Protection
Information Resources
Management
(3404)
SEPA INFO ACCESS
220N95009A
Issue Number 54
June 1995
Library Network Communications
GATEWAYS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
IN THIS ISSUE
PAGES 2
TJje last EPA Library Network meeting
was held in 1992, in conjunction with
the NOAA Library Network. That joint
EPA-NOAA meeting, called Building
Partnerships for Information Access,
was designed to initiate a dialogue and
facilitate networking between the
librarians in the two agencies. This
successful meeting inspired increased
interaction between the EPA and
NOAA libraries and among the EPA
libraries. The seeds of the 1995
Gateways to Information meeting were
planted then, when the librarians from
EPA and NOAA discovered their
common goals and objectives.
After the 1992 meeting, Jonda Byrd,
the EPA Library Network Program
Manager, and Janice Beattie, her
counterpart at NOAA, had innumerable
discussions about sponsoring another
meeting. They became aware that other
agencies were interested in
participating in the next joint meeting.
Judy Buys from the National
Biological Service (NBS), and Barbara
Wagner from the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) worked closely with
Jonda and Janice to complete plans for
the Denver meeting, which was co-
sponsored by the four agencies: EPA,
NOAA, NBS, and USGS. Several
National Park Service librarians
requested permission to attend the
•^———^—-——••••« PAGE 4
meeting because the topics to be ; _ 7
discussed were relevant to their work. ^PUBLIC Aoc^iToyiwdSrtia^t*
In fact so many of them planned to PAGE 9
attend that they decided to take AGENCY HOME^ASES : ;:
advantage of the opportunity and hold PASE 12 ,,^ ,
ENVIRONMENTAL AND OTHER ,
and NPS library meeting at the RELEVANT WOOD Wit* WEI
conclusion of the EPA/NOAA/NBS/
USGS meeting. PtaelS. ~ "''' ''' "
During the first week in April, GLOBAL CHANGE INFORMATION ',: ":"
librarians from EPA, NOAA, NBS, PAGE 17
TT<:r:<: thp Matirmal ParV «orvirv» cmrl MEETING THE INFORMATION ACCESSIBILITY CHAL-
uo^jo, me iNauonai ranc service, anu LENGE: PUTTING PRO-CITE TO WORK AT NPS
other federal agencies with offices in _~PAGE, 18 ^^^^^^^^^^^^ r
., r. , „ ,. •ALTERNATIVE FUELS DATA CENTER--.^••'„•';'
the Denver area convened to discuss -.„ ,.,„•_, ,^^.;,.!^;:i^tSL.-aiia..!_i::L.;.
. • f PAGE 1?
ways to improve access to information ~~
through a variety of gateways. The
primary goals of this meeting were
similar to those for the 1992 meeting: PAGE 22 ^.«—»«—- --*- •—
to build partnerships and facilitate DOCUMENT DELIVERY w imlmcripNtc ERA
networking, and most importantly, to ,PAGE23 ^ „„„,., .,„, ..„,,,,,,.,. ,.
strengthen gateways to environmental .,-';>; .kiv ,„£,„.«..:,
and related information. Speakers PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING ^S —," ~
presented reports on the application of |NreGRArcQ.t«RARY«ysTEMs :; .,;
technology in libraries and other ONLINE liBRAlwSipEM:r~.7;> '""'• -:,"-;;,'-,:-,-:
BASIS PLUS ENHANCEMENTS
information units, on public access PAGE29
activities and gateway mechanisms, SPECIAL REGIONAL FILES ON O^S
and innovations in information PAGESO .„,„„,_,,„„,,„„,,,. „„.
dissemination.
During the first two days of the
meetings, the attendees met in joint -IREGI°!'1,9. ljl?Aiw;^f jRAtosco; CA
PAGE 32
sessions covering a wide range of THE'Pbuioiw'SBiSpliwMf^?'^"^--7-.'.""
topics, from home pages to integrated P"ASE 34 """"" "'" ™v~' -"—!~-
library systems. On the second day, IIBRARY NETWORK DIRECTORY-MAY 1995
attendees were energized by the PAGE 35 _
EPA LIBRARY NETWORK DIRECTORY OF ; •""-.
presentation made by Donald W. King, ILL CowACT^yyTAY 1995 ; ^ •
Gateways continued on page 6
Printed on Recycled Paper
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
SPECIAL LIBRARIES: INCREASING THE INFORMATION EDGE
Donald W. King, King Research
Donald King, formerly the President of
King Research, Inc., has thirty four
years experience in statistics and
information science. He was a pioneer
in developing evaluation methods,
measures, and models, and has
conducted landmark studies which
have helped the library and
information communities by describing
and interpreting information transfer
systems and environments. He has
authored or edited thirteen books and
has nearly 300 other formal
publications. In the late 1970s, he was
named as one of the ten most cited
authors in the information science
field.
The focus of Mr. King's keynote
address was the usefulness and value of
libraries, how it is measured, and how
it should be presented to the
organization's management. Trained as
a statistician, Mr. King began his work
on the value of libraries in the 1970s,
with studies conducted for the National
Science Foundation. The studies
focused on economics and pricing at
the National Technical Information
Service and National Cartographic
Service. In the early 1980s he began to
study the feasibility of measuring the
value of information services. He
conducted twenty three proprietary
studies involving 23 organizations, and
coordinated two overview projects
Keys to Success: Performance
Indicators for Public Libraries, and A
Manual on the Evaluation of
Information Centers and Services. One
of these studies involved DOE's
Energy Database, in which Mr. King
studied intermediary organizations,
including the libraries, clearinghouses
and information analysis centers. As a
result of the study, he was able to
develop a set of methods for measuring
performance.
Without libraries, professionals
spend 94 hours acquiring
information. With libraries,
professionals spend 19 hours
acquiring information, and have
75 hours available for thinking,
experimenting, etc.
RESEARCHING THE
VALUE OF LIBRARIES
In 1992 Mr. King and Jose-Marie
Griffiths were awarded a Special
Libraries Association research grant to
pursue research into "The Productivity,
Usefulness and Value of Special
INFO ACCESS
INFO ACCESS, a forum to provide information and report on progress in
information management across the Agency, is produced by the Information
Access Branch (IAB) of the Information Management and Services
Division (IMSD), Washington, D.C., under the direction of Jonda Byrd,
National Library Network Program Manager. Please send comments and
suggestions to: Mary Hoffman (contractor), Network Coordinator,
1521 East Franklin Street, B300, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Telephone:
(919) 968-3849. Electronic mail: Hoffman.Mary.
Libraries." The results of the research
are documented in Special Libraries:
Increasing the Information Edge (see
the box on
page 3). Data was compiled from 27
independent studies performed in sixty
seven libraries in sixteen companies,
twenty three libraries in seven Federal
agencies, and four national surveys of
professionals. Mr. King conducted
statistical surveys of professionals and
operational and service evaluations of
13 organizations and 54 libraries. In
the operational and service evaluations
he examined over 100 user services,
operational functions, unit costs, and
staffing.
