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North Carolina Libraries
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THEME ARTICLES
PART ONE: TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIANSHIP
136 Foreword, April Wreath ag
139 Libraries and Technology: Forging New Frontiers or Lost y
in the Wilderness? Bil Stahl y ah
145 Automated Reference Service: oPressing F1 for Helps. YY, ,
Donna Cornick , yA
151 Automating the Reference Department: A Goal Oriented ~
Approach, Johannah Sherrer
155 Teaching Computer Skills in the Public Schools of North
Carolina: Moving from Who to How, Carol G. Lewis
158 Where Do We Go from Here? One School SystemTs Look at
Past, Present and Future Uses of Technology, Diane
Kessler and Lynda Fowler
ISSN 0029-2540
PART TWO: LIBRARY ONLINE SYSTEMS
163 Staff Education in Automation through Vendor
Demonstrations, Linda Folda
168 Evaluating the Performance of the Online Public Access
Catalog: A Redefinition of Basic Measures, Robert N.
Bland
174 Unfolding the Mysteries of Aladdin: The Impact of an
Integrated Online System on Cataloging Operations, Patti
Easley and Lovenia Summerville
180 Smart Barcodes: A Wise Decision, Ricki Val Brown
181 Dumb Barcodes: The Smart Way to Go, Harry Tuchmayer
186 Moving to the Next Online System: Points to Consider,
Marcia L. Kolb
FEATURES
135 From the President
191 Research in North Carolina Librarianship
192 North Carolina Books
199 NCLA Minutes
202 About the Authors
Cover: Johannah Sherrer, oAutomating the Reference Depart- Advertisers: BroadfootTs, 167; Brodart, 138; Checkpoint, 154;
Ment: A Goal Oriented Approach,� North Carolina Libraries 47 Ebsco, 189; Faxon, 162; Flamm (Macmillan), 190; H.W. Wilson,
(Fall 1989): 151. 134; Mumford Books, 176; Quality Books, 157; Scarecrow Press,
143; SIRS, inside front cover; Solinet, 183; Southeastern Micro-
film, 148; UNC Press, inside back cover.
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134"Fall 1989
Libraries... Spread the
News
NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
From the President
This is my last presidentTs column for North
Carolina Libraries, and I have real news to
report: State Librarian McGinn has received ap-
Proval to have the North Carolina Library Associ-
ation establish its permanent home at the North
Carolina State Library. The details are yet to be
Worked out, but what we know for certain is that
NCLA will have a permanent address (the State
Library's) and probably, for the first time, paid
Staff.
NCLA is the fourth- or fifth-largest state
library association in the country. All of the asso-
Ciations our size or larger, and almost all of the
Smaller ones, have at least some paid staff. At a
Meeting of the Southeastern Library Association
that I attended last year, the statement was made
that oyou cannot run a state library association
With only volunteers.� I told them that NCLA did.
The response was a repeat of the statement oyou
Cannot run a state library association with only
Volunteers.� Apparently, they didnTt believe me.
And it is hard for others to believe that an associ-
ation as large and active as ours has been able to
function and function well with no permanent
Paid staff. The reason, of course, is simple: we
have people who are willing to spend huge
amounts of time working on NCLA activities.
Some of this is time donated by their library sys-
tems, because people who run libraries realize
that their libraries benefit from what NCLA does;
and they know that working in NCLA gives their
Staff people opportunities to learn and grow that
they could not get simply by staying home and
Minding the store.
The rest of the time is morning, evening, and
Weekend work that many of you volunteer year
after year. All of this has resulted in one of the
finest state library associations in the country,
but it was inevitable that we eventually would
grow to the point that there would be more admi-
Nistrative work in this association than the volun-
teer market could bear. That would have occurred
�,�arlier except for one extraordinary volunteer"
Nancy Clark Fogarty, our treasurer since 1985.
However, calling Nancy Fogarty NCLATs trea-
surer is like calling Toulouse-Lautrec a sign paint-
er"she is so much more. Nancy writes the checks
and invests the money and keeps track of how
much everybody spends and for what; she also
processes all the membership renewals, and han-
dles all requests for mailing labels, and makes
sure that all bulk mailings for all the sections and
round tables as well as NCLA-wide communica-
tions get done. She is, in effect, NCLATs executive
director, and sheTs been an excellent one"she
just never got paid. If we had paid for Nancy's
labor over the past four years, NCLA would prob-
ably be around $100,000 poorer. Instead, Nancy is
leaving NCLA in its best financial position ever
and thus, as she is ending her term, NCLA is ready
to start paying somebody to do at least part of her
job.
Nancy, of course, couldnTt be happier. For the
first time in four years, she'll have only one job to
do"the one she gets paid for at UNCG; and she
leaves NCLA with the one thing she has felt the
organization needed more than anything else"a
permanent address.
In establishing a permanent office, NCLA is
making the first step into paid, as opposed to
volunteer, management of the organization. Hand-
ing over administrative details to a paid staff per-
son who will have only NCLA duties to handle
should make for more efficient day-to-day opera-
tions. However, except for the treasurer, most
people active in NCLA will still be just as busy. It is
from the creativity and energy of its members
that NCLA draws its strength. Every time I attend
a meeting of the NCLA Executive Board and hear
reports of what the round tables and sections and
committees are doing, I am impressed, and I am
proud. I am proud to have had the honor of serv-
ing this organization as president for the past two
years. I have no doubt that NCLA is a very impor-
tant factor in helping people who work in libraries
in this state provide the best possible library serv-
ice to the people of this state. ItTs been fun and
rewarding being a part of that.
Patsy J. Hansel, President lal
Fall 1989"135
Foreword
April Wreath, Guest Editor
During the past decade, the rapid evolution
of new information and media technologies has
caused profound change in libraries of all types.
While once primarily the turf of medical, scien-
tific, and other special libraries, and limited
mostly to online searches of remote data bases
and/or audio-visual collections, the current genera-
tion of ohi-tech� products has recently invaded
and become an integral part of every kind of
library. Technology has had a stunning impact
during the past decade, providing exciting oppor-
tunities while also posing many thorny problems
for libraries ranging from the school media center
through the academic research institution. Also,
the ever-increasing dependence of libraries and
media centers on electronic forms of information
access has caused a whole gamut of new con-
cerns. Basic questions such as how the money will
be found to support the endless need for soft-
ware, equipment, maintenance, and staff training
must be answered. There is also the problem of
establishing new policies and procedures regard-
ing the processing of and access to the new media
formats.
The central issue that the new technologies
have forced libraries to examine, however, is that
of self-concept. Has technology changed the
underlying mission of the library? Or, are libraries
to provide essentially the same services, meeting
the needs of their constituents with their capabil-
ities simply enhanced by it? Will the libraryTs role
indeed be usurped by information brokers and
computer centers if librarians do not hasten to
meet the rapidly changing expectations of library
users?
Clearly, the burgeoning of information and
media technologies has created a sudden and
unprecedented demand on the skills of librarians
and their staff. Significant amounts of time must
be devoted to on-the-job training to learn new
products. Additionally, more time will be needed
for workshops and other forms of retooling. Along
with this development of new skills inevitably will
come the need to redefine many of the job des-
April Wreath, the Head Catalog Librarian and Coordinator for
Library Online System Development, W.C. Jackson Library,
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is guest editor
of the Fall 1989 issue of North Carolina Libraries.
136"Fall 1989
criptions of library staff. While automation can
enhance job satisfaction, it can also be a costly
proposition to upgrade support staff to reflect the
new responsibilities and complexities of their
jobs.
The costly nature of the electronic media and
its maintenance has provided an enormous chal-
lenge to library administrators. Even with the best
intentions, a library cannot provide a service
which its budget cannot absorb. The inherent
nature of electronic data and the equipment that
drives it is one of rapid obsolescence. Thus, even
the most astute strategic planning cannot antici-
pate all of the actual demands that will be placed
on a libraryTs budget during the next decade. How
different this fluid situation is from the days when
a library budget focused almost exclusively on
books, along with adequate shelving to hold the
print collections! The need to allocate and bal-
ance funding for traditional book and journal col-
lections, in addition to purchasing or leasing the
new information and media technologies, will
require establishing or rewriting many a collec-
tion development policy.
The libraryTs role as provider of resources
for education, information, scholarship, intellec-
tual stimulation, or simply for entertainment is
undergoing profound change. The rapidity of this
change is what makes adaptation especially
stressful, along with the related need to question
traditional assumptions and chart new direc-
tions. This issue of North Carolina Libraries
examines some of the major philosophical and
practical concerns which technological change
has offered librarians, and which have had an
unprecedented impact on the nature of reference
and information services.
The issue is divided into two parts. The first
part is devoted to the most recent forms of tech-
nology which have essentially altered the types of
services which libraries can provide, including
access to data bases outside the holdings of a
given institution. The second part of the technol-
ogy issue presents articles on the more familiar
topic of library system automation. This applica-
tion of technology has been used to date primarily
to speed up and improve access to more tradi-
tional library collections and services.
Bil StahlTs article on libraries and technology
provides the keynote theme of this issue, review-
ing the astonishing rate at which media and
information technology has evolved, the advan-
tages and the problems it presents to libraries, its
increasing use both within and outside the
library, and some of the broader implications
Such changes have for civilization in general. Mr.
Stahl has pondered these questions both as an
administrator at the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, and as Chair of the Automation and
Networking Committee of the University of North
Carolina System.
Two articles on the automation of reference
Services follow, each representing a different phi-
losophy and approach to acquiring and making
available the latest products in CD-ROM and in
Online data bases. Donna Cornick writes on the
problematic aspects of automating reference ser-
Vices, drawn from her experiences in Davis
Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Her emphasis is on the new and often
unexpected skills required of librarians and staff
to assist patrons with the wide and potentially
Confusing array of choices now possible in data
base searching. She also covers a number of prac-
tical matters, such as space planning to house
automated reference services, the costs involved,
and ordinary details regarding the increased need
for basic supplies, such as printer paper and rib-
bons. Johannah Sherrer, on the other hand, des-
Cribes a successful goal-oriented approach to
automating the reference department at Duke
UniversityTs Perkins Library. Their underlying phi-
losophy has been to have each reference librarian
Make a commitment to improving individual
Online searching skills. By making new products
immediately available, Duke reference librarians
�,�xperiment along with library patrons in discov-
�,�ring what the new software has to offer. A des-
Cription is also provided of their bold and
innovative service, INFOLINE, which provides an
Online reference capability via an electronic bul-
letin board.
Articles are also devoted to the impact of the
New technology in school media centers and on
the school curriculum in general. As Staff Consul-
tant for School Media Programs, Carol Lewis pro-
Vides a philosophical framework regarding the
teaching of computer skills in North CarolinaTs
Public schools. An article by Diane Kessler and
Lynda Fowler then offers a case study of the plan
developed by the Durham County Schools Media
Services for a systematic approach to introducing
technology into the classroom as part of the
Mstructional program.
The second part of the technology issue beg-
ins with an article concerned with selecting an
integrated online system for a public library.
Linda Folda points out that if well planned,
vendor demonstrations can educate the entire
staff as to their needs and the extent various
systems can meet these requirements. Robert
BlandTs article follows in which he asks librarians
to reevaluate the way in which online system per-
formance is measured. He maintains that the
established norm for judging a system by response
time is actually a quite deceptive one. Research to
support his theory leads to some provocative
conclusions.
The impact of an integrated online system on
cataloging operations is next discussed by Patti
Easley and Lovenia Summerville. Their perspec-
tive is enhanced by five yearsT worth of experience
with Aladdin, the VTLS system at the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte. And, since there is
no one correct approach to major automation
projects, such as barcoding a library's collections,
two articles by public librarians with opposing
views follow. In preparing for online circulation
activities, Ricki Val Brown proclaims that osmart
barcodes are a wise decision.� On the other hand,
Harry Tuchmayer contends that odumb barcodes
is the smart way to go.�
Finally, Marcia Kolb offers some practical
advice in preparing for the next online system.
Currently in the planning stages for the third
integrated system at the Prince William Public
Library System in Manassas, Virginia, Ms. Kolb
speaks from experience and points out that once
automated, a library's dependence on technology
will only continue to grow. qj
CU
Fall 1989"137
ee ee 8
way. it.was meant to be,
eRe
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Turns your Imagination
into Reality ©
the
Association Conference
to see how Le Pac shange Imagination into Reality
138"Fall 1989
Libraries and Technology:
Forging New Frontiers or Lost in
the Wilderness?
Bil Stahl
AuthorTs Note: The author gratefully acknowledges the influ-
�,�nce that discussions with Frada Mozenter, Social Sciences Ref-
erence Bibliographer at UNC-Charlotte, had upon the develop-
Ment of this article.
It is difficult not be be aware of the oinforma-
tion explosion� that confronts libraries. The
amount of information being produced is increas-
ing exponentially. A recent estimate put the
number of journal articles written just in the area
of science and technology at over one million per
year!! This production of information is possible
because of advances in information technology.
However, the impact of the new information
technologies is not limited to increasing the quan-
tity of published materials. More importantly, the
new technologies are changing the fundamental
Nature of information and our abilities to work
With it.
Steward Brand, in his book The Media Lab,?
States that our ability to convert information of
all types into digital form will rank in importance
to civilization with the invention of the movable
type printing press. By translating all types of
information into a common base of 1s and Os,
Pictures, sounds, and text can be merged and
Manipulated simultaneously. As Ted Nelson spec-
ulated would happen? we have become sur-
rounded by an ocean of digital information. A
discipline called oinformation ecology�! is emerging
which views digital information as making up an
oinfosphere.� It studies the interrelationships of
the various types of information in the oinfo-
Sphere.� The capabilities of computers and other
technologies that convert information to digital
form and manipulate digital information are
doubling every three to five years. In addition, the
Cost per byte of information processing power of
these technologies is declining very rapidly. The
Challenge for libraries is to identify their appro-
Priate niche in the infosphere and to adapt to the
rapidly changing environment.
Bil Stahl is Associate Director of the J. Murrey Atkins Library,
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
It is usually true that new technologies
become available before libraries are able to
develop the necessary policies and procedures to
implement them. Often this lack of policies and
procedures has retarded the adoption of technol-
ogies in libraries. The purpose of this paper is to
attempt to give some insight into what capabili-
ties the new technologies will offer in the next
several years and to identify some of the major
issues that libraries will need to address because
of them.
Current Library Technologies
The application of computer technologies to
library operations was seen as a logical step from
the early days of computers. Basically, libraries
and computers do the same things: store, arrange,
and retrieve information. Libraries have been
successful in adopting computer technologies.
However, during the past thirty years computer
technologies have had to ocatch up� to the librar-
iesT needs. Libraries needed systems that could
provide quick access to large data bases with mul-
tiple indexes to records consisting of variable
amounts of text. They also needed fast transac-
tion processing times for circulation transactions
and global changes to these large data bases. The
creation of bibliographic utilities and library con-
sortia required sophisticated telecommunications
networks. In recent years, libraries quickly became
a market for the high storage capacity optical
disk technologies of laser disks and CD ROM.
With the development of high speed telecom-
munications networks and standards, libraries
are now developing the ability to thread through
a variety of networks to access a number of dif-
ferent systems and data bases. As telecommuni-
cations speeds increase and telecommunications
costs decrease, optical disk data bases will be
replaced by online services. In the near future
many library terminals will not be connected
directly to any single system, but rather will be
connected to a network which will enable users to
Fall 1989"139
access distant systems as easily as the local sys-
tem.
In large part, the automation of libraries has
consisted of applying technology to what libraries
have always done. The changes in libraries
brought by technology have been major ones, but
they have also been incremental with long lead
times. The most significant cognitive change that
libraries have had to addreses during this process
was the adoption of Boolean logic for searching.
Keyword researching capabilities using Boolean
operators (AND, OR, NOT) required librarians to
create research strategies that were very different
from those based on the controlled vocabulary of
subject headings.
... the new technologies are
changing the fundamental
nature of information and our
abilities to work with it.
The Future
While there are many enhancements that still
need to be developed for library systems as they
stand today, usually their development is pending
not because the necessary technology does not
yet exist, but because of resource limitations or
legal and political concerns. We are now coming to
the point where libraries will have to ocatch up� to
the capabilities of information technology. In the
past, libraries knew what they wanted the technol-
ogy to do"make the library more efficient and
effective in doing what it traditionally did. Now,
the tables are turning. The technology is challeng-
ing libraries to review what it is they can and
should be doing.
The library clientele is certainly aware that
information is all around and is becoming increas-
ingly facile with important technologies. One out
of every five Americans in 1984 used a computer
either at work or at home.T It is estimated that the
total market for home computers is eighteen to
twenty percent of American households. How-
ever, this figure does not include all of the ocom-
puter-like� devices that are or likely will be in
homes. Currently twenty percent of American
homes have Nintendo video games and _ this
number is projected to grow to around sixty to
eighty percent.~ In Japan, people are utilizing Nin-
tendo games to access information via their tele-
vision networks such as financial market informa-
tion, shopping, and travel arrangements. Many
feel that Nintendo is positioning itself in this
country to provide the same services.
140"Fall 1989
High Definition Television (HDTV) also prom-
ises to bring extensive computer power into the
average household. While the initial attraction of
HDTV is picture quality, it achieves this quality by
processing images as digital data. Most HDTV
units will have an oopen architecture� like the
standard microcomputer, meaning additional
boards such as memory modules or modems can
be added to them.T It is important to note that
CATV companies may become the major players
they have long been predicted to become in the
information supplier market. Many already have
the capacity to support HDTV and digital infor-
mation transmission. CATV is not regulated by
the FCC, and therefore does not have to wait for
broadcasting standards to be adopted.
The major market for CD ROMs will not be
libraries, but will be the home entertainment
market with devices like Nintendo and HDTV®
Even the lowly touch-tone telephone will become
a major ocomputer� device. Companies such as
Intecom have developed front end interfaces that
enable systems, such as online library catalogs, to
be queried by simply pressing the pad on a touch
tone telephone. The interface offers a series of
menus that are voice-synthesized using the sys-
temTs data.
The information systems that will be avail-
able to people in their homes will not simply be
a reworking of the failed Qube and other video-
text systems that were tried in the mid 1970s.
Those were attempts to make everyone use the
text-oriented computer systems of the day. The
shift in personal computing has been towards the
use of graphics. However, computing in the 1990s
is envisioned as being not just graphically oriented,
but cinematically oriented.? There will be a true
convergence of entertainment and information
technologies. When this happens a person could
view a presentation on buying a franchise,
retrieve an article from his or her libraryTs copy of
the Wall Street Journal on the franchise, arrange
for a loan from the bank to purchase the fran-
chise, and apply for the appropriate licenses
using information from the local government
documents depository library just by using the
HDTV set. Libraries will either be part of these
information systems, or others will fill their role.
Issues
The primary issue libraries will continually
have to address is what types of information the
library is responsible for providing. Many of the
new technologies provide the same access mecha-
nism to traditional library information as to
extremely specialized data bases in esoteric
fields. Historically, library collection
development practices have been oriented
towards standard units of readily identifiable
forms of information (e.g., books, prints, and
motion pictures). Will the library become respon-
Sible for finding and providing access to fragmen-
tary collections of data that exist in myriad data
bases throughout the world? If not, what are the
Parameters that define which of these the library
will include in its domain and which it will
exclude?
An associated issue to the type of informa-
tion a library should supply is the level of exper-
tise the library will be responsible for providing in
manipulating the information. Is the librarian
going to be expected to know only that informa-
tion exists and how to find it, or will he or she also
need to know how to use the information. As
information ocollections� become more fragmen-
tary, a librarian may need to know how to use it in
order to be able to find out about its existence.
Librarians will need to be fully information liter-
ate. A recent report on the future of libraries
States that information literacy, the knowledge of
how to find needed information, will become as
important to society as the ability to read is
today-° If the ability to find information and the
understanding of how to utilize the information
become more closely linked, then libraries may
need to develop staff with more in-depth subject
expertise than is common today.
Another major issue is that of access to, ver-
Sus ownership of, materials. Since libraries have
traditionally been collectors and owners of mate-
rials, standards dealing with measuring the ade-
quacy of a library have used volume counts as a
Primary measuring device. However, the new
technologies are forcing libraries to address the
issue of access to information versus actually own-
ing the source of the information. This is certainly
not an either/or issue, but one of balancing
resources to accommodate the best mix of the
two. In academic libraries this issue is directly
tied to support for teaching versus support for
research. The importance of access will probably
always be more important for the latter. The
Sources of the access will not always be the same
as the sources the library now uses for either col-
lections or online services. For example, should
the electronic files of the complete works of
Shakespeare come out of the library materials
funds, even though they are available through
Humanet, a scholarly electronic network? While
the access versus ownership issue may have been
brought to the forefront by technology, the deci-
Sions need to be based on much more than the
availability of appropriate technologies. Access
requires a great dependency on interlibrary coop-
eration and/or on the information vendorsT long
term commitment to support their products.
The issue of ownership versus access also
applies to the area of equipment. The library will
need to invest in telecommunications equipment
and capabilities that certainly are not as tangible
as the library's minicomputer that people can see
and touch. This also means that while the library
can offer more, and enhanced, services, it has less
direct control over those services because of the
dependence upon those who manage the net-
works.
Basically, libraries and com-
puters do the same things:
store, arrange, and retrieve
information.
The new information technologies will largely
be additions to, rather than replacements for,
library collections. Much of the replacement will
be phased in at a much slower rate than the
development of new technologies. This means
that the array of information types and formats
in the libraries of the 1990s will be much greater
than the libraries of the 1980s. Collections defined
by format will be much harder to maintain as new
formats combine the aspects of several others.
The types of struggles that many libraries have
had in handling microforms and media formats
will recur with increasing frequency unless librar-
ies can establish flexible systems of organizing
their collections.
Bibliographic control will need to become
much more complex as libraries and their clien-
tele become fluent in the new information tech-
nologies. Standard machine readable records will
need to be more robust than the MARC formats of
today. Retrieval of information may commonly be
done on such attributes as sound, color patterns,
and emotional content (e.g., anxiety, serenity). At
some point librarians will have to consider when
it is time to switch from the current MARC stand-
ard bibliographic format to one that is more
adaptable to the new technologies.
Libraries will also have to decide whether
they should provide bibliographic control for
information they have access to but do not own,
and what form this bibliographic control will take.
What should the libraryTs online catalog contain
when a significant portion of the library's resour-
ces are used to purchase access privileges rather
Fall 1989"141
than actual materials? Will the catalog become
interactive with ohot links� that take the inquiring
patron directly to the cited data base?
... the knowledge of how to
find needed information will
become as important to
society as the ability to read is
today.
Another key issue is how these new informa-
tion technologies fit into the libraryTs mission.
What is the libraryTs obligation to provide unim-
peded access to information to its primary clien-
tele? Will the primary clientele be redefined
because of the costs of the new information tech-
nologies? New information technologies are
expensive. The most likely scenario is that the
cost of these technologies will not go down signifi-
cantly, but rather the capabilities will increase
while the costs become more stable. Can the
library afford to provide free access to all the
information resources for which it has purchased
access? If not, what are the trade-offs between
the need for state-of-the-art information access
versus readily and generally available sources of
information? As the number of options for infor-
mation sources increase, the mission statements
of libraries may become much more different
from each other than they currently tend to be.
With limited resources and varied options to
spread those resources over, libraries must
become increasingly unique.
Because of the impact of information tech-
nologies on the library's resources and the organi-
zational structure of the library, an effective
mechanism to determine on which of their
increasing numbers the library should focus its
attention needs to be developed. This mechanism
must allow timely reactions to new opportunities
and yet it must keep the library from fragmenting
its efforts on too many different technologies at
once. It must also prevent staff from having to
deal with ever changing technologies to the point
where they develop what has been termed ocogni-
tive whiplash.�
Libraries usually view part of their mission as
gathering information for the future. This has
always been a challenge, since it is difficult to
determine what information will be important
later. As Daniel Boorstin points out, information
itself has no value. It is only when information is
assimilated and becomes knowledge that it takes
on value". Because of its volatile nature, digital
142"Fall 1989
information is much more easily lost than non-
digital information. There is an Information Dar-
winism that applies to the information ecology.
Information competes for survival in the info-
sphere. Potentially valuable information can read-
ily go out of existence in the digital realm before
its value can ever be discovered. Will libraries view
the gathering of digital information for the future
as part of their mission? If so, new methods must
be developed which will be radically different
from current archival operations and will be
expensive.
The purchasing and upgrading of equipment
will become a much more critical activity for
libraries. New capabilities usually require new
types of hardware and software. In some cases
existing hardware can be upgraded to meet the
requirements of the new capabilities. In other
cases, it is more cost effective to purchase new
equipment than to try to retrofit existing equip-
ment. In any event, computer equipment (espe-
cially microcomputer equipment) usually has a
useful life of three to seven years. The library will
need to develop an ongoing plan to allocate its
limited resources between buying new equipment
(e.g. new technologies that the library has never
had before) and replacing or upgrading existing
equipment.
Current library budget planning and alloca-
tion practices must be radically changed in order
to take advantage of opportunities created by
new information technologies. As Jerry Campbell
recently arguedT, the traditional library alloca-
tions for materials, staff, and operations will no
longer be proper. Library budgeting must become
a much more creative activity and often library
budgets, like the mission statements mentioned
above, will not be similar to those of other librar-
ies.
The challenge for libraries is
to identify their appropriate
niche in the infosphere and to
adapt to the rapidly changing
environment. "
Staffing is an important issue that always
needs to be addressed with any change. As the
library becomes increasingly dependent on tech-
nology, it will add technical staff to implement
and maintain this technology. Technical staff will
assist staff in assessing the value and feasibility of
new technologies as well as setting up and main-
taining hardware and software. Because of this
dependency, the library must have the personnel
that can make needed changes and repairs, or
major components of the libraryTs services and
Operations could become inoperable for indefinite
Periods of time. This staffing will likely consist of
data processing, networking, and media person-
nel. Good working relationships with other opera-
tions and agencies, such as data processing
centers, networks, and media production and
Support operations will also be vital to keep the
library functioning. Likewise, ongoing dialogs
about the appropriate roles of each of these agen-
cies in managing the information technologies
must be maintained.
A major and ongoing training program for
Service and operations staff will need to be estab-
lished to keep staff up-to-date with changes and
hew capabilities. As the technologies become
more diverse and complex, staff may well have to
become comfortable with entirely new cognitive
concepts as well as simply to learn new skills. Just
as many librarians quickly had to come to grips
with Boolean searching logic when online biblio-
graphic retrieval systems became widely avail-
able, librarians will have to become facile in new
ways of thinking to utilize such things as hyper-
text systems, inference engines, and cinematic
data bases.
Adoption of new technologies for accessing
and handling information will impact the organi-
zational structure of the library. Position descrip-
tions and the interrelationship between depart-
ments will change. As mentioned above, new,
Specialized positions will be required. The goals of
many operations may be fundamentally changed.
