+ Page 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------- Public-Access Computer Systems News Volume 4, Number 11 (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 OCLC CJK Plus Adds Pinyin-to-Wade-Giles Conversion Feature, 1 ARL/RLG ILL Report, 2 Two New Files Added to RLG's CitaDel Service, 3 Assistance Offered to Flood-Damaged Libraries, 4 EPIC Prices to be Standardized, 4 The COOK Report on Internet, 5 OCLC Awards Three Research Grants, 6 OCLC CJK PLUS ADDS PINYIN-TO-WADE-GILES CONVERSION FEATURE The OCLC CJK Plus system for cataloging materials written in the Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages can now convert automatically words and phrases from Pinyin, the recently developed Chinese romanization system, into the Wade-Giles Romanization system, which librarians have used since the 19th century for transliterating Chinese words into Roman characters. For example, books about the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the last imperial dynasty before the Republican Period, have titles and subject headings that spell the dynasty name "Ch'ing," according to the Wade-Giles system. Catalogers who use the Pinyin spelling ("Qing") have not been able to search online for items about this period because they are all listed as "Ch'ing." CJK Plus helps catalogers who are more familiar with the Pinyin system search for bibliographic records that have Wade-Giles romanizations in the OCLC Online Union Catalog. The system converts the Pinyin text to Wade-Giles text and formulates it into an OCLC search key. For example, the Pinyin search phrase for the Chinese Communist Party, Zhongguo gungchandang, is converted to its Wade-Giles equivalent, Chung-kuo kung ch'an tang. When the searcher clicks on "corporate name search," the search phrase is formulated into =chun,kun,c and the search is begun. + Page 2 + The new conversion capability was introduced at OCLC CJK Plus user meetings held at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting in Los Angeles in March 1993. OCLC based its conversion program on the Pinyin-to-Wade-Giles algorithm written by Karl K. Lo, head of the International Relations and Pacific Studies Library at the University of California, San Diego. The CJK Plus system, released in 1993, is the second generation of the CJK350 system, which OCLC introduced in 1987. CJK Plus displays machine-readable cataloging (MARC) records with author, title, and other fields written in both the transliterated Roman characters and in the language's actual characters. CJK Plus runs on a 486 microcomputer in the Microsoft Windows environment. Its powerful hardware and graphical user interface support the standard East Asian Character Code; five methods (including phonetic and graphic) of inputting CJK characters; efficient text editing (through COPY and PASTE commands); comprehensive user documentation (including workbook, template, input code dictionary, and online user manual); and the ability to print catalog cards at a local site or to export records to a local system. For additional information, contact Andrew Wang, 614-764-6188; or Nita Dean, 614-761-5002. ARL/RLG ILL REPORT The Association of Research Libraries and the Research Libraries Group have recently issued the findings of a joint project to determine the present costs of interlibrary lending and borrowing in North American research libraries. The 64-page report, "ARL/RLG Interlibrary Loan Cost Study," is being distributed by ARL. Seventy-six U.S. and Canadian research libraries collected interlibrary loan (ILL) cost data for 1991, which was then verified, analyzed, and distilled into the published study. Some findings, presented in statistical detail in the study: o The major cost of ILL operations is for staff; less than one-fourth of the total goes to all other elements-- communications, photocopying, supplies, equipment, materials delivery, etc. o More than half of all filled ILL transactions are done through photocopies rather than transmitting the original item. + Page 3 + o The average cost for a completed ILL transaction (incurred by both the lender and the borrower) is close to $30--nearly $19 for the requester and $11 for the lender. The study is available for $10 per copy (includes shipping and handling) prepaid. Prepaid orders go to: ARL Publications Department, P.O. Box 0692, Washington, DC 20073-0692. For further ordering information, contact Gloria Haws, Program Assistant for Customer Services, 202-296-2296 (e-mail: osap@cni.org; fax: 202-872-0884). For other information concerning the study, contact C. Brigid Welch, 202-206-8656, brigid@cni.org. TWO NEW FILES ADDED TO RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE Two new files--Hispanic American Periodicals Index and Isis History of Science Bibliography--have been added to CitaDel, the article-citation and document-delivery service from the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Hispanic Studies Index Hispanic American Periodicals Index, an ongoing project of UCLA's Latin American Center, contains over 165,000 citations to articles from more than 400 scholarly social science and humanities journals published in Latin America or treating Latin American and U.S. Hispanic topics. The journals are selected and indexed by an international panel of librarians and scholars. The index is updated annually; coverage at present is 1970 to 1991. History of Science Index, Exclusive to CitaDel Isis History of Science Bibliography, compiled by the History of Science Society, currently contains 60,000 citations to books and articles about the history of science and the influence of science on culture. It indexes more than 600 journals and is updated annually; coverage is 1976 to the present. The index is available online only through RLG's CitaDel service. The Isis index has been combined with CitaDel's History of Technology file to form a new CitaDel file called History of Science and Technology. For more information, please call the RLIN Information Center at 1-800-537-7546; email bl.ric@rlg.bitnet or bl.ric@rlg.stanford.edu (Internet). + Page 4 + ASSISTANCE OFFERED TO FLOOD-DAMAGED LIBRARIES OCLC is offering assistance to flood-damaged libraries in the Midwest. OCLC will help with recovery of damaged workstations and offline products, expedite telecommunications line and workstation installations, and provide general systems advice and counsel. Libraries that need assistance should contact their regional network. Independent institutions should contact the OCLC support and training specialist, 