Computers in Libraries
Vol. 20, No. 2 • February 2000
Newsline



Ameritech Library Services Is Now Epixtech
Epixtech, inc., formerly Ameritech Library Services (ALS), has announced its new corporate identity. The change came about when Ameritech Corp., ALS’s parent company, was acquired by SBC Communications, Inc. Company veteran and ALS president Lana Porter secured long-term financing from 21st Century Group, LLC and Green Leaf Ridge Co., LLC in order for ALS to become a privately held company, now called epixtech.

Epixtech will continue to provide existing products and services while offering avenues of support to libraries with its newly developed Web-based solutions and services. According to the announcement, while continuing to focus its efforts on automation solutions, epixtech will now explore emerging Web-based trends by establishing a new model for Web services. The company will retain its present headquarters in Provo, Utah.

Source: epixtech, inc., Provo, UT, 800/288-8020; Fax: 801/223-5202; http://www.epixtech.com.



SLA Creates Asian Chapter, Announces Global Information Conference in the U.K.
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has announced the creation of its 57th chapter. The new Asian Chapter will encompass the nations/regions of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries/regions were formerly within the boundaries of the Hawaiian-Pacific Chapter.

In other news from SLA, Global 2000—The Worldwide Conference on Special Librarianship, is scheduled to begin on October 20, 2000 in Brighton, England. The conference, themed “The Information Age: Challenges and Opportunities,” will focus on the changes in information management due to digital technologies and the barriers that inhibit the flow of information in the digital age. According to SLA, the attendees will represent the entire spectrum of the global information community, from government and academia to virtually every sector of the business world.

Global 2000 will feature a variety of subject-oriented discussions, keynote presentations, and professional learning opportunities. The full registration is $525, which includes courses, breaks, and several meal functions.

Source: Special Libraries Association, Washington, DC, 202/234-4700; Fax: 202/265-9317; http://www.sla.org.



EOS Releases Report Writer for Q Series
Electronic Online Systems (EOS) International has announced the release of Report Writer for its Q Series library information management and access system. The Q Series Report Writer includes a single-user licensed copy of Seagate Software’s Crystal Reports, as well as a complete, detailed manual of tables, columns, and descriptors of the Q Series data fields. Libraries will be able to produce their own custom reports in addition to the many standard reports already provided in the Q Series system.

The Report Writer user manual has been designed to assist Q Series users in extracting field-level information from the Q Series database. It also includes a list of the existing Q Series reports that can be used as templates for creating custom reports.

Source: EOS International, Carlsbad, CA, 800/876-5484, 760/431-8400; http://www.eosintl.com.



SIRS Mandarin Introduces Visual Catalog
SIRS Mandarin, Inc. has announced Visual Catalog, a new graphical interface that will be added to the Standard and Enhanced Search interfaces for the SIRS Mandarin M3 Library Automation System. Visual Catalog allows patrons to perform searches with visual cues as well as with text. Pre-configured queries are organized into a hierarchy of topics and subtopics that employ graphics, sound, and text.

SIRS says that with this new interface, patrons can easily launch software applications, link to the Internet, or explore a library’s resources without defining search criteria or worrying about exact spelling. Queries, graphics, sound, animation, captions, and descriptions can be easily modified with this fully customizable interface.

Source: SIRS Mandarin, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 800/232-7477, 561/994-0079; Fax: 561/994-4704; http://www.sirs.com.



EBSCO Improves Features for Customers
EBSCO Publishing has announced that it has released an enhanced version of EBSCOadmin, the administrative component to its online search service. EBSCOadmin 3.2 offers improved reports with a “locals only” feature; reports generated by data range and specific time periods; authentication capability for Athens Access Management; and several other features, such as choosing to allow for persistent links, ILS linking, and additional softlinking, which will be available with the deployment of EBSCOhost Web 3.2 and EBSCOhost Web 4.0. EBSCO reports that it plans to release upgraded versions of EBSCOhost in the coming months.

In other news from EBSCO Publishing, the company says that it is restructuring some of its editorial procedures and enhancing quality assurance in order to more efficiently and quickly deliver information to its customers. The greatest change is in the company’s procedures involving the processing of Adobe PDF content. Under the new system, EBSCO will process and deliver the PDF content of many titles in just 1 day.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726, 978/356-6500; http://www.epnet.com.



