LIS510 lecture 11 Thomas Krichel

Historical part Technological progress is not new. Rubin starts with a useful historical overview. –he looks at the development of computers and networks in libraries –he looks at the development of the Internet, which largely happened outside libraries.

early technical advances Microphotography in the early 20 th century. –It allowed to photograph sheets of paper and allow to read them with a special device tremendous savings of storage cost hard to read photocopier, invented in the 1960s, was a great advance in libraries, but brought attacks from copyright holders.

computers in libraries most important application was in bibliographic data, with the development of the MARC record. OCLC became a significant organization that allowed libraries –to share MARC records –print catalog cards –interlibrary loan facilities –acquisition support.

networks in libraries They also appeared in the 60s. this allowed for online information retrieval, eventually In 1964 Lockheed developed the DIALOG system, offering online access to database –This system collects databases –It makes them away collectively or individually through a search interface –Access to DIALOG was limited to specialized staff.

CD-ROM This came along in the It could hold a lot of information. It did not need a network to be used, theoretically. In practice it was hard for two users to use the same CD-ROM without some kind of a network. It certainly did not need a remote network. At the time that was where much of the cost was.

integrated library system This is a local computer and network application that integrates –acquisition –serials –catalog maintenance –catalog access –circulation records –collection management These systems took a while to mature.

OPAC An OPAC is an online public access catalog. It’s a term coined by our very own Charles R. Hildreth. It allowed a user access to the library catalog via a computer terminal. No need to buy catalog cards and no need to file them. Modern ones have a web interface.

linked OPACs As more and more OPACs became open access from outside, there was more demand to search many of them at once. A special distributed searching protocol, Z39.50 was developed over many years. It is very complicated. There is no public domain software implementing it.

Internet Internet is not a physical network. It is as abstraction that allows different physical networks to work together and appear as one. Main facilities – –remote use of computers –file transfer –World Wide Web

Internet technology There are two basic standards –Internet protocol (IP) transfers packets of data between hosts. –Transmission control protocol (TCP) allows for a stream of communication to appear as if there was a connection. The basic theory of the Internet goes back to Paul Baran. Al Gore did not invent it. All the Internet boils down to is a set of technical standards.

It is the oldest Internet application It is also one of the most complex these days because –old protocols –never designed to deal with spam Not likely that you will get much involved with running an system

lists They are not called Listservs, as Rubin thinks. lists are very important information sources that are not readily found on the Web. Knowledge and expert usage of lists make a librarian shine. Unfortunately we don’t have time or mission to go through this here.

remote computer use & file transfer There are two common protocol –telnet for remote login and use –ftpfor file transfer Some older OPACs may be accessed with telnet But telnet and ftp are no longer used in private transaction because they are not secure ssh (aka secure shell) is a successor to ftp and telnet.

the Web The web is a medium that uses three standards –URI for addressing objects “on the web” –httpfor transferring these objects –HTML to build a hypertext system to build and navigate resources. Since we define the web as using this, some things may only use part of these standards, thus be “less webby”.

Web and libraries Libraries have become heavily involved in –building web site –buying access to toll-gated web sites –building resources that are indirectly available on the Web Web OPACs archives with machine interfaces It is important to know how the web works Take LIS650 and LIS651.

word wide web consortium The W3C is the standards making body of the Web, run by its inventor Tim Berners Lee. Some standards they have developed are good –HTML –XML Many others are over-engineered.

Digital libraries Nobody really knows what they are. Much of the LIS literature discussing digital libraries in fact addresses web sites. I like Bill Arms’ definition best. Digital libraries share the fact that –organized on computers –available over a network –maintain procedures to select∙ make available organize∙ archive

Web portal A portal can be understood as an interface on the web, that allows you to use a digital library. Portals can sometimes be personalized. Portals may be used as an intermediary for online reference services.

Internet2 This is not a new version of the Internet. It is set of technological devices that allow higher Internet speed. Currently available to privileged US institutions and some foreign partners.

technology and next generation libraries Rutenbeck has five challenges –malleability (information changes) –selectivity (people abandon print-only) –exclusivity (not everyone has access) –vulnerability (print assets are more vulnerable) see –superficiality (some rubbish is on the Internet)

digital preservation This is hugely complicated area keeping files is not a big deal as long as one avoids –proprietary formats –removable media but this issue of what to preserve is tough when the contents shows lack of fixity.

Please shut down the computers now. Thank you for your attention!