As an example, circulation, interlibrary loan, and
document delivery services may be merged into
One operation. As implied in earlier statements,
There is an information Dar-
winism that applies to the
information ecology. Informa-
tion competes for survival in
the infosphere.
acquisitions, collection development, and catalog-
ing operations will certainly be changed. For ref-
�,�rence, bibliographic instruction for an audience
in a networked environment of large numbers of
information sources would need to be very differ-
�,�nt from the bibliographic instruction required in
a more traditional library. Quick access to large
quantities of data that can readily be taken out of
Context presents different instructional concerns
The LibrarianTs
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just perfect cards, labels, and
acquisition lists when you want
them for pennies each.
oThis is a superb, professional
quality program in which
nothing seems to have been
left out.�
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this advertisement to: 1-800-537-7107
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from the use of a library catalog and indexes
which result in the retrieval of physical units of
information (e.g., books, articles). Also, libraries
will be serving a clientele with a wider range of
information literacy than is true today. Librarians
will have to be able to work with people who have
a highly developed knowledge of information
technologies, as well as those who have none.
A new reference position that could be
needed is literally an oonline reference librarian�
The librarian in this position would be stationed
at a terminal and available to anyone using a
library terminal (or a library network) for inter-
active communication to answer such questions
as how to search a particular system, or which
system to use to find specific information. This
position would be the new technology equivalent
of the telephone reference librarian.
Library facility design for use with new
information technologies will raise a series of
issues. How are facilities designed to accommo-
date yet-to-be developed technologies? Who will
be using the facility in ten to twenty years? Will
the facility ultimately be an electronic hub serving
a clientele who rarely, if ever, physically comes to
Fall 1989"143
the library? What type of collections will be
housed in the library? In the Virtual Library},
Harvey Wheeler states that we should expand our
concept of a library beyond the physical structure
and likens the library to a church. While a church
is a physical facility, it is also a social institution.
While the library may never be without walls, the
new information technologies have already en-
abled the library to go beyond these walls.
Summary
The infosphere is both a wilderness and a
new frontier for libraries. Determining which it
will be is the major challenge for any library in the
coming years. The only constant for libraries in
the infosphere is change. Librarians must remain
information literate by following technological
developments and assessing their potential and
their impact. Librarians must look to the litera-
ture and experiences of other sectors of society,
such as business and entertainment. In an infor-
mation-based society, all sectors share common
concerns with libraries. Librarians must be ready
to review critically the fundamental aspects of
their trade. To determine and then realize their
full potential in the information age, librarians
must not be able simply to adapt to change, but
must become agents of change.
References
1. Steven Louis and Robert F. Rubeck, oHypertext Publishing
and the Revitalization of Knowledge,� Academic Computing 3
(May 1989): 20-32.
2. Steward Brand, The Media Lab (New York: Viking Penguin
Inc., 1987).
3. Ted Nelson, Computer Library-Dream Machines: You Can
and Must Understand Computers Now! (Redmond, Wash.:
Microsoft Press, rev. ed., 1987).
4. Michael Miller, oA Brave New World: Streams of 1s and 0s,�
The Wall Street Journal, (June 23, 1989): 39-41.
5. Joe Schwartz, oThe Computer Market,� American Demogra-
phics 10 (September 1988): 39-41.
6. oA New Game in Town: Nintendo, AT&T Deal Would Link
Videos with Telephones,� Charlotte Observer, (June 9, 1989).
7. Leonard R. Yencharis, oHDTV: the Real Questions to be
Decided) Advanced Imaging, (June 1989): 18-20, 57.
8. Michael Schyster, oCD-ROM as entertainment,T Computers in
Libraries 9 (June 1989): 39.
9. Michale Liebhold, oPersonal Computing in the 1990s,� Pres-
entation at the Fifth Annual Apple Library Users Group Meet-
ing, Dallas, Tex., June 26, 1989.
10. Patricia Brevik and Ward Shaw, oLibraries Prepare for an
Information Age,� Educational Record 70 (Winter 1989): 13-19.
11. Daniel Boorstin, GreshamTs Law: Knowledge of Information?
(Washington: Library of Congress, 1980).
12. Jerry D. Campbell, oAcademic Library Budgets: ~Changing
the Sixty-Forty Split)� Library Administration and Manage-
ment 3 (Spring 1989): 77-79.
13. Harvey Wheeler, The Virtual Library (distributed at the
1987 EDUCOM Conference as a diskette of MacWrite files).
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Automated Reference Service:
Pressing F1 for Help�
Donna Cornick
The following story, entitled, oCall Button for
Librarians,� is a classic example of what patrons
and librarians face today in the world of automa-
tion, and it capsulizes both the joys and frustra-
tions that automation offers.
A faculty member was working at the SilverPlatter
workstation around the corner from the Reference Desk.
Although she was out of sight, the sounds from the work-
station were clearly audible. I knew from previous ex-
perience with her that she liked to work undisturbed,
but when I continued to hear rustling, and no typing or
printing, I approached her and asked how things were
going. oWell,� she said, oI donTt know if I think much of
all this. ITve been pressing F1 for help for the last ten
minutes and yowTre the first person to show up.�
Reference librarians must heed this opressing call
for help.�
Studies from Cornell, Texas A&M, the Univer-
Sity of Washington and Vanderbilt University
present findings which agree that, while new elec-
tronic reference service is exciting and offers
tremendous opportunities to libraries and their
patrons, it does not come problem-free.�*** This
Paper focuses on the impact of CD-ROM data
bases and computer data files on reference ser-
vice and presents ten broad areas of potential
Concern that librarians will need to address in
order to provide high-quality automated refer-
ence service.
Organization and Management
One major concern is how automated refer-
ence service will mesh with the more traditional
aspects of reference work. Questions such as,
oShould there be a separate electronic informa-
tion unit or should the service be an integral part
of the reference department?� must be resolved.
Many libraries opt for including the electronic
Service as a component of the overall reference
Service function. Still, pros and cons can be found
for both arrangements.
EE
Donna Cornick is the Electronic Reference Services Librarian,
Business Administration and Social Sciences Department,
Davis Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
Unless a new position is funded, someone on
the present staff will need to be assigned the addi-
tional responsibility for management of auto-
mated reference service. This position will require
strong public service skills, the ability to instruct
both staff and patrons in the operation of the
service, and technical skills relating to the opera-
tion of microcomputers.® This librarian will need
to plan and assist in developing the collection,
work with the acquisitions and catalog depart-
ments, train the reference staff, introduce biblio-
graphic instruction sessions for patrons, write
documentation to assist both librarians and
patrons, collect and report statistics, work with
the technical staff to set up the hardware and soft-
ware, and trouble-shoot as technical problems
arise. Often the librarian assigned these new
duties has previously had the responsibility for
coordinating the online reference service. Since
many of the skills are complementary, this is a
logical choice.
Finance
New technology is expensive. The cost of data
bases on compact disc can range from $250 for a
data base such as Pravda to $2,000 for CD/Cor-
porate from Lotus Development Corp. Machine
readable data files can also be expensive, ranging
from under $100 for the World Development Indi-
cators on floppy disks to $2,000 for Slater HallTs
Business Indicators on compact disc.
Workstations are also costly, averaging ap-
proximately $2,500 to $3,000 per station which
includes the micro, monitor, printer, and compact
disc player. Funding for additional items such as
expanded memory, graphics cards, and math co-
processors may be needed. Local area networks
will be an added expense. Approximately $2,000
to $3,000 is needed to purchase a new dedicated
file server, with $500 to $1,000 for additional
equipment for each node. Furthermore, if the
network provides access to CD-ROM data bases
through systems like CD-NET, the cost will vary
depending on the number of disc drives pur-
chased ranging from $4,000 for one disc drive to
Fall 1989"145
$24,000 for twelve drives.
Library materials budgets traditionally have
been designed to support collection development,
and that has historically meant the book collec-
tion. The cost of subscribing to data bases on
compact disc, purchasing local area networks,
having telecommunication hookups, and setting
up the hardware and software to support this
service can strain budgets already stretched to
the limit. Data bases in electronic format gener-
ally are considered to be an add-on cost and are
not considered as a replacement for print sub-
scriptions. Thus, important questions arise such
as where will the funding come from to support
these costly new services? Will it be provided at
the expense of the materials budget, or will a
separate budget line be established? Can grants
be secured, or does the library have trust funds
available to finance this service? Could some
combination of all of the above be the solution?
Libraries will also need to recognize that sub-
scribing to CD-ROM data bases, leasing of data
tapes, or outright purchase of floppy disk data
bases will in most cases require an on-going
financial commitment. A library frequently leases,
rather than purchases, a CD-ROM data base.
Thus, it will not be a part of the library's collection
unless the subscription is maintained.
Another financial consideration is the availa-
bility of sufficient money to provide the service
with the necessities of computer paper and rib-
bons. Such commodities cannot be dismissed as a
trivial expense. If the service is heavily used, the
supply issue can become a major concern and
even an obstacle to service.
Other costs will involve hardware mainte-
nance and repairs. As the service experiences
heavy use, mechanical problems will arise. Moni-
tors can blow, keyboards stick, disc drives fail. A
maintenance contract or a repair budget will be
needed to keep the service operating at full capac-
ity.
Finally, a major expense of automated refer-
ence service involves the cost of staff time for
what is a labor intensive operation. Staff will need
time to learn the various systems, to practice on
the data bases, and to understand microcompu-
ter operations. Additionally, staff will have to
spend a large amount of time assisting patrons.
Selection of Data Bases
The number of data bases in the various elec-
tronic formats continues to grow. A 1988 estimate
cites over two thousand public access data bases
in machine-readable format.T The files available
146"Fall 1989
now encompass most academic disciplines, from
the Modern Language Association Bibliography
on CD-ROM to the County and City Databook on
thirty-three floppy disks. With limited funding,
the decision of which files to purchase becomes
particularly important. Libraries will need to
review carefully and rewrite or revise collection
policies to guide future purchases. Data bases will
need to be evaluated on the anticipated popular-
ity of use, the quality of the search software and
its ability to find citations in the data base, and
the quality of documentation offered. Clearly a
fundamental selection question is othe extent to
which any one of these products makes it easier
for our patrons to locate the information they
need.�8
In addition to the problem of selecting the
appropriate data files, the issue of compatibility
comes into question. Will the selected data base
work on the library's hardware? Can products
from different vendors having different software
be configured to work on the same microcompu-
ter or will dedicated workstations be needed? Will
the selected data base work at all? Because of the
oexperimental� nature of electronic data files,
some files may be made available prematurely
and put on the market before being debugged
completely.
Location
If a reference department has decided to
offer access to data files in electronic format, a
decision is needed regarding the location of this
service. There are certain criteria that must be
taken into account. Most libraries have chosen to
locate the electronic information service near the
reference desk, with assistance for the operation
provided by staff scheduled at the desk. One
obvious ramification of this location is that the
demand for service at the reference desk will
increase dramatically as the popularity of data
base searching by patrons grows. The demand
can create a serious strain and can sometimes
threaten to overwhelm desk service.®
The chosen location will need to have a suffi-
cient number of electrical outlets and perhaps
telephone cabling. Additionally, as it is expected
that the service will grow, the need to locate in an
area that offers the possibility for expansion is an
important consideration. If the service is to be
housed in an open area, noise from the printers
and librarian/patron conversation can be a nui-
sance to other library users. However, if the ser-
vice is to be housed in a closed room, adequate
ventilation for the equipment is an issue, as is
having sufficient room for expansion.
There is also the matter of aesthetics. A new
Service is often a highly visible, show-case service,
So attractive furnishings and office landscaping is
an important but costly issue.
Finally, security of data files is a legitimate
issue. Librarians will need to arrange for a use
Policy that will ensure that data files will not be
Stolen, over-written, or damaged.
Level of Service
As electronic reference service grows in pop-
ularity, the library must meet increasing demand
by supplying a sufficient number of workstations
and copies of the popular data bases. At present,
the one-user, one-disc, one-workstation configu-
ration is the standard for most CD-ROM data
bases. This is a serious limitation in terms of
access to the data. Local area networks and
changes in data base licensing, which will provide
multiple access to compact disc data bases, will
help alleviate this problem, althouigh usually at a
higher subscription fee.
Other service questions concern hours of
access to the data base. Should the service be
Open to the public all hours the reference
department provides service or should some
time be reserved for staff training, software instal-
lation, and maintenance?
A policy of use will need to be established.
Would patrons be better served if they could
reserve a time for the data base search, or should
Walk-in access be the rule? Or should some com-
bination which permits both be the preferred
method?
The question of free or fee-based searching is
another issue to resolve. Although most libraries
offer compact disc data base searching without a
fee, some are looking at the options of charging
for computer paper or using a coin-operated sys-
tem.
If libraries provide access to statistical data
in machine-readable format, then the level of
assistance the reference staff should provide
must be determined. Do librarians need or pos-
Sess the skills to help patrons with statisticai
manipulation of data and to teach basic micro-
computer skills including spreadsheet applica-
tions, or is providing access to the data suffi-
Cient?!0 One model is the University of Florida
Library's Data Center, where the reference librar-
ians providing service for MRDF data bases offer
obasic access but do not consult in technical or
Statistical areas�!
Reference Staff
Automated reference service can cause con-
siderable stress and anxiety to a staff already
overworked providing traditional services. This
added service burden can create serious staffing
problems. If assistance for the new service is
added as one more service from the reference
desk, then everyone who is assigned to work at
the desk"professional librarians, support staff,
and student assistants"will need to possess basic
microcomputer skills. An extensive training pro-
gram will need to be organized which will allow
for both training and practice time on every new
data base. Staff will need to learn the search soft-
ware of the different products provided, each of
which has its own unique command language and
quirks.
~Anyone contemplating adding
laser disc data bases must
disabuse himself of the notion
that they save staff time ...T
A minimum level of service skills will be
necessary to ensure that everyone on the staff can
handle the routine matters. These minimum level
skills could include booting up the micros and
initiating a search of all of the various CD-ROM
data bases; using Boolean logic; printing citations;
downloading records; changing paper and _rib-
bons; and knowing how to respond when the sys-
tem fails for no apparent reason.
Assisting patrons with new technolgical ser-
vices is an extremely time-consuming task. A
librarian from Texas A&M cautions, oAnyone con-
templating adding laser disc data bases must dis-
abuse himself of the notion that they save staff
time ...�!2 It takes much longer to explain to a user
how to use the PsycLit compact disc than it does
to direct the patron to the printed Psychological
Abstracts volumes. oReference librarians in de-
partments which have just recently acquired CD-
ROM discs frequently mention the way their time
is being redistributed away from traditional ref-
erence service to the instruction of patrons in the
use of CD-ROMs. These demands for new instruc-
tion and new services will only increase as librar-
ians make more computerized information tech-
nology available to patrons.�
If data bases on compact discs create prob-
lems for the staff in providing assistance, machine-
readable data files can cause nightmares. Usually,
the files are complex and may arrive in ocom-
pressed� or osqueezed� formats with little or no
understandable documentation to help unravel
the mysteries. Hours of staff time will be required
Fall 1989"147
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to understand each data file, write documenta-
tion, and teach staff and patrons about them.
In order to provide service for computer file
data, staff must also have a solid understanding
of microcomputer operating systems, usually
DOS; a good understanding of spreadsheet soft-
ware, usually Lotus 1-2-3; and some statistical
expertise. But reference librarians should not be
expected to offer this service without help. oThe
reference librarian alone cannot meet the infor-
mation and access needs of patrons without the
consistent help of the systems group (i.e. pro-
grammers and data managers) within the li-
brary.� These services require othat a team
approach be developed and sustained over a long
period of time.�!® Additionally, if access to the
data files, online catalogs, or commercial data
bases are offered through remote locations, staff
will need to be able to interpret questions and
provide assistance to users over the telephone or
through an electronic mail service. Since many
librarians and most support staff do not have a
background or expertise in computer applica-
tions, reference departments will need to commit
many hours to staff training in order to offer new
technological services while providing quality
assistance to patrons.
Copyright
The issues of copyright and licensing of
machine-readable data are also important con-
siderations. Typical CD-ROM product licenses and
MRDF copyright agreements do not allow for
network use unless the product is in the public
domain or a special license agreement for multi-
ple use is offered. The question of the legality of
downloading data also has not been completely
resolved. As Stephen A. Shaimon and Howard B.
Rein remind us, libraries are guided by the vague
and obscure interpretation of Section 107 of the
Copyright Law, which says, ofair use of a copy-
righted work for the purposes of teaching, scho-
larship or research is not an infringement.�!* As a
result librarians are left to guess how new tech-
nology applies to this section.!�
Relation of the Library to Other Campus Units
The library is not the only organization on
campus to provide access to data in electronic
format. The computation center is in the same
business. There may be other campus agencies,
such as microcomputer support centers or data
libraries, conducting similar operations. The
library and other campus units must cooperate
and coordinate efforts to provide users quality
Service and to avoid duplication of costly data
files and services.
Remote Access to Data
Connections to the online catalog from a dial-
in system, access to CD-ROM data bases on a local
area network through a campus broadband con-
nection, and electronic mail reference service all
Provide access to library data from outside the
library itself and will expand the scope of the
libraryTs services. Reference staff will need to
decide how to provide assistance to users who no
longer have to come to the library for information.
Georgia TechTs library provides networked access
to its online catalog of books and journals, as well
as selected bibliographic data bases such as Mag-
azine Index and Management Contents. It deliv-
ers information to faculty and students instead of
trying to serve them in the library.!8
While generally viewed as a positive, progres-
Sive step in service, the creation of remote access
Services are seen by others as a threat to the
libraryTs function. They argue that the olibrary
Should be judged ~successfulT to the extent that it
does itself out of a job,� by no longer requiring
users to come physically to the library for infor-
mation.!® One writer concludes that ooptical discs
Can be viewed as being in direct competition with
the library itself, at least as it is traditionally
Viewed,�° since academic departments may also
Purchase CD-ROM data bases and house them
within their own buildings. Again the libraryTs role
of providing access to information could be
usurped.
Patrons
Library patrons have generally been very
enthusiastic and excited about the opportunity to
use new library technologies such as compact
discs and online public access catalogs. But along
With this eagerness often comes a lack of under-
Standing regarding the mechanics of accessing
the data. Patrons may attempt to do a CD-ROM
Search without having the compact disc in the
Player. They may download data to the hard disk
and then wonder why there is no data on their
floppy. They may insert the compact disc into the
floppy disk drive where it will be stuck. (To
remove the CD, just apply a bit of tape to the disc,
pull gently.) Such experiences document that
ousers require extensive professional help.�2!
The type of assistance can vary. Bibliographic
instruction classes offer the opportunity to reach
a group of users at one time. Documentation that
is brief and to the point can also be helpful. It
needs to be recognized, however, that most users
prefer one-to-one assistance at the time they are
directly accessing the data and that this point-of-
use assistance is very costly in terms of staff time.
Assisting patrons with new
technological services is an
extremely time-consuming
task.
Demand for staff assistance in using large
computer files is even more time-consuming. Due
to the complexity of the files, one hour is the
average amount of time spent assisting a patron
with a data file at the MRDF Center at Davis
Library. This does not include, however, the prep-
aration time spent by the librarian examining the
file prior to the patronTs arrival.
Patrons can also become perplexed by the
various microcomputer stations available in the
library. Some stations may be devoted to access-
ing the online catalog, others to compact disc
searching, others to online data base searching,
and others to word processing. Directional signs
are helpful in avoiding this confusion.
Having selected data bases in electronic for-
mat can create research problems for patrons. It
has been noted that patrons prefer to use Info-
Trac because it is easy to use, quick, and offers a
print biblography of sources. InfoTrac, however,
may not always be the most appropriate source of
information. The same can be said for other CD-
ROM products. Users often prefer using a CD to a
more appropriate print source. Patrons will try to
force a subject search into one of the data bases
on compact disc, even when the topic is not at all
well suited for the content of the data base. Thus,
the new technologies, while dazzling, can be
deceptive in their actual scope.
Conclusion
To say that CD-ROM data bases have become
extremely popular is an understatement. At UNC-
Chapel Hill, use statistics for FY 1988-89 are
expected to top 11,000. From the rather modest
beginnings in the last six months of FY 1986-87
when there were a total of 646 uses, followed by
5,358 uses in the next fiscal year, the increase has
been dramatic.??
Similarly, as new data bases and new formats
continue to evolve, the need for ongoing fiscal
planning, collection management, housing of ser-
vices and training of staff cannot be underesti-
mated. If they are, reference librarians will not be
Fall 1989"149
able to provide the services that patrons expect.
While automation offers alluring and exciting
opportunities for libraries to provide increased
access to information for users, it also challenges
reference librarians to provide quality assistance
to accompany the achievements of technology.
References
1. oCall Button for Libraries?� The Silver Platter Exchange 2
(January 1989): 13.
2. Bill Coons and Linda Stewart, oMainstreaming CD-ROM into
Library Operations,� The Laserdisk Professional 3 (September
1988): 29-40.
3. Sandra L. Tucker, Vicki Anders, and Katharine E. Clark,
oHow To Manage An Extensive Laserdisk Installation: The Texas
A&M Experience,� Online 12 (May 1988): 34-46.
4. Timothy Jewell, oCD-ROM and End-Users: The University of
Washington Experience,� CD-ROM Librarian 4 (January 1989):
15-21.
5. Jean Reese, oCD-ROM SERVICES at Vanderbilt University:
The Education Library Experience,� The SilverPlatter Exchange
2 (January 1989): 10-13.
6. Diane Strauss, oA Checklist of Issues to Be Considered
Regarding the Addition of Microcomputer Data Disks to Aca-
demic Libraries,� Information Technology and Libraries 5 (June
1986): 131.
7. Stephen P. Harter and Susan M. Jackson, oOptical Disc Sys-
tems in Libraries: Problems and Issues,� RQ 27 (Summer
1988): 518.
8. Jewell, 15.
9. Coons and Stewart, 35.
10. Strauss, 131.
11. Ray Jones and Colleen Seale, oExpanding Networks: Refer-
ence Services for MRDF,� Reference Services Review 16 (Number
1-2 1988): 10.
12. Tucker, Anders, and Clark, 46.
13, Barbara B. Moran, oThe Unintended Revolution in Academic
Libraries,� College and Research Libraries 50 (January 1989):
36.
14. Jones, 8.
15. Ibid.
16. Stephen A. Shaiman, Esq. and Howard B. Rein, oCD-ROM
and Fair Use: A Lawyer Looks at the Copyright Law,� The
Laserdisk Professional 2 (January 1989): 28.
17. Ibid., 29.
18. Miriam A. Drake, oLibrary 2000"Georgia Tech: A Glimpse of
Information Delivery Now and In the Year 2000,� Online 11
(November 1987): 48.
19. Timothy C. Weiskel, oThe Electronic Library� Change 20
(November/December 1988): 45.
20. Harter and Jackson, 522.
21. Ibid., 521.
22. David C. Taylor, oReference ROMs: Six Implications for
Libraries Building CD-ROM Database Service,� American Li-
braries 20 (May 1989): 452. al
150"Fall 1989
Lighten Up:
A Call for Papers (Great and
Small) Illustrating the Humorous
Side of the Library Profession
ItTs said that librarians take themselves and
their work too seriously. ItTs said, in fact, that
we have no sense of humor at all.* North Caro-
lina Libraries is planning an issue devoted to the
fun and whimsical side of our work. If you would
like to tackle one of the items listed below (or
come up with one of your own), please contact
by April 1:
Rose Simon
Gramley Library
Salem College
Winston-Salem, NC 27108
(919) 721-2649
Spoofs on our research methodology and results
(cf the Journal of Irreproducible Results)
Letters to the Editor (of NCL) with replies and
counter-replies
Horrendous manuscripts (uns, misspellings, mis-
statements of fact &c.)
Rethinking our professional philosophies, theo-
ries of cataloging and classification, public ser-
vice, etc.
From the Public"mangled reference questions,
citations; excuses for lost and damaged mate-
rials
Biographies of (Fictitious) Librarians
Histories of (Fictitious) Libraries
Floor Plans for New (Fantastic) Library Build-
ings"submitted by: a cataloger, a reference
librarian, a director, & a patron
A Day in the Life . . . (a librarian for wnom every-
thing possible goes wrong)
Epistolary Sequences concerning:
an overdue book; a vendor who continually
misbills you for something; a patron protest
of a harmless book (e.g., Cinderella)
(Fictitious) North Carolina Books and Their
Reviews
Proposed New Bylaws for NCLA
*If true, North Carolina Libraries will present you with its
complimentary official blank book in lieu of an issue.
Automating The Reference Department:
A Goal Oriented Approach
Johannah Sherrer
Two years ago during the annual departmen-
tal goals session, the Reference Department at
Perkins Library outlined a series of goals and
Objectives designed to encourage the integration
of electronic reference tools and services into the
traditional delivery of reference services. Each
member of the department made a commitment
to increase his or her online searching skills and
to experiment in an open minded way with new
CD products. This past year the two previous
goals were reaffirmed and a third goal was added.
It called for the development of INFOLINE, an
electronic bulletin board system designed to
enhance user access to reference services. Under-
lying our endeavor is the belief that new technol-
ogy has a great deal to offer both the user and the
librarian. We are attempting to concentrate on
the positive aspects of new technology and how
We can use it to enhance reference service.
Central to the implementation of new tech-
nology is the word service. We see our student
Patrons as having a limited time with us. It is our
goal to make reference service during that time
the best they can receive. When they leave the
university, we want them to think back to their
four years of library use in positive terms and
Perhaps as a standard with which to measure
future service.
Electronic reference tools and services exist
in several different forms at the Duke Library.
Traditional appointment-based online search ser-
Vices exist in combination with increased online
ready reference searching. We subscribe to a grow-
ing number of CD products and we have estab-
lished an electronic reference query system called
INFOLINE. Although the products and services
differ greatly in their structure, several governing
Philosophies tie their implementation and use
together.
Our planning for reference services is marked
more by openness and the awareness of possibili-
ties than by policy statements that attempt to
deal with every imaginable problem that might
"_
Johannah Sherrer is head of Reference Services at Duke Uni-
VersityTs Perkins Library in Durham.
arise. We have found that even when we study
situations in great detail, it is impossible to
second guess the reality. Our approach has been
to deal with problems if and when they arise.
CD Services
At Duke, one of our goals is to provide open
access to all CD products. We observe independ-
ent user access and modify the access and user
guides as necessary. Currently we have four dedi-
cated public access stations and one that handles
two separate data bases. The dedicated stations
have been assigned to SocioFile, PsycLit, and two
for Infotrac. We have a UMI station that provides
shared access to ABI Inform and to Newspaper
Abstracts. We keep the ABI Inform disc and the
two Newspaper Abstract discs on the table with
the PC. We allow patrons to change the discs, and
we keep access to all the products open even after
the Reference desk is closed. After two years, we
have yet to experience vandalism or theft of any
items. We do not have a limit on printing nor do
we charge a fee for the use of the PCs.
Creativity, openness, and flex-
ibility are essential elements
in the delivery of new refer-
ence services.
We are also determined to handle the main-
tenance of the equipment in much the same way.