Mr. King's approach to determining
the value of libraries was to examine
overall communication forms and
patterns, and describe the broader
environment in which they operate. He
found that professionals spend 56% of
their time communicating, and from
that libraries supporting their
communication activities.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
THE VALUE OF INFORMATION
Mr. King evaluates the usefulness,
value, and impact of information by
determining the amount of time spent
by professionals in the organization
using information. Information is an
organization's most important resource.
Therefore the measure of a library's
value is tied to how the library
contributes to the use of information. In
learning organizations, professionals
spend about 1200 hours per year
communicating, using "the library"
about 91 times per year.
Mr. King's research illustrates the
purposes of reading and its importance
compared with other resources. His
studies showed that the consequences of
reading include:
• Improved productivity, quality, and
timeliness of work;
• Considerable savings in time and
money;
• Achievers read more than others; and
• Users are willing to pay for
information.
See the box above for more statistics
about library cost, value.
MEASURING THE VALUE OF LIBRARIES
Mr. King described the elements used to
measure library value and usefulness as:
Inputs-the application of resources,
including staff, cost and time, along
In any given organization, the
time of one information
professional saves the equivalent
of five professionals' time.
LIBRARY COST, VALUE, AND WORTH
Donald King's research has yielded the following statistics on the cost of
libraries and the acquisition of information.
• Library Cost—$610 per professional
(Note: The cost is higher for smaller organizations.)
• Cost of Information—$5,190
- Ratio of "willingness to pay" value to library costs = 8.5 to 1;
The value of the information is greater than the library budget
• User Cost to Acquire Information—$1,090 per professional
- Ratio of user cost to acquire information to Library cost = 1.8 to 1
• Current Organization Cost—$1,700 per professional
• Cost of Alternatives to Library—$5,010 per professional
- Ratio of cost alternatives to current organization cost = 2.9 to 1
Note: In a study conducted for the Small Business Administration in the
1980s, King Research found that small high-tech companies without
libraries spent 2.5 times the amount of money to obtain information as those
with libraries. Librarians helped to achieve more for less. The potential
"lost" benefits (productivity, quality, timeliness)for an organization without
a library can be estimated at $12,200 per professional. Professionals spend
more time obtaining information and less time using it to benefit the
organization. The ratio of potential lost benefits to the current cost of
obtaining information is 7.2 to 1.
with the attributes of the resources, for
example the competence of the staff;
Outputs-the attributes of the
service, such as quality, timeliness, and
the statistics, such as the number of
searches conducted, interlibrary loan
transactions completed, research
questions answered.
Usage of service-the amount of use/
nonuse, the purpose of the use, and
similar aspects, including the
importance of the service to the users;
Outcomes-measured in terms of the
time saved by use of the library; the
importance of the resulting publication,
briefing or other product; and the value
derived from the information product;
and
Domain-the environment served,
including the target population, sites,
and type of work done by the
professionals.
LIBRARY USE AFFECTS THE
PERFORMANCE OF PROFESSIONALS
One measure of the impact of library
use is the critical incidence; in other
words the effects of using the library
on the person's work and the time/cost
savings that resulted. Mr. King found
that library services significantly
improve the quality of work, improve
productivity, help professionals
complete work faster, and result in
savings of time and costs.
Special Libraries continued on page 4
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
OFFERING FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC
INFORMATION THROUGH A VIRTUAL LIBRARY
by Judy Hunter, Assistant Director, Information Technology Services, National Biological Service
In the early 1980s, the phrases
"libraries without walls " and "virtual
libraries" became the buzz words for a
facility that could serve researcher's
needs around the clock. Today, few
government agencies are not
electronically connected, and users
want instantaneous access to full-text
and images and on-demand printing.
In addition, there is an increased
Special Libraries from pages 2-3
He compared the library use of
persons recognized by special awards,
so-called "fast trackers," those who
serve in teams, and others who did not
use the library. He found that the
average annual uses of the library were
much higher by those who received
special awards, those who served on
teams, and by "fast trackers," than
others who did not use the library. He
also found that professionals who were
frequent library users demonstrated
higher productivity in terms of formal
reports and publications produced,
consultation provided, proposals and
plans completed, and formal
presentations developed and delivered.
CONCLUSION
Since current trends in corporate
libraries are similar to trends in
government agency libraries, it is clear
that Federal librarians and library
managers will need to reemphasize the
purpose of the library. •
demand for worldwide research and
translations of non-English materials.
The Federal dissemination of
information involves the distribution of
various combinations of formats (text,
images, audio) and media (diskette,
CD-ROM, Servers, computers and
paper). There is a diversity of
technologies available, allowing
flexibility in how they can be applied
for information sharing purposes.
Federal agencies are beginning to
create information in electronic form
and convert paper-based information
to electronic form. The transition from
paper to electronic will not happen
overnight, though, and librarians will
have to work with a wide range of
formats for several years. Information
managers have to determine what
works best in their own environment,
and what technology is most cost-
effective.
FOR FURTHER READING
Special Libraries: Increasing the Information Edge, by Donald W. King
and Jose-Marie Griffiths, Special Libraries Association, 1993. This book
summarizes the results of 15 years research into special library operations
and services, research that reveals how library services contribute to users'
productivity, quality of work and other performance indicators. The results
show that it costs government agencies far more not to have libraries than to
have them. The book presents sound statistical evidence that will provide
library management with an arsenal of decision-making measures.
The book provides:
• insights into the value of information used by professionals and the
significant contribution libraries make to this value;
• insights into how special libraries' services enhance user productivity,
quality, and other important aspects of their work;
• hard evidence that having special libraries saves parent organizations at
least three times the total cost of library services; and
• communication patterns for all professionals and library users in
organizations.
To order Special Libraries: Increasing the Information Edge, write or call:
Special Libraries Association
1700 Eighteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-4700 ext. 643; fax: (202) 265-9317.
The NSP# is 414, and the price is $30.00 for members and $37.50 for
nonmembers, plus shipping & handling.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
BROWSERS
Ms. Hunter described several Internet
navigation tools or browsers available
to help searchers locate information.
Anonymous FTP—FTP is the
process of moving computer files from
one site to another by those with
authorized access. Anonymous FTP is
the process of making files available
for public or anonymous access, and
any user is authorized to make a copy
of those files.
Archie—software that periodically
searches FTP sites and builds a
database containing their names and
locations; users can query the archie
database to find specific files and their
locations. The searcher can use FTP to
retrieve the files.
Gopher—the most widely used
navigational tool, a browsing tool that
searches menu-driven information and
compiles a list of user-selected files. A
gopher performs keyword-based
hierarchical searches through various
levels of menus and can link a variety
of resources. The advantage is that the
gopher shields the user from network
transactions.