614-764-6000 or 800-848-5878. EPIC PRICES TO BE STANDARDIZED As part of OCLC's overall pricing simplification plan, some connect-hour and display-format charges for the EPIC service have changed effective July 1, 1993. The changes are being made primarily to allow libraries to more easily predict search costs and to remember prices across databases. Highlights of the changes: o database connect-hour charges are now multiples of 10: $30, $40, $50, etc. o record-display charges are now standardized across databases o online and offline record-display charges are now the same o practice database connect-hour prices are now all $10 per hour o display list is the free display format for browsing search results For most databases on EPIC, charges for connect time have either stayed the same or decreased. They were increased for 11 databases. Record-display prices, which varied widely, will increase somewhat for most databases. Prices for most databases added since January 1993 have followed the new pricing standard. Copies of the new EPIC price list are available from OCLC-affiliated regional networks or OCLC reference services. + Page 5 + THE COOK REPORT ON INTERNET The COOK Report is a monthly newsletter focusing on the policy complexities of NREN, and National Information Infrastructure (NII) development as well as Internet commercialization. Published by the former Director of a US Congress Office of Technology assessment of the NREN, who is beholden to no federal agencies or private companies for funds, it contains views not generally found within the community of NREN and NII "boosters." The COOK Report helps subscribers: o to understand the so far, convoluted evolution of Federal Policy toward the commercialization and privatization of the Internet, the creation of an NREN and a National Information Infrastructure; o to understand the economic trends linking the development of multi-protocol routers and public network transport technologies from Federally sponsored testbeds to commercial implementation; o to understand whether commercial internet providers can satisfy corporate needs to link LANs over a wide area network; o to understand developments and issues affecting k-12 and library access to the network infrastructure; o to understand the commercialization's impact on the cooperative nature of the Internet and its standards process; o and to track changes in policy by the new administration. Subscriptions available for volume one at slightly reduced prices or starting with volume two (April 1993). Price List for one year subscription (effective April 1993): Individual: $85 Non-Profit, Small Government Agency, or Corporation: $175 (Site License $300) University or college library: $175 (subscriptions available through Readmore and Faxon) Corporate (revenues greater than $10 million a year) or Cabinet Level Agency: $350 + Page 6 + Corporate Site License (hardcopy and electronic with right to redistribute within corporation): $500 Foreign Subscriptions: add $50 in each category Call, write or email: Gordon Cook, COOK Network Consultants,431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618; 609-882-2572; Internet: cook@path.net OCLC AWARDS THREE RESEARCH GRANTS The OCLC Office of Research has awarded three Library and Information Science Research Grants (LISRG) to university researchers for 1993. The grant recipients and their projects are: o Carolyn O. Frost, Ph.D., Associate Dean, School of Information and Library Studies, University of Michigan: "An Empirical Test of Gopher Searching Using Three Organization Schemes" Gopher is an example of a commonly used protocol for searching networked information. Although the use of networked information is proliferating at an astounding rate and is providing unprecedented access to information, the organization of this information has not kept up with its use. Likewise, there is need for a greater understanding of information searching in order to design better searching tools, organize networked information more effectively, and assist information providers in the mounting of networked sources. There has been little research on how people use Gopher, or its effectiveness as a searching tool. The proposed project will study Gopher users' information searching behavior, identify patterns and problems in the searching behavior or with the information retrieval, and recommend changes for improvement. o Richard P. Smiraglia, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University: "Toward the Bibliographic Control of Works: Derivative Bibliographic Relationships in the Online Union Catalog" The purpose of this project is to further the bibliographic control of works by verifying the extent of derivative bibliographic relationships in the OCLC Online Union Catalog and by testing a conceptual model for a database of bibliographic works. The methodology employed will be descriptive survey research of a random sample of bibliographic families from the Online Union Catalog and qualitative examination of the most complex families to assess the efficacy of the conceptual model. + Page 7 + o James H. Sweetland, Ph.D., Associate Professor, and Judith J. Senkevitch, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Wisconsin at Madison: "Evaluating Public Library Fiction Collections: Is There a Core List of Classics?" The project will address the following research questions: Is there a core of widely held adult fiction in the OCLC database which can be used as a list of classics? Does this core list relate to standard lists of recommended fiction supposedly relied upon by public libraries in selection and evaluation? Can one or more standard lists be recommended as those most likely to predict librarians' behavior? Is it feasible for OCLC to consider using the core list concept to develop a machine-readable product to assist public librarians in evaluating their fiction collections? The OCLC Library and Information Science Research Grant program awards grants of up to $10,000 to help foster quality research by faculty in schools of library and information science. Projects are generally completed within one year, and findings are published in the OCLC Annual Review of Research and in other scholarly communications. Application materials for 1994 will be available this November. For more information, contact the Office of Research, 614-764-6000 or 800-848-5878. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. All commercial use requires permission. ----------------------------------------------------------------- .