We keep a supply of ribbons and ink jets at the
desk as well as extra boxes of paper. During the
busy times, we will ask the user (usually a stu-
dent) to carry the paper boxes out to the PC and
to thread the paper. Many patrons are more than
willing to change the ribbons as well. At first, staff
members were self-conscious and fearful of han-
dling these duties and found the complexities of
changing ribbons and inserting the paper cor-
rectly a major concern. The student patron, how-
ever, has been more than willing to lend a helping
hand. (Especially if it speeds up access!) Since the
library is a self-help facility in almost every other
Fall 1989"151
way including the use of copy machines, we
decided to extend the existing philosophy to the
new services. We make every attempt possible to
minimize the necessity of adding staff as we add
new services. At this time we have not yet added
extra student hours or support staff. Current job
descriptions, however, have undergone dramatic
changes.
Our experience with CDs has demonstrated
that we can imagine far more problems and exte-
nuating circumstances than actually exist. Our
practice thus far has been to set up the product in
a public area as soon as it arrives and deal with
problems if and when they arise. The depart-
mentTs overriding concern is to ensure user satis-
faction and ease of access.
Instead of viewing our unfa-
miliarity with the data bases
as a problem, we look at it as
an opportunity to increase our
skills and to keep ourselves as
current as possible.
For the most part we depend on CD software
to instruct the user. Both JAC and SilverPlatter
have excellent user compatible software. Most of
our users are not interested in the complexities of
searching but want a straightforward functional
approach. After a basic familiarity with the pro-
duct, a few will endeavor to search with greater
sophistication. The majority feel comfortable
searching with their own terminology and in their
own way.
Some products, however, are not graced with
smooth user compatibility. Products such as the
OED, PAIS, or even the UMI products still have a
way to go as user independent stations. We have
developed guides to these sources and find that
extensive instructions, while helpful to librarians,
are not so regarded by users. They tend to prefer
brief, to-the-point instructions or verbal instruc-
tion tailored to their specific information needs
rather than an introduction to the system in
general or to its conceptional framework. There
are exceptions to this, of course, and those excep-
tions are accommodated.
Online Ready Reference Services
Perkins Reference Department now main-
tains a PC at the reference desk for online ready
reference searching. In the fiscal year 1988/ 1989,
T we conducted approximately three thousand
152"Fall 1989
ready reference searches. These searches are
done at the discretion of the librarian and when
professional judgement indicates that a search
will be the most efficient or, indeed, the only way
to obtain the information requested. Users are
not assessed fees in either of these situations.
Each reference librarian is expected to have
a working knowledge of BRS, Dialog, Knowledge
Index, BRS After Dark, and RLIN. Each reference
librarian is encouraged to turn reference trans-
actions into learning experiences as they work
with patrons on unfamiliar data bases or systems.
In fact, whenever we work with a patron and use
a printed reference tool with which we have
limited familiarity, we learn with the patron. We
decided to carry this same rule over to electronic
media. Instead of viewing our unfamiliarity with
the data bases as a problem, we look at it as an
opportunity to increase our skills and to keep
ourselves as current as possible.
Infoline
In February 1989 we met to discuss the rami-
fications of introducing a service that would per-
mit students, faculty, and staff who had access to
a computer and a modem to send in reference
questions, suggestions and other messages twen-
ty-four hours a day. A bulletin board system was
chosen as an interim mechanism while the Uni-
versity moves toward the installation of a local
area network for the campus. We decided not to
limit the service to categories of information, but
to open it up to any question a user had. We would
answer it as we would any reference question
received in person or over the phone. Since we
were uncertain how the system would be used, we
decided to implement the service for a trial period
to gauge use and demand. By March 6 we were
ready for a trial run and had prepared an adver-
tising blitz of the campus. Each person in the
department participated in the planning and
initial trial period of the service. More than eight
hundred users logged on within a two and a half
month period. Many offered advice and sugges-
tions in the further development of the system.
Currently, INFOLINE provides a means for
registering suggestions concerning the Perkins
Library System; for learning the schedules of
libraries in the system; for requesting material on
interlibrary loan; and for answering reference
questions online. Questions received before 8 a.m.
each day (except Sunday) have a response by
1 p.m.; those received before 1 p.m. on any day
have a response by 4 p.m.; and those received by
4 p.m. have a response by 8 p.m. of that day. Our
§o0al for this coming year is to begin downloading
bibliographic files directly to the user via INFO-
LINE. What we have found most gratifying during
the development of the service is that as a
department we have worked toward a goal with
dispatch, confident that we can handle the rami-
fications of the systemTs success or failure.
We have learned that com-
promise can indeed produce
quality reference services and
that, without it, momentum
toward improved library ser-
Vices can be slowed or even
Stopped.
Conclusion
Our profession is not a static one. It offers
Opportunities for continued growth at every level.
In reference we have the opportunity to use ana-
lytic skills on an hourly basis. New ideas and new
Concepts abound in the delivery of reference ser-
Vices and not all of them require enormous
budgets. Creativity, openness, and flexibility are
�,�ssential elements in the delivery of new reference
Services. They are essential elements in the provi-
Sion of traditional reference services as well.
Sometimes fear of the unknown, fear of mak-
ing mistakes, or the fear of losing face often
impede the provision of imaginative and aggres-
Sive reference service. We have learned that in
Many cases it is our own recalcitrance that limits
reference service, not necessarily an imperfect
Product, difficult data base or an uninformed
Public.
We have grown a great deal as a department
in our attempt to integrate automated reference
tools into daily reference activities. We have
learned to have more respect for user satisfaction
and to trust a patronTs ability to make informed
decisions about his or her own information needs.
We have learned that users want answers with as
few impediments to the direct information source
as possible. We have learned too, that there is no
One way to accommodate user preferences.
We know that differences exist between
librarians and users when defining or even identi-
fying problems of access. We have learned that
Compromise can indeed produce quality refer-
�,�nce services and that, without it, momentum
toward improved library services can be slowed
or even stopped. We have learned not to commit
to assumptions about the unknown and to greet
the unknown confident that as professionals we
have the experience and the ability to welcome
problems as challenges rather than obstacles or
headaches.
Our endeavors over the past several years
have made us realize that we should question the
wisdom of evaluating new concepts, services or
technology by standards developed for previous
times. But perhaps the greatest benefit of our
efforts to incorporate automated sources into
reference services has been the necessity for
rethinking established concepts regarding user
information needs and to reassess not only what
we are doing, but why we are doing it.
Each person in the department has grown
quite dramatically in the past two years. We feel
that our reference abilities and our collective
efforts in providing reference service have reached
new levels of quality and efficiency. Statistics
show an increase of thirty-two percent in refer-
ence transactions over the course of the past
three years. The ratio, however, between refer-
ence questions and miscellaneous/directional
questions has not increased and represents
approximately twenty-three percent of the total
number of queries. We believe that future techno-
logical advances, when incorporated with thought
and creativity, can offer even greater levels of
quality and efficiency. |
(ai
Fall 1989"153
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154"Fall 1989
Teaching Computer Skills in the
Public Schools of North Carolina:
Moving from Who to How
Carol G. Lewis
When the first computers appeared in
Schools, they created many different emotions:
fear, anxiety, and excitement. Think back to the
first computer demonstration you attended. Can
you remember your emotions? We've made a great
deal of progress since then. But, has it been as
much as we could have expected? Are we doing
what we now need to be doing? Are we asking the
right questions? This article suggests that we may
be asking the wrong question and offers a sugges-
tion for a more meaningful query.
Who Should Teach Computer Skills?
A continuum of computer skills needed by all
students is included in North Carolina's Informa-
tion Skills program entitled oLibrary/Media/ and
Computer Skills� and can be found in Basic Edu-
cation Program, Standard Course of Study, and
Teacher Handbook.}
These documents form the basis for a philo-
Sophical position statement for North Carolina:
Information skills should be an integral part of
the curriculum; therefore, teaching those skills is
the joint responsibility of teachers and the media
professional. Working together as an instructional
team ensures that students will be taught the
skills needed now and in the future. Further, each
teacher is charged with responsibility to integrate
appropriately library, media, and computer skills
into subject areas for which she or he is specifi-
Cally assigned.?
Since the publication of the 1969 joint
AASL/DAVI standards, Standards for School
Media Programs,T subsequent national profes-
Sional guidelines have called for the media coor-
dinator to work actively with teachers to support
the schoolTs curriculum: oThe most effective media
Program depends upon the support of the school
Principal and upon an ongoing partnership
Pee eee
Carol G. Lewis is Staff Consultant for School Media Programs
for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in
Raleigh.
between teachers and media specialists.�4 Al-
though support for a collaborative, cooperative
effort between the school media coordinator and
teacher is found widely in professional literature,
actual practice lags behind these calls for the
team approach. Why?
Realities
First, in a rapidly changing environment, it is
difficult to identify priorities. About the time we
think we have an answer, the question changes.
Change is unsettling and creates discomfort. For
the media coordinator trained in traditional
library responsibilities, rapid change and expan-
sion of the role into unfamiliar territory can be
threatening. Since the tasks of librarianship are
never ending, it is safer and more comfortable for
many media professionals to fill the hours at work
with familiar routines. For the classroom teacher,
planning with others requires more time, which
often seems scarce during the course of an
instructional day. Media coordinators and teach-
ers have ever-increasing responsibilities. Thus, it
is easier for both to continue operating as usual
without assuming responsibility for integrating
newer technologies into skills and content les-
sons.
Second, as noted by Ely,® there is evidence of
differences in the role of the media coordinator as
perceived by media professionals and by teachers
and administrators. These differences are re-
flected in the degree to which the schoolTs media
coordinator is directly involved in instructional
matters. Frequently, principals do not recognize
the instructional role of the media professional,
and teachers often view the role only as oprovider
of resources.�
Third, there are a number of variables unique
to each school setting that influence instructional
methods and content. Examples of variables
include: the number of computers available, types
and quantity of compatible software, presence or
Fall 1989"155
absence of a locally adopted curriculum or scope
and sequence, location of computers in the build-
ing, and grade span in the school. Each set of
variables will present a unique set of challenges
and opportunities. Since needs are different, the
way a computer skills program is implemented
will vary from school to school.
Variety Typifies Practices in North Carolina
Recent school reform efforts in North Caro-
lina have yielded a state-mandated Course of
Study and a three-year funding program from the
state legislature that has provided a computer cur-
riculum and dollars for computer hardware,
software, and staff development between 1985
and 1988. Although a straightforward philosophi-
cal answer can be given to the question of who
should teach computer skills, school administra-
tors faced the advent of microcomputers with an
eye toward finding the most qualified people
available to do the teaching. Across North Caro-
lina a variety of solutions were found to answer
the question; therefore, variety is the word which
best describes the status of computer education
in the state.
It is encouraging to see edu-
cators interested in incorpo-
rating newer technologies that
enhance learning experiences
for students, rather than
allowing the technology to
drive the curriculum.
In many cases, media coordinators have seen
their role expanded to include computer coordi-
nation and teaching responsibilities. Still others
continue to lobby their administrators for access
to a microcomputer. Some schools chose to place
computers in a lab and hire a computer teacher.
Still others placed a computer in each classroom
and provided varying degrees of staff develop-
ment.
In 1983, the General Assembly provided spe-
cial funding for one hundred teaching positions
that could be used for math, science, or compu-
ter resource teachers. Approximately sixty per-
cent of these positions have been used each year
for computer resource teachers, signaling a per-
ceived need by school adminstrators faced with
the task of providing computer skills instruction
to all students.
156"Fall 1989
Changing the Question
Questions about computers have changed
since their introduction as education tools.
Initially, interest ran high regarding what hard-
ware to purchase and what software was avail-
able"unfortunately, usually in that order. More
recent questions focus on how to plan effective
instructional applications for students. These
plans may include using computers with other
technologies, widening the scope of learning
opportunities for students.
Three examples of meaningful learning expe-
riences that integrate information skills into var-
ious content areas are: 1) The use of a data base
management program makes it possible for stu-
dents to organize, manipulate, and access infor-
mation to solve problems relevant to the curri-
culum and to their lives; 2) Telecomputing not
only provides oreal audiences� for research and
writing projects, but it closes geographical gaps
and allows students to participate in collabora-
tive learning activities in every curriculum area,
3) Through desktop publishing applications, stu-
dents are able to communicate with others and
share acquired information with peers and
teachers in exciting new ways.
The shift in questions has relevance for those
who would still ask WHO should teach computer
skills. Perhaps a better question is HOW. How can
computer skills instruction be more relevant,
interesting, and effective? How can we make sure
that students acquire the skills they need to be
successful learners and effective adults? The
examples above represent only a few of the more
recent instructional applications being practiced
in North Carolina schools. It is encouraging to see
educators interested in incorporating newer
technologies that enhance learning experiences
for students, rather than allowing the technology
to drive the curriculum.
With the new question comes a continued
emphasis on planning and partnerships. The
teacher and media coordinator, both teachers,
bring different types of expertise to the learning
process. They jointly need to define and imple-
ment the program that teaches computer skills
most effectively to students. That is the bottom
line answer to WHO should teach the skills.
The media coordinator, as resource special-
ist, knows where to get the needed resources and
provides a variety of alternatives for lesson
design. However, she or he cannot know each stu-
dentTs individual needs and the curriculum con-
tent as well as the classroom teacher"circum-
stances which call for a successful partnership.
For those who consider the needs of students
first, there is a recognition that students who are
interested in the lesson, are actively involved, and
enjoy personal successes continue to learn no
matter WHO is teaching.
Change as a Constant: The Challenge
Blink your eyes or avert your gaze and you
find that another new technology is emerging
over the educational horizon. In conversations,
we frequently repeat the maxim: the only con-
Stant is change. As requirements for the work
place continue to change, schools are called on to
modify practices and learning opportunities
offered students. Effective planning is necessary
for survival in this rapidly changing environment.
It may be that a lack of knowledge about how to
Plan and insufficient time to do the planning con-
Stitute the greatest barriers to cooperative cur-
riculum design efforts.
We do not know the extent to which compu-
ters and their applications will change the school
environment. But, as change occurs, media coor-
dinators and teachers must change. The chal-
lenge is for all educators to remain resilient,
adaptive, lifelong learners, and ready to rethink
and revamp the curriculum as the need arises.
References
1. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Basic Edu-
cation Program (Raleigh, N.C., 1984): Standard Course of Study
(Raleigh, N.C., 1985); and Teacher Handbook for the Competency
Based Curriculum (Raleigh, N.C., 1986).
2. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Teacher
Handbook for the Competency Based Curriculum (Raleigh, N.C.,
1986), 21.
3. American Association of School Librarians and the Depart-
ment of Audiovisual Instruction of the National Education
Association. Standards for School Media Programs. Chicago:
American Library Association, 1969.
4. Ibid., 4.
5. Donald P. Ely, oThe Role of the School Media Specialist: Some
Directions and Choices,T Journal of Research and Development
in Education, 16:1 (November 1, 1982): 33-36. a
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Fall 1989"157
Where Do We Go from Here?
One School SystemTs Look at Past,
Present and Future Uses of Technology
Diane Kessler and Lynda B. Fowler
Change is all around us"in our work places,
our homes and our schools. As noted in Informa-
tion Power: Guidelines for School Library Media
Programs, oChange"rapid and pervasive"may
be the single most important characteristic of life
in the twentieth century.�! Nowhere is this more
apparent than in the development of technology
and its uses in our society. But technology and its
components are expensive, constantly changing,
and somewhat intimidating to the novice user.
How then can we incorporate knowledge of these
developments and their uses into the public
school setting where a majority of the staff is still
afraid of computers? On what uses should we
concentrate, and how can we familiarize reluc-
tant faculty and staff with the incredible versatil-
ity and range of technology? Is it really necessary
to include technology in public schools anyway?
Again, quoting from Information Power:
All aspects of education are significantly influenced by
major technological advancements. The complexity of
instructional technologies can, at times, overwhelm
educators seeking ways to integrate them into the school
curriculum. By assuming a leadership role in the use of
technology in the school, the library media specialist
promotes effective use of instructional technologies and
Sacilitates their full integration into the curriculum?
These questions and concerns cannot be an-
swered simply or all at once. In the Durham
County Schools we have used a combination of
long-range planning and support at both the
school and the system level to introduce new
technologies and to incorporate them into the
curriculum.
Development at the School Level
At Neal Middle School in 1979 we began with
a solitary Apple Ile computer and three adventu-
rous souls (one media coordinator and two math
Diane Kessler is media coordinator at Neal Middle school in
Durham, NC. Lynda Fowler is Director of Media Services for
the Durham County Schools.
158"Fall 1989
teachers) who were willing to experiment and
proselytize. We found that we had our adminis-
trationTs full support, an absolute requirement for
success. We formed our own school-based compu-
ter committee and began to do some long-range
planning and to establish some basic rules to
which we still adhere today. For example, we
stated that we would purchase no software that
had not been previewed by someone on the
committee. We concentrated on establishing a
computer lab in our media center that would
have twenty computers available to students and
two computers that were reserved for teachers.
We gradually increased our number of computers
by selling cookies and using various funds (such
as state computer funds) that became available
to us.
But when the amount of hardware began to
increase, we were faced with another ongoing
problem: software " that is, how to preview soft-
ware, how to afford to purchase all the software
~needed and, most importantly, how to use all the
software programs without infringing on copy-
right laws. At first, software publishers made it
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to preview
software. In Durham County we circumvented
some of these problems by using Media Evalua-
tion Services in Raleigh. Our Media Processing
Center also told us if another school in the county
had a piece of software in which we were inter-
ested; we could then borrow it from that school
for preview purposes. Central-level Media Serv-
ices also established a software preview library
that is now available to all county personnel. In
recent years, the publishersT restrictions against
preview have relaxed greatly, and it is now rela-
tively simple to obtain a preview copy of software.
Another major problem was having enough
copies of a piece of software to use with an entire
class. If we wanted to buy twenty copies of a disk
that cost $29.00, then we had to pay $580.00.
Today, of course, there are a number of alterna-
tives to spending an entire software budget on
one program. First, there are lab packs. These
usually consist of five to ten copies of the program
disk at a prorated price. Another possibility is
becoming a member of MECC (Minnesota Educa-
tional Computer Consortium). The MECC soft-
ware has dramatically improved in the past few
years, and members are entitled to multiple
copies of any program (if the members furnish
the blank disks to be copied). A third alternative
is available primarily through Sunburst Commun-
ications, a major educational software publisher.
On certain of their packages, Sunburst grants
permission to download the program and move it
~to another computer. One needs to be careful,
however, to check the documentation to be sure
about each separate program. A fourth way of
solving the software.dilemma is the use of public
domain software. At Neal and in Durham County
as a whole we have made extensive use of the
FrEd programs, ie, FrEdWriter, FrEdSender,
and FrEdMail.
We are very proud of the software collection
we have built at Neal. We have purchased a
number of commercially prepared programs and
used the MECC software extensively as well as
some of the public domain software. We have
encouraged the interest in and use of software in
all areas of the curriculum. As a result, our com-
puter lab is used by teachers in every discipline:
home economics, special education, business and
music, as well as the more traditional academic
subjects such as language arts, social studies,
math, and science. We also make a number of util-
ity programs available to our faculty and staff, i-e.,
Print Shop, Crossword Magic, Puzzles and Pos-
ters, Super Print, Slide Shop, Super Sign Maker,
and Grade Manager.
A third area that we continue to work on is
the attitude and awareness of the faculty. At Neal
Middle School we began with outside consultants
who came in to do workshops for our faculty;
then the Durham County Schools began to offer
workshops; finally, we began our own training
workshops. The school level workshops have been
the most popular by far as we concentrate on the
state Level One Computer Competencies. We
include a competency workshop in our plans
biennially and have been very pleased with the
results as our teachers learn to use utility pro-
grams and become familiar with software in their
areas. We also publish newsletters concerning
new materials and updated bibliographies.
With the formulation of the Durham County
SchoolsT Technology Plan, our Computer Commit-
tee became the Technology Advisory Committee.
The media coordinator serves as chairperson and
all areas of the curriculum are represented. The
committee works closely with the administration
as we plan for future developments. For example,
when Neal became a middle school instead of a
junior high school, we had a great deal of input
into decisions about the new classroom building
and the purchase of equipment. As a result, there
is a separate computer lab in the new building
and the number of computers has almost doubled.
So what are the results at Neal Middle School
ten years later? First of all, we now have two
computer labs: one in the media center that is
available to the entire school and one used as a
classroom for teaching computer literacy. We
have seventy computers, some stationed in class-
rooms and others on carts that can be moved
from one classroom to another. Our lab in the
media center is in almost constant use by
teachers across the curriculum, and our work-
shops for teachers remain popular. This year the
county purchased for each school a computer
with printer and modem to be used for telecom-
munications. Each media center has been
equipped with a dedicated phone line and we are
now learning about bulletin boards and electronic
mail. These developments have come about
because of continued long-range planning and
support, both at the school and central office lev-
els.
Development of the System Level
The entire set of challenges as presented in
Information Power is applicable to system-level
media and technology personnel. However, the
implications of providing oleadership and exper-
tise in the use of information and industrial tech-
nologies� relate most directly to system-level
responsibilities. By providing oleadership and
expertise in the use of ... instructional technolo-
gies,� a support base is formed for the school pro-
gram.
The school community is greatly influenced
by developments in technology. It is the obligation
of the system-level media and technology person-
nel to investigate, evaluate, and determine the
general direction of that influence. School system
personnel must strive to be proactive in imple-
menting technologies, although planning for this
quickly changing area is often uncertain and at
times develops into an educational guessing
game.
Durham County, like all other school systems
in North Carolina, developed a computer plan.as
Fall 1989"159
one of the requirements for receiving monies
appropriated by the State Legislature in 1984 for
the purchase of computers. This plan served the
system well for several years. System-level sup-
port was given to each school as it planned for the
incorporation of computers into the instructional
program. Direction of the program, hardware and
software selections, personnel concerns, and
other decisions were made at the school level, but
not all schools were as committed as Neal to a
well-organized, appropriate plan for the use of
computers. Inequities began to surface as the
computer program in each school developed.
These inequities, concerns about implementing
the North Carolina Standard Course of Study,
and the rapid development of technologies appro-
priate for education led administrators to take a
close look at the entire computer/ technology
area.
There were questions to answer. How would
the newer technologies such as CD-ROM, interac-
tive video, and hypermedia be used in the class-
room? How could present inequities be corrected
and future ones be avoided? Who would manage
the use of newer technologies? How would staff
members be trained? Who would pay for new
hardware and software? How would the effec-
tiveness of each technology be evaluated? Princi-
pals were especially concerned about investing
school budgets without first knowing how useful a
technology would be in educating students. Sys-
tem-level and school personnel were in a dilemma
about which direction to follow.
Media Services staff members examined the
old computer plan and found it offered little help
in answering these questions. A committee com-
posed of three people from Media Services, two
elementary principals, one middle school princi-
pal, and one high school principal was formed.
The committeeTs challenge was to determine the
present status of technology in Durham County
Schools, to address the questions surrounding the
future uses of technology, and to chart a course
for the school system.
The committeeTs work resulted in a document
which outlines oa systematic, non-fragmented
approach to incorporating technology into class-
room instructional programs� and which gives
direction in eliminating the inequities in the exist-
ing program. The plan supports the individual
school program by providing overall direction and
establishing minimum expectations, but does not
limit extended program development at the
school level. (A copy of the plan can be obtained
by writing Durham County Schools, Media Servi-
160"Fall 1989
ces, 3507 Dearborn Drive, Durham, NC 27704.)
The plan format lists possible educational
objectives and defines a five-step process for con-
sidering various uses of technology. The five steps
assist school media coordinators in evaluating,
selecting, managing, and using both existing and
emerging technologies. The plan ensures that each
technology is evaluated on its educational merits
and on how well it will support and enhance the
curriculum. Awareness, application, development,
implementation and evaluation are the five
steps. Each step is defined and expanded through
these areas: support/training/strategies, resour-
ces/costs, person(s) responsible, completion date,
and evidence of completion.
Developing awareness of the various forms of
technology is the first step to potential implemen-
tation. The plan outlines possible methods for
keeping school personnel informed of the devel-
opments in technology. The applications step
involves close examination of the instructional
program areas that can be strengthened, en-
hanced, and expanded by the use of a given tech-
nology. This step is designed to identify possible
uses of a technology in the classroom. We have
depended heavily on information provided by the
State Department of Public Instruction in this
step of the plan. Does the technology have a valid
place in a school is a question we must continu-
ously answer.
Once a possible application is identified, the
plan calls for an experimental project to help in
the development of an effective use for the tech-
nology. The experimental or pilot project concept
has been used with much success by Computer
Services in the State Department of Public
Instruction. We chose to use the same process.
The pilot project concept serves as a model and
provides experts within the school system on
whom others can rely and furnishes data for
future decision making. Most of these pilot proj-
ects are funded by the system and are not the
fiscal responsibility of the individual school. The
success of the pilot projects determines whether
or not full-scale implementation will occur. This
implementation step includes the purchase of
hardware and software, the training of personnel,
and the consideration of necessary facility needs.
Evaluation procedures are incorporated into
each step and are also an overall step in the plan.
Continuous examination is essential to provide
the best instructional programs for our students.
In addition to the five-step process for eval-
uating various forms of technology, the plan dis-
cusses personnel and budget implications. The
plan places decision making in each school with
the Technology Advisory Committee. The com-
mitee serves as the link between equipment and
materials and the implementation of ideas. The
plan does not address all technology concerns of
the school system or of individual schools. Media
personnel have much to do to keep all members of
our school community informed. Special consid-
eration must be given to providing school board
members, parents, and administrators with a true
picture of what we are doing with technology and
what our future plans include. A well-informed
audience is a receptive audience.
At present the plan addresses computer-
assisted instruction, telecommunications, online
retrieval, school television, interactive video, CD-
ROM, and hypermedia. The stage at which a par-
ticular technology was being used at the time the
plan was implemented determined which of the
five steps would receive the most emphasis. Many
teachers continue to use computers only for drill
and practice. The awareness and implementation
steps are the focus as these teachersT needs are
addressed. Although televisions and VCRs are
older forms of technology, few teachers are apply-
ing them to the effective use of School Television
in the classroom. By using the five steps outlined
in the plan, a process is now in place for encou-
raging more teachers to use School Television.
Little more than a year has passed since the
Superintendent and his Administrative Team
approved the plan and offered support for
implementation. There are projects in each step
of the plan. A modem, computer, printer, and tele-
phone line are now in each media center for var-
ious telecommunication developmental projects.
One junior and one senior high school have
piloted the use of Dow Jones online retrieval ser-
vices and will implement its use this year. Media
Staffs and selected faculty members at two high
schools have received training in the use of Dialog
retrieval services. They will begin pilot projects
this year. Workshops at the system level are
offered on the use of specific computer programs
as a way to determine appropriate application of
these programs. Plans are underway for a day-
long Technology Fair to foster awareness of the
latest developments in technology. Central office
Staff, school board members, principals, and three
teachers from each school will be invited to this
event. Several teachers are piloting level one
interactive video. One school is studying the
applications of level three interactive video for
instructing English-as-a-second-language students
and is in the process of organizing a pilot project.