Veronica—a software that collects
content data from specified gopher
servers and creates a database of the
available files. The results of veronica
database searches are presented on a
gopher screen; Veronica is not a stand-
along program, but one which works
with a gopher.
Jughead—a software that collects
data from one site, and maintains a
database of menu items at the
particular site.
WWW(World Wide Web)—uses
hypertext as a browsing tool to "jump"
between kinds of data needed. Users
can view multimedia information
through various filters, including
hypertext, within documents, and use
resources such as gophers and WAIS.
Hypertext links multiple paths to the
same information.
Mosaic—a graphical interface that
helps the user access the applications
underlying the World Wide Web. It
provides the ability to view multimedia
types of information.
FINDING PEOPLE
Next Ms. Hunter discussed a variety of
tools that facilitate the process of
finding individuals and peers via the
Internet, including:
X.500—standards developed by ISO
to create directories in a format useful
to the Internet. Searches are most often
done through front end to directories
(FRED), and include the name,
organization, and country of the
individual.
Whois—users can query a specified
Whois database of names and
addresses for a particular organization.
The user must know something about
the user before a search can be
initiated.
Netfind—another tool for finding
individuals, but the user must know
where the person is located.
Finger—one of the first university
utilities, Finger displays public
information about users in an Internet
host computer.
USENET—a worldwide
assemblage of newsgroups on every
conceivable topic. Users can search a
directory of individuals who use
USENET.
ONLINE LIBRARY RESOURCES
Ms. Hunter discussed user access to
online library resources. Several tools
are available to help researchers gain
access to and use these online
resources, such as:
Hytelnet—software created to
access library catalogs. Hytelnet
provides help files about how to search
catalogs that use various library
software, and automatically makes the
Internet connections for the user.
Libtel—a gopher software that
provides access, through menus, to
libraries and public access catalog sites
around the world.
LIBS—Library Internet Browsing
Service, software similar to Libtel that
provides access to libraries and public
access catalogs worldwide.
It is inevitable that traditional
libraries will become points of
electronic access to information in
multimedia. Emphasis will be on
unique collections of information,
rather than on entire collections.
Librarians, Information Specialists and
Computer Specialists will become
knowledge workers whose primary
task is to know and use information,
and to help identify and use the
specific information needed by their
clients.
FOR FURTHER READING
Ms. Hunter highly recommended
Finding it on the Internet: the Essential
Guide, by Paul Gilster (author of The
Internet Navigator). •
IN THE JULY ISSUE ...
The July issue will focus on EPA
Library Network participation in
public access initiatives.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
Gateways from page 1
the former president of King Research,
about his research into the valuation of
special libraries. There was also a great
deal of interest in the home pages
demonstrated by several of the
libraries. On the third day of the
meeting, attendees met in agency-
specific sessions; the EPA librarians
discussed cataloging standards, the
Online Library System, and the
federal libraries, and then led a rousing
discussion about the role of the federal
libraries in the year 2000. See the
article one page 23 to read more about
Ms. Tarr's presentation.
Carol Watts, NOAA's Director of
Library and Information Services, is an
active participant in the field of global
change information. She talked about
organizations involved in global
change research and information
dissemination, including the
impacts of EPA's reinvention process
on the library network.
The Denver agenda was punctuated
by presentations by officials
representing several of the federal
library and information community.
Susan M. Tarr, the Executive Director
of the Federal Libraries and
Information Centers Committee
(FLICC), travelled to Denver to brief
the attendees on FEDLINK's vision for
the year 2000. She described
FEDLINK's activities and services for
Interagency Work Group on Data
Management for Global Change
(IWGDMGC); several of the attendees
represented agencies that participate in
the work group. The session summary
on page 15 discusses some of the work
group's activities.
The Coordinator of the National
Biological Information Infrastructure,
Anne Frondorf, described the
commitment of the National Biological
Service to make biological information
accessible. She outlined NBITs
guiding principles and plans for an
interactive, distributed plan to provide
access to biological information, as the
article on page 10 describes.
On the Third day of the meeting,
Richard A. Martin, Director of EPA's
Management Evaluation Staff,
discussed the EPA's reinvention
efforts. He also talked about the
Agency's emphasis on public access
and recommended the libraries actively
participate in Agencywide initiatives.
He also suggested that the libraries
focus on providing remote access to
resources, and especially that they
facilitate the effective use of Internet
resources.
The articles in this special expanded
issue of INFO ACCESS comprise the
proceedings of the Denver meeting;
meeting sessions are summarized in
brief reports. Limitations of space
precluded the printing of a complete
transcript of the meeting in INFO
ACCESS. If you would like additional
information about any of the sessions,
contact Mary Hoffman (contractor),
Library Network Coordinator at
hoffman.mary or by phone at (919)
968-3849. In addition to the session
summaries the issue includes a profile
of the Pollutions Prevention
Information Clearinghouse; and article
about the hazardous waste collection in
the Region 9 Library; a list of WWW
sites compiled by the AWBERC
Library; and updated directories of the
EPA library contacts and ILL
contacts. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
PUBLIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION
In this session three speakers discussed public access initiatives at the
National Agricultural Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Biological Service.
NAL's AGRICULTURAL
NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER
Alvetta Pindell, Coordinator
of Information Programs,
National Agricultural Library
The National Agricultural Library
(NAL), established in 1864 with one
librarian and a budget of $4,000, has
been innovative since its beginning. In
1889 NAL produced and used the first
catalog cards, and in 1911, were the
first to use photographed copies of
articles for interlibrary loan.
ELECTRONIC AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION
NAL has several information centers,
including the Water Quality
Information Center, the Biotechnology
Information Center, and the
Agricultural Network Information
Center (AGNIC), and one of their
constant goals since the 1970s has been
to improve customer service through
electronic access. In 1994, NAL began
to investigate and compile agricultural
information on the Internet. The
embryonic AGNIC is a distributed,
disciplined network of information that
will actively disseminate
and provide access to its
information to educate and
empower its partners
and the public.
will facilitate electronic access of this
information to users.
NAL's goals for AGNIC include the
following:
• Identify major collections of
agricultural information.
• Encourage other organizations to
use it.
• Facilitate collaboration between
individuals and institutions in the
agricultural community.
AGNIC will have a distributed
virtual help desk to provide reference
and referral assistance. It will promote
the use of electronic sources and
database activities, and it will help
users identify the elements of the
agricultural community.