Database Offerings

SIRS Updates and Premieres Databases
SIRS Mandarin, Inc. has announced the addition of two content databases to SIRS Researcher and SIRS Discoverer Deluxe. Campaign 2000 provides a wide variety of full-text articles covering the upcoming primary and general elections, and includes articles profiling the candidates vying for the presidency. Articles in this cumulative database are highly current, enabling users to track campaign developments.

The SIRS Discoverer database for kids will expand its offering of comprehensive reference information with the addition of Current Events, a content database containing full-text articles and graphics with timely information about domestic and international events. Current Events is updated daily, and articles remain in the database for 30 days.

Source: SIRS Mandarin, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 800/232-7477, 561/994-0079; Fax: 561/994-4704; http://www.sirs.com.



ISI Releases Current Contents Connect Version 1.5 and New Chemistry Databases
The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) has announced the release of version 1.5 of Current Contents Connect for sitewide Internet customers. The new version will give users the ability to set up and manage alerts that will run against the Current Contents data. Once a week the results are automatically forwarded to a specified e-mail address.

ISI has also announced the release of version 2.0 of ISI Chemistry Server that allows cross-file searching of Reaction Center and the new Compound Center database. The addition of Compound Center increases the utility of ISI Chemistry Server by including structure diagrams and other crucial information on more than 650,000 organic compounds. The database is updated monthly with more than 16,000 new compounds. ISI recently integrated nearly 150 years of additional synthetic chemistry to Reaction Center. The additional information is being provided by the Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle (INPI) and makes the Rxn: Core Reactions database an integrated component of Reaction Center on ISI Chemistry Server.

Source: Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, 800/336-4474, 215/386-0100; Fax: 215/386-2911; http://www.isinet.com.



EBSCO Publishing Adds AGRICOLA to Its Collection of Licensed Databases
EBSCO Publishing has announced the addition of AGRICOLA to its list of licensed databases available via EBSCOhost. Compiled by the U.S. National Agricultural Library (NAL), AGRICOLA encompasses all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines and consists of over 3.6 million citations to journal articles, monographs, theses, patents, software, audiovisual materials, and technical reports. AGRICOLA covers materials that have been input into the database from 1970 to the present. This spring, libraries that subscribe to Academic Search Elite will have access to 31 full-text journals covered in AGRICOLA at no additional charge.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726, 978/356-6500; http://www.epnet.com.



R.R. Bowker Launches Ulrichsweb.com
R.R. Bowker has announced its launch of ulrichsweb.com, a new fee-based Web site delivering platform-independent, universal access to its serials database, Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory.

According to Bowker, ulrichsweb.com couples an extensive range of data with equally powerful indexing, searching, and browsing capabilities. Users can pinpoint specific journals or conduct broad-based subject or publisher surveys by blending up to 24 different criteria, including title, publisher, editor, subject, format, document type, refereed status, keyword, and more. This service feature hotlinks with all the URLs and e-mail addresses cited in the database. Ulrich’s network includes 80,000 commercial, academic, and professional publishers in 200 countries around the world. Also available are 7,800 objective evaluations from two serials review sources: Library Journal and Magazines for Libraries.

Source: R.R. Bowker, New Providence, NJ, 888/269-5372; Fax: 908/771-8784; http://www.bowker.com.



SilverPlatter to Offer EMBASE EBM
SilverPlatter Information, Inc. has announced that it will soon be offering the EMBASE Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) database. This database is a subset of the EMBASE database from Elsevier Science.

EMBASE is a comprehensive pharmacological and biomedical database for extensive indexing of drug information. The new EBM product, according to SilverPlatter, is designed to meet the needs of those who need access to proven clinical information to be used in treating patients and diagnosing ailments. EMBASE EBM will allow researchers and clinicians to formulate a clean clinical question from a patient’s problem; search the literature for relevant clinical articles; evaluate the evidence; and implement useful findings in clinical practice. The database, which is only available from SilverPlatter, will be updated quarterly, and includes more than 400,000 records from journals, papers, presentations, and conference proceedings from around the world.

Source: SilverPlatter Information, Inc., Norwood, MA, 800/343-0064, 781/769-2599; http://www.silverplatter.com.