The science coordinator is investigating possible
applications of interactive video to enhance
science instruction. A group of social studies
teachers has created a series of possible applica-
tions for various uses of technology in their
instructional program. They plan to pilot their
ideas this year and share their successes with
other social studies teachers next summer. The
plan has given Durham County Schools a frame-
work within which to operate and has provided a
direction in which to progress. The plan is work-
ing.
Staff development will continue to be an
important technology issue. Inservice activities
must be sufficiently diverse to keep staff informed
about new developments, to provide training for
application, and to facilitate changes certain to
occur through the use of technology. We need to
investigate more thoroughly the changes in
planning, budgeting, and instructional methods
essential for the successful implementation of
technology. In a recent article in Educational
Technology, Christopher Dede warns us of a
common error in assessing technology. We must
give close attention to
understanding its eventual impacts and consequences.
Emerging instructional technologies may lead to a new
definition of human intelligence; partnerships between
teachers and intelligent tools; and a dramatic shift in the
goals, contents, methods and clients of schooling.®
Are we prepared to facilitate oacceptance of
[technology's] indirect effects�?T
School and system-level media personnel
must work together to encourage and support
innovative uses of technology and yet maintain a
sense of direction. Through the implementation of
our Technology Plan, we in Durham County are
pursuing creative and effective uses of technol-
ogy. We will continue to evaluate and rework our
plan, set new goals and provide an atmosphere in
which changes brought about by technology are
accepted.
References
1. Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media
Programs (Chicago: ALA, 1988), p. 3.
2. Ibid., p. 10.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Durham County Schools Technology Task Force, Technology
Plan. (Durham: DCS, 1988.)
6. Christopher Dede, oPlanning Guidelines for Emerging Instruc-
tional Technologies,� Educational Technology 29 (April 1989):
10.
7. Ibid. al
Fall 1989"161
1986 1987 alslots)
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162"Fall 1989
Staff Education in Automation
Through Vendor Demonstrations
Linda Folda
The implementation of an automated library
system is a complex, time-consuming, and costly
process. Anyone who has gone through it or is
even just beginning to read about it is aware of
the importance placed on staff education and
training in ensuring a smooth transition from
manual to automated routines.
Joseph R. Matthews points out that,
Unlike ducks and water, people do not take naturally to
computer systems. People, both staff and patrons, must
be properly introduced to the computer and oriented as
to how computers work"and how computers do not
work, They often must be cajoled into using the compu-
ter and seeing ways the computer can help them in their
work.!
And John Corbin states that, oIntroducing a
new automated system can be particularly trau-
matic because it involves change and technology,
two societal elements that some people fear and
distrust.�?
Lurking in the background is the notion, pre-
sumably based on bitter past experience, that a
recalcitrant staff member who opposes change,
especially any change that is associated with that
nasty word, otechnology,� will sabotage the system
by refusing to learn how to use it correctly.
We have not so far identified any such recal-
citrant staff members at the Chapel Hill Public
Library. We have, nonetheless taken these caveats
to heart and liberally sprinkled our three-year
time line for the implementation of an automated
system with training sessions. These training ses-
sions are aimed at the entire staff but are of spe-
cial relevance to the support staff who do not
have the benefit of exposure to automation
through the workshops, conferences, and visits to
Other libraries that are available to the profes-
sional librarians. The sessions so far have covered
a variety of topics including the terminology of
automation, the design and component modules
of an integrated library system, the why and how
of retrospective conversion, and the linking capa-
bilities of barcode labels.
-
Linda Folda is Automation Coordinator/Technical Services
Librarian for the Chapel Hill Public Library.
There is no question, however, that library
automation is fraught with the thousand words
syndrome: however much you describe an auto-
mated procedure, be it with words, charts, graphs
or screen layouts, it only takes on form and mean-
ing when seen in operation. Providing that form
and meaning for the staff became our goal in
arranging a series of four in-house demonstra-
tions presented by major vendors of automated
systems.
Preparing for Vendor Demonstrations
The success of these demonstrations, as with
any of the steps of the automation process, was
based in large measure on careful preparation.
We began by identifying the systems that
seemed most likely to meet our needs. We were
looking for a fully integrated system that would
include modules for acquisitions and serials con-
trol. Our greatest emphasis, however, would be
placed on the clarity, flexibility, and ease-of-use of
the circulation module and the public access
catalog. Finding systems with the necessary com-
bination of features was done by reading current
library literature on what was available, soliciting
information materials from the vendors them-
selves, and trying out the systems at library con-
ferences.
The next step was the preparation of an eval-
uation form for the staff to use during the dem-
onstrations. We found writing this form, which is
included at the end of this article, to be a useful
check on our choice of vendors in step one. The
questions in the form were distilled from the draft
list of specifications drawn up by the librarians on
the staff after studying five or six existing
requests for proposals. While at this point we
were still a long way from developing a clear
notion of omandatory� specifications, the ques-
tions were designed to highlight features of a sys-
tem that we felt were important and to draw the
attention of the staff to the possible benefits of an
automated system. Before the demonstrations
began, a training session was held for the staff
during which the purpose and content of the
Fall 1989"163
form was explained. There were no requirements,
however, that the form be used or that it be
turned in for evaluation.
We contacted each vendor several weeks
before the first demonstration, initially by phone
and then by a follow-up letter which provided
some background information about the library,
outlined the basic schedule of events we had in
mind for the implementation of an automated
system, explained why we felt this system would
be a good candidate for our needs, and discussed
the purposes of an in-house demonstration. Each
representative was asked to send three or four
packets of information about the system for
routing among the staff prior to the demonstra-
tion. Each was also sent a copy of the staff eval-
uation form and asked to organize the demonstra-
tion on the basis of that form. This tactic proved
to be especially helpful when demonstrations ran
overtime because the technical services staff,
whose concerns were addressed toward the end
of the form, were more at liberty to stay and con-
tinue the demonstration.
The four demonstrations were scheduled at
intervals of approximately five weeks. Wednesday
was picked as demo day because most of the staff
could be at the library either in the morning or
afternoon, and no other activities were scheduled
in the meeting room on that day. Each vendor
was asked to schedule a three-hour presentation
to begin at 9:00 in the morning and to be repeated
at 2:00 in the afternoon.
We clarified equipment needs well in advance
with each vendor. For two of them we needed,
and had installed in the meeting room, an inde-
pendent telephone line for accessing remote data
bases. There were also calls for an overhead pro-
jector, a chalk board or flip chart, and tables for
arranging the equipment; and it never hurt to
have a couple of extra extension cords on hand.
In the course of this process we learned an
important corollary of library automation pro-
jects: a snafu will inevitably occur despite any
amount of careful preparation. One vendor
arrived with a team of three people and a van of
equipment, only to discover that somehow the
terminal keyboard had not been put on board.
Fortunately, a local businessman had a compati-
ble keyboard and was willing to loan it for the day.
In another case, we attached the vendorTs modem
to the phone jack and discovered to our dismay
that the telephone company had mistakenly dis-
connected the line. Happily, some helpful opera-
tor responded efficiently to our anguished call,
and the demonstration took place almost as
scheduled.
164"Fall 1989
Benefits of Vendor Demonstrations
The responses of the staff have been most
gratifying. We have a wide range of computer
literacy among our staff members, from computer
hacks to computer phobes. But even the hacks,
however, had had very little exposure to library
automation. In all cases, it was apparent that as
the demonstrations progressed, so did the com-
prehension, from glassy-eyed puzzlement after
the first vendorTs visit to a clear idea of what
might show up on the terminal screen next and
why.
The more experienced staff members were
impressed by the versatility and flexibility of the
systems presented. They were aware of the
amount of data being manipulated and felt that
the many options available for accessing that
data were easy to understand and use. For people
on the circulation staff some of the possibilities
presented were downright dazzling: being able to
identify in a few seconds where a book is, be it on
the new book shelf, in mending, or overdue; hav-
ing control over the whole process of recording
fines, printing overdue notices, and blocking
delinquent patrons.
While some of those staff members who might
originally have been classed as computer illiterate
did not emerge feeling completely comfortable
with automation, their acceptance level was
greatly enhanced. They were pleased to discover
that they could in fact distinguish differences
among the systems and form opinions about
which features they liked better than others. They
could see how efficiently the systems handled
such labor-intensive activities as checking in
materials and placing reserves on books. They
also became aware of procedures an automated
system can handle that are now impossible, such
as keyword searching or telling a patron exactly
which books he has checked out and when they
are due. We sincerely regretted having to tell one
staff member who asked, oCan we have it tomor-
row?!,� that we were almost two years away from
having our own system up and running.
There are several other advantages afforded
by these demonstrations. For one, the librarians
developed a much better understanding of the
functional specifications for the individual mod-
ules of an automation system and which ones
should be included in our own request for pro-
posals. For another, we became aware, almost
belatedly, of the public relations impact that
could be derived from these demonstrations. We
invited as a matter of course any interested librar-
ians in the area to view them; but we also asked
town officials and library trustees"basically
anyone who was completely in the dark about
library automation but who might have some
impact on the approval process, either directly or
in terms of patron support.
The system representatives themselves were
all very cooperative and helpful. They arrived as
scheduled, required very little assistance with set-
ting up or taking down their equipment, arranged
their terminals for maximum visibility, and had
numerous handouts for the staff. Our staff
members are not, by and large, reticent about ask-
ing questions. In almost all cases, the demonstra-
tor took pains to show how the system responded
to the needs expressed in those questions. Indeed,
much of the credit for the success of this educa-
tional enterprise is due to the vendors themselves.
Through this series of demonstrations the
staff members became acquainted enough with the
features of an automated library system to realize
that this new technology is not only not threaten-
ing but in fact very helpful in providing services
and information to public and staff alike. It will be
nice when we can say, oWe'll have it tomorrow.�
References
1. Joseph R. Matthews, Choosing an Automated Library Sys-
tem: a Planning Guide (Chicago: American Library Association,
1980), 71.
2. John Corbin, Managing the Library Automation Project
(Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 1985), 158.
Automation Demonstrations
Chapel Hill Public Library
Vendor Information
Name of company:
Providing a library automated system since:
Name of system:
Number of customers with installed systems as of 6/30/87:
Hardware CPU manufacturer:
Software operating system:
Circulation and Borrower Control
Patron registration
YES NO
1. Does the system allow searching by any of the patron registration fields of information? .__.._"-§ ____
2. Are records of patrons with fines or overdue materials stored indefinitely? Se
Checkout Activities
1. Does the system permit circulation of uncataloged materials (such as puzzles
and pamphlets)?
2. In order to accommodate a variety of patron/material categories, does the system
provide capability for several loan periods?
Renewals
Will the system allow renewal of all items checked out to a patron with a single renewal
request?
Check-In
Does the system permit and keep a record of oclaims returned� check-ins by patrons?
Reserves
1. Will the system allow reserves to be placed on a specific copy of a title as well as on all
copies of a title?
2. Does the system remove reserves from other copies of a title when all the reserves on
the title are satisfied?
Patron and Item Blocks
Does the system both audibly and visually interrupt the operator when there is either a
patron or an item problem at checkout?
Fines and Overdues
Will patron records contain a subrecord for each item for which money is owed,
including notification information (dates of notices) as well as all fee and payment
information?
Fall 1989"165
Public Access Catalog
Searching
1. Can you browse the PAC by author, title, subject, or call number?
2. Can you search the PAC by single and multiple keywords?
3. Does the system guide you in continuing a search if no match is found?
4. Does the system make allowances for misspelled words?
Displays
1. Does the PAC have the following displays:
a. A brief record, consisting of one or two lines of information?
b. A full record, containing full bibliographic information?
c. A copy information display, giving information about location and current status of
copies, as well as brief bibliographic information?
2. Can you scroll forward and backward as well as page forward and backward?
3. When a search results in more than one item, can the PAC list them in call number
order?
Help Messages
1. Does the system have an online, general tutorial on using the catalog and conducting
searches?
2. At any point in a search, can you easily get a help message which directly relates to the
screen being displayed?
3. Is there an index of the help messages available, with a short description of each?
Acquisitions/Fund Accounting
1. Is the acquisitions function operational now and able to be demonstrated?
2. Can book costs be shared among funds (i.e., general book funds and gift/memorial
funds)?
3. Can the system report on vendor performance
a. in percent of order filled?
b. how soon filled?
c. average discount?
Serials
1. Is the serials function operational now and able to be demonstrated?
2. Can the system automatically alert the operator when missing issues need to be
claimed?
3. Does the system display holdings information on the PAC?
Management Reports
1. Does the system record and store statistics on all automated library transactions?
2. Can the system provide reports on the following?
a. Total fines and fees collected for overdues, and for lost and damaged materials over
a certain period?
b. List in shelflist order titles which circulated more (or less) than a specified number
of times during a specified time period?
c. Bibliographies by Dewey call number range, author, material type, subject, etc.?
Can these categories by combined (e.g. subject and material type)?
d. Number of patrons with materials currently charged out?
3. Can the library formulate new reports without programmer intervention?
Cataloging and Data Base Maintenance
Adding information
1. Can the system check for name consistency and alert the operator if there are
problems?
166"Fall 1989
ial {Ree THE ealala
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2. Can the system alert the operator if a new subject heading is being added so cross
references can be checked?
Deleting information
1. Can deleted records be kept in an archival status for up to two years?
2. Can the system automatically deblind cross references to deleted subject headings?
Changing information
1. Can authorized users manually change any part of a record (e.g., adding birth and
death dates after an authorTs name, changing an edition statement, etc.)?
2. Can subject heading changes be made globally (e.g., oRussia� to oSoviet Union�) in all
occurrences?
Reports
Can the system track patron search terms and alert the operator of terms being used
frequently that result in no items retrieved?
General Factors
1. Are all functions of the system linked so that a patron or staff member using a terminal
can tell if an item is:
on order?
in process?
checked out?
when it is due?
at the bindery?
on the shelf?
2. In your opinion, would this system be easy to learn and use Yes
as a staff member? / /
1 2
as a patron? Yes
/ ni
1 2
ae
Pip eckly
No
th /
5
No
/ /
:
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Catalog on request
Fall 1989"167
Evaluating the Performance of the
Online Public Access Catalog:
A Redefinition of Basic Measures
Robert N. Bland
The evaluation of automated library systems
is a complex task that generally consists of three
components: a functional evaluation, an eco-
nomic evaluation, and a performance evaluation.
The point of a functional evaluation is to deter-
mine whether a system provides those features or
functions which a library desires. For an online
public access catalog (OPAC), these features may
range from the ability to do direct Boolean
searches with a specified number of operands
and operators, to the ability of the system to mon-
itor and provide statistical reports on port activ-
ity. An economic evaluation, on the other hand, is
an attempt to determine whether a given system
is reasonably priced and/or priced within the
budget of a library considering purchase. This
assessment will normally include an analysis of
initial hardware, software, and training costs as
well as an analysis of ongoing maintenance and
personnel costs. It may also include an analysis of
the financial health of the vendor. Finally, a per-
formance evaluation is an attempt to determine
whether a system performs or executes its func-
tions within limits negotiated between the vendor
and the interested library. These limits will refer
to reliability (the amount of odown� time that is
acceptable); to capacity (the number of terminals
and records supported, and so on); and to per-
formance in the narrower sense (i.e., the speed at
which the system runs and the efficiency with
which it produces results). Capacity and opera-
tional performance are usually evaluated on the
basis of a benchmark or acceptance test, in which
the system is put through its paces in a configura-
tion and an environment similar or identical to
the one in which it is planned to operate.
The library literature is replete with studies
and recommendations regarding the functional
evaluation of OPACs. Matthews, Hildreth, Fayen,!
and others have done an admirable job of identi-
Robert N. Bland is Associate University Librarian for Techni-
cal and Automated Services at Ramsey Library, University of
North Carolina at Asheville. ;
168"Fall 1989
fying and explaining the functions which state-of-
the-art OPACs should include. This literature has
such breadth and depth that even libraries with
limited expertise and experience with automa-
tion should have little trouble in choosing
between alternative OPACs or thoroughly evaluat-
ing a single system based on functional character-
istics. Through the RFP process and the sharing of
information gleaned from contract negotiations,
libraries generally have also had considerable
information upon which to base economic evalua-
tions. Performance evaluation is another story.
Although there is general agreement on stan-
dards of reliability inherited from the wider com-
puter industry, there seems to be little formal or
informal consensus within the profession regard-
ing the other aspects of performance evaluation.
As a consequence, libraries too often find them-
selves acquiescing to performance evaluations
based on performance measures defined by sys-
tem vendors. These evaluations may not tell a
library what it needs to know: that is, whether the
complicated and expensive system it is consider-
ing or has purchased is really adequate in terms
of power and speed for the job intended.
The computer industry has developed many
methods for measuring the performance of com-
puter systems. These range from determining the
millions of instructions per second executed
(MIPS) and the percentage of CPU activity con-
sumed by certain jobs, to determining seek, read,
and data transfer times for input-output opera-
tions. It is not the business of librarians to be con-
cerned with these measures directly. What is
important is how the capacity and power of a
computer system translate into productivity for
the library application and its intended objec-
tives. The most familiar performance measure
associated with automated library systems in
general and OPACs in particular is response time.
Most library-generated specifications for auto-
mated systems nowadays contain clauses regard-
ing system response time, usually both for normal
and peak load conditions. These terms are
defined elsewhere in the system as the number of
terminals active, the number of jobs running at a
given time, and so on. The mean response time for
OPAC searches under normal conditions, the
specifications may state, shall not exceed three
seconds. Mean response time for OPAC searches
under peak load conditions, the specifications
may continue, shall not exceed seven seconds. On
the surface this may appear precise and effective.
But what is response time? And does it have any-
thing to do with the adequacy of the OPAC under
consideration as a library catalog? The answer to
the first of these questions, I have suggested, is
that too often the definition of response time
turns out to be what the vendor, not the library,
determines it to be. And therefore, the answer to
the second question is that response time may
have little or nothing to do with the adequacy of
the system as a library catalog.
Consider, for example, the common defini-
tion of response time as the interval of time
between the instant a user presses the return or
send key on the terminal and the instant when
characters appear on the terminal screen oin
response.� Let us examine now hypothetical sys-
tem A. Assume that system A includes an OPAC
that functions much like the typical second-gen-
eration OPACs found in most automated libraries
today. That is, the system may be used with either
menus or direct commands; in response to a
search query, a summary screen listing matching
entries is displayed; the user determines from this
summary screen the records s/he wishes to see in
detail; and the full record including call number
for each title is then displayed at the user's
request. Let us assume now that a user of this
system wishes to determine the call numbers of all
the editions of Samuel ButlerTs The Way of All
Flesh owned by the library, and that the system is
performing with an average response time as
defined above of three seconds. A command
search by title will involve a number of discrete
steps in this system, each with its own response
time wait. The command must be entered, choices
must be selected from the summary screen one by
one, and the full records then displayed separ-
ately. Let us say that a total of four commands are
required to display the full records including call
numbers for the three editions of The Way of All
Flesh owned by the library. Thus, leaving aside for
the moment the time required for the system to
write information to the CRT screen and, of
course, the reaction time of the user, a total of
twelve seconds is required for the system to com-
plete the userTs task.
Consider now hypothetical system B, that
supports an OPAC with a rather advanced natu-
ral language command interface. Here the user
with the same task in mind enters the command:
ofind all books with title = ~Way of all fleshT and
then print call number.� The user waits six
seconds, and then the call numbers of the three
records are displayed upon the screen. Response
time for OPAC B is six seconds, twice as bad as
system A. Yet it is plain that the user of system B
has accomplished his task in half the time of the
user of system A.
What is important is how the
capacity and power of a com-
puter system translate into
productivity for the library
application and its intended
objectives.
The same point can be made without refer-
ence to a hypothetical system with a powerful
natural language command processor? Let us
assume that system C is identical to system A in
terms of its search logic"that for a given search,
exactly the same number of discrete steps are
required. The operating system of system C, how-
ever, is designed and tuned somewhat differently
from system ATs. Response time as defined above
for system C is four seconds. Yet because of per-
haps a faster data transfer rate from disk, larger
buffers, and less page swapping from memory to
disk, system C is able to complete writing to the
screen a bibliographic record complete with call
number in one second versus two seconds for sys-
tem A. Thus, with respect to the same example,
the total execution time of the task for the two
systems, now including both response time and
the time to write the screen, is the same: twenty
seconds. To the user, interested in results, the sys-
tems are identical; but in terms of response time
system A is considerably superior to system B.
This definition of response time, then, can
hardly be adequate as a basic performance meas-
ure for OPACs. It can be too easily manipulated,
and without reference to the number of discrete
steps involved to complete a task and the amount
of time required to write displays, response time
measurements can give little information about
the system. Response time so defined may be even
less adequate as a performance measure to eval-
uate other system components, where even a
larger number of discrete steps may be required
Fall 1989"169
to complete a task than is the case with OPAC
searching (e.g., adding patrons to the patron data
base in the circulation subsystem). Libraries
should not participate in benchmark or accep-
tance tests based on this kind of performance
measure, some of which may border on fraud.
Defining response time as the interval of time
between the instant when a command is entered
and the time when the system is ready to accept
another command is certainly an improvement.
Under this definition, which some vendors have
accepted,~ response time must include disk seek,
read, and data transfer times, and the time to
write information to the screen (which may be
significant when the system is under heavy load).
Yet this still does not yield a true measure of per-
formance because it does not include the number
of discrete steps which may be involved in the
completion of a task. The performance of a com-
plex, applications-oriented system like an OPAC
depends on both the hardware and the software
supporting that application. The performance of
system A, with a poorly designed user interface
requiring six steps to complete a task, may be
worse in terms of genuine results than that of
system B, which may require only four, even
though system A runs on a larger and faster com-
puter.
... we have fixed for too long
on the dubious notion of
response time as the basis of
performance measures.
What we need are measures of performance
that gauge the system as a whole with respect to
the applications in which we are interested. For a
library OPAC, the amount of time taken to com-
plete actual catalog tasks (not computer tasks)
should be the basis of these measures. In the
computer industry this concept is sometimes
referred to as throughput, that is, the amount of
useful work that the system can perform under
specified conditions in a specified amount of time.
Alternatively, it may be referred to as turnaround
time, the amount of time required to complete a
particular job or task. For a library OPAC system,
throughput is (or should be) the number of
catalog searches (on average) that can be com-
pleted under specified conditions in a specified
amount of time. Turnaround time is (or should
be) the amount of time (on average) required to
complete various catalog search tasks.
But how do we measure throughput in an
OPAC and when is throughput satisfactory? We
170"Fall 1989
cannot simply have users perform random catalog
searches, measure completion times, take an
average, and then ask if they are happy. There are
too many uncontrolled variables to make this
kind of test very meaningful, although it is proba-
bly more revealing than the response time tests to
which we have become accustomed. The system
may seem to have performed poorly because
some of the users were unfamiliar with it or were
poor typists. It may seem to have performed well
because too many easy searches were done.
I do not believe that we can expect to learn
much about the performance capabilities of com-
plex systems like library OPACs with such unsys-
tematic approaches, any more than we can
expect to learn a lot about the performance of
automobiles by placing unskilled drivers in them
and asking them to drive around. In both cases
we may learn something important"that is, how
easy the OPACs or autos are to use. But that is a
different question from how well they perform.
To test performance"and particularly to
compare performance between systems"we need
reasonably skilled operators at the controls put-
ting the systems through standard tests under
controlled conditions. For OPACs this means
librarians or other skilled users performing a vari-
ety of searches under operational conditions and
carefully recording the task completion or turn-
around time for each type of search. These
searches should include the common known-item
author and title searches, subject searches with
and without subdivisions, catalog browsing, and
so on. In other words, it should include those
kinds of searches which librarians and library
users actually perform and which the system
should be designed to handle with facility. More-
over, for fair comparisions, the searches should be
categorized on the basis of the number of items
initially retrieved by the search. We should collect
data on the task completion or turnaround time
for searches when ten or fewer items are
retrieved, when eleven to one hundred items are
retrieved, and so on. We will then have a basis for
accurately judging how a system will perform in
our library as a library catalog, and for compar-
ing it with other systems.
But how well should an OPAC perform? Is it
reasonable to expect that title searches retrieving
fewer than ten titles initially, for example, be
completed on average within ten seconds? thirty
seconds? two minutes? It is somewhat curious
that in all the library literature on OPACs little or
no data regarding this question appears, and this
lack, I suspect, is because we have fixed for too
long on the dubious notion of response time as
the basis of performance measures. To be sure,
many surveys designed to determine the satisfac-
tion of library patrons using OPACs have been
done, and they are no doubt important and useful
in their own right. Yet without quantification
under controlled conditions of the turnaround
time of the various activities being performed, we
cannot use these studies as a basis for the devel-
opment of objective standards of OPAC perfor-
mance.
In an attempt to establish some baseline fig-
ures for catalog activity turnaround times in the
online catalog, a study was made by the author,
during the summer, of six different OPACs
(representing three different systems) installed
and operational in North Carolina academic
libraries. Two of these OPACs were large systems,
holding more than 500,000 bibliographic records;
two were middle-sized systems, with between
200,000 and 300,000 bibliographic records; and
two were small systems, with fewer than 150,000
bibliographic records. Five queries were made of
each OPAC on each trial over a two-week period
in order to determine baseline figures for the fol-
lowing types of catalog searches:
Search Type #1 An author search retrieving
fewer than ten records, one of
which (the first) is selected for
full display;
Search Type #2 A title search retrieving fewer
than ten records, one of which
(the last) is selected for full
display;
Search Type #3 A subject search retrieving
fewer than ten entries, one of
which (the first) is selected for
display;
Search Type #4 A subject search retrieving
between ten and fifty entries,
the first three of which are
displayed as full records;
Search Type #5 An author search retrieving be-
tween ten and fifty records,
two of which (the first and last
of the list) are selected for full
display.
This list is, I think, fairly representative of the
types of searches actual library users do (or
attempt to do) in our catalogs, although it is cer-
tainly not complete. To maintain consistency in
the comparisons, the actual searches done in the
test were pre-selected by examining each catalog
and identifying a search in each category which
would retrieve approximately the same number
of records as retrieved in the other catalogs. The
searches were all entered as direct commands,
even where menu selections were available. Turn-
around time was measured as the interval
between the instant when typing of the command
began to the instant the last full record of the set
was displayed, complete with call number. Thus,
turnaround time for each type of search included
the authorTs keying time (I am a fairly decent
typist"fifty words per minute), the time for the
OPAC program to decipher the command, per-
form disk reads to retrieve the necessary informa-
tion, display the information on the screen, and
wait for the next command. The author's reaction
time was included, but in this case, at least, that
time was minimal because it was predetermined
which records from the summary screen would be
further selected for full display.
The results of the test for each OPAC appear
in Table 1. The figures in the bottom row indicate
average search times for all the OPACs for the
type of search indicated at the top of the column.
B
OOK WEEK: November 13-19, 1989
The 1989 Book Week poster has been created for the Child-
renTs Book Council by Caldecott Medalist Richard Egielski.
National Book Week will be observed for the 70th year
November 13-19 in 1989. EgielskiTs full-color 17� x 22� poster
costs $6.50. It is also available with many other items at a
substantial savings in the CouncilTs Book Week Bargain Kit.