NAL's ELECTRONIC INFORMATION INITIATIVE
In January 1995, NAL, the largest
agricultural library in the world,
launched an "electronic library"
initiative. From that point forward,
electronic format became the preferred
medium at the library, in an all-out
push to make NAL's services and
collections available in various
electronic formats worldwide. NAL's
ultimate goal is to become "a library
without walls, where their collection
can be accessed by computer by
anyone, anywhere, and at anytime," as
expressed by Pamela Andre, NAL's
acting director. The overall purpose of
the initiative is to research, plan, and
implement a systematic program of
managing data in electronic form, and
to establish strategies for collecting,
storing, and distributing U.S.
agricultural information in electronic
form.
Other steps NAL will take to
achieve its electronic library goal
include tying in to electronic networks
worldwide to provide "seamless access
to information," shifting and adding
resources to acquire, process, and make
available electronic data, working
closely with other world agencies and
libraries to emphasize electronic
information, and converting its own
publications from print to electronic
media.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION To Go
by Rachel Van Wingen, Office of
Information Resources Management
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA was established in 1970 in
response to growing concerns about
unhealthy air, polluted rivers, unsafe
drinking water, endangered species,
and waste disposal. Congress gave
EPA responsibility for implementing an
ambitious set of Federal environmental
laws. Over the past two decades, the
implementation of Federal laws has
contributed to improvements in
environmental quality in this country.
The availability of timely and useful
information is integral to EPA's work
and its relationship to its partners in
business, in the states, and the tribal
nations. The agency is committed to
provide the information and
environmental data necessary to
Public Access continued on page 8
D
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
Pulic Access from page 7
inform the public and the regulated
community of their responsibilities,
and increase everyone's accountability
for the protection and enhancement of
the environment.
EPA's prime objective for the 1990s
is to serve the public, and the power of
information will be critical to their
initiatives. One for public access came
from President Clinton, in Reinventing
Environmental Regulations (March 16,
1995). EPA will participate in a grass
roots partnership to empower local
decision makers. Under the second
mandate EPA is setting customer
service standards to ensure that the
agency provides customer service
"equal to the best in business." The
third mandate for public access is the
"Freedom of Information Act
Memorandum" on October 4, 1993, in
which Federal agencies were directed
to make a commitment to openness,
and to be responsible for distributing
information on their own initiative,
including information in electronic
form.
INTERNAL FORCES FOR CHANGE
EPA's goal is to provide public access
to EPA information in a way that
makes sense, for a place that has
significance, packaged with other
relevant information, in response to a
request placed through a single source.
These forces are moving the agency
towards goals:
• Administrator Carol Browner's
Common Sense Initiative advocates
a clean, cheaper, and smarter
approach to environmental
protection that will make it easier to
integrate data and disseminate
information.
• The agency's Community-Based
(place-based) Environmental
Protection Initiative facilitates the
flow of information to empower
individuals in communities.
• A plan offered by the IRM
Executive Steering Committee
elevates information to the level of a
strategic asset; the plan was
approved by a committee of non-
IRM senior managers.
• The "One Stop" Public Access and
Reporting Initiative affects public
access and information collection,
enabling the regulated community to
report to one place within EPA for
everything.
PUBLIC ACCESS AND DATA INTEGRATION
EPA is committed to meet the demands
of public access by focusing on the
customer. According to its strategic
plan, EPA will develop a policy and
strategy for public access, develop a
targeted set of methods for public
access, provide locator capability for
EPA information through GILS, and
develop key identifier data standards.
Envirofacts, available through EPA's
WWW home page, will provide access
to subsets of EPA databases including
AIRS, STORET, RCRIS, CERCLIS,
and TRI. The environmental subset of
the Federal Register is available on the
EPA gopher. Gateways, a GIS
interface, will be available by the end
of calendar year 1995.
NATIONAL BIOLOGICAL
INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Anne Frondorf, Coordinator, National
Biological Information Infrastructure
The National Biological Service(NBS)
was established by Secretary of the
Interior Bruce Babbitt to be the neutral
biological arm of the Department of
the Interior. The NBS is committed to
working with others to provide the
scientific understanding and
technologies needed to manage the
Nation's biological resources. A
fundamental part of this commitment is
to make biological data and
information accessible to a wide
audience for use in making resource
management decision.
Decades of extensive research,
inventory, and mapping efforts of
government agencies, universities,
libraries, museums, and other
organizations have resulted in a vast
storehouse of information about our
natural resources. Much of this
information has not been readily
accessible to potential users. The
mission of the National Biological
Information Infrastructure (NBU) is to
make biological information accessible
to the people who need it, including
scientists, researchers, and others,
before a crisis occurs.
The NBII will provide access to
biological data and information that is
maintained by Federal, State, and local
governments, and nongovernmental
organizations. NBU will:
• Promote the development of a
distributed federation of
biological databases;
• Develop or adapt the tools,
standards, or procedures that allow
people to easily find and retrieve
biological data; and
• Catalog and describe existing
biological data.
DEVELOPING NBII
The NEE is still in development,
although NBS has already identified
significant resources and put them on
Public Access continued on page 10
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
AGENCY HOME PAGES
In this session, librarians from four Federal agencies discussed the process of developing
home pages to facilitate access to information in the agency and the library.
EXPLORING USGS HOME PAGES
Cheryl Sund, Central Region Library,
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado
The Central Region Library in Denver contains more than
230,000 book titles from USGS, State and international
geological agencies, other Federal agencies such as the
Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, and
Bureau of Mines, and scientific societies and institutions.
The collection also includes more than 78,000 topographic,
geologic, geophysical, and hydrologic maps. The Library
maintains several special collections, including a
photographic library, field records library, Geoscience
Educational Outreach Center, and Career Management and
Resource Center.
Ms. Sund began investigating the home pages at the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) with the expectation of finding a
few examples for her presentation at the Denver meeting.
She actually found more than 30 home pages that had been
posted independently by various USGS offices including the
following:
USGS - main site (http://www.usgs.gov)—formerly
info.er.usgs.gov
Office of Mineral Resources (http://minerals.er.usgs.
gov)—access to the Mineral Information Center, Mineral
Resources Database, and lists of minerals specialists
Branch of Geochemistry (http://helios.cr.usgs.gov)—
contains a massive poster session
Global Change Research Program (http://geochange.
er.usgs.gov)
National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC)
(http://gldfs.cr.usgs.gov)—contains newsletter from NEIC,
state seismicity maps, and near real-time quake information
for the previous 3 days
Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (http://
aslwww.cr.usgs.gov)—links to a worldwide earthquake
network
Cascades Volcano Observatory (http://vulcan.wr.
usgs.gov)—links to other volcano sources
Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology (http:/ /bramble.
er.usgs. gov)—includes maps of the sea floor and information
about the "Ask a Geologist" program
Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology (http://crusty.er.
usgs.gov)—includes fly-by movies
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (http://
guissett.er.usgs. gov)—contains information from the sea
floor mapping project north of Cape Cod
Flagstaff Field Center (http://flgsvr.wr.usgs.gov)—
includes moon images from the Clementine spacecraft, and a
browsable solar system
Water Resources Division (http://webserver.cr.usgs.