Linking Agreements

Aries Systems’ Knowledge Finder Provides Links to Biomedical Journals
Aries Systems Corp. has announced an agreement with Academic Press for electronic content linking. The agreement will enable users of Knowledge Finder bibliographic databases on the Web to link directly from their search results to the appropriate full-content journal articles in Academic Press’ IDEAL full-text electronic journal library. IDEAL (International Digital Electronic Access Library) provides access to more than 250 full-content journals on the Internet.

Source: Aries Systems Corp., North Andover, MA, 978/975-7570; Fax: 978/975-3811; http://www.kfinder.com.



IOPP and AIP Announce Their New Reference-Linking Collaboration
Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) have announced a collaboration allowing reference linking between their respective electronic products and services. Users of IOPP’s Axiom and Electronic Journals Service and AIP’s Online Journal Publishing Service (OJPS) can now link seamlessly to the primary data of each publisher. In addition to AIP journals, bidirectional links to and from IOPP are available in the titles of other societies that publish on AIP’s OJPS platform. These include the American Vacuum Society, the Acoustical Society of America, SPIE–the International Society for Optical Engineering, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and MAIK Nauka, the publishing arm of the Russian Academy of Science. By collaborating and using their respective linking protocols, both AIP and IOPP have made it easier for scientists to move among reference citations, abstracts, and full-text articles published on the Web.

Source: Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, U.K., 011-44-117-929-7481; Fax: 011-44-117-929-4318; http://www.ioppublishing.co.uk.



Academic Press Collaborates in New Scholarly Journal Reference-Linking Service
Academic Press has announced that it is part of a collaboration of 12 leading scientific and scholarly publishers in a market-driven reference-linking initiative that aims to change the way scientists use the Internet to conduct online research. The organizations involved in the collaboration are Academic Press, American Association for the Advancement of Science (the publisher of Science), American Institute of Physics (AIP), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Blackwell Science, Elsevier Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Nature, Oxford University Press, Springer-Verlag, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. It is expected to launch sometime this quarter.

According to Academic Press, researchers will be able to move easily from a reference in a journal article to the content of a cited journal article, typically located on a different server and issued by a different publisher. At the outset, approximately 3 million articles across thousands of journals will be linked through this service, and more than half a million more articles will be linked each year thereafter.

Each publisher will set its own access standards, determining what content is available to the researcher following a link (such as access to the abstract or to the full text of an article, by subscription, document delivery, pay-per-view, etc.).

Source: Academic Press, San Diego, 619/699-6233; Fax: 619/699-6380; http://www.academicpress.com.



Education Resources

Winnebago Web Resource Library Integrates the Web into the Curriculum
Winnebago Software Co. has announced the availability of the Winnebago Web Resource Library, a subscription service providing an up-to-date cataloged database of educational Web sites. The Web Resource Library provides access through the Spectrum online catalog. The sites cover curriculum areas including science, math, language arts, social studies, geography, and the arts. Each Web site’s record contains the URL, multiple subject entries, title, author (if available), a complete notes field, curriculum topics, and age-level information. The Web Resource Library will initially contain more than 1,500 Web sites. Quarterly updates will include more than 1,000 new educational sites and will ensure that the previously cataloged sites are still active and relevant to the curriculum.

Source: Winnebago Software Co., Caledonia, MN, 800/533-5430; Fax: 507/724-2301; http://www.winnebago.com.



Sagebrush’s Ednow.com Offers One-Stop K-12 Education Resource
Sagebrush Corp. has announced the launch of Ednow.com, an Internet portal designed to serve as an online education center exclusively for K-12 teachers, librarians, administrators, and other education professionals.

Ednow.com gives educators access to current education news and trends, lesson plans, curriculum tips, book reviews, and more. It also provides links to industry-specific press releases, trade shows, and a variety of education resources, such as magazines, education associations, and suppliers. The portal also offers search tools for books, software, and videos; an online encyclopedia and dictionary; and free discussion groups that enable educators to share ideas.

Source: Sagebrush Corp., Burnsville, MN, 888/753-7243, 612/890-5484; http://www.sagebrush-corp.com.



Online Resources

CatchWord Adds Scholarly Journals and Databases to Its Online Service
CatchWord has announced an agreement with Brill Academic Publishers to put five of its biology journals online, starting with the 1999 issues. The titles include Amphibia-Reptilia, Behaviour, Crustaceana, Netherlands Journal of Zoology, and Nematology.

CatchWord also will make available Addiction Abstracts Online, published by Carfax Publishing, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. This abstracting resource is the third from Taylor & Francis to be made available via CatchWord.