Send a 25¢ stamped, self-addressed envelope to CBC (P.O.
Box 706, New York, NY 10276-0706) for ~o~Book Week Bro-
chure� for details.
Fall 1989"171
TABLE 1.
Online Catalog Searches
SSS
(Mean Turnaround Times)
Number of
Bibliographic Search Types
System Records #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 ALL
OPAC 1 500,000+ 21.8 19.8 216 54.9 46.0 32.8
OPAC 2 500,000+ 21.7 18.5 19.9 70.6 69.2 40.0
OPAC 3 200,000-400,000 18.0 127 12.0 41.9 61.5 29.2
OPAC 4 200,000-400,000 25.5 23.4 39.9 79.2 75.7 48.7
OPAC 5 50,000-150,000 31.4 18.0 29.4 61.4 84.6 449
OPAC 6 50,000-150,000 23.3 17.6 18.9 54.5 48.8 32.6
SSS
Column Means: 23.7
A GLM (general linear models) procedure used
with the SAS statistical package to analyze var-
iance showed statistically significant differences
among the OPACs for all five search types: p .05.
However, TukeyTs Studentized Range Test, used to
test overall performance in which each OPAC was
compared against each of the others on all search
types, showed statistically significant differences
at the .05 significance level only between OPACs 3
and 4. The differences among all the other OPACs
were leveled out somewhat by one system per-
forming better in one search type and another
better in another search type.
Intuitively, the search times for the OPACs
generally seem quite good. It should be remem-
bered, however, that the searches were done with
the systems under relatively light loads during the
summer when academic library use is at low ebb.
It will be interesting to see how these figures
change with the systems under heavy user load,
as we may expect them to be during the peak
periods of fall semester. Based on previous
although undocumented experience, we can
expect significant degradations in turnaround
time for some of these systems.
It is interesting, too, to compare the results in
Table 1 with Table 2, which show average turn-
around times for the first three searches in
manual catalogs"in one case, a card catalog for a
middle-sized library and, in the second, a compu-
ter output microform (COM) catalog for a small
library A minimum standard for online catalogs
TABLE 2.
Manual Catalog Searches
Number of (Mean Turnaround Times)
Bibliographic Search Types
System Records #1 #2 #3
KS
Cards 200,000-400,000 26.9
COM 150,000 33.2
25.9
34.0
34.4
36.0
ETS
172"Fall 1989
18.5
23.9 60.9 64.4 38.2
in the marketplace today might be that known-
item or single-entry searches like those described
in the first three test searches should be at least
as efficient as manual searches in catalogs of sim-
ilar size even when the system is under heavy
load. Manual catalogs often actually perform bet-
ter in terms of turnaround time in searches of the
type described in (4) and (5), where the userTs
task is to identify a number of titles under a single
heading, resulting from the ease with which one
can move from one full record to the next in a
card or COM catalog once the appropriate posi-
tion in the index has been reached. Analysis of the
differences in turnaround times for various
catalog tasks performed in automated and man-
ual systems can help to identify types of searches
which online systems perform well and those
which they perform less well. It can also help sys-
tem designers to search for ways in which to
overcome or circumvent the inherent physical
limitations of the CRT screen.
At any rate, such a preliminary investigation
cannot, of course, establish standards of itself,
even for systems under light load. The point of the
investigation is to show how meaningful perform-
ance measures for OPACs (or any other library
system, for that matter) can be developed and
used to evaluate performance in a manner which
allows us to compare systems in a reasonably
objective manner with respect to actual library
applications, and even to.compare automated
systems against manual systems. Much further
work will be required before true standards for
OPAC performance can be developed, but there
can be no doubt that standards are needed. An
online catalog represents a vast investment for a
library, in terms of both financial and personnel
resources. We are past the time when decisions of
this magnitude can properly be made on the basis
of word-of-mouth, subjective user opinions, or
poorly defined performance measures. Standards
will also help library automation vendors to
understand library needs and to develop systems
that truly meet library functional and perfor-
mance requirements. The current environment,
lacking as it does a consensus regarding perfor-
mance measures and objective performance
standards, virtually invites competitive bid situa-
tions which result in librariesT purchasing systems
that are underpowered or otherwise inadequate
to library performance needs. With improved
measures of performance in place and solid
empirical data upon which to base expectations,
libraries and system vendors alike should be bet-
ter prepared to avoid costly mistakes in the
future.
References
1. Joseph R. Matthews. Public Access to Online Catalogs
(Weston, Conn.: Online, Inc., 1982). Charles R. Hildreth. Online
Public Access Catalogs (Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, Inc., 1982). Emily
Gallup Fayen. The Online Catalog (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge
Industry, 1983).
2. Matthews, p. 53.
3. For those unfamiliar with natural language command
processors, the hypothetical command above is by no means
science fiction. Once a data base for books has been defined with
call number as a field, this exact command could be used in
Digital Equipment Corporation's Datatrieve report and query
system to perform the task described. ql
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY YEAR
4 ff
144 fe
,
Barry Moser has created a poster on 1990 International Liter-
acy Year for the ChildrenTs Book Council. The poster, measur-
ing 24� x 32%�, is in six colors. It costs $15.00 and is shipped
rolled in a mailing tube. Send a 25¢ stamped, self-addressed
envelope to CBC (P.O. Box 706, New York, NY 10276-0706) for
Current Materials Brochure for details.
Library Administration and
Management Section Formed
A new section of NCLA named oLibrary
Administration and Management Section� (LAMS)
has been approved by the Executive Board of
NCLA. LAMS will hold its first program and
organization meeting at the NCLA conference in
October in Charlotte. Patterned (to some degree)
after LAMA, a division of ALA, the mission of
LAMS of NCLA will be to provide an organiza-
tional framework for improving the practice of
administration in libraries and for identifying and
fostering administrative skills. The section will
meet its responsibility by aiding the professional
development of personnel interested in adminis-
tration and management and by planning and
developing programs, study, and research in
library administration and management prob-
lems.
NCLA members who are interested in admin-
istration and management are encouraged to
designate a preference for this section (LAMS) at
the time of payment of biennial associational
dues. NCLA members may join LAMS any time
during the year, however, by notifying the treas-
urer and paying section dues.
All attending the NCLA conference are cor-
dially invited to attend the program and organi-
zational meeting of LAMS on Thursday, October
12, from 9 to 10:30 AM.
For additional information, one may contact
LAMS Steering Committee Chair, Miss Nancy Ray,
Director, Southern Pines Public Library, 180 S.W.
Broad St., Southern Pines 28387, Phone: 919-692-
8235. al
Fall 1989"173
Unfolding the Mysteries of Aladdin: the
Impact of an Integrated Online System
on Catalog Operations
Patti Easley and Lovenia Summerville
In early 1983 J. Murrey Atkins Library of the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte began
planning for implementation of the VTLS system,
known locally as Aladdin. Task forces were
appointed with appropriate staff representation
for specific implementation phases. The director
also appointed the Implementation Group to
guide and direct the overall system implementa-
tion based on the recommendations of the var-
ious task forces. The cataloging unit was well
represented on all of the various groups, as two
members of the unit served on the original selec-
tion committee. Therefore, the cataloging unit
was well aware that major changes would influ-
ence the ways things were done. By June 1983,
when the equipment was installed for the VTLS
system, plans were being made for phases of
implementation which would affect the functions
of the cataloging operations. Over the next six
years, many changes took place, some subtle and
some not so subtle. What follows are observations
of major impacts made by an online integrated
system on cataloging operations and inferences
drawn from these experiences.
Changes came about in cataloging operations
over a period of approximately fifteen months.
Basic cataloging activity was unchanged, as a
dual operation was continued until January 1985.
Cards were produced and filed in the card catalog
until all tapes were loaded and all equipment and
software had been adequately assessed. Mean-
while the pattern of workflow was under review.
Training activity and documentation from VTLS
suggested that the major impact would be on the
bibliographic records maintenance functions.
In addition to the expected adjustments for
everyday cataloging operations, the advent of
orolling conversion� (converting bibliographic
records as the related items circulated) tumbled
into the cataloging processes with a force not
Patti Easley is Catalog Maintenance Librarian and Lovenia
Summerville is Catalog Unit Head for the J. Murrey Atkins
Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
174"Fall 1989
unlike that of a runaway horse with an inexpe-
rienced rider. Funding and additional staffing
had been provided for a two year period to give
concentrated attention to shelflist conversion
(converting bibliographic records as one moves
through the shelflist catalog card by card). How-
ever, the move to implement the circulation func-
tions online in the fall of 1984 without having
thoroughly studied the impact of rolling conver-
sion on cataloging operations meant that all
planning and staffing for shelflist conversion had
to shift emphasis to orolling conversion.� For the
next two years, notices for conversion to ma-
chine-readable records arrived by the hundreds
from the circulation unit. In the past year these
receipts have dwindled to less than twenty per
day. This experience was the first major example
of the need for better communication and under-
standing of the impact that organizational deci-
sions can have on two vital functions utilizing the
same system. As has been indicated, workflow
review established the need to rework various
processes.
The inputting and editing of OCLC records
has remained basically the same, with the addi-
tion of transferring the record from OCLC to
Aladdin after the shelflist card is produced. The
materials processing area has also seen some
changes, but these have been minor compared to
those in other areas. Because bibliographic re-
cords are searchable in Aladdin after the nightly
buffer run, catalogers put only one day's books on
each truck instead of filling the truck.
One of the first decisions made was to link
the items at the end of all other cataloging pro-
cesses. We knew that if an item was linked as soon
as the bibliographic record appeared in the data
base, but before the item was labeled and sent to
the circulation unit to be shelved, users would
find the record in Aladdin but be unable to locate
the book on the shelf. (Library staff know a recent
odate entered� on the MARC record means the
item is still in cataloging.) During the linking pro-
cess each title is searched in the system by the call
number on the label. If the title is not found, addi-
tional steps are taken to determine if the item is
mislabeled or if there is another problem. We still
include date due slips, although the cataloging
and circulation units have discussed discontinu-
ing this. An alternative would be to put a dated
slip in the book at the time of check-out. Even
before Aladdin, we have been aware of the time
spent placing date due slips in books which might
never be checked out.
Shortly after the implementation of Aladdin,
bibliographic maintenance, authority control, and
OCLC editing and inputting functions absorbed
staff members who were formerly involved in fil-
ing. Most staff in the cataloging support section
search and edit on OCLC as well as on VILS. This
in itself demands a degree of flexibility and
sophistication. They must know bibliographic as
well as system requirements for both OCLC and
VILS.
The online system has increased our need for
bibliographic maintenance. The more traditional
kinds of maintenance, such as revisions to name
and subject headings, conflicts in forms of entry,
corrections of typographical errors, and call
number changes, still exist in the online system.
One difference is the ease with which most cor-
rections can be made. The capability of global
change reduces hours or even days of pulling,
erasing, retyping, and refiling to minutes of online
editing. These compexities have raised the overall
level of staff expertise in bibliographic mainte-
nance, since the same person often identifies the
error, verifies the change, and is able to make the
correction at the terminal. All staff in the catalog-
ing support section making changes to bibliogra-
phic and authority records are expected to have a
certain level of expertise with both the bibliogra-
phic and item information in the record and the
MARC format. All edited records automatically
move from the work area to the data base during
the nightly buffer run. Unless records are specifi-
cally saved, there is no review except for the mes-
sages which may appear on the daily buffer
report.
Many problems which seemed minor in a
card catalog are more apparent in Aladdin. Dis-
crepancies in capitalization, punctuation, diacrit-
ics, and birth/death dates are treated as different
entries in VTLS. The buffer report notes possible
duplications and staff intervention is then neces-
sary to combine the entries. If this is not done,
duplicate entries become part of the data base
and no other reports are printed. The system will
continue to display the entry in two (or more)
forms, however slight the difference. While con-
flicts may remain dormant in a card catalog with
the record still available to the user, conflicts in
authority and bibliographic records remain in the
buffer until the problem has been corrected. Until
then the complete record does not appear in the
data base, and it is inaccessible to users. Thus, the
record is not available until bibliographic mainte-
nance has cleared all records.
All bibliographic control staff must be alert to
searching techniques and how these affect cata-
loging. These techniques may sometimes conflict
with the requirements of the Library of Congress
system. Title added entries have demanded a
great deal of attention. Abbreviations, symbols,
numbers, and spaces may all need additional title
added entries in order to facilitate searching. In
our public catalog titles beginning with the words
olabor� and olabour� are interfiled. In Aladdin, title
added entries must be generated if it is suspected
that users may search differently. In other cases
entries may have to be deleted. Current LC cata-
loging often includes a title added entry which is
identical to the recordTs uniform title. If the added
entry is not deleted, Aladdin will display two hits
on the same record. A title such as o3 [trois]
freres� would have be searched exactly as written.
Title added entries would be added for o3 freres�
and oTrois freres.� Most of this is done by the bibli-
ographic control staff when incoming shelflist
cards are reviewed. An old problem which still
exists in earlier records is caused by the lack of
filing indicators in author/title added entries.
Titles which begin with non-filing articles have to
be searched by those articles. While this is not a
problem with current cataloging, retrospective
conversion records may still contain these entries.
The library staff, in general, and catalogers, in
particular, remain a major source of notification
for conflicts. They continue to send notes as well
as print-outs from Aladdin to report changes but
many also utilize a quick and easy feature of the
system called the /TELL command. It enables
staff to send messages through the Aladdin ter-
minals to report possible bibliographic and sys-
tems errors and/or problems. These messages are
printed on the next daily buffer report. The
potential for more information will grow as addi-
tional users are introduced to this feature. Incom-
ing shelflist cards are reviewed as part of the
authority process. This activity alerts the biblio-
graphic control staff to many potential problems.
The transfer and editing of authority records also
contributes to the identification of errors, as does
the maintenance process itself. The catalog main-
tenance librarian reviews daily buffer reports
Fall 1989"175
which the system generates from bibliographic
and authority records being transferred from the
buffer to the database. These reports do more
than identify conflicts and possible duplications
in the system. The buffer report program has been
set so that it also prints out any headings which
do not have MARC authority records. From our
experience, the librarianTs overview of the reports
serves a useful purpose.
The transfer of all name authority records
causes growing maintenance problems. There are
increasing numbers of conflicts between current,
in-coming bibliographic records and full MARC
authority records already in Aladdin. When these
conflicts appear on the buffer report, the normal
practice is to change the entry on the in-coming
bibliographic record. This eliminates the conflict
with the cross reference and releases the biblio-
graphic record from the buffer. Experience has
shown that the problem is usually created
because the heading has been revised so the next
step is to check the authority record in OCLC. The
revised authority record is transferred to Alad-
din, and all occurrences of the name are changed
with a global command. The in-coming record
totally replaces the existing one, including our
locally edited references and notes. An added
problem is that VTLS does not have the capability
of deleting full authority records once all at-
tached bibliographic records have been deleted
(withdrawals, etc.). These records remain in the
system to frustrate users since the displayed mes-
sage is oNo bibliographic records.� Bibliographic
control staff can delete these records if notified.
Various uses of the authority record and
accompanying referral screens have been tried.
The ability of the system to suppress a reference is
helpful in authority control. The most common
use of this feature is to record an old heading for
future use in bibliographic control but without
cluttering author and subject displays. On the
VILS referral screen, the cross reference displays
with a message that the term is not used and to
enter instead the line number of the term dis-
played at the end of the message. The heading
with its subdivisions is not displayed; the user can
miss several menu screens of appropriate entries.
We have yet to determine the best method of pro-
viding authority records for entries which only
have subdivisions.
Subject authority control in our library has
been limited to creating authority records for
major changes to subject headings, mainly those
listed in the cataloging service bulletins. Cross
references have sometimes been added for perio-
dic phrase subdivisions since the computer filing
arrangement is alphabetical rather than chrono-
logical. The display of scope notes for users trying
to decide among two or three subject headings
may also prove useful.
Barcodes are a new dimension. They can be,
and are, removed by students. The reverse of this
problem is that sometimes extra barcodes are
found. Occasionally the barcode may be applied
in the wrong area and another one added later.
Double barcodes, used only with items in retro-
spective conversion, are sometimes confused with
single barcodes which are used for new receipts.
One solution was to limit the number of library
staff allowed to replenish unitsT supplies of bar-
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176"Fall 1989
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codes. Double barcodes are also housed separ-
ately from single barcodes.
The placement of the barcode in the volume
has received considerable discussion and study.
Its present location is center top of the inside
back cover, where it is anticipated that it will not
become damaged as quickly as in the old location
of upper right corner of the back cover. Because
item numbers can be linked to only one bibliogra-
phic record in Aladdin, the barcoding and linking
of oBound With� items is a second, on-going con-
cern. We barcode and link the first title in the
volume and add only the eye-readable portion of
barcodes for the other titles so they can be linked
to their appropriate bibliographic reords. A sta-
tus code identifies these as several titles bound
together, but the cryptic message tells the user
little else. It also causes problems for circulation
when the volume is overdue because each item
number is checked out and is therefore overdue.
An alternative which we explored was to use only
one barcode in the volume and link only the first
title to its bibliographic record. A status code
identified the other titles as parts of a bound
together volume but because they were not
linked, there was no circulation information for
these titles. VTLS will be adding a free text line to
the item screen beginning with the next release
which may give us more flexibility in this area.
We have become especially cautious with
bindery books. The book cover, with the barcode,
is removed and discarded by the binder. If the
barcode is removed and the item information
deleted before the volume is sent to the bindery,
staff and users have no way of locating the
volume. In order to delete the old information
after the volume has been returned, in-house
bindery staff must photocopy each barcode (it is
more accurate than hand copying) and tape it to
the bindery slip. After the volume is returned
from the bindery and has been relabeled, the old
barcode number is retrieved in the system,
deleted, and the volume linked to a new barcode
number.
Adding holdings records for monographs
uses only the free text field. After the MARC hold-
ings record became available, VTLS mapped over
our old records based on their programs. A serials
pilot project enabled us to determine the neces-
sary level of holdings, phraseology for notes, etc.
but did not answer all our questions. Should
bound periodicals be barcoded and linked? They
do not circulate but the information must be in
the system if Aladdin is to be used for inventory
control. Should each piece of microfiche or micro-
film be barcoded as well? Should individual AV
pieces be barcoded? Each answer raises more
questions which will need to be addressed
through collaborative efforts with other areas of
the library.
While there is the need to combine automa-
tion and cataloging functions in an online inte-
grated system, there is also the need to blend
cataloging functions more closely with those in
circulation and public access. The immediacy
with which information is available to all users
creates a certain urgency to it that cataloging
staff have not experienced with manual pro-
cesses. Once a bibliographic record is entered into
the system, it is visible the next day to all users,
while the item and holdings information is avail-
able from the time of entry. The experience with
rolling conversion made the staff involved with
circulation and cataloging functions aware of the
need for allowing enough lead time to deal with
unforeseen and unanticipated results. The labor
intensive practices of a manual system had built
in time for adjustments to changes in cataloging
or circulation practices. Where the automated
system produces immediate results, the impact
can have dramatic psychological repercussions.
For staff to be prepared for the anticipated
implementation of various related functions, it
may be necessary to develop broader perspectives
on library operations and services.
Basic adjustments for the public services
staff would seem to be minimal. The online biblio-
graphic record is displayed in the same basic for-
mat used on a card. However, searching capa-
bilities and display features of the online catalog
are very different from the card catalog. The
advantage of call number and key word searching
capabilities are additional positive access en-
hancements available in online systems. A knowl-
edge of the MARC format and machine-readable
records can aid the staff in public services with
interpreting online displays. Various approaches
have been used to inform the reference staff of
changes the online catalog may present for the
reference functions. From time to time informal
instructional sessions with the reference unit
staff on various features of the online catalog
have been conducted by appropriate members of
the cataloging unit. At other times the installation
of new software releases, such as key-word
searching and the MARC holdings format, has
provided opportunities for cataloging staff to
make formal presentations to all public services
and technical services staff.
The pre-order searching activity has shifted
primarily to searching in the online system and
minimal searching activity is performed at the
Fall 1989"177
card catalog. This has fostered greater familiarity
with the MARC format, and the searching capabil-
ities in an online catalog environment have also
raised the consciousness of these technical servi-
ces staff to the cataloging functions. The result is
the increased feedback on records already in the
system and the provision of additional back-
ground information for cataloging purposes. That
had not been the custom with a manual catalog.
The online catalog also provided the opportunity
to utilize staff in acquisitions to input brief
records for a transitory collection where titles
remain for a short period of time. This transfer of
activity to acquisitions required basic training in
cataloging techniques and practices by cataloging
staff. It has not been accomplished without some
drawbacks, in particular the development of
authority records for these brief records. How-
ever, continued review suggests certain opera-
tional improvements and provides a communica-
tion link beneficial to both units. In many regards
the cataloging staff have acted as mentors or
facilitators for those adjusting to and learning
about the capabilities of the online catalog.
Other groups dealt with by cataloging per-
sonnel in the integrated online system environ-
ment include systems staff and vendors. With the
card catalog, the cataloging staff maintained con-
trol. Now the local systems staff may need to run
certain programs for overall system oeprations or
take the system down for various reasons such as
maintenance, tape load, or backup operations.
This curbs access, limiting the control any one
unit has over its need to use the system. Vendors
control certain capabilities through software
development or system maintenance of equip-
ment. Vendor user groups help apply pressure for
needed enhancements, but the vendor is still in
control. Equipment maintenance is usually done
at the convenience of the vendor. Our experience
with this activity has been almost frustration free.
These inconveniences are necessary and various
backup measures are utilized to make the best of
the limited time taken away from cataloging func-
tions. However, the psychological impact of the
loss of control can be intense in the early stages of
implementation. While vendor user groups pro-
vide a forum to express needs and share expe-
riences with others, an inhouse local users group
may serve to enhance communications across
unit functions and with systems staff. While our
internal Aladdin Users Group has not had tre-
mendous impact on our cataloging operations, it
has provided a voice for staff working with the
system on a daily basis. The group allows for
expression of needs internally and provides the
178"Fall 1989
avenue for broadening perspectives of user needs
and library services.
Future developments with potential impact
include the provision of local standards for biblio-
graphic record input, the elimination of the man-
ual shelflist, and the implementation of online
title authority control. Allowing staff other than
trained catalogers to input bibliographic records
can create a data base without integrity and
make it difficult for the user to determine the
holdings of a collection. Developing local stand-
ards which are adhered to by all staff responsible
for the input of bibliographic records, whether
from the cataloging area or not, provides a recog-
nized format accepted by the library for all biblio-
graphic record input. With an integrated system,
both circulation and cataloging staffs have need to
input records in order to maintain their service
functions. With a manual system, to circulate
items not cataloged for the public card catalog, all
one had to do was to provide a separate circula-
tion system for those items, and the card catalog
was untouched. With an online itegrated catalog,
a bibliographic record must be created in order to
circulate uncataloged items. Therefore, staff not
trained in cataloging principles, practices, and
standards can create misrepresentation in the
local bibliographic data base. A formal statement
of what standards are used for bibliographic,
item, and holdings data is a useful tool.
Another future development may be the elim-
ination of the manual shelflist. This may make
even more of an impact than adjusting to the
online public access catalog. Our experience with
the capabilities of VTLS to this point means that a
special program would need to be written for dis-
playing the holdings of a particular collection.
This information would not display online. Also a
call number search interfiles all call numbers
beginning with the same basic call letters. If the
library utilizes more than one classification sys-
tem that has like call letters such as the LC classi-
fication system and the SUDOCS numbering
system, these call numbers would interfile in dis-
play when a call number search is activated
online. These factors have major repercussions
for inventory control. Therefore, the elimination
of the manual shelflist must be carefully studied
before it is removed. There is no thought of its
removal until all bibliographic records and hold-
ings are online.
Title authority control has been promised for
some time but is not yet available. At present,
authority and cross reference cards are typed for
series and uniform titles. Many series corrections
which resulted from AACR2 have been left
untouched. Some series are still under various old
forms as well as under AACR2 entries. Title
authority should facilitate this clean-up. As retro-
spective conversion projects continue, the series
conflicts become worse. Also, title searching in
VTLS is based on a 5,2,2,1 search key. This means
that if a spelling variation is outside of this struc-
ture, title added entries have not had to be
created. In fact, to do so would generate dupli-
cates on a title search. Titles based on authority
records will require cross references. The implica-
tions of the implementation of title authority con-
trol are overwhelming.
A major adjustment to be made in an online
integrated system environment is the acknowl-
edgement that change is constant and often
rapid. Future developments hold the promise of
impact, the magnitude of which is not yet known.
The changes we have absorbed since 1983, though
many and often frustrating, have not been insur-
mountable. A staff eager for better service in a
productive environment, open to any challenge,
and well prepared, has lessened the impact of
change. c|
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Public Relations Contest!! Awards are given annu-
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For an information packet containing contest
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ESSA RT STEP PS RE
Instructions for the Preparation
of Manuscripts
for North Carolina Libraries
Pa TALE TE,
1. North Carolina Libraries seeks to publish articles, book
reviews, and news of professional interest to librarians in
North Carolina. Articles need not be of a scholarly nature, but
they should address professional concerns of the library
community in the state.
2. Manuscripts should be directed to Frances B. Bradburn, Edi-
tor, North Carolina Libraries, Joyner Library, East Carolina
University, Greenville, N.C. 27858.
N.C. 27604.
3. Manuscripts should be submitted in triplicate on plain white
paper measuring 8%� x 11�.
4, Manuscripts must be double-spaced (text, references, and
footnotes). Manuscripts should be typed on sixty-space lines,
twenty-five lines to a page. The beginnings of paragraphs
should be indented eight spaces. Lengthy quotes should be
avoided. When used, they should be indented on both mar-
gins.
5. The name, position, and professional address of the author
should appear in the bottom left-hand corner of a separate
title page.
6. Each page after the first should be numbered consecutively
at the top right-hand corner and carry the author's last name
at the upper left-hand corner.
7. Footnotes should appear at the end of the manuscript. The
editors will refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition.
The basic forms for books and journals are as follows:
Keyes Metcalf, Planning Academic and Research Lli-
brary Buildings. (New York: McGraw, 1965), 416.
Susan K. Martin, oThe Care and Feeding of the MARC
Format,� American Libraries 10 (September 1979): 498.
8. Photographs will be accepted for consideration but cannot be
returned.
9. North Carolina Libraries is not copyrighted. Copyright rests
with the author. Upon receipt, a manuscript will be acknowl-
edged by the editor. Following review of a manuscript by at
least two jurors, a decision will be communicated to the wri-
ter. A definite publication date cannot be given since any
incoming manuscript will be added to a manuscript from
which articles are selected for each issue.
Issue deadlines are February 10, May 10, August 10, and
November 10.
Fall 1989"179
Smart Barcodes: A Wise Decision
Ricki Val Brown
In preparing to bring the Cumberland County
Public Library & Information Center's circulation
online, a number of decisions had to be made. The
most important question was how to link the
materials in the collection to their appropriate
bibliographic record in the data base. The auto-
mation team reviewed the two options available:
the use of pre-assigned, item-specific or osmart�
barcodes; or the alternative, the use of generic,
non-specific or odumb� barcodes.
oSmart� barcodes are pre-assigned to biblio-
graphic records during data base tape processing.