gov)—Colorado District Office; includes links to other offices
and program descriptions, information on public supply water
use, state fact sheets, the National Water Conditions Report,
and connections to Water Resources Abstracts
Water Resources Division (http://csdokokl.cr.usgs.
gov)—Oklahoma District Office
Office of the Regional Hydrologist, Western Region
(http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov)
Water Resources Division Operations (http://
operqvarsa.er. usgs.gov)—includes a thesaurus of water
terms
GIS Users in Water Resources Division (http://
waisqvarsa. er.usgs.gov)—includes training and network
news; with links to CARL, LC, and other online services and
list servers
Federal Geographic Data Committee (http://fgdc.
er.usgs. gov)—links to geospatial data at FEMA, NASA,
USDA, and other agencies
National Mapping Information (http://www-nmd.
usgs.gov)—contains links to the Rocky Mountain and Mid
Continent Mapping Centers, Mapping Applications Center,
and Eros Data Center
Eros Data Center (http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov)—
contains information on the Global Land Information System
Eros Data Center (http://edcwww2.cr.usgs.gov)—
contains a file of images from the 1993 Mississippi River
floods
Agency Home Pages continued on pages 10-11
a
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JUNE 1995
Agency Home Pages from page 9
A SCIENCE LIBRARIAN'S TOOL Box:
How TO BUILD A HOME PAGE
Linda Jacobs, Midwest Science Center,
National Biological Service
Founded in 1966, the Midwest Science Center pioneered
work on the effects of pesticides and other chemicals on
fisheries and aquatic ecosystems. The research focus has
now expanded to global warming, environmental
monitoring, wetlands restoration, and large river
ecosystems. The library collections encompass the areas of
fishery biology, ecology, microbiology, environmental
toxicology, fish behavior, invertebrate zoology, statistics,
biochemistry, and environmental and analytical chemistry.
Researchers at the Midwest Science Center have published
over 800 scientific papers, which are part of the library's
collection.
The National Biological Service first put its home page up
on Folio (hypertext)—www.nbs.gov. Ms. Jacobs used HTML
(hypertext markup language, a subset of SQML) to develop a
sample home page. She shared the following
recommendations for librarians developing home pages:
• Limit the length of pages to the size of the screen.
• Limit the size of graphics to "thumbnail" size, and include
text so that users with limited graphic capability can still
use the home page.
• Indicate the size of files available for downloading.
• Provide a place or mechanism to back out of the home
page.
• Make your own data available - what is unique to your
facility.
• Determine who your users are and tailor the content of the
page accordingly.
Public Access from page 8
the Internet and librarians keep the
science centers and facilitating access
to information through the Internet.
NBII's guiding principles are to:
• Enable users.
• Provide user-friendly/high touch
access.
• Ensure quality data.
• Use existing solutions when
possible.
• Promote data stewardship.
• Provide no warehousing.
• Develop metadata, with "truth in
labeling" concepts.
• Build upon existing and ongoing
technological programs.
The first phase of the NBII is a
directory that points to biological
databases, electronic home pages, and
information sources from within NBS
and other agencies and organizations.
Phase two is a clearinghouse for
information including metadata,
databases, and database access points.
Metadata standards are being
developed collaboratively by NBS and
its partners. The final phase of the
NBII is the implementation of an
interactive distributed system. When
NBII is fully implemented, users will
be able to directly retrieve and
integrate biological data from several
different sources simultaneously.
Additional software tools will enable
users to display and manipulate this
integrated information on their own
computer or collaborate interactively
with others at remote sites (i.e. a virtual
laboratory).
Initial access to the NBII will be
provided free of charge. However,
certain proprietary data and
information sources not owned by the
government may charge a fee for using
their services and products. NBS is
committed to collecting, disseminating,
and providing access to biological
information to educate its partners and
the public.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information on NBII and
NBS please contact:
Information and Technology Services
National Biological Service
MS 3660
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 482-3980
Fax: (202) 273-0825
Email: frondorfa@mail.nbs.gov
NBS Home Page: http://www.nbs.gov I
BT
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JUNE 1995
SOURCES FOR HOME PAGE CREATION
Ms. Jacobs provided the following information on reference
sources for individuals interested in creating a home page.
• Entering the World Wide Web
(http://www.eat.com/web/www.guide/)
• World Wide Web Initiative
(http://info.cera.c/hypertext/www/ theproject.html)
• Eric Morgan's The World Wide Web and Mosaic
(gopher://info.lib. uh.edu:70/00/articles/e-journals/)
uhlibrary/pacsreview/v5/n6/morgan.5n6
• A Beginner's Guide to HTML
(http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/html-primer.html)
• HTML tutorial from Clarkson University
(http://fire.clarkson.edu/doc/html/htut.html)
• Indiana's primer to Web Writing
(http://www-slis.Iib.indiana.edu/internet/programmer-
page.html)
• NCSA guide to documents for writing HTML
(http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edc:80/hypemews/get/www/html/
guides.html)
• Bad style page
http://www.earth.com/bad-style/)
• Interest groups lists
(http://info.cera.c/hypertext/www/administration/mailing/
overview.html)
NOAA's SEATTLE LIBRARY HOME PAGE
Maureen Woods, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
The NOAA Regional Library in Seattle has a collection that
features resources in meteorology, oceanography,
geophysics, mathematics and statistics. The library also has
CD-ROMs that contain information on climate data, aquatic
sciences and fisheries, and government publications
available from the U.S. Government Printing Office and
National Technical Information Service. The WWW address
for NOAA's Seattle Library is: http://www.wrclib.noaa.gov/
nesdis/ library/libhome.html.
The library's system is completely electronic, and Ms.
Woods informed us that the NOAA staff in Seattle will have
desktop access to the home page and library resources by
Fall 1995.
The Table of Contents for the Seattle Library's home page
includes the following:
• NOAA Library Seattle Resources (current events, services,
policies, etc.)
• Current Tables of Contents
• Desktop Resources (search citation indexes, access to
environmental information, library catalog, etc.)
• Document Delivery (forms for ILL, photocopies, etc.;
includes a copyright statement)
• Ask A Librarian
• Send Mail to the Library Staff
EPA HOME PAGE FUTURES:
ORGANIZING INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET
by Rachel VanWingen
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA is committed to meet the demands of public access by
focusing on the customer, and has established a public access
server with connectivity available via the Internet.
Welcome to the EPA Gopher Server, http://www.epa.gov
EPA is actively working to improve the information and access
to information on its gopher server. Several improvements
were scheduled to be completed in April 1995, including:
• A simplified home page with minimal graphics that will fit
on one screen.
• Consolidated search tools.
• Common indexing scheme.
• Browsing pages.
• EPA's organization scheme.
