO OFFER BOOKS IN PRINT DATABASE IN BOOKSTORE KIOSKS NATIONWIDE Reed Reference Publishing announced that it has reached an agreement with Muze, Inc., to offer the company's R.R. Bowker Books in Print database at patron kiosks in bookstores nationwide. Early this year, bookstore patrons will be able to use a kiosk to access information on any of over 1.2 million in-print books through Bowker's Books in Print database. In a user-friendly environment, they will be able to call up all available titles by topic and conduct searches by any word in any entry in the database. Customers will be able to look up information in a variety of ways by selecting author, title, or publisher. Muze, Inc., is currently serving music retailers, consumers, and the recording industry through its MUZE kiosk that offers a computerized database of over 100,000 available recordings and which has been installed in Tower Records, The Wall, Spec's, Borders, and many other major music store chains. The company is expanding its information kiosk concept to include video and other entertainment fields. For more information, contact Joan Silinsh at (908) 665-2818. + Page 3 + VTLS AUTOMATES TWO LIBRARIES IN KUWAIT WITH UNIX VERSION OF SOFTWARE VTLS, Inc., announced that Kuwait University and the National Scientific and Technical Information Center (NSTIC) of Kuwait have chosen the UNIX-based VTLS integrated library automation software to automate their libraries. At Kuwait University the system will run on a Hewlett-Packard Series 9000/800 Model G-40 computer, which supports 69 microcomputers, 14 of which will be for public access. At the NSTIC the system is already installed and running on an IBM RISC System/6000 Model 550 computer that supports 18 microcomputers, five of which are for public access. Both systems support Arabic and English via the Windows-based VTLS EasyPAC, a client interface to the online public access catalog. The basic VTLS software package consists of the online public access catalog, circulation control, keyword searching, cataloging, authority control, serials control, reserve room control, reporting and collection management, status monitoring, and parameters and library profiling. In addition to the basic system, Kuwait University is installing the following optional subsystems and microcomputer-based products: acquisitions and fund accounting, document delivery, inventory control, journal indexing, materials booking, UTLAS interface, VTLS Cataloging Client, and VTLS InfoStation. With an annual circulation of 113,684, the university libraries house 164,206 volumes, 52 percent of which are non-Arabic books, and 4,512 periodicals, 82 percent of which are non-Arabic. Kuwait University is the only national university in the country that is supported by the government. In addition to the basic system, the National Scientific and Technical Information Center has installed the following optional software: acquisitions and fund accounting, journal indexing, locally mounted database secondary account, and VTLS InfoStation. Before the invasion of Kuwait, NSTIC housed 50,000 book titles, 1,300 journal titles, 3,000 technical reports, and 300,000 reports on microfiche. Today, the library houses only 5,800 book titles, 757 journal titles, and 2,300 cataloged technical reports, but the collection is growing. The library serves 1,200 patrons and has an annual circulation of 5,000. The NSTIC is a major library in Kuwait and can be accessed by 400 microcomputers used by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. For more information, contact Gail Gulbenkian, (703) 231-3605. + Page 4 + RESEARCH INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES REFERENCE MANAGER VERSION FRANCAISE Research Information Systems has announced that Reference Manager for Windows is now available in the French edition. Reference Manager is Research Information Systems' popular bibliographic database management program used by tens of thousands of researchers and scientists world-wide. Reference Manager Version Francaise is complete with French language written documentation and on-line help. Special introductory pricing is available. For more information, contact Bilaney Consultants, Schirmerstrasse 23, 40211 Dusseldorf 1, Germany. Phone: 49-211-35-7242; Fax: 49-211-164-9177. INTERNET ON-RAMP DESIGNED FOR LIBRARIES CARL Corporation has announced the availability of its new Gateway Server product, a pre-packaged, seamless on-ramp to the Internet designed especially for libraries. The Gateway Server is a Unix workstation with prepackaged software, designed to provide a front-end to any existing hardware platform, local area network, or mainframe computer. The server acts as a pathway to and from the Internet, providing World Wide Web access, Internet electronic mail capabilities, Gopher search and retrieval, Telnet, FTP, WAIS, and Z39.50 data transfer services. CARL Corporation has carefully selected packages included with the Gateway Server to meet known library needs; for example, a terminal emulation package is included to insure that any library terminal or PC using the Gateway Server can emulate a VT100 or a variety of other terminal types required by Internet hosts. The product has been designed to serve any library, not just those using a CARL system. CARL Corporation offers a full array of additional services, including set-up, support, and network administration. For more information about the Gateway Server of other services from CARL Corporation, contact Dodie Ownes, Marketing Coordinator, at (303) 758-3030, ext. 154; E-mail: downes@carl.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. + Page 5 + 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. 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