The computer assigns a unique barcode to each
item (copy or volume) in the collection and then
links the appropriate bibliographic record to the
specific barcode during label production. These
smart barcode labels are generated in shelflist
order for ease of application. The barcode, the
itemTs call number and a brief bibliographic de-
scription are printed on the label for easy identifi-
cation and match-up.
oDumb� barcodes are simply labels that dis-
play a barcode and its corresponding number.
These labels are applied to materials at random.
While this eliminates the possibility of applying a
barcode to the wrong book, it creates a highly
labor-intensive process. After application, each
dumb barcode must be manually linked at a ter-
minal to a bibliographic record, a process that is
both time-consuming and vulnerable to human
error.
The creation of smart barcodes is more costly
initially. Dumb barcodes cost approximately
$30.00 per thousand. The CCPL&IC project
included tape conversion, creation of item infor-
mation, label tapes, MARC verification and labels
for more than 230,000 items. Total cost for the
project was approximately $15,000, not including
fees for a temporary work force to apply the bar-
codes.
Smart barcodes also require more time in the
initial planning stages, since parameters must be
defined. Parameters indicate which MARC tags
Ricki Val Brown is Headquarters Librarian for the Cumber-
land County Public Library & Information Center, Fayette-
ville, NC.
180"Fall 1989
are to be indexed. Defining these parameters is a
very tedious but crucial step because they will be
used to supply the data in an item record from
which the smart label is created. Any existing
data base is examined very closely, and fields and
subfields are omapped� together for uniformity.
Problems can occur at this step when two or
more data bases are being combined. CCPL&ICTs
main data base had been maintained by General
Research Corporation. The North Carolina For-
eign Language Center, housed at CCPL&ICTs
Headquarters Library, had a separate data base
maintained by UTLAS. Parameters were used to
incorporate and accommodate the differences in
these two data bases.
Pre-existing problems in the data base will be
discovered during the initial conversion process
or while applying the labels if smart barcodes are
used. Using dumb barcodes causes any problems
or inconsistencies to be uncovered later, during
the manual linking process.
The data base manipulation and the time
needed for label production for smart barcodes
requires patience while waiting for the selected
vendor to process the information and produce
the final product. CCPL&IC chose to use smart
barcodes and estimated label production time at
three months. It took six months.
The CCPL&IC decision to use smart barcodes
was based on a number of reasons. First, the time
required to link more than 230,000 items manu-
ally would have delayed the actual implementa-
tion of the automated system. CCPL&IC had
recently opened a new headquarters facility and a
new branch which had caused overall circulation
to increase more than seventy percent. The man-
ual circulation system could no longer be main-
tained without additional staff. Implementation
of the automated circulation system was critical
to upholding the high level of service expected by
Cumberland CountyTs library users.
The automated system acquired by CCPL&IC
required input of nine separate pieces of informa-
tion as part of the linking process for each item"
continued on page 182
GOLUNGO ROINEN
Dumb Barcodes: The Smart Way to Go!
Harry Tuchmayer
Why barcode on the fly when you can pay to
have someone do it for you? Surely, you should
adopt the benefits of technology and have
vendors supply smart labels. After all, why are
you automating in the first place? Perhaps this
technological innovation warrants a second look.
When all is said and done, are smart labels the
most advanced way of preparing a collection and
library for an automated circulation system?
What have you gained and, more importantly,
what have you lost when you opt for the
advanced way of dealing with your item conver-
sion problem?
Rather than viewing the manual conversion
process as the cheap (and archaic) alternative to
item level conversion, let us regard it as the first
step in preparing and adapting your organization
for change. Barcoding on the fly provides two
benefits that far outweigh any perceived advan-
tage of smart labels. First, the process of adding
an item record to each volume in your library
provides a unique opportunity to train your staff
in the use of the new system. Second, barcoding
on the fly is the precursor to change. The process
prepares your library for the opening up of the
catalog to those qualified employees who can
assist the technical services staff in providing
patrons with a truly usable catalog.
Any method of adding barcodes to existing
items takes time and staff. It is my contention
that this time and staff could be put to best use
learning how the system operates through the
item-add process. In order to affix smart labels,
most libraries designate teams of two barcoders,
each armed with sheets of labels. These teams
then go to their assigned stack areas applying
smart labels to specific books matching the cor-
rect bibliographic record: Why not take a team of
two individuals, provide two terminals and sheets
of dumb labels, and begin the process of item-add
by barcoding those books just returned? In the
same three-hour shift, these two employees will
have barcoded almost as many books as their
smart label counterparts, yet they will have had
Harry Tuchmayer is Headquarters Librarian for the New Han-
over County Public Library in Wilmington, North Carolina.
three hours each of hands-on computer training"
three hours that they would have, or should have,
invested later2 Thus the process of searching for
the correct bibliographic record on a computer
terminal and then applying a dumb barcode to
that record is automation training.
Ironically, the process of applying smart bar-
codes is not really very automated. It relies on a
manual method of searching the shelves, pulling
the book, and visually verifying that the item in
hand matches the preprinted barcode. If the
method used to apply smart barcodes is com-
pared to the one advocated here and tested on a
public library fiction collection, you begin to see
the advantages inherent in this less sophisticated
method. In order to get the most mileage out of
the smart label process, machine-readable records
must contain exact and accurate holdings infor-
mation. Otherwise, those titles for which your
library has numerous copies (usually those titles
most heavily in demand and most likely to be cir-
culated) cannot be barcoded in this manner.
Therefore, the library's most popular fiction titles
will inevitably need to be barcoded manually,
negating the advantage of the smart label.
If you barcode items while they orest� comfor-
tably on the shelf, you are probably spending too
much time and money converting that portion of
your inventory which does not need immediate
barcoding and which may be appropriate for dis-
carding. Barcoding materials after they are
returned and/or as they are circulated also
avoids the osticky� problem of how to handle
those pages and pages of barcodes waiting to be
attached to books not yet located in the stacks. In
addition, the library saves money by not printing
labels for books not previously recorded as miss-
ing from the collection. If, as convention has it,
eighty per cent of your circulation is represented
by twenty per cent of your collection, it stands to
reason that most of what needs to be barcoded
immediately can be converted in this fashion.
Focusing your barcoding efforts in this way con-
verts that portion of your collection most likely to
circulate and speeds up the time it takes to get
continued on page 184
Fall 1989"181
continued from page 180
barcode number, owning agency, circulating
agency, cost, classification, format, circulation
indicator, fine indicator, and statistical category.
This information was inserted during the data
base conversion phase before the generation of
the smart barcodes. The use of dumb barcodes
would have involved pulling materials from the
shelves, carrying them to a terminal, locating the
appropriate bibliographic record, inputting the
nine pieces of information specific to each item,
and then returning the materials to the stacks for
reshelving.
Since CCPL&ICTs smart barcodes were gener-
ated in shelflist order, the barcodes were simply
taken into the stack area and applied. Library
staff, from the director on down, had been
assigned areas to shelf-read prior to the barcod-
ing to ensure that materials were in correct order
so that the barcoding could progress as rapidly as
possible. CCPL&IC employed a temporary work
force of eight people to attach the barcodes. The
barcoders worked for twelve weeks at a cost of
$23,000.
The initial barcoding sweep through the col-
lection at the systemTs seven locations was com-
pleted within eight weeks. The temporary work
force spent the remaining four weeks barcoding
materials as they were returned from circulation.
The Cumberland County system benefited in
many ways by choosing to use smart barcodes. In
actuality, an inventory was conducted during the
barcoding process. When all materials had been
labeled, the remaining smart barcodes, for which
no matching materials could be found, indicated
items that needed to be deleted from the data
base. The data base then reflected the true hold-
ings of the library. The automated system also
generated a list of the deletions. Collection devel-
opment officers used this list to replace and
update missing titles and to supplement certain
subject areas.
While planning and deciding the parameters
to produce the smart barcodes, the library was
given the opportunity to make universal changes
in its data base. The existing data base has incon-
sistencies in the labeling of materials. These
inconsistencies resulted from personnel changes
over time, the changing needs of the community
and changes in processing procedures. For ex-
ample, at one time, the libraryTs fiction collection
had been divided by genre. Mysteries were classi-
fied oM� with the authorTs last name, science fic-
tion was classified oSF� with the authorTs last
name, westerns were classified oW� with the
182"Fall 1989
authorTs last name, etc. Some works were cut-
tered by the first letter of the authorTs last name,
some by the first three letters and some by the
entire last name.
At the time of automation, the fiction collec-
tion had been totally integrated into one alpha-
bet, but the existing data base did not reflect this
change. During the conversion process, CCPL&IC
was able to make the necessary universal changes
with simple parameters prior to barcode produc-
tion. Had CCPL&IC chosen to use dumb barcodes,
these changes would have had to have been done
on an individual basis.
The decision to use smart barcodes was the
best decision for this library. The decision was
based on review of relevant literature and consul-
tation with other libraries. Each library must
examine its own needs and resources before mak-
ing a decision. Given the resources at CCPL&IC,
choosing smart barcodes was a smart decision.
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Fall 1989"183
continued from page 181
your system online.
More importantly, it allows the staff immedi-
ate use of your system, providing them with
hands-on experience in a working environment.
While most libraries spend 1000-plus staff hours
applying smart labels to books gathering dust on
the shelf, your staff could be accumulating valua-
ble computer time experimenting with the varied
ways of locating books in your system. This hands-
on experience offers an organization the oppor-
tunity to evaluate the possibilities of opening up
the catalog to other qualified employees.
There is no question that automation ex-
poses every flaw, error, and mistake in a catalog.
The percentage of errors in your data base, no
matter how small, are magnified as a result of
automation. Help in some form or other is needed
in correcting these flaws. As the barcoding project
progresses, technical services personnel will see
that other library employees could be trained and
relied upon to assist in solving automation-re-
lated problems. Involved in this way, circulation
and reference librarians will not only begin to
appreciate the special concerns technical services
personnel have for the ointegrity� of the catalog,
but they will also participate in improving the
catalog"a process made possible by automation
and accessibility to the catalog at any number of
work stations.
So why should you apply dumb barcodes to
your collection? They are cheaper. While the unit
cost of any label is still somewhere in the neigh-
borhood of .025 cents, there is an additional data
base charge associated with smart labels. Granted,
it remains to be seen if anyone can successfully
use the argument that the money saved (usually
some factor times the number of titles in your
data base) by not producing smart labels can be
converted into one more microcomputer for the
library. We all know that it is, unfortunately, eas-
ier to say it costs a certain amount to make the
system operable than it is to reduce costs in one
area and convince the funding authorities to let
you spend the savings on something else.
Clearly both processes require roughly the
same number of actual hours in converting a col-
lection, but there is no doubt that the decision to
utilize smart labels means that you are committed
to applying these labels in the shortest number of
days possible. After all, you have to. Once the
smart label is generated, your system thinks all
titles are in the stacks and available for use. But
does this decision render the system using smart
labels any more accurate? No. First, your system
184"Fall 1989
is virtually useless throughout the entire time it
takes to apply these labels, and only when you
decide to deal with those items still checked out,
missing, or for which no item/records were pro-
duced, can your system become fully operational.
Applying dumb labels on the fly means that you
have, for a limited but steadily increasing percen-
tage of your collection, immediate and accurate
information pertaining to its status. Only those
titles for which no items/records yet exist are in
limbo as to their current status"a situation cer-
tainly no worse than the one presented to us by
using smart labels. And, in fact, because your staff
is trained to recognize and handle these titles, any
uncertainties concerning their status can be eas-
ily solved. Second, there is no guarantee that a
team of odumb� library staff and volunteers can
apply smart labels to books any more accurately
than teams of osmart� library staff can apply
dumb labels to books. Seriously, errors happen,
regardless of which method is employed. The
anticipated one to three percent error rate seems
consistent regardless of the barcoding method
employed. The overall accuracy rate of either
technique is roughly the same.?
Where does this leave us? It seems clear that
either method of attaching barcodes to your col-
lection will work and produce roughly the same
results. So why apply dumb labels when you can
pay to have smart labels? Because by using dumb
labels, you produce a smart staff.
Barcoding on the Fly: A Step-by-Step Approach
Certain preconditions are assumed in this
outline for barcoding on the fly. The first is that
you already have established some mechanism for
dealing with your patron conversion; second, you
have purchased barcoding supplies; and, finally,
your terminals are installed and your system is
operational.
1. DonTt go online to the public immediately.
Allow yourselves as much time as you would if
you had purchased smart labels. Failing this, give
yourself about a month to become familiar with
the equipment and permit barcoding without
attendant circulation pressures.
2. Schedule teams of barcoders to begin bar-
coding during the slowest part of the public ser-
vice day in roughly one and one-half hour shifts.
Designate technical services staff as team leaders
and pair them with other fulltime staff members
(obviously, this will require some double-team-
ing).
3. Once the teams and schedules are ar-
ranged, set up a series of training sessions to
explain the process: how to search the records,
how to recognize inconsistencies, and how to
verify that the item in hand matches the biblio-
graphic record.
4. Designate a trained and qualified individ-
ual or individuals, as the size of your library war-
rants, to deal with such problems as bibliographic
errors, questions about editions, and unmatched
entries. I strongly advise you to invest in a large
quantity of stick-on notes to identify and pre-sort
problems. That way, books with minor bibliogra-
phic typographical errors can be channeled to a
copy cataloger for correction and barcoding,
while the unmatched entries and more compli-
cated bibliographic errors can be sent directly to
the cataloger.
5. For the first three-week period, as books
are returned and sorted onto trucks, roll them to
the barcoding team to be converted before shelv-
ing. At the end of this period, assuming your
director wonTt allow you to delay going online any
longer, continue this process, but take these addi-
tional steps:
6. Schedule team leaders and other staff
members who have shown an aptitude for bar-
coding to work at the circulation desk during
peak service times. Dedicate these employees and
terminals to nothing but barcoding books in order
to assist staff before the checkout transaction
begins. It is wise to devise some mechanism for
pre-sorting materials into two stacks, barcoded
and not, to hasten the barcoding process. Chan-
ces are, your patrons will be delayed anyway, as
you update your registration files, so no signifi-
cant additional delays will result.
7. Circulation staff should continue to bar-
code returns during this time. Since your circula-
tion system will no doubt be operational, you
should probably pre-sort returns so that only
those items needing conversion are put aside.
8. Establish procedures and create forms to
handle titles that are displayed in your system
with no barcoded items attached. Assign respon-
sibility for searching these item/records tho-
roughly before a decision is made to replace the
material or delete the bibliographic record.
9. Within a year to eighteen months, generate
a report to list all bibliographic entries for which
no items exist. Use this report to begin the pro-
cess of weeding and establish a collection rede-
velopment program for your library. You can also
take this opportunity to barcode the remaining
titles in your system; but remember, the fact that
these books have not been barcoded has in no
way hindered the use of your system.
References
1. John Buschman, et al., oSmart Barcoding in a Small Academic
Library,� Information Technologies and Libraries 7 (September
1988): 263-69.
2. Helen H. Spalding, et al., oBehind Bars in the Library: North-
western UniversityTs Bar Code Project,� Information Technology
and Libraries 6 (September 1987): 186.
3. Randall Library at the University of North Carolina-Wilming-
ton (using smart labels) and the New Hanover County Public
Library (using dumb labels) both experienced around a one
percent error rate, while Northwestern UniversityTs error rate
was lower than the one percent anticipated. [bid., 188.
4. This brief outline was prepared with the assistance of Marie
Spencer, technical services librarian at the New Hanover County
Public Library. Oy
C
Book Week
November 13-19, 1989
Fall 1989"185
Moving to the Next Online System:
Points to Consider
Marcia L. Kolb
The Prince William Public Library System, in northern
Virginia, serves Prince William County and the cities of
Manassas and Manassas Park. The library implemented its
First integrated library system, the DataPhase ALIS II system,
in 1981, with approximately forty terminals in two full-service
libraries, for circulation, cataloging, and an online catalog
function for staff. Between 1985 and 1987, six mini-libraries
were opened. The lack of capacity to add terminals and degra-
dation of response time made it apparent a new system would
be needed. The OCLC LS/2000 system was selected and brought
online in 1987, with fifty-three terminals for circulation, cata-
loging, and an online catalog for staff use. An additional thirty-
five terminals were added in 1989 for the Online Public Access
Catalog (OPAC). In November 1988, a bond referendum was
passed, providing for construction of two regional libraries, to
open by 1992. Plans call for building two additional full-service
libraries, as well as renovation of some existing facilities before
1998. The LS/2000 system cannot be upgraded to handle pro-
jected system growth. Planning is currently underway to pro-
vide for the next integrated system. The new system will be
implemented for circulation, cataloging, and OPAC initially,
with optional capabilities for acquisitions, serials control, and
materials booking. It will be required to support at least 250
terminals and projected annual circulation in excess of three
million.
A library in the midst of planning and imple-
menting its first online system is probably not
spending a lot of time thinking about the next
system, but it should certainly be aware that its
dependence on automation will grow. Sooner or
later that first system will no longer meet the
needs of the library and an upgrade of that sys-
tem or an entirely new system will become a
necessity. The knowledge that there will eventu-
ally be a subsequent system should be kept in
mind as decisions about any system are made.
The implementation and formal acceptance of a
system should not be viewed as an end to the
process, but as a precursor to the next system.
While the typical online system life span may be
five to ten years, some libraries may need to begin
actively working toward the next system even
before the current one is fully operational.
Many libraries will be involved with one or
more system upgrades before they are faced with
obtaining a new system. Typically, a library may
Marcia L. Kolb is Technical Services Administrator for the
Prince William Public Library System, Prince William, Virgi-
ma. ~
186"Fall 1989
add or change disk drives, add ports for addi-
tional terminals or upgrade the operating system
or CPU. When a library upgrades its existing
online system, the basic functions will usually stay
the same and staff may feel fairly confident they
will not be required to learn an entirely new set of
procedures for working with the system.
At some point, however, even a system
upgrade will not provide or restore adequate per-
formance. The following circumstances usually
require a library to obtain a new system:
1. System performance has never met contractual
specifications and the vendor is not able to pro-
vide such performance.
2. Due to growth of the library system or an
increase in the number of transactions, system
performance no longer meets the libraryTs needs
and the vendor or other appropriate personnel
cannot upgrade the system to support that
growth.
3. The vendor, due to financial constraints or
executive decision, will no longer support the cur-
rent system.
4, Existing system functions, due to hardware or
software constraints, have become static ones
which can no longer be enhanced, while the
library's needs continue to require improvements
to such functions.
5. The current system provides a limited number
of functions (such as circulation control only)
and the library needs to add other functions
(such as an online public access catalog, or
OPAC).
6. The system itself is a constraint to the library's
need to automate other functions. A library
might, for example, need to interface its online
system with a book or serial jobberTs online sys-
tem, yet the interface cannot be accomplished
because the libraryTs system does not have the
capacity for such an interface.
7. The cost to upgrade the system would ap-
proach or exceed the cost to purchase a new sys-
tem. While a major upgrade may cost up to half
the original system purchase price, if such an
upgrade is estimated to cost $8,000 to $9,000 per
terminal, a new system would probably be more
cost effective.
While the procurement process for the new
system will probably be somewhat the same as for
the initial system, a number of factors which were
not issues with the original implementation must
be considered with the new system.
Equipment Issues
Will the new computer be housed at the same
site as the previous one? If so, that site may
require an upgrade to the air-conditioning system
or additional specialized electrical outlets in
order to be adequate for the new equipment. The
logistics of detaching terminals from the existing
CPU, moving old hardware out and new hardware
in, and connecting all peripherals, will not be in-
significant. In order to decrease downtime re-
quired for the move, the library might wish to
have the new hardware tested and the data base
loaded at an external site.
Will any existing equipment be used on the
new system? If existing terminals, scanners, prin-
ters or telecommunications modems or multi-
plexers are to be used, each item must be
thoroughly tested to ensure total compatibility.
Existing data cables may require different pin
configurations or connectors (male vs. female or
vice versa).
Will the new system require the same sup-
plies? The new system may, for example, require
data base copy from disk to tape, rather than disk
to disk. Additional storage space for such supplies
may also be required.
Data Base Conversion Issues
What information will be transferred? Al-
most certainly the bibliographic and item records
will be transferred, and, for most institutions,
existing patron information will also be loaded
into the new system. The library may also wish to
transfer current transactions (items in circula-
tion, overdue items, fines and fees, etc.). If so,
leased or purchased portable terminals or micro-
computers may be required to store the most
recent transactions so they can be loaded into the
new system as closely as possible to ocoming up.�
If current transactions are not transferred, the
library will need to consider the status to be given
to existing items (some vendors show all items as
oavailable� at system start-up) and to work with
the vendor to develop alternatives if that status is
not acceptable.
How will the data base be transferred? The
new data base may be created by using removable
disk packs, by a system-produced tape utility, or
by tapes from an external source, such as OCLC.
Producing tapes from the existing system may
have a significant impact on current system use,
since it may slow response time or require the
system to be unavailable for patron and/or staff
use during the process. The conversion of data
from existing system format to new system for-
mat may require extensive omassaging� on the
part of the vendor, especially if the data is being
converted from non-MARC to MARC format or if
the library has requested significant data base
oclean-up� (such as correcting inconsistent call
numbers) as part of the process. Conversion
exception reports may require much staff time.
All such factors may increase the time required
for the data base conversion.
Will new system records contain additional
information? The library may wish to add infor-
mation to patron records, for example, and will
need to determine whether the new information
will be added manually or in some automated
manner. There may be changes to the way in
which certain MARC tags are used or previously
unused tags may now be designated for use.
Some libraries may need to
begin actively working toward
the next system even before
the current one is fully opera-
tional.
Implementation Issues
Will the new system be phased in or will the
changeover be done as a single step? If the new
system is implemented all at once, the staff will
need to be oexperts� on the existing system on
Sunday night and oexperts� on the new system on
Monday morning (although actual downtime may
range from a few hours to a number of weeks or
more, depending on system size and conversion
complexity). If the new system is phased in while
the existing one is phased out, the library will
obviously be running parallel systems for a time.
Some transactions will be duplicated, but staff
will have more time to become comfortable with
the new system.
Will there be additional functions available
on the new system? The library may wish to
implement the new system with all functions, or
to implement only those functions present on the
previous system, and add other functions at a
later time. It is certainly easier on the staff to
implement in the latter manner, since it provides
Fall 1989"187
time for them to become comfortable using the
new system for familiar functions before they are
required to master procedures for entirely new
functions.
The implementation and for-
mal acceptance of a system
should not be viewed as an
end to the process, but as a
precursor to the next system.
Staff Issues
How will the new system affect the staff? Just
as with the original implementation, staff may
need to be assured the new system will not
replace them. There may be resistance to the
change and there will certainly be concern as to
how it will affect day-to-day operations, since
they will be moving from a system which is fairly
stable and at least familiar, to a system which is
new and unknown and may require some ofine-
tuning� during the first few days or weeks of use.
It is still critical to keep staff informed and
involved as much as possible during planning and
transition. Let them know who is on the automa-
tion committee and encourage them to ask ques-
tions and to offer suggestions. Keep them aware
of the current status of the project via regular
updates from the committee and by any other
means possible. While the staff will be more com-
puter literate and sophisticated about automa-
tion, training will continue to have a high priority,
and both vendor-supplied and in-house training
should be geared toward helping staff feel com-
fortable with the new system before they are
required to use it for the public. It may even be
possible to offer staff a chance to use the system
in ways they have not previously used it, such as
allowing circulation or technical services staff
help to train patrons to use the online public
access catalog (OPAC).
Won't the new system solve all our problems?
Online system vendors are moving toward making
systems more modular and more flexible to meet
the needs of a wide variety of user libraries, so the
systems can be extremely complex. Each system
has specific hardware and software constraints
and they all work differently. There will be
unforeseeable issues which arise, or functions
which work differently in reality from the way
they were explained or perceived as working.
While obtaining a new system can be an oppor-
tunity to overcome weaknesses of the current sys-
tem, staff should not assume the new system will
188"Fall 1989
solve all problems. A operfect� system simply does
not exist. It is an interesting exercise to have staff
write down all they like and dislike about the
existing system before they discontinue using it.
Have them set aside those lists, then reread them
six months to a year after implementation of the
new system. They may be quite surprised at their
memories of how good (or bad) the oold� one was.
Public Issues
What about the public? Just as with staff, it is
vital to keep the public aware and involved, espe-
cially if they have been using theTsystem as end
users on an OPAC and/or will be doing so with the
new system. They, too, may have some resistance
to the idea of a change. Keeping them involved in
the process can help allay their fears about learn-
ing to use the new system and give them more of
an understanding about changes with which the
staff will be dealing.
Policy and Procedural Issues
Will the new system affect policy? Identify
any current library policies which might be
affected by the new system, or ones which staff
have wanted or needed to have changed in the
past, but were unable to change due to system
constraints. The desired changes may now be
possible.
Which procedures will change? DonTt assume
functions on the new system will operate the
same way they did with the previous system, even
though they may have the same name. System
prompts will change, as will sign-on and sign-off
procedures. There may be changes in the way bib-
liographic, item and patron records are entered,
edited, or deleted. The new system may have new
terminology: ocheckin� and ocheckout� may now
be odischarge� and ocharge;� oreserves� may now
be oholds.� It may be helpful to provide staff (and
patrons) with a cross-reference glossary of the
old and new terms. Changes in functions may
impact on the information which is available on
reports, or the manner in which that information
is organized. The names of available reports may
change and even reports with the same or similar
names may not provide the same information as
before. New terminals may have different key-
boards; the same key on two different keyboards
may not provide the same result. Function key
set-ups may not be the same for the new system.
New scanners may not work the same as the old
ones in reading barcode or OCR labels. Notice
formats may change, requiring changes in printed
forms used, postage costs, and possibly in produc-
tion schedules.
oBehind the Scenes� Issues
Will access to parameters/profile informa-
tion change? Computer operations staff may be
responsible for new or different functions on the
new system. Their procedures will be new and
may, for a time, require slightly more time for
problem resolution.
How will offline activities differ? Data base
copying and the running of batch programs or
other required offline activities (checking the
integrity of the data base, running transaction
purges, or monitoring available space capabili-
ties) may be required at different frequencies
from before and may take more or less time than
on the previous system. These activities may
impact differently on public service hours and on
staffing patterns.
This article contains only a sample of the fac-
tors involved in moving from one online system to
another, and is certainly not a complete list. The
issues and problems faced by any one library may
vary greatly from those faced by other libraries,
with one exception: they must all be aware they
will at some point go through the process again
...and again.
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When it comes to service,
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hundreds of thousands of miles and worn out scores of shoes just to o~be
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At EBSCO, we think librarians should be served by experienced serials
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Drawing on contributions by noted scholars such as Bell I. Wiley,
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Here are vivid accounts of each battle"move by move, day by
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190"Fall 1989
Research in
North Carolina Librarianships
Jinnie Y. Davis, Editor
This column marks a new regular feature of
North Carolina Libraries: a column devoted to
research in and about North Carolina libraries
and librarianship. The idea came out of a retreat
at which members of the NCL editorial board
brainstormed about ways to improve the journal.
