LIS510 lecture 11

Thomas Krichel

2006-12-06

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 20th 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 1980.

• 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– email– 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.

email

• 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 email system

email lists

• They are not called Listservs, as Rubin thinks.

• Email 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– ftp for 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”– http for 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 http://www.anna-amalia-bibliothek.de/– 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.

http://openlib.org/home/krichel

Please shut down the computers now.

Thank you for your attention!