There are currently over 2,400 abstracts from over 150 journals in the database, and updates will be supplied to CatchWord on a regular basis.

Source: CatchWord, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, U.K., 011-44-123-555-5877; Fax: 011-44-123-5536-5000; http://www.catchword.com.



EBSCO Posts Its Journal Publisher List
EBSCO Subscription Services has announced that visitors to its Web site can now view a list of publishers and titles available through EBSCO Online, its electronic journal service. The list has always been available from within the service; now it is accessible without a user name and password.

Users can access the list by clicking Electronic Journals and then Complete List of EBSCO Online Journals. It is also available on the EBSCO Online login page. The list is generated dynamically—as new publishers and titles are added to the service, they are automatically added to the list. Users can sort and filter the list in various ways, then print it or import it into spreadsheet software.

Source: EBSCO Subscription Services, Birmingham, AL, 205/991-1368; http://www.ebsco.com.



Grolier Offers Spanish Online Encyclopedia
Grolier Educational has announced Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre en línea, a full-featured, Spanish-language online reference source, and, according to Grolier, the only Spanish-language encyclopedia built from the ground up with a Latin American perspective.

Cumbre en línea features a clear, simple user interface and help screens; more than 15,000 articles; 7,500 illustrations, fact boxes, tables, maps, and flags; thousands of pre-screened links to sites related to articles in the encyclopedia; and over 15,000 Web links to the encyclopedia’s articles, all with titles and brief annotations in Spanish. Individual articles are updated quarterly.

Source: Grolier Educational, Bethel, CT, 203/797-3500; http://www.grolier.com.



R.R. Bowker Starts ‘Yours for the Asking’
R.R. Bowker has announced the launch of its new Yours for the Asking service, which points librarians and patrons to sources of information.

The company says it has developed Yours for the Asking as part of its ongoing effort to build a stronger community with librarians. Every month, the service will list a completely new selection of Web sites, posters, pamphlets, handouts, hotlines, graphics, clip art, and government documents that are available free or at minimal cost. These resources, chosen from a diverse spectrum of reputable sources, should be of interest to both librarians and library patrons. Yours for the Asking can be found at http://www.bowker.com/main/cgi-bin/yfta.

Source: R.R. Bowker, New Providence, NJ, 888/269-5372; Fax: 908/771-8784; http://www.bowker.com.



New Books

O’Reilly Publishes a New Guide to Samba
O’Reilly & Associates has announced the release of Using Samba by Robert Eckstein, David Collier-Brown, and Peter Kelly (ISBN: 1-56592-449-5; $34.95). Samba turns a UNIX or Linux system into a file-and-print server for Microsoft Windows network clients. Users may store their files in a single place for easy sharing and backup, protected by UNIX or NT security mechanisms. Samba is proving to be a necessity for many organizations that have an existing UNIX or Linux system and want to tie in PCs running Microsoft software. Samba is also Open Source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Using Samba provides examples and covers troubleshooting, security, connectivity, performance, and logging.

Source: O’Reilly & Associates, Sebastopol, CA, 800/998-9938, 707/829-0515; http://www.oreilly.com.



Omnigraphics Releases New Edition of Its Web Site Source Book for 2000
Omnigraphics has announced the availability of its new Web Site Source Book, 2000 edition (ISBN: 0-7808-0344-2, 1,950 p., $115). This new edition contains more than 59,000 listings, an increase of 50 percent over the previous edition. It features expanded coverage of online sites and services, from advertising to sports. The updated entries furnish complete contact information and are presented both alphabetically by name and in a classified subject arrangement. Listings include major U.S. businesses, organizations, agencies, and institutions with their respective Web site addresses, complete mailing addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

Source: Omnigraphics, Detroit, 800/234-1340; Fax: 800/875-1340; http://www.omnigraphics.com.



Libraries Unlimited Releases New Library and Information Science Titles
Libraries Unlimited has announced the release of two new titles of interest to librarians:

Library and Information Science Annual 1999, edited by Bohdan S. Wynar (ISBN: 1-56308-785-5, $65), tracks developments in the library and information science field, from technology advances and heated debates to the profound transformations of the role of professionals in the field. With 588 in-depth evaluative reviews of English-language library and information science literature, an annotated listing of 87 doctoral dissertations in the LIS field, and essays written by some of the profession’s most respected leaders, Libraries Unlimited says this book offers insights and information unavailable in other sources.

Learning and Libraries in an Information Age: Principles and Practice, edited by Barbara K. Stripling (ISBN: 1-56308-666-2, $35), allows readers to explore the structure and theory behind the learning-centered library for the new millennium, where information literacy is an integral component of the instructional program. Blending the latest research and educational theory with sound and effective practices, all discussions in this new collection uphold student achievement as the bottom line.

Emphasizing the dynamic interaction between principles and practice, the book’s six sections examine principles and implementation strategies for the promotion of student learning. Topics addressed include learning methods, collaborative planning and teaching, the specifics of the library media program, involving the community, and research connections, including Web tips.

Source: Libraries Unlimited, Englewood, CO, 800/237-6124; http://www.lu.com.



ALA Editions Releases New Book on Intellectual Freedom and Internet Policies
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced that its new resource will help librarians in developing and communicating policies on Internet use. Barbara A. Jones’ Libraries, Access, and Intellectual Freedom: Developing Policies for Public and Academic Libraries (ISBN: 0-8389-0761-X, $40), published by ALA Editions, offers key resources librarians need to draft, implement, communicate, and defend effective policies. According to the announcement, librarians will learn how to utilize local and national policymaking resources; gain awareness of existing law and legal processes; navigate the administrative structure of library systems; approach, analyze, and respond to problems appropriately; write and communicate clear, effective policies; and build widespread support for policies and standards.

Source: American Library Association, Chicago, 800/545-2433; http://www.ala.org.



Resources on CD

DeLorme Introduces Its New 3-D TopoQuads CD-ROM Map Resource
DeLorme has announced the introduction of its 3-D TopoQuads, mapping software designed for use by anyone, but especially helpful to the information professional who needs detailed topographic maps of any location in the U.S. Features include 3-D modeling of areas; land cover, from swamplands to forest to desert; draw tools, allowing for area and distance measurement and the addition of symbols, lines, polygons, and MapNotes; GPS and hand-held computer compatibility; and the ability to print out as many maps as needed.

3-D TopoQuads provides integration of the USGS series of 7.5-minute quad maps, providing seamless mapping of each state in the U.S. Each CD-ROM features 17 different levels of map detail at a scale of 1:24,000, as well as 80 detail levels of data from DeLorme’s topographic and street-level mapping database.

The product is being sold on a state-by-state basis, with the exception of California and Texas, which will be separated into several sections each.
Source: DeLorme, Yarmouth, ME, 207/846-7000; Fax: 207/846-7050; http://www.delorme.com.



Grolier Educational Launches School Edition of 2000 Multimedia Encyclopedia
Grolier Interactive, Inc. has announced the release of a school edition of its 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, complemented by an all-new 125-page Teacher’s Guide.

The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia School Edition CD-ROM contains over 37,000 authoritative, timely articles with 6,000 new and revised entries. Highlights of the product include a 250,000-word dictionary, 1,200 maps, 14 hours of sound, 7,000 images, and more than 150 videos. New features this year include the curriculum-based Research Starters to help students with their research assignments, and a Millennium Feature that traces and elucidates 1,000 years of the most important developments of world history. The title also includes the proprietary Grolier Internet Index, which provides more than 26,000 article-to-Internet links.

Source: Grolier Interactive, Inc., Danbury, CT, 203/797-3530; Fax: 203-797-3835; http://www.grolier.com.



New British National Bibliography CD
Reed Technology and Information Services, Inc. is working with The British Library to develop its next-generation British National Bibliography (BNB)—the national record of publishing for the U.K. since 1950—on CD-ROM. According to the announcement, new features will include embedded Web browser technology, the ability to link to publisher and other Web sites from the records, a Quick Search feature on every screen, drag-and-drop functionality to build complex searches easily, full-featured Search History functionality, definable search filters, and easily ordered results lists.

The BNB CD-ROM will include over 1.7 million records for books and the first issues of serials; records cataloged to the international standards; Dewey class numbers and other subject information; advance notice of 40,000 forthcoming titles per year under the Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) program; and in-depth coverage of publishing in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Source: Reed Technology and Information Services, Inc., Horsham, PA, 215/682-5000; http://www.reedtech.com.



ABC-CLIO Interactive Launches New 19th-Century History CD-ROM
ABC-CLIO Interactive has announced the release of its ResourceLink: 19th-Century World History CD-ROM, which provides researchers with access to nearly 15,000 primary-source visual and textual materials. The curriculum-based CD allows students, teachers, and librarians access to landmark legislation, speeches, illustrations, photographs, political cartoons, statistical tables, maps, flags, documents, biographies, quotes, glossary terms, statistics, and more. The CD also features resources such as the complete text of the Communist Manifesto.

Source: ABC-CLIO Interactive, Santa Barbara, CA, 805/968-1911; http://www.abc-clio.com.



Project

SOLINET Is Awarded $152,000 IMLS Grant
SOLINET, the Southeastern Library Network, has announced that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded it a grant of $152,034 to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of a continuing education institute to develop and enhance leadership among staff of statewide and multi-type library consortia.

According to the announcement, the institute will teach librarians critical skills needed to provide leadership, guidance, planning, financial assistance, resource sharing, technical expertise, problem solving, and consulting to their constituent libraries and organizations. It will also serve as a model for other organizations, states, and regions.

A grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) enabled SOLINET to plan the curriculum for the institute, with the assistance of representatives from a variety of statewide and multi-type consortia. The grant from IMLS supports a test of the curriculum through actual presentation and thorough evaluation.

Source: SOLINET, Atlanta, 800/999-8558, 404/892-0943; http://www.solinet.net.



NYPL Receives a Conservation Grant
The Barbara Goldsmith Conservation Laboratory of The New York Public Library’s Research Libraries has received a grant of $40,000 from the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) to create two multimedia resources for training people to conserve endangered paper artifacts. Through distribution in various formats—as a site on the Web, on CD-ROM, and in full-motion DVD digital video—the training materials will depict selected basic and advanced techniques for the examination, analysis, and treatment of books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, photographs, and other paper-based forms. The two productions funded through this grant will address both basic analysis and documentation of paper and microanalytical testing.

The multimedia productions will draw on the expertise of The New York Public Library’s in-house conservators, as well as that of consultants in chemistry and forensic science. The training materials will use graphic examples and illustrations, including digitized still images and video clips to present case studies.

Source: The New York Public Library, New York, 212/221-7676; Fax: 212/768-7439; http://www.nypl.org.



Hardware

TenXpert Lowers NetStor Product Prices
TenXpert Technologies, Inc. has announced new, lower pricing and additional models of its NetStor CD/DVD Storage Appliance products offering up to 70 typical CDs of online, hard disk storage.

The new NetStor-LT offers 36 GB of online, hard disk storage for CD and DVD discs, at a new price of $3,995, a 20-percent reduction from previous similar models. The LT series is a TenXpert-1 Network CD/DVD, NT, Novell, and UNIX server with several disc sizes, bundled with a 6x DVD, 32x CD-ROM drive.

According to the announcement, TenXpert is the only CD/DVD server that supports towers, recording, and the major brands of jukeboxes up to 600 CDs, including Cygnet, Plasmon, Pioneer, NSM, JVC, DISC, Plextor, and Sony.

Source: TenXpert Technologies, Inc., Austin, TX, 877/633-3434; http://www.tenxpert.com.



JVC Introduces New Jukebox Models
JVC Professional Computer Products Division has announced the availability of the MC-7000 Series of DVD-RAM Libraries, or storage disc jukeboxes. The new MC-7000 Series consists of three models having 260 gigabytes (100 discs), 520 gigabytes (200 discs), and 1.6 terabytes (600 discs) of data storage capability.

JVC’s DVD-RAM Libraries are targeted for a wide variety of professional applications requiring backup of images and audio and video recordings. The models feature 50-disc removable magazines, 1x DVD-RAM drives and SCSI-2 interface, and can support up to six drives. Depending on the model, the disc loading time varies from 2.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds. The MC-7000 Series was designed with features including airtight enclosures, disc transport on trays, MTBF of 2.5 million cycles, and support for local/remote diagnostics via RS-232C port.

Available immediately, the MC-7000 Series has a starting price of $14,495.

Source: JVC Professional Computer Products Division, Cypress, CA, 800/488-4353; http://www.jvc.com.



Electronic Specialists’ Product Line Expanded to Include Connector Protection
Electronic Specialists, Inc. has announced that its product line now includes RS-232 and RS-485 Bus protection. Data and equipment security can be provided in Laboratory or Industrial grade for various connector styles and pin-outs to accommodate virtually any system configuration.

Intended to suppress damaging data Bus spikes from lightning, spherics, or large electrical machinery transients, Laboratory Grade and Industrial Grade RS-232 and RS-485 Bus protectors also incorporate common mode RFI suppression to reduce transmission error.

Prices start at $60, depending on connector, pin-out, and grade.

Source: Electronic Specialists, Inc., Natick, MA, 800/225-4876; Fax: 508/653-0268; http://www.elect-spec.com.



Conference Info

PLA’s Conference Information Is Available
The Public Library Association (PLA) has announced its eighth annual conference, PLA 2000, to be held March 28-April 1, 2000 in Charlotte, North Carolina. More than 100 continuing-education programs will be offered.

Conference participants will be able to build personalized schedules using program tracks that cover several areas of specialization. Tracks include administration, adult services, authors/collection management, buildings, children’s services, marketing/customer services, special population, staffing and staff development, technology, trustees/friends/volunteers/advocacy, and young adult services.

Preliminary conference information, including registration forms, travel, and housing forms, are available at the PLA Web page or from the PLA office at 800/545-2433, ext. 5PLA.

Source: Public Library Association, Chicago, 800/545-2433; http://www.pla.org.



ACRL Invites 2001 Conference Proposals
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, has announced that it is inviting quality proposals for its 10th National Conference, “Crossing the Divide,” to be held March 15-18, 2001, in Denver. ACRL is seeking proposal submissions for contributed papers, panel sessions, workshops, poster sessions, pre-conferences, and round-table discussions. The full text of the Call for Participation is available on the ACRL National Conference Web site at http://www.ala.org/acrl/denver.html. Proposals and the completed proposal forms should be sent to the appropriate committee co-chair listed in the Call. The deadlines for proposal submissions are as follows: contributed papers, panel sessions, workshops, and pre-conferences—May 1, 2000; poster sessions—October 15, 2000; round-table discussions—December 1, 2000. Questions concerning the Call for Participation or the Denver conference should be directed to Margot Sutton at 800/545-2433, ext. 2522.

Source: Association of College and Research Libraries, Chicago, 800/545-2433; http://www.ala.org/acrl.


Technology

Gale’s ComputerSelect Web Adds Selected Giga Information Group Content
The Gale Group has announced that the new version 1.5 of its ComputerSelect Web (http://www.computer-select.com) adds selected Giga Information Group content plus 100 new publications, more than doubling the total number of titles provided by the subscription-based online technology resource. Version 1.5 features the ability to send alerts that deliver selected IT articles to users’ desktops, to export lists of IT company profiles, and to link articles and specifications by product categories. Users can also save searches and automatically receive the results on a regular basis.

Giga content accessible by ComputerSelect Web subscribers includes one-page, topic-specific briefs and longer reports that provide qualitative analysis on key e-business and information technology topics. Examples of the 100 new publications that have been added include America’s Network, CIO, Satellite Week, Web Techniques, Computer Telephony, Computers in Libraries, Multimedia Week, LAN Product News, Information Today, and UNIX Update.

Source: Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI, 800/877-GALE, 248/699-4253; http://www.galegroup.com.



Public Library Association’s ‘Tech Notes’ Are Now Available at http://www.pla.org
The Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has announced that it has released a series of 10 Web-based “Tech Notes.” The new series of mini Web publications provides technical information on issues affecting the planning, support, and delivery of public library services using contemporary computer technology. “Tech Notes” also supplement “Wired for the Future: Developing Your Library Technology Plan,” a recent PLA publication.

“Tech Notes,” conceived and produced by the PLA Technology Committee, were written by GraceAnne A. DeCandido, editorial and Web consultant and ALA council member. Current titles are “Digital Object Identifier (DOI): The Persistence of Memory,” “Intranets: The Web Inside,” “Metadata: Always More Than You Think,” “Video Teleconferencing: Here, There, and Everywhere,” “Electronic Statistics: Counting Crows,” “Wireless Networks: Unplugged, and Play,” “Push Technology: Pushed to the Brink,” “Digital Disaster Planning: When Bad Things Happen to Good Systems,” and “Filtering: No Easy Answers.”

Source: Public Library Association, Chicago, 800/545-2433; http://www.pla.org.


• Table of Contents Computers In Libraries Home Page