One solution is to focus attention on library
research by providing a forum for publicity about
library-related research that is being performed
by our colleagues in the state or that deals with
libraries and librarianship in the state.
On a broader scale, it is also an attempt to
contribute to the advancement of our profession.
In a recent study, McClure and Bishop report a
sense of guarded optimism about the future sta-
tus of research in library and information science.
Among their recommendations for ensuring im-
provement are increasing the visibility of success-
ful and important research, creating reward
structures to recognize high-quality research,
strengthening commitment to research in state
professional associations, and increasing com-
munication between researchers and practition-
Jinnie Y. Davis is Assistant to the Director for Planning &
Development, North Carolina State University Libraries,
Raleigh.
ers by including regular research columns in
journals.! Although the NCL editorial board made
its own suggestions for changes before this article
appeared, the oLibrary Research Column� ties in
neatly with McClure and BishopTs recommenda-
tions.
As column editor, I plan to approach this
task in a variety of ways. Issues may, for example,
cover research by professionals at a single institu-
tion, or review masterTs papers at a library school,
or examine research on a single topic related to
North Carolina librarianship. Reflecting the
membership of NCLA, the scope of the column
will include all types of librarianship.
I also welcome help from our readers. If any
of you are aware of library research that merits
attention in this column, or if you would like to
contribute to this column, please write or call me
at: North Carolina State University Libraries, Box
7111, Raleigh, NC 27695-7111 (tel.: 919-737-3659).
Thanks.
Reference
1. Charles R. McClure and Ann Bishop. oThe Status of Research
in Library/Information Science: Guarded Optimism.� College &
Research Libraries 50 (March 1989): 127-43. al
1
i
i
Fall 1989"191
North Carolina Books
Robert Anthony, Compiler
James A. Crutchfield, ed. The North Carolina
Almanac and Book of Facts, 1989-1990. Nash-
ville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988. 388 pp.
$10.95. ISBN 0-934395-90-X (paper).
This is the second edition of the North Caro-
lina Almanac; the first was published in 1986.
The preface to the current edition states that the
publisher intends to update the work regularly.
Unfortunately, a comparison between the 1986
and 1988 editions indicates that the current revi-
sion is haphazard and incomplete.
The book is divided into ninety-six sections
which are arranged alphabetically, oAgriculture�
through oZip Codes.� While this format facilitates
use, it may be disconcerting to some since the
sections run together, separated by very little
white space. Page headers are inconsistent, some-
times indicating the first new section on a page,
sometimes not. There is a fifty-page index at the
front which is fairly detailed, if not always accu-
rate. For example, turning to the pages cited for
oTourist Attractions� lands the reader in the mid-
dle of the section on museums.
The contents of the first and second editions
are much the same, although some improvements
have been made. Sections on individual sports
(baseball, basketball, football, and golf, to be pre-
cise) have been consolidated under the heading
oSports� in the current edition. The section
oCounty Government Expenditures� was entitled
oState Expenditures� in the earlier edition.
Several sections, however, show no evidence
of revision. For example, the numbers of churches
and membership figures are given for four reli-
gious denominations headquartered in North
Carolina. These 1982 figures are unchanged from
the 1986 edition. Another section unaltered since
the first edition is the state chronology, found in
the oHistory� section. In both editions, the listing
ends with 1986. Apparently, nothing noteworthy
has occurred in the Tar Heel state since that year.
Terry Sanford is the subject of yet another pecu-
liar lapse in the AlmanacTs revision. While
acknowledged as a U.S. Senator on page 336, his
biography in the oGovernors� section on page 173
ends with his appointment as president of Duke
192"Fall 1989
University in 1969.
One of the strengths of the North Carolina
Almanac is its lists. It is, for example, a quick and
easy place to find a list of Miss North Carolinas
(through 1988). Another useful list is of North
Carolina oFirsts�, despite the fact that there are a
number of sources which disagree with the
statement that Bath was the first community in
America to open a public library. A notable omis-
sion to the oFestivals� listing is the National Bal-
loon Rally, held in Statesville each year. One list
which seems particularly odd is the roster of
famous North Carolinians. DonTt look for Thomas
Wolfe. HeTs not listed, but Alexander Key is! Also
conspicuously absent are sports figures such as
Michael Jordan.
Because it is inexpensive, is easy to use, and will
answer a variety of questions which pop up regu-
larly on homework assignments, the North Caro-
lina Almanac and Book of Facts, 1989-1990, is a
safe purchase for most school and public librar-
ies. However, librarians should not expect it to
live up to its claim to be othe most valuable, all-a-
round source of information about North Caro-
lina available.�
Anna Donnally, Asheville-Buncombe Library System
Reynolds Price. Clear Pictures: First Loves, First
Guides. New York: Atheneum, 1989. 304 pp.
$19.95. ISBN 0-689-12075-3.
All families have treasuries of personal tales
which are a part of the ties that bind the tribe
together. The Price clan is no exception and in
Clear Pictures: First Loves, First Guides, Rey-
nolds Price offers the reader an intimate account
of his boyhood and emerging manhood during the
years 1933-1954. Price, a native of North Carolina
and currently a professor of English at Duke Uni-
versity, ushers the reader along on a photo-
graphic journey through his mind and memory,
occasionally (and with some regret) veering off
into social and cultural issues. The true power in
the book, and its greatest poignancy, resides in
PriceTs ability to recall the comfortable days he
spent as a well-loved child in the small, safe North
Carolina towns of Macon, Asheboro, Roxboro, and
Warrenton. These towns scroll across the screen,
for by the time Reynolds was fourteen years old,
his family had moved thirteen times.
This book, as the title indicates, is a collection
of Price family photographs accompanied by tell-
ing captions that deftly place the images within
the landscape of the authorTs mind as well as the
historical moment. PriceTs reservoir of memory is
deep, and as he suggests in the foreword, is made
richer by his experiences with hypnosis as he
sought treatment for physical pain caused by a
congenital spinal tumor discovered at the age of
fifty-one.
Price admits that his memoir is an expression
of a happy childhood, not especially dashing or
dramatic. The process of looking backward is
cathartic, and in the first and last chapters of the
book the most painful and powerful moments
occur as the relationship between Reynolds and
his parents, William and Elizabeth Price, is
explored. The highlight of the book may well be
the simplest of all memories"a car ride out for
ice cream with his parents on a summer night. In
this event Price recalls receiving a major life reve-
lation at the age of three: that he was part of a
family triangle and was omarried� to his parents.
This complex realization triggers ReynoldTs life-
long paradoxical perception that he, as a child, is
obligated to be a caregiver for his fragile parents
who inevitably will grow too old to dream.
The most significant and intense figure in
PriceTs life was his father Will, a charming yet
enigmatic man who privately fought the demons
of drink long before Alcoholics Anonymous had
an identity in the South. WillTs alcoholism was a
family secret of sorts, but a fact not kept from
Reynolds. There are gripping descriptions of Rey-
noldTs difficult and dangerous birth and of seiz-
ures suffered as a youngster which frightened Will
Price so deeply that he pledged never to drink
again in hopes that Reynolds might be given per-
mission to live. This bargain struck by Will
affected Reynolds for years and made him silently
fearful that his fatherTs illness might surface again
at any moment. Thus, ReynoldTs contented child-
hood was marked with a real sense of the ease
and randomness with which tragedy may strike.
In the last chapter, WillTs death comes and
with it a moving farewell from Reynolds, who
twenty-one and officially claiming manhood, beg-
ins to understand from his father the strength
and courage required to die. This piercing lesson
is a remarkable gift from a father to a son who
only thirty years later will face his own mortality
in the form of paraplegia and an ongoing battle
North Carolina Books
with cancer. As Price writes: oSo every backward
glance reminded me firmly that the first and
ultimate property of time, in human life anyhow,
is onward motion"however sidling, wandering or
crawling belly-down.� It is this inexorable motion
that sweeps the reader along through Price's
memoir, watching and waiting for the boy to
become a man, the man to become a writer. In the
midst of this journey of loyalty and graceful
remembrance, a faint yet mournful cry is heard as
the author continues to seek clarity in a world
where the lightness of being is at times oversha-
dowed by unbearable trials of pain.
Melissa Cain, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mary D. Beaty. A History of Davidson College.
Davidson: Briarpatch Press (Box 148, 28036),
1988. 433 pp. $35.00.
Stimulated by the publication of Bernard Bai-
lynTs provocative essay, Education in the Forming
of American Society, and increasingly influenced
by social science techniques, historians in the last
three decades have transformed the writing of
the history of American higher education. Reject-
ing as their standard the narrative house history
centered around presidential administrations,
they have increasingly favored more avowedly
theoretical approaches which place their subject
matter in the context of the broader society.
Nevertheless, traditional style chronicles continue
to be written, and too many of them continue to
frustrate readers who wish to understand fully
the history of institutions so treated.
Such is the case with Mary D. BeatyTs A His-
tory of Davidson College. The daughter of a
long-time Davidson faculty member and the
former head of the classics department at the
University of Richmond, Beaty is now assistant
director of the Davidson College Library. She is
also the author of Davidson: A History of the
Town from 1835 until 1937 and thus would seem
well prepared to write the first comprehensive
history in sixty-five years of one of the SouthTs
leading liberal arts colleges.
Although Beaty begins promisingly by identi-
fying 1835, the year of the collegeTs organization
by the Concord Presbytery, as osquarely in the
midst of the great era of denominational college
founding,� she fails to maintain the promise of
providing a contextual background in a consist-
ent and meaningful manner. She does, of course,
periodically describe the relationship between the
college and its governing presbyteries, but her
Fall 1989"193
North Carolina Books
almost complete silence on related educational
developments in North Carolina is especially
troubling. For example, she fails to mention that
Baptists also were dissatisfied with the secular
education provided by the state university at
Chapel Hill and opened Wake Forest Instititute in
1834. Both Davidson and Wake Forest operated
initially on the manual labor scheme, and both
faced opposition in the legislature to their being
granted charters because of their denominational
control. References to such similarities, and to dif-
ferences when appropriate, would have required
little additional commentary and would have
helped the reader to discern to what extent
DavidsonTs development was unique or typical at
any particular time.
Beaty has, however, done a thorough job
documenting the internal history of the college,
and she has done so by skillfully blending the per-
sonal and the institutional. Possessing a lively
writing style, she is at her best when describing
the daily lives of students and faculty.
This book will have its greatest appeal to
those associated in some way with Davidson Col-
lege, but it should be acquired by most college,
university, and public libraries in the state.
Robin Brabham, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Kaye Gibbons. A Virtuous Woman. Chapel Hill:
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1989. 158 pp.
$13.95. ISBN 0-945575-09-2.
oAnd after it all, after itTs all said and done, Ill
still have to say, Bless you, Ruby. You were a fine
partner, and I will miss you.� Thus Blinking Jack
Ernest Stokes begins to tell the story of his mar-
riage to Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes who has died
of lung cancer only four months before. And in
alternating chapters of Kaye GibbonsT second
novel, A Virtuous Woman, Ruby does the same,
describing the childhood and early adult years
that led to this her second marriage.
Born to a prosperous farming couple forty-
five years before, Ruby confounds her loving fam-
ily by running away to marry the first man who
ever paid attention to her"mean, abusive, wom-
anizing migrant worker John Woodrow"because
o .. [just didnTt have enough sense to say no, plain
and simple.� Even though she realizes her mistake
almost as soon as they drive out of her parentTs
driveway, she stoically endures her fate until the
day Blinking Jack Stokes comes to tell her that
Woodrow has been killed. Freely admitting that
he wants to be the one to tell her the awful news,
Blinking Jack is determined to be there, strong
194"Fall 1989
and solid for her grief, because he has already
decided that he will marry her in spite of their
age differences. She is only twenty and he forty-
five.
And marry they do, living the next twenty-
five years in love and quiet happiness, Jack a
tenant farmer on his friend BurrTs land and Ruby
his friend, lover, housekeeper, and cook. Together
they bring peace and joy to each otherTs existence,
Ruby tolerating JackTs drinking, Jack enduring
RubyTs smoking, both with quiet good humor.
Theirs is the calm acceptance of each otherTs foi-
bles that only true love can manage. Their only
sadness is that they can have no children, a fact
that Ruby counteracts by loving and protecting
BurrTs and Tiny FranTs daughter June.
A Virtuous Woman is a quiet book, much like
Jack and RubyTs marriage"quiet, but deep,
peaceful, and surprising in its understated and
occasional violence and pain. It is GibbonsT com-
plete mastery of the southern cadence, her con-
summate storytelling, her ability to encapsulate
an entire thought or experience into a single
sentence that enables the reader to become a part
of this marriage, grieve at its loss, and totally
understand Ruby when she says, oThe quiet kind
of love is better than the other, lasted longer, been
better to us.� Much like their marriage, this quiet
book will linger with the reader, offering a smile
and the simple affirmation of what love and mar-
riage can be.
Prances Bryant Bradburn, East Carolina University
Warren Moore. Mountain Voices: A Legacy of the
Blue Ridge and Great Smokies. Chester, Conn.:
Globe Pequot Press, 1988. 276 pp. $29.95. ISBN
0-87106-671-8.
For six years, Warren Moore taped and pho-
tographed western North Carolinians to put
together Mountain Voices, a book designed to be
a otrue picture of the area as they see it.� Born in
North Carolina, Moore spent her younger years as
a osummer person� visiting in the mountains. She
developed her book idea while living and teaching
in New York City. With the zeal of a transplant
reclaiming native soil, Moore used her camera
and tape recorder oto put elements of Appalach-
ian culture back into their proper perspective.�
Setting the record straight is a familiar
motive among amateur oral historians, who
believe in the tape recorderTs power to allow oreal
voices� of unheard people to speak. Like the
camera, the recorder cannot lie. Yet, oral histories
are shaped on both sides of the microphone, and
the resulting otruth� is the product of choices on
each side.
To Moore's credit, her choice of voices is
broader than most writers who attempt to de-
scribe mountain life. The people of these pages
are farmers and town folk, rich, poor, influential,
extroverts and homebodies, professors, politi-
cians, hunters and truck drivers, attorneys,
bankers and beekeepers, mill workers, homemak-
ers and teachers. Moore sorts their reflections
into thematic chapters and specific topics"
mountain terrain, the people and their history,
mountain living, the Cherokee, culture and society,
progress and problems. The interview excerpts
bring together different peopleTs perspectives on
similar subjects"rivers and floods, subsistence
farming, politics, the Depression, school days,
marriage, the country store, community enter-
tainment, living with change, and lasting values.
Moore selected and arranged the voices, but
she does not mediate this oral history in obvious
ways (no fussy footnotes, no meticulously dated
interviews, no deep background from research in
written sources, no name index to all locations for
a given personTs comments). The book must also
be weighed for what it leaves out, as well as what
it includes. Where, in this southern book, is the
subject of race relations? We have the Cherokee
chapter (a kind of editorial reservation). Where
are the voices of black Appalachians? We have
Clifford and Annie Casey of McDowell County. But
what of the many voices in Asheville, descendants
of black farmers and railroad workers who moved
to town, black entrepreneurs, members of the
diverse black churches, descendants of laborers
and domestic workers who helped build and run
Biltmore for George Vanderbilt?
Moore does not skimp on other material. The
crowded print threatens to run right off the bot-
tom edge of many pages. Her photographs lighten
the dense text, however, without moving the book
into the coffee-table class. In black and white and
in color, they parallel the text but are unidenti-
fied. Captions or a photo index would have been
appropriate.
MooreTs introductions to the chapters display
her genuine respect and affection for the people
she interviewed. Her book suffers, however, from
the enthusiasm and the diffidence that can be
occupational hazards for oral historians. The
power, beauty, and individuality of voices cap-
tured on tape tempt the interviewer to recede
into the background, convinced the voices ospeak
for themselves.� But there are no typefaces for
intonation, cadence, accent, or the emotional
North Carolina Books
modulation between loud and soft speech. While
the page forever echoes unique voices to the
interviewer, we as readers are content-bound,
occasionally moved by a felicitous phrase, which
sounds in our ears in our own reading voices. As a
result, this book can be boring when taken in long
stretches. ItTs better when taken in brief, leisurely
snatches.
Years of resentment against the negative ste-
reotype of Appalachians as opoor national or-
phans who needed more help than other people�
(Jan Davidson, p. 240) has fueled a publishing
industry intent on defining othe true� Appalach-
ian culture, character, and spirit. But the substi-
tution of self-affirming, positive stereotypes for
negative ones cannot yield a realistic picture of
peopleTs lives in the mountains. oNow I think weTre
in a new phase where we place our cultural life
somewhat on a pedestal� (Jan Davidson, p. 241).
MooreTs book, despite her array of voices,
takes the pedestal approach, for seemingly noble
reasons"her love for the people she met and
interviewed. This is not a book, however, for those
who are passionately devoted to and intellectu-
ally objective about the mountains, although it
contains the voices of some who are both.
Della Coulter, Elbert Ivey Public Library, Hickory
Paxton Davis. Being a Boy. Winston-Salem: John
F. Blair, Publisher, 1988. 253 pp. $16.95. ISBN 0-
89587-065-7.
oBoyhood is like an orgy, a lot to do and a lot
of people to do it with....�
Winston-Salem native Paxton DavisTs child-
hood memoir, Being a Boy, is a sentimental jour-
ney back to oa nice place, during nice times, with
nice parents and nice friends.� In this autobi-
ography, Davis recounts the first fourteen years of
his life growing up in the Buena Vista neighbor-
hood of Winston-Salem during the 1920s and
1930s. DavisTs parents moved to the Forsyth
County seat during the 1920s, where his father
served as a department head for Reynolds
Tobacco Company.
After a stint with the U.S. Army during World
War II, Davis served as a reporter with the Win-
ston-Salem Journal, Richmond Times Dispatch,
and the Twin City Sentinel, and later as a journal-
ism professor and department chair at Washing-
ton and Lee University. Currently, Davis writes a
weekly column for the Roanoke Times and World-
News. In addition to his childhood memoir, he has
written short stories, poetry, reviews, articles, and
several other books.
Fall 1989"195
North Carolina Books
Being a Boy grew out of a column Davis
wrote about the Ravens, a neighborhood football
team from his childhood. Their rivalry with the
Carolina Cubs featured the likes of Sanford Mar-
tin, the Speas brothers, big Grady Southern, and
the diminutive Willie Shore, owho could outrun
anyone alive.� So well received was the feature
that it was reprinted in The New York Times. That
reception, coupled with DavisTs desire to provide
his own children with a portrait of the grandpar-
ents they had never known, prompted him to
write this memoir.
The book centers on the exploits of Davis and
his neighborhood friends, oa group of squirrelly
boys.� In the era before television, Sports Illus-
trated, and Pop Warner football, sports consisted
of the neighborhood lot and an imaginative inter-
pretation of the rules. Baseball bats were kept
together by black electrical tape, a consequence of
the times, while a football game could end
abruptly when the ballTs inner bladder exploded.
As forthright, law-abiding citizens, Davis and his
friends created the Mekechum Detective Agency
to help the FBI apprehend John Dillinger.
Davis's recollections are not merely the reci-
tations of the antics of childhood chums. With
humor and candor, the author recalls the dances
at the all-female Salem Academy, memorizing
catechism in the Presbyterian Church, and his
Boy Scout troop whose ideals centered more on
good times than the acquisition of merit badges.
Relived are Saturday matinees featuring cowboy
heroes, the family gathered around the radio lis-
tening to Lowell Thomas and oAmos Tn Andy,� and
summers spent with grandparents and at camp.
This portrait, though filled with anecdotes
and humor, is honest to the era. While the upper
middle-class position of his family and neighbor-
hood friends allowed them to live in relative com-
fort during the Depression, he recounts vividly the
starkness of visits to friends with jobless fathers
and homes bare of furniture. And as in any other
southern community, segregation ruled in Win-
ston-Salem.
The memoir ends in 1939 as Davis and his
friends return from the New York WorldTs Fair.
During a stop in Washington, D.C., newspaper
headlines heralded HitlerTs invasion of Poland.
With that, Davis recounts his groupTs inability to
grasp the consequences of the news. oNor could
we guess the sweet, safe, innocent America of our
birth and boyhood would vanish, forever.�
This book is highly recommended for aca-
demic, public, and school libraries. Davis has writ-
ten a book full of wit, charm, and humor. Being a
Boy allows older generations the ability to relive
196"Fall 1989
this time in their lives, while historians, sociolo-
gists, and other scholars can gain a new perspec-
tive on life in a southern city during the
Depression.
Randy Penninger, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Theda Perdue. The Cherokee. New York: Chelsea
House Publishers, 1989. 111 pp. $16.95 ISBN 1-
55546-695-8.
Change and adaptability are part of the Cher-
okee heritage. The author presents a history of
these Native Americans and the social, cultural,
and religious changes they have faced over the
past several hundred years.
Western North Carolina was the heart of the
Cherokee homeland. The arrival of the first Euro-
peans in 1540 brought rapid and dramatic
changes to all areas of Cherokee life. The Seven
YearsT War and the American Revolution brought
political change for the Cherokees. They now
needed to delegate political power to tribal spokes-
men in order to gain security for themselves
and their homeland.
After the American Revolution, the Chero-
kees suffered severe economic depression and
had to relinquish large tracts of territory to the
United States Government. For the first time,
these Native Americans began to accumulate
individual property. They also reorganized their
method of governing, wrote down their laws,
created a police force, and developed a central
government. The United States wanted to ociv-
ilize� the Cherokee; the Cherokee hoped that by
integrating into the American way of life they
could peacefully live within the United States.
Since the United StatesT government did not
recognize that Native Americans had a legitimate
claim to their own land because the latter were
not Christians, disputes arose over Cherokee
land. Eventually, in order to expand its own terri-
tory, the government forced the tribe to migrate
to western territories"now Oklahoma. The forced
march became known as oThe Trail of Tears�
because of the suffering and hardships endured
by the Cherokees along the way. Only forty-nine
Cherokee families remained in North Carolina.
World War I and World War II broadened the
world for some Cherokees. Many served in the
armed forces and went on to receive a college
education through the G.I. Bill; some moved to the
city.
This book, written for young adults, outlines
the relationships between the United States and
the Cherokee, and the ways in which the Chero-
kees, throughout their history, have answered the
question, oCan we survive in modern society?� It is
written by Theda Perdue, a professor of history at
the University of Kentucky. She is the author of
several books and articles on Native Americans,
including Native Carolinians: The Indians of
North Carolina.
The Cherokee, a title in the series oIndians of
North America,� is a very readable book. It
includes a bibliography, glossary, index and illus-
trations. It is highly recommended for middle
school, high school, and public libraries.
Sarah Stubbs, Laurel Hill Primary School
Charles Harry Whedbee. BlackbeardTs Cup and
Stories of the Outer Banks. Winston-Salem: John
F. Blair, Publisher, 1989. 175 pp. $9.95. ISBN 0-
89587-070-3.
After publishing four earlier collections of
Outer Banks tales and legends, Judge Charles
Harry Whedbee has produced yet another volume
of stories from the North Carolina islands. Black-
beardTs Cup and Stories of the Outer Banks
contains sixteen stories culled from the rich
Banker oral tradition. A retired district court
judge who still maintains a private Greenville,
North Carolina, law practice, Whedbee has be-
come an authority on coastal folklore. He has
spent a lifetime of summers at his familyTs Nags
Head cottage, collecting and preserving this oral
tradition.
Among the most interesting stories in this
volume is one which Whedbee recounts from per-
sonal experience. As a young law student in the
1930s, Whedbee participated in a secret cere-
mony on Ocracoke Island. He has waited fifty
years before telling how he came to hold and
drink from the skull of the pirate Blackbeard.
One clear August evening, Whedbee and a fel-
low student knocked at the door of a large white
house known as BlackbeardTs Castle, stammered
the password oDeath to Spotswood,� and joined a
group of men gathered around a large table. After
swearing an oath of secrecy, the two young men
particpated in an endless round of ritual toasts.
As Whedbee and his friend soon learned, the
unusually shaped cup that passed from hand to
.hand was nothing less than the silver-plated skull
of Edward Teach, the infamous pirate Black-
beard!
Throughout the long evening, the students
were treated to many tales of the pirate, but never
did they hear the surnames of any of those pres-
North Carolina Books
ent. Eventually, and long before the ceremony
seemed likely to end, Whedbee and his companion
made their escape. For fifty years, Judge Whedbee
has tried to trace the cup from which he drank
that night. To that end, he now offers a thousand-
dollar reward to the owner of the cup in exchange
for the opportunity to examine it for a few hours.
Judge WhedbeeTs tales also include a Chowan
County doctorTs lifelong hunt for buried treasure,
complete with a secret map; a magic lute which
revealed the murder of one sister by another, for
the love of a suitor; and the origin of the Sea
Angel, a legendary creature which Whedbee him-
self claims to have seen.
Charles Harry WhedbeeTs earlier volumes are
Legends of the Outer Banks (1966), The Flaming
Ship of Ocracoke (1971), Outer Banks Mysteries
(1978), and Outer Banks Tales to Remember
(1985). His fifth collection, BlackbeardTs Cup
and Stories of the Outer Banks, certainly should
be included in any library or special collection of
North Caroliniana. Academic, public and school
librarians will find this book to be popular with
their readers as well.
Kathryn L. Bridges,
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Library, Concord
Other Publications of Interest
In Biographical Dictionary of Famous Tar
Heels, editor Richard Cooper provides brief
information on slightly more than two hundred
North Carolinians, some living but most deceased.
Sketches are short, many no more than a couple
of lines, although several pages are allowed for
some of the better-known personalities. Intended
for schoolchildren and general readers seeking
basic identifications, the sketches cover Tar Heels
of accomplishment in a wide variety of occupa-
tions and activities, such as art and music, busi-
ness, writing and journalism, medicine, enter-
tainment, and government. The book may be
ordered from Creative Productions, Box 30515,
Raleigh, N.C. 27612; ISBN 0-89136-088-3; $16.95;
hardcover; 128 pp.
First published in 1968, John Bivins, Jr.Ts,
comprehensive study of gunsmithing in the eight-
eenth and early nineteenth centuries, Longrifles
of North Carolina, has been out of print for a
number of years, a status now remedied with the
release of a revised second edition. Bivins adds
twenty-four new pages of rifle illustrations to his
study of American longrifle production in the Tar
Heel piedmont and mountains. He argues that
Fall 1989"197
North Carolina Books
there were several distinct schools of gunsmithing
in the state and provides biographical informa-
tion on more than four hundred gunsmiths.
Numerous illustrations of silver and brass inlays
and stock carvings support BivinsTs contention
that the longrifle was not only an instrument of
practical use but also an important folk art form.
Copies of the second edition may be ordered from
George Shumway, Publisher, R.D. 7, Box 388-B,
York, Pa. 17402; ISBN 0-87387-097-2; $45.00;
hardcover; 223 pp.
Initially operated as a prosperous plantation,
the large Caledonia tract along the Roanoke River
in Halifax County is today best known as the site
of a state prison farm of approximately 5,500 cul-
tivated acres. In Caledonia: From Antebellum
Plantation, 1713-1892, to State Prison and
Farm, 1892-1988, retired Caledonia employee W.