• Enforced expiration dates for information available through
the gopher; producers/providers of the information will be
asked to "refresh" the data, or it will be removed.
EPA is revamping its first level menu, emphasizing
simplicity and access, and developing a series of second and
third level menus to lead users to the information they require.
The reorganization of the menus should improve the public's
access to agency publications. In addition, EPA's primary
publication distribution point, the National Center for
Environmental Information and Publications (NCEPI) will
make the full text of its top twenty publications available on the
gopher.
Agency Home Pages continued on page 12
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
A SCIENCE LIBRARIAN'S TOOL Box
This is just a beginner's attempt to write html in
preparation for the Federal Librarians' meeting in
Denver, April 2, 1995
SUBJECT SOURCES
• Northern Illinois University CHEMICAL GOPHER
• Biodiversity
AGENCY INFORMATION SOURCES
• National Science Foundation Science and
Technology Information System
ASSORTED LIBRARY TOPICS
• Dan Lester's home page—WWW indexes, how to
write html, build servers, and lot's of library related
stuff
• Silver Platter World Wide Web Index
• Current Cites
• GILS—Government Information Locator Service
Contributions by Linda Jacobs, B.S. in Ecology and
Systematics, Cornell University, M.L.I.S., Library and
Information Science, University of Missouri. Acting
Head, Information Center, Midwest Science Center,
Columbia, MO.
Agency Home Pages from pages 10-11
In addition to enhancing its home page, EPA has
established a gatekeeper, in the Headquarters Library,
who will review metadata quality and coordinate the
addition of information to the Agnercy's gopher server.
EPA is making sure that its metadata is developed in a
GILS-compatible format, so that links between systems
can be readily achieved.
AS AN ASIDE...
The GILS (Government Information Locator System)
Prototype is up and running. For an introduction to the
prototype, check this web site: http://info.er.usgs.gov/
GELS/index.html. •
ENVIRONMENTAL AND OTHER
RELEVANT WORLD WIDE WEB SITES
Compiled from listserv announcements
Nov. 94-March 95
The AWBERC Library compiled the following list of
WWW sites for the use of the EPA network libraries.
U.S. GOVERNMENT
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
http://atsdrl.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/atsdrhome.html
Census Bureau's Internet site
http://www.census.gov
Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO
http://www.gsa.gov
Federally-Funded Research Databases
http://medoc.gdb.org/best/fed-fund.html
FINANCENET - National Performance Review (incling
Federal Acquistion Regulations) http://www.financenet.gov/
The National Center for Health Statistics
http://www.cdc.gov.
National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/nps/
National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/
U.S. Code on the Net
http://www.pls.com:8001/his/usc.html
US Code of Federal Regulations on the Net
http://www.pls.com:8001/his/cfr.html
U.S. DOE Human Radiation Records
http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/home.html
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Internet
http://www.fws.gov/
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JUNE 1995
U.S. House of Representative World Wide Web
http://www.house.gov
104th Congress - THOMAS
http://thomas.loc.gov
STATE GOVERNMENT
The Water Management Research Laboratory in Fresno, CA
http://asset.arsusda.gov/wmrl.html
INTERNATIONAL
Environment Canada's GREEN LANE
http://atlenv.bed.ns.doe.ca/how.html
UN Environmental Programme Directory
http://www.gsf.de/UNEP/index.html
ORGANIZATIONS
American Medical Informatics Association
http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/units/medcntr/Lee/
HOMEPAGE.HTML
Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
http://www.iiasa.ac.at/welcome.html
Berlin Climate Summit
http://www.greenpeace.org/
Greenpeace on the Internet
http://www.greenpeace.org/
North American Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC)
http://sol.uvic.ca/NAMI
ULS Report (Use Less Stuff)
http://www.cygnus-group.com:9011
ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS
Dictionary of Cell Biology
http://130.209-9.190/
Electronic Green Journal
http://gopher.uidaho.edu/l/UI_gopher/library/egj/
Martindale's Health Science Guide - 1995
http:/www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/HSGuide.html
National Environmental Scorecard
http://www.econet.apc.org/lcv/scorecard.html
Pollution Prevention (P2) Database
gopher://gopher.pnl.gov:2070/l/.pprc
UNIVERSITY-RELATED
Agricultural Biotechnology Information
http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/AgrEnv/Biotech
Brown University Department of Environmental Studies
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Environmental_Studies
Cornell University's Mann Library
http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu
National Institutes for Water Resources(NIWR)
http ://wrri .eng.clemson.edu/
Texas A&M University Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Network (BENE)
http://straylight.tamu.edu/bene/bene.html •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
INFOTERRA: INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY
Emma McNamara Office of Information Resources Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
INFOTERRA is the international
environmental research and referral
network of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). It is
composed of over 170 National Focal
Points (NFP) in as many member
countries. This system was established
in accordance with the decisions of the
1972 United Nations Conference on
the Human Environment in Stockholm,
Sweden. Its goal is to serve as a link
between those who are seeking
environmental information, and those
who have the knowledge and expertise.
The National Focal Points represent
their countries in the INFOTERRA
system and carry out work at the
national level. In addition to them, the
INFOTERRA network includes
Regional Service Centres and Special
Sectoral Sources. The NFPs and these
other centers work with the
Programme Activity Centre (PAC) in
Nairobi, Kenya, at UNEP
Headquarters. INFOTERRA PAC
maintains two listservs, one for the
National Focal Points and one for the
public. Requests received at the PAC
are forwarded to the appropriate NFPs
for further action. The Acting Director
of INFOTERRA is Linda Spencer,
former manager of the U.S. National
Focal Point.
In 1975, the Environmental
Protection Agency was selected to
serve as the United States
representative in this international
environmental program, thus becoming
the U.S. National Focal Point. A
founding member of the INFOTERRA
network, the United States has
remained one of the most active
partners over the past decade. The U.S.
NFP is managed by EPA's Information
Management and Services Division.
INFOTERRA's REFERENCE
AND REFERRAL SERVICES
The U.S. National Focal Point for
INFOTERRA responds to requests on
environmental topics from a global
client group. The client population is
quite varied: governments, universities,
non-governmental organizations,
schools, industries, and concerned
citizens inside and outside the United
States. The NFP handles about 400-
500 requests per month, conducting
research on international environmental
topics, identifying and locating
international and U.S. government
documents, compiling customized
bibliographies, providing requesters
with copies of EPA documents in hard
copy or microfiche, referring patrons to
experts around the world, briefs
international visitors, and conducting
database searches on over 400
databases. In the past year, the NFP has
identified and provided EPA
documents to be displayed at
international book exhibits in several
Latin American countries, including
Mexico and Chile. INFOTERRA
works closely with NCEPI to obtain
free documents for international
requests.
The NFP also responds to requests
by U.S. residents for international
environmental information. It supports
the information needs of EPA staff
involved in international work by
providing access to a broad range of
electronic commercial databases and
maintaining a collection of books,
reports, country files, journals, and
other information sources on
international environmental topics. In
addition, it serves as a clearinghouse
for international requests received by
EPA Headquarters, Regional, and
Laboratory staffs. The INFOTERRA
staff also provide EPA staff in the
Office of International Activities in a
broad range of research assistance, and
act as a clearinghouse for international
requests received by EPA staff
agencywide.
DIRECTORY OF
ENVIRONMENTAL SOURCES
In addition to research and reference
work, each of the member-countries
registers national sources of
environmental expertise for inclusion
in the INFOTERRA International
Directory of Sources. INFOTERRA
maintains an online Thesaurus of
Environmental Terms, which was
developed in conjunction with the
International Directory. The U.S. NFP
produces the U.S. component of the
directory, the INFOTERRA/USA
Directory of Environmental Sources,
which contains over 400 individual and
institutional contacts. This directory is
included in the biannually updated
International Directory. Paper copies
of both directories are located in the
INFOTERRA collection at the EPA
Headquarters Library in Washington,
DC. The INFOTERRA/USA Directory
is distributed through the National
Technical Information Service.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
GLOBAL CHANGE INFORMATION
Carol Watts, Director of Library and Information Services, NOAA Central Library
Formed in 1970, NOAA's roots date
back to 1807 when President Thomas
Jefferson ordered a survey of our new
nation's coastline. NOAA's
responsibility's have grown
increasingly wider since the early 19th
century, and it has become one of the
leading scientific agencies in the U.S.
government. NOAA scientists are
committed to understanding and
protecting our complex global
environment including the air we
breathe, the water we drink, and the
food we eat. They predict the weather,
protect marine mammals, chart the
seas, create digital images of the
world, watch for severe storms, save
endangered species, preserve
America's fisheries, sustain the
Nation's coasts, and examine the
atmosphere.
CONSORTIUM
FOR INTERNATIONAL EARTH
SCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK
The Consortium for International Earth
Science Information Network
(CIESIN) was established in 1989 as a
private, non-profit organization
dedicated to furthering the
interdisciplinary study of global
environmental change. It is agency-
neutral, specializing in the access and
integration of physical, natural, and
socioeconomic information across
agency missions and scientific
disciplines. Its mission is to provide
access to and enhance the use of
information worldwide, advancing the
understanding of human interactions in
the environment and serving the needs
Global Change continued on page 16
INFOTERRA continued
CARIBBEAN
REGIONAL SERVICE CENTRE
INFOTERRA/USA serves as the
Regional Service Centre (RSC) for the
English and French-speaking
Caribbean. The purpose of the RSC is
to provide direct assistance to the staffs
of eight Caribbean NFPs in accessing
information through database
searching, training, and technical
assistance. The RSC is also responsible
for producing a quarterly newsletter,
Caribbean Currents, to strengthen and
encourage information exchanges
throughout the region.
OTHER INFOTERRA PROJECTS
In 1990 the U.S. National Focal Point
initiated a companionship program
with Botswana and the developing
countries in the southern African
region members of the INFOTERRA
network. Through the establishment of
a Technical Cooperation Trust fund
administered by the United Nations
Environment Programme, it has been
able to support training meetings for
the participants, purchase basic
information processing equipment, and
help them improve their capabilities to
collect, organize, and disseminate
environmental information. The
companionship has been very
successful. There has been a tremendous
improvement in the work done by
countries involved as reflected by the
number of expert sources registered and
the number of requests handled by each
NFP.
INFOTERRA/USA supports the
Environmental Pollution Prevention
Project (EPS). In this project, EPA and
the U.S. Agency for International
Development are working together to
help set up pollution prevention
clearinghouse, for information
dissemination, especially for developing
countries. INFOTERRA also
participates in an EPA-USAID-Chile
tripartite agreement; one INFOTERRA
staff member is fully dedicated to
assisting in the development of an
information center at Chile's
environmental protection agency.
INFOTERRA is also working with
the recently established Central
European Environmental Data
Regional (CEDAR) Facility. The
CEDAR gopher and home page,
sponsored by Austria, which contain
pointers to UN and environmental
gopher/www servers, can be located at
www.cedar.univie.ac.at and http://
pan.cedar.univie. ac.at.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact the INFOTERRA staff at:
INFOTERRA/USA,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW, 3404
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 260-5927
Fax: (202) 260—3923
Email: library infoterra@epamail.epa.gov
-or-
Emma McNamara, Manager
Phone: (202) 260-1522
Fax: (202) 260-3923
Email: mcnamara.emma@epamail.
epa.gov •
D
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Global Change from page 15
of science and public and private
decision making. CEESIN efforts are
directed toward making the data
collected by U.S. government agencies,
the scientific community, non-
government organizations, and
international governmental
organizations available for widespread
use in scientific research, public policy
making, and education
GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH ACT
In 1990, the Global Change Research
Act was enacted, and the Global
Change Research Program (USGCRP)
was established "to provide for the
development and coordination of a
comprehensive and integrated United
States research program which will
assist the Nation and the world to
understand, assess, predict, and
respond to human-induced and natural
processes of global change."
CffiSIN worked with the USGCRP
to create the U.S. Global Change
Research Information Office, and
provides ongoing services through
them.
CIESIN's electronic data and
information system facilitates the use
of several Internet-based information
technologies by integrating numerous
services and capabilities into one
transparent system. Using CIESIN's
electronic networking capabilities,
scientists, policy analysts, educators,
and others are able to readily obtain
needed environmental data and
information in understandable, useful
formats.
For more information about the
CIESIN, call (517) 797-2700; or send a
fax to (517) 797-2622; send an email
to ciesin.info@ ciesin.org; or write to
CIESIN, 2250 Pierce Road, University
Center, MI 48710. To access CIESIN's
data and information system through
the Internet, telnet to catalog.ciesin.org.
Instructions for using the system are
provided online. If you need additional
assistance or information, contact
CIESIN User Services at (517) 797-
2727.
GLOBAL CHANGE
RESEARCH INFORMATION OFFICE
In 1993, in support of USGDRP and
through CIESIN, the Global Change
Research Information Office (GCRIO)
was established to provide information
to individuals and organizations both
within and outside the United States.
The GCRIO serves as an information
resource service for scientific and
technical reports and data useful in
preventing, mitigating, and adapting to
the effects of global change. The
service provides access to scientific
and technical documents, results of
scientific research, information about
applicable technologies, and
information about accessing data and
information services.
The GCRIO responds to requests for
information about a wide range of
global change topics, including:
• Research into more efficient energy
consumption, recycling and source
reduction, and remote sensing.
• Conservation of forest resources.
• Solar energy and renewable energy
resources.
• Ecological pest management and the
proper use of agricultural and
industrial chemicals.
• Human interactions with the
environment.
For more information about the
GCRIO, call (517) 797-2730; or send a
fax to (517) 797—2622; send an email
to help@gcrio.org; or write to GCRIO
User Services, 2250 Pierce Road,
University Center, MI 48710.
Computer access via the Internet is
available at gopher.gcrio.org.
INTERAGENCY WORK GROUP
ON DATA MANAGEMENT
FOR GLOBAL CHANGE
Since 1990, several groups have been
working to improve the management of
global change information, including
the Interagency Work Group on Data
Management for Global Change
(IWGDMGC). IWGDMGC is a work
group composed of representatives
from NOAA, EPA, NASA, USDA,
NSF, DOE, and other agencies. The
Global Change Data Information
System (GCDIS) was established by
IWGDMGC to help the public find
information on global change. A
GCDIS gopher, hosted by NOAA, is at
gopher.gcdis.usgrp.gov, and a home
page, hosted by the Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Center, is at
http://www.gcdis.usgrp.gov.
IWGDMGC's LASR (Library
Access, Search, and Retrieval) Project
is ongoing at the University of
Virginia, tasked with evaluating the
GCDIS gopher by various user
populations in the state of Virginia.
The project's Internet address is http://
juliet.cs. virginia.edu/lasr/.
IWGDMGC is also overseeing the
GC-ASK (Assisted Search for
Knowledge) Pilot Project, which is
testing a sample database of metadata.
The telnet address for the GC-ASK
database is esdim2.esdim.noaa.gov; the
user id is conquestl; and the login id is
conquest.
FOR FURTHER READING
Ms. Watts recommends that anyone
interested in global change information
look for upcoming articles in Library
Hi-Tech (authored by Roberta Rand,
NAL), the ASIS Bulletin, and other
library and information journals. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
MEETING THE INFORMATION ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGE:
PUTTING PRO-CITE TO WORK AT THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Amalin Ferguson, Regional Librarian, Southwest Region and
Richard Aroksaar, Automation Librarian, Pacific Northwest Region
The National Park Service (NFS) is
composed of approximately 400 field
areas, central offices, and services
areas, and uses 20,000 employees in a
diversity of disciplines and functions to
manage, preserve, and interpret
wildlife, plant life, geological
formations, and cultural and
recreational resources,
Ms. Ferguson and Mr. Aroksaar,
two of NFS's professional librarians,
described "the information landscape"
within the National Park Service,
which features over 300 libraries in
parks, service centers, and central
offices from coast to coast. These
libraries manage innumerable unique
non-book collections of materials
including slides, photographs,
recordings, manuscripts, logs,
databases, etc. Before the
implementation of Pro-Cite, many
other database management systems
were used, and most of them did not
support MARC record format.
NFS INFORMATION SYSTEMS
NPS libraries have historically used a
wide range of systems to manage their
diverse collections, from manual card
files to database management systems,
including
• NPS Library System—developed
Harpers Ferry Service Center,
supports MARC format;
• ANCS— the NPS Museum Program
database; does not support MARC
format;
• ALICAT (automated library
catalog)—used in NPS' Pacific
Northwest and Southwest regional
library programs to provide a
centralized cataloging service with
dBASE supports MARC format;
• NPS Central Filing System—uses
an inhouse classification system;
• Cultural Resources Bibliography -
built with dBASE, does not support
MARC format
SELECTING PRO-CITE
NPS selected Pro-Cite primarily
because it was already being used by
some parks and in system-wide
programs, as well as in other federal
agencies. Other advantages include:
• Affordability.
• Good support and technical
documentation.
• Ease of use.
• MARC-Compatible record format.
• Ability to export records.
• Ability to import records from
sources such as DIALOG, OCLC,
and Bibliofile.
• Authority list features.
• Data distribution (read only)
module.
• Ability to accommodate multiple
media formats.
• 20 Predefined workforms.
• Ability to customize record formats
and fields and output format.
• Variable length fields.
• Support of indexed field AND free
text searching.
• 12 predefined citation formats.
» A network version.
• Windows version with enhanced
search and authority list features.
NPS librarians re-engineered it as a
cataloging tool, and developed a
MARC module to help the libraries put
their data into ProCite. The NPS
librarians have found that having a
standard such as ProCite significantly
improves the productivity of the
libraries' staff. They maintain a full
MARC catalog at NPS Headquarters to
correspond to the separate park
catalogs.
NPS UPDATE
In 1994, 200 single-user copies of
ProCite were purchased and delivered
to NPS libraries, and all copies were
upgraded to Windows. In addition,
several regional office and park
libraries have been provided with
network copies of Pro-Cite. In FY 95,
200 single-user copies were distributed
to parks 100 keep collection initiative,
and all will be upgraded to Windows.
The Southwest and Pacific
Northwest regional library programs
are currently using Pro-Cite only for
nonbook collections in their regions;
and they continue to use ALICAT to
catalog books and reports collections.
A program is being developed to allow
the merging of ALICAT records with
Pro-Cite records for parks in the
Pacific and Northwest regions.
The NPS librarians held a meeting
during the week of April 3rd to discuss
the consolidation, maintenance, and
distribution of NPS bibliographic
records (MARC and Pro-Cite). They
plan to continue the implementation of
Pro-Cite, and to eventually make their
collections accessible through Internet.
FOR FURTHER READING
Ms. Ferguson recommended
Pro-Cite in Libraries: Applications in
Bibliographic Database Management,
edited by Deb Renee Biggs,
Information Today, Inc., 1995, (ISBN
0-938734-90-3) for anyone interested
in learning more about Pro-Cite. •
D
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
ALTERNATIVE FUELS DATA CENTER
Dawn Tio, Database Administrator, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) is the nation's
premier research facility for the study
and development of clean, safe, and
renewable energy resources. NREL
research focuses on energy efficiency
and renewable energy technology
development in the four major energy
use sectors - buildings, industry,
transportation, and utilities - in support
of the Assistant Secretary for
Conservation and Renewable Energy
of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Communication and technology
transfer services which communicate
with NREL's varied audiences, publish
timely information on renewable
energy technologies in support of
DOE's technical information and
international programs, and coordinate
the laboratory's technology transfer
activities in close cooperation with
DOE's Office of Technical and
Financial Assistance.
Ms. Tio's presentation focused on
the information dissemination activities
and supporting systems at NREL's
Alternative Fuels Data Center. The
Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC),
which is sponsored by the DOE and
managed by NREL, collects emissions,
operational, and maintenance data on
all types of alternative fuel vehicles
across the country. AFDC personnel
collect reports and citations related to
alternative fuels on topics including
fuel consumption, fleets operating on
alternative fuels, lubricant
effectiveness, the development and use
of alternative-fueled vehicles, and
industry reports.
AFDC's HOTLINE RESPONSE SYSTEM
AFDC provides information to the