Alfred Cooke presents an informal history of this
rich agricultural area. He relates how the land
was first leased to the state for a prison farm,
then bought for that purpose, later abandoned
and sold to private farmers, and finally rede-
veloped as a prison farm that today produces huge
quantities of foodstuffs for the state prison sys-
tem and for sale. Cooke, often quoting extensively
from prison records and newspapers, tells how
the farm was planned and operated, of prisoner
escapes and strikes, and, in a lengthy section, of
CaledoniaTs most famous inmate, David Marshall
oCarbine� Williams, the noted gun designer. The
book may be ordered from the author at P.O. Box
96, Tillery, N.C. 27887; $20.00; paper; 329 pp.
Tar Heel Tradition: 100 Years of Sports at
Carolina is sure to delight fans of collegiate
athletics and especially those who follow the for-
tunes of the featured institution, the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this coffee-table-
style album, editor Philip L. Ben presents approx-
imately two hundred photographs, black-and-
white and color, of the students of Chapel Hill in
competition during the past century. Football and
basketball are emphasized, but the non-revenue
sports are also included. Text is limited to picture
captions and a few short essays, but the well-
chosen views of contests and contestants suffi-
ciently portray the joys of athletic struggle for the
men and women of Carolina blue and white. The
book is available from Lightworks, 5700 Chapel
Hill Road, Raleigh, N.C. 27607; ISBN 0-942399-05-
6; $39.95; cloth; 160 pp.
Compilers Loyal Jones and Billy Edd Wheeler
have gathered in Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule:
Appalachian Mountain Humor over 450 jokes
and stories collected from the people of Appala-
chia. Many touch in some way the daily life of the
198"Fall 1989
southern mountaineer, and most were contrib-
uted by natives of the region. Divided into broad
categories, the jokes and stories deal with a var-
iety of topics, such as love and marriage, moon-
shine, old age, politicians and lawyers, and
medicine. Some of the funniest contributions con-
cern the relationships of Appalachian residents
and condescending or rude tourists, such as the
lost traveler who snapped to the old man along
the roadside, oHow do you get to Boone?� He
received the calm reply: oWell, sometimes I walk,
and sometimes my son-in-law takes me in his
pickup truck.� The book may be ordered from
August House, Inc., P.O. Box 3223, Little Rock,
Ark. 72203; ISBN 0-87483-083-4; $8.95; paper; 211
pp. al
Copies of articles from
this publication are now
available from the UMI
Article Clearinghouse.
Cieameehouee
Mail to: University Microfilms International
300 North Zeeb Road, Box 91 Ann Arbor, MI 48106
NCLA Minutes
North Carolina Library Association
Minutes of the Executive Board
April 28, 1989
Barbara Anderson Ruth Hoyle
Barbara Baker Marjorie Lindsey
Nancy Bates Howard McGinn
Doris Anne Bradley Gloria Miller
Waltrene Canada Teresa Miller
Geneva Chavis Nancy Ray
Melanie Collins Cal Shepard
Jinnie Davis Leonard Sherwin
Patric Dorsey Frank Sinclair
David Fergusson Carol Southerland
Nancy Fogarty Jerry Thrasher
Ray Frankle Harry Tuchmayer
Janet Freeman Art Weeks
Patsy Hansel Lauren Williams
The Executive Board of the North Carolina Library Associa-
tion was called to order by President Patsy Hansel at 10:05 a.m.,
April 28, 1989. The above persons were present at Durham
Technical Community College. President Hansel recognized
Leonard Sherwin, who represented Friends of the Library, and
Secretary Patric Dorsey, who complimented the work of NCLA.
Minutes of the January 27, 1989 meeting were approved
with one change: the status of the NC Paraprofessional Associa-
tion was changed from section to round table.
Treasurer Nancy FogartyTs exhibits showed $22,518.61 in
the checking account and $69,080.75 in CIA; disbursements
totaled $18,730.74 from January 1, 1989 to March 31, 1989.
Financial statements from the auditor supported the fund bal-
ances arising from cash receipts and disbursements. Treasurer
Fogarty said that she was somewhat concerned about the lack
of membership renewals even after the second notice. She pro-
posed that NCLA donate to the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro the two-drawer file cabinet purchased for NCLA
financial records since the university had not charged NCLA for
telephone calls.
Barbara Baker talked about the 1989 conference and noted
that preconference information would be mailed by June 1. A
vendor mailing went out in mid April.
Kieth Wright, ALA Council Representative, was absent.
Jerry Thrasher reported that Elizabeth Curry is the editor
of The Southeastern Librarian. Charting the future of The
Southeastern Library Association is the focus of the May 5-6
Leadership Conference in Atlanta. An increase of $5 for regular
membership dues is being proposed and will be voted on at the
~Leadership Conference. SELA has 1,355 members, and 185 of
these are from North Carolina.
In the absence of North Carolina Libraries Editor Frances
Bradburn, Marjorie Lindsey delivered a revised report on reor-
ganization of the Editorial Board, recommending elimination of
some of the complicated selection processes. Discussions
focused on a general board and an editorial board, the
appointment of associate, book review, and research column
editors, and an advertising manager. A motion was made by
Barbara Baker and seconded by Harry Tuchmayer to oaccept
the concept of the two-tiered board for NCL and that refine-
ments to the wording be made and reported at the July 28
meeting.� The motion passed unanimously. It was further sug-
gested that every effort should be made to assure a broad
representation on the board.
The oChanging Needs...Changing Behavior� seminar held
March 31 and April 1 in Greensboro was successful for the 36
attendees according to Cal Shepard, chair of the ChildrenTs Ser-
vices Section. The Section will sponsor two programs at the fall
conference: breakfast with Jamie Gilson and a reception co--
sponsored with the Round Table on the Status of Women. oSee a
Film, Read a BookT is the tentative title of a publication that
includes books, activities, songs, films, and videos for children.
The publication should be ready for sale by the October confer-
ence. In addition, Shepard said that the nominating committee
will complete its slate and mail ballots in July.
Jinnie Davis reported that the College and University Sec-
tion will co-sponsor Jesse Carney Smith from Fisk University at
the fall conference, and the program session will be called
oLibraries, Librarianship, and the 1990s.�
R. Frank Sinclair reported that the Community and Junior
College Section collaborated with the College and University
Section to arrange a program for the Biennial Conference by
Jesse Carney Smith, Academic Librarian of the Year, 1988. An
increased membership continues to be a priority, A slate of
officers is being prepared, and Barbara Baker represented the
Section at National Libraries Legislative Day in Washington.
Lauren Williams reported that the Documents Section will
sponsor a workshop on May 5 entitled oGovernment Documents
and Online Catalogs: Alternatives,� partially funded by a $1,000
NCLA Program Grant. Carolyn Jamison, Jan Swanbeck, and
Arlene Hanerfeld will discuss document cataloging problems
and issues, cataloging of documents in an online catalog system,
and document short record entry into OCLC/LS2000. Senate
Bill 62 has undergone many revisions. The bill, oAn Act to
Require State Publication Procedures, Manuals, Administrative
Review Procedures for Publication and...Agency Noncom-
pliance� (shorter title is oState Publication Policy�) has been
referred to the Senate State Government Committee. Harry
Tuchmayer made a motion that NCLA send a letter of support
to R.C. Martin and members of the Senate State Government
Subcommittee endorsing Senate Bill 62. The motion passed after
being seconded by Howard McGinn.
The theme for the summer issue of North Carolina Librar-
ies will be government documents, and Pat Langelier and Ridley
Kessler are guest editors. Chair Lauren Williams also distributed
a brochure from the Government Documents Round Table of the
American Library Association.
Junior Members Round Table will offer its biennial award, a
plaque and $25, to a young librarian who is a member of NCLA,
has been employed less than six years, has experience in NC,
shows enthusiasm for state activities, and demonstrates a
commitment to the library profession. Application for the award
must be made by July 1. Melanie Collins also reported that by-
Fall 1989"199
NCLA Minutes
laws for the Round Table have been completed and that the
program at the fall conference will focus on role models.
Geneva B. Chavis, chairman, mentioned that REMCo
received a project grant to present Ann Allen Shockley, news-
paper staff writer and columnist, librarian, and consultant from
Nashville, Tennessee, and Casper LeRoy Jordan, Deputy Direc-
tor, from Atlanta, Georgia, at the NCLA Biennial Conference.
The session will be oRoad Builders"Librarians Who Paved the
Way.� An outstanding academic, public, special, school, and
library education librarian will be recognized and honored. A
slate of officers is being prepared. Stories are being compiled for
the Heritage Book of Black Families in North Carolina, a publi-
cation scheduled for a fall release.
The North Carolina Library Paraprofessional Association
will offer oImproving Staff Communications� on May 25 and 31
at the Wilson County Public Library and Appalachian State Uni-
versity respectively. The workshops are partially funded by
LSCA Title III and will be presented by Dr. Ernie Tompkins,
Training Director for the City of Winston-Salem. Kathleen Wei-
bel, Director of Libraries, Ohio Wesleyan University, will be the
speaker for oI Work in a Library, but ITm Not a Librarian,� the
program planned for the Charlotte conference.
The North Carolina Association of School Librarians
donated $200 to the NC High School Library Association, David
Harrington and Sandra Smith represented NCASL at Legislative
Day in DC, and School Library Media Day was celebrated with
billboards, bumper stickers, a proclamation, and a broadcast on
the Distance Learning by Satellite. Carol Southerland, NCASL
chair, announced speakers for the fall conference: Dr. Phil
Turner, author of Helping Teachers Teach, Alvin Schwartz,
childrenTs author and folklorist, and Bob Etheridge, Superinten-
dent of Public Instruction.
David Fergusson, in the absence of Irene P. Hairston, stated
that program announcements were mailed for the May 18 and
19 conference of the NC Public Library Trustees Association.
Sponsors include the State Library, the Public Library, Trustees
Section, the Public Library Section of the NCLA, the NC Public
Library Directors Association, Friends of NC Public Libraries,
and the North Carolina Library Staff Development Program.
Program highlights include economic and educational growth of
communities, current developments and issues, automation and
networks, building or renovating, and fiscal responsibilities. A
preconference program, oMeeting the Censor, A Skills Develop-
ment Workshop,� is planned for NCLATs Biennial Conference.
Nancy Bates, incoming chair of the Public Library Section,
attended Legislative Day. The Section co-sponsored the Trustees
Program May 18-19. Will Manley is being co-sponsored with Ref-
erence and Adult Services at the biennial conference. The Public
Library Section is looking for applications for the Public Library
Development Award. Inquiries should be addressed to Carol
Myers. The $500 cash award will go to the librarian doing the
most to promote public libraries in North Carolina. Martha
Davis was recommended for reappointment to the State Certifi-
cation Committee of the State Library Commission.
Barbara Anderson, reporting for Reference and Adult Ser-
vices, noted that two speakers, Kaye Gapen, Library Director of
the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Will Manley, Library
Director of Tempe (Arizona) Public Library will speak at the
Biennial Conference. RASS will begin a statewide electronic
newsletter to communicate information about anything useful
in the area of reference and adult services. Charles Montouri of
the State Library assumed a crucial role with the bulletin board
project and created an editorial board to handle organizational
matters.
Harry Tuchmayer noted that Resources and Technical Ser-
vices will issue an award to a first attendee and a merit award to
recognize a person who has contributed significantly to resour-
ces and technical services in North Carolina. Flyers will be dis-
200"Fall 1989
tributed. A ~newsletter is being started, and the resource
directory for catalogers is being updated. Sandy Berman and
Tom Broadfoot will present programs Wednesday and Thursday
during the fall conference.
Round Table on the Status of Women in Librarianship
reported that Dr. Alice WarnerTs March 16 presentation on
oMoney and Librarians� went well, and had 35 in attendance.
RTSWL will return $135.26 of their LSCA Continuing Education
grant to the State Library. Conference plans are shaping up.
Jinx Melia, author of WHY JENNY CAN'T LEAD (republished as
BREAKING INTO THE BOARDROOM) will participate. They are
investigating the sale of MSMANAGEMENT note pads as a fund
raiser. In addition, the Round Table will co-sponsor a reception
at Discovery Place with the ChildrenTs Services Section. The next
meeting is July 15 in Asheville.
Nancy Ray submitted a report on the Library Administra-
tion and Management Section. The keynote speaker for the
October conference will be Dr. Jerry Campbell of Duke Univer-
sity. Bylaws for the new section were finalized for review by the
Constitution, Codes, and Handbook Committee. LAMS is
included on the current NCLA biennial membership form.
The Constitution, Codes, and Handbook Committee submit-
ted three amendments to the Constitution of the North Carolina
Library Association and requested that they be presented to
the membership at the 1989 biennial meeting. They are:
Amendment 1. To insert after Article IV the following new arti-
cle, to be numbered Article X.
ARTICLE X. Committees [New]
1, The President, with the advice of the Executive Board,
shall appoint committee chairmen and suggest other
members except as otherwise provided. The President
shall be an ex officio member of each committee with the
exception of the Committee on Nominations.
2. Standing Committees. The Executive Board may estab-
lish standing committees to perform the continuing func-
tions of the Association.
a. Standing committees shall include the following:
Archives Committee
Conference Committee
Constitution, Codes, and Handbook Revision Commit-
tee
Finance Committee
Governmental Relations Committee
Intellectual Freedom Committee
Membership Committee
Publications Committee
Scholarships Committee
b. Standing committees shall report to the Executive
Board
3. Special Committees. Special committees for specific
purposes may be appointed at any time.
a. The Committee on Nominations, to be appointed by
the President each biennium, shall be considered a
special committee.
b. Special committees shall function until their pur-
poses have been fulfilled.
Amendment 2. To renumber the present Article X as Article XI.
Amendment 3. To renumber the present Article XI as Article XII.
Committee chair Doris Anne Bradley also presented a draft
of the make-up and responsibilities of the Publications Commit-
tee. Functions include developing and recommending policies
and guidelines, with the exception of NCL, identifying publica-
tion needs and making recommendations as appropriate, and
providing advice and recommendations regarding publications
to sections and round tables. After a discussion of the purpose
and the validity of the committee, it was moved by David Fer-
gusson and seconded by Jerry Thrasher to add a statement that
an NCLA publication is defined as being published by NCLA,
other than by a section or round table. The motion passed.
Grant money has been spent according to the Finance
Committee.
Helen Tugwell submitted a report for the Goals and Objec-
tives Committee for reaction and input on a permanent address,
employment of an executive secretary, and a permanent part-
time office.
The Honorary and Life Membership Committee chair Wal-
trene M. Canada made recommendations for Honorary and Life
Membership in NCLA. A discussion followed on some of the
nominations. Since there were no guidelines, the committee will
look at Carol SoutherlandTs request to add two names.
A discussion on the granting of posthumous awards
resulted from the proposed North Carolina Library Association
Distinguished Library Service Award. oOne award every two
years to a professional librarian or, when deemed appropriate,
in memory of a deceased professional librarian� was the motion
to amend the criteria made by David Fergusson and seconded
by Ray Frankle. The motion passed.
A workshop sponsored by the Literacy Committee will be
June 8-9 in Boone. Discussions include writing and readability
tests, building coalitions, collection development, funding, pro-
motion, staff training, plus more.
Art Weeks said that the Marketing Committee will meet
June 1.
Ray Frankle stated that the membership brochure will be in
publication by June, and there are no major changes.
Nominating Committee chair Leland Park submitted a writ-
ten report which said that biographical information on the
nominees would appear in NCL, and ballots would have to be
returned postmarked no later than May 31.
The Recruitment Committee participated in the North
Carolina High School Student Library Association Conference
which was held in Charlotte on March 16-18 for approximately
300 young adults. In addition to a panel of four professional
librarians who discussed oWord Up: Library and Information
Careers,� an exhibit with brochures and career information was
displayed.
The Ad Hoc Minority Recruitment Committee submitted a
report on where to recruit individuals to library education and
the library profession, the need for scholarship funding, the lack
of information about what professional librarians do, and the
need for involving libraries in cooperative internship programs.
Friends of NC Public Libraries will hold its annual meeting
in Elkin. The new president is Gorda Singletary, and the group
has asked for a place on the NCLA fall program.
President Hansel read several communications including
one from North Carolina Central University on the celebration
of the 50th Anniversary September 28-30, 1989 of library science
instruction at NC Central. The Board was reminded of the July
28 meeting in Wilmington.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned
at 1:40 p.m.
al
Gloria Miller, Secretary al
NCLA Minutes
continued from page 202
Angeles; M.A., C.-Phil., University of California
-Los Angeles.
Position: Headquarters Librarian, New Hanover
County Public Library.
April Wreath
Education: B.A., University of Illinois, Champaign-
Urbana; M.A., University of Illinois, Cham-
paign-Urbana; M.S., Simmons College.
Position: Head Catalog Librarian and Coordina-
tor for Library Online System Development;
W.C. Jackson Library, The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. Oy}
go for it!
use your library
Upcoming Issues
Winter 1989 - Conference Issue
Spring 1990 "- Library Humor
Rose Simon and David
Fergusson, Guest Editors
Summer 1990 - Public Documents
Pat Langelier and Ridley Kessler,
Guest Editors
- Performance Measures
Jinnie Davis, Guest Editor
- Supporting the Support Staff
Harry Tuchmayer, Guest Editor
- Law and the Library
Tim Coggins, Guest Editor
Summer 1991 - ChildrenTs/YA
Fall 1990
Winter 1990
Spring 1991
Fall 1991 - Library Buildings
John Welch, Guest Editor
Winter 1991 - Conference
Unsolicited articles dealing with the above
themes or on any issue of interest to North
Carolina librarians are welcomed. Please follow
manuscript guidelines delineated elsewhere in
this issue.
Fall 1989"201
About the Authors .. .
Robert Bland
Education: B.A., University of Alabama; M.A.,
Duke University; M.S.L.S., The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Associate University Librarian for Tech-
nical and Automated Services, Ramsey Li-
brary, University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Ricki Val Brown
Education: B.A., New Mexico State; M.L.S., Univer-
sity of Denver; M.B.A., Southern Mississippi
University.
Position: Headquarters Librarian, Cumberland
County Public Library & Information Center.
Donna Cornick
Education: B.A., The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro; M.A., The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.S.L.S., The University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Electronic Reference Services Librarian,
Business Administration and Social Sciences
Department, Davis Library, The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Patti Easley
Education: B.A., State University of New York at
Buffalo; M.S.L.S., The University of North Caro-
lina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Catalog Maintenance Librarian, J. Mur-
rey Atkins Library, The University of North
Carolina at Charlotte.
Linda Folda
Education: B.A., Ohio State University; M.A.T.,
Northwestern University; M.S.L.S., The Univer-
sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Automation Coordinator/Technical Serv-
ices Librarian, Chapel Hill Public Library.
Lynda Fowler
Education: B.S., Appalachian State University;
M.S., Western Carolina University.
Position: Director of Media Services, Durham
County Schools.
Diane Kessler
Education: B.A., Pfeiffer College; M.A., University
of Tennessee; M.S.L.S., The University of North
202"Fall 1989
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Media Coordinator, Neal Middle School,
Durham, N.C.
Marcia L. Kolb
Education: B.S., Illinois State University; B.S.-In-
formation/Systems Management, University of
Maryland; M.ED., University of Illinois, Cham-
paign-Urbana, M.S.L.S., University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana.
Position: Technical Services Administrator, Prince
William Public Library System, Manassas, Va.
Carol G. Lewis
Education: B.S., East Carolina University; M.ED.-
Educational Media, The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Position: Director, Division of School Media Pro-
grams for the Area of Educational Media and
Technology Services, North Carolina Depart-
ment of Public Instruction, Raleigh.
Johannah Sherrer
Education: B.A., University of Portland; M.S.LS.,
University of Kentucky; M.A., University of Day-
ton.
Position: Head of Reference, Perkins Library,
Duke University.
Bil Stahl
Education: B.A., Geneva College; M.S.L.S., Univer-
sity of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; M.S., Indi-
ana University of Pennsylvania.
Position: Associate Director, J. Murrey Atkins
Library, The University of North Carolina at
Charlotte.
Lovenia Summerville
Education: B.A., St. Andrews Presbyterian Col-
lege; M.L.S., Peabody College.
Position: Cataloging Unit Head, J. Murrey Atkins
Library, The University of North Carolina at
Charlotte.
Harry Tuchmayer
Education: B.A., University of California - Los
Angeles; M.L.S., University of California - Los
continued on page 201
President
PATSY HANSEL
Cumberland County Public
Library
300 Maiden Lane
Fayetteville, NC 28301
(919) 483-1580
First Vice-President/
President Elect
BARBARA A. BAKER
Durham Technical
Community College
1637 Lawson Street
Durham, NC 27703
(919) 598-9218
Second Vice-President
RAY A. FRANKLE
J. Murrey Atkins Library
University of NC at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223
(704) 547-2221
Past President
PAULINE F. MYRICK
P.O. Box 307
Carthage, NC 28327
(919) 947-2763
ChildrenTs Services
CAL SHEPARD
Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(919) 727-2214
College & University
MARTI SMITH
Sarah Graham Kenan Library
Saint MaryTs College
Raleigh, NC
(919) 828-2521
Community & Junior College
FRANK SINCLAIR
Librarian/Instructor
Vance-Granville Community
College
P.O. Box 917
Henderson, NC 27536
(919) 492-2061
Documents
LAUREN WILLIAMS
William R. Perkins Library
Duke University
Durham, NC 27706
(919) 684-2380
EXECUTIVE BOARD 1987-1989
October 30, 1987 - October 13, 1989
Treasurer
NANCY CLARK FOGARTY
Head Ref. Librarian/
Jackson Library
University of NC at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27412
NCLA Communications:
P.O. Box 4266
Greensboro, NC 27404
(919) 334-5419
Secretary
GLORIA MILLER
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
800 Everett Place
Charlotte, NC 28205
(704) 343-5440
Editor, North Carolina
Libraries
FRANCES BRYANT BRADBURN
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
(919) 757-6076
SECTION/ROUND TABLE CHAIRS
Junior Members Round Table
MELANIE COLLINS
Harnett County Public Library
PO Box 1149
Lillington, NC 27546
(919) 893-3446
NC Association of School
Libraries
CAROL A. SOUTHERLAND
Librarian, South Lenoir
High School
Deep Run, NC 28525
(919) 568-4171
NC Public Library Trustee
Association
IRENE P. HAIRSTON
6895 Sunnybend Place
Pfafftown, NC 27040
(919) 945-5286
Public Libraries
DAVID FERGUSSON
Headquarters Librarian
Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(919) 727-2556
ALA Councilor
KIETH WRIGHT
Dept. of Library Science &
Ed. Tech.
University of NC at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27412
(919) 334-5100
SELA Representative
JERRY THRASHER, DIRECTOR
Cumberland County Public
Library
300 Maiden Lane
Fayetteville, NC 28301
(919) 483-1580
Directors
JANET L. FREEMAN
Carlyle Campbell Library
Meredith College
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 829-8531
HOWARD F. McGINN
Division of State Library
NC Department of Cultural
Resources
109 East Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 733-2570
Reference & Adult Services
BARBARA ANDERSON
Forsyth Public Library
660 W. Fifth Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(919) 727-2556
Resources & Technical Services
HARRY TUCHMAYER
New Hanover County Public
Library
201 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 341-4390
Round Table for Ethnic Minority
Concerns
GENEVA B. CHAVIS
Dean, Learning Resources
Nash Technical College
Old Carriage Road
P.O. Box 7488
Rocky Mount, NC 27801
Round Table on Status of Women
in Librarianship
PATRICE EBERT
Sharon Branch
Public Library of Charlotte &
Mecklenburg County
6518 Fairview Road
Charlotte, NC 28210
(704) 336-2109
Fall 1989"203
Editor
FRANCES BRYANT BRADBURN
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
(919) 757-6076
Associate Editor
HOWARD F. McGINN
Division of State Library
109 East Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27611
(919) 733-2570
Associate Editor
ROSE SIMON
Dale H. Gramley Library
Salem College
Winston-Salem, NC 27108
(919) 721-2649
Book Review Editor
ROBERT ANTHONY
CB#3930, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 962-1172
Advertising Manager
HARRY TUCHMAYER
New Hanover County Public Library
201 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 341-4390
Editor, Tar Heel Libraries
JOHN WELCH
Division of State Library
109 East Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27611
(919) 733-2570
EDITORIAL STAFF
ChildrenTs Services
BONNIE FOWLER
237 Arrowleaf Drive
Lewisville, NC 27023
(919) 945-5236
College and University
JINNIE Y. DAVIS
Planning and Development
D.H. Hill Library
North Carolina State University
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 737-3659
Community and Junior College
BEVERLY GASS
Guilford Technical
Community College
Box 309
Jamestown, NC 27282
(919) 292-1101
Documents
LISA K. DALTON
Rockingham County Public Library
598 Pierce Street
Eden, NC 27288
(919) 623-3168
Junior Members Round Table
DOROTHY DAVIS HODDER
Public Services Librarian
New Hanover County Public Library
201 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 341-4390
N.C. Association of School Librarians
KATHERINE R. CAGLE
R.J. Reynolds High School
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
(919) 727-2260
Address all correspondence to Frances Bryant Bradburn, Editor
Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858.
Public Library
BOB RUSSELL
Elbert Ivey Memorial Library
420 Third Street NW
Hickory, NC 28601
(704) 322-2905
Reference/Adult Services
ILENE NELSON
William R. Perkins Library
Duke University
Durham, NC 27706
(919) 684-2373
Resources and Technical Services
GENE LEONARDI
Shepard Library
North Carolina Central Universit)
Durham, NC 27707
(919) 560-6220
Round Table for Ethnic/Minority
Concerns
EUTHENA NEWMAN
North Carolina A & T University
F.D. Bluford Library
1601 E. Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27411:
(919) 379-7782
Round Table on the Status of
Women in Librarianship
ELIZABETH LANEY
CB#3360, 100 Manning Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
(919) 962-8361
Trustees
MRS. ERNEST M. KNOTTS
Route 2, Box 505
Albemarle, NC 28001
(704) 982-7434
North Carolina Library
Paraprofessional Association
JUDIE STODDARD
Onslow County Public Library
58 Doris Avenue East
Jacksonville, NC 28540
(919) 455-7350
North Carolina Libraries, published four times a year, is the official publication of the North Carolina
Library Association. Membership dues include a subscription to North Carolina Libraries. Membership
information may be obtained from the treasurer of NCLA.
Subscription rates for 1987 are $32.00 per year, or $10.00 per issue, for domestic subscriptions; $50.00
per year, or $15.00 per issue, for foreign subscriptions. Backfiles are maintained by the editor. Microfilm
copies are available through University Microfilms. North Carolina Libraries is indexed by Library
Literature and publishes its own annual index.
Editorial correspondence should be addressed to the editor; advertisement correspondence should
be addressed to the advertising manager. Articles are juried.
North Carolina Libraries is printed by Meridional Publications, Wake Forest, NC.
Issue deadlines are February 10, May 10, August 10, and November 10.
204"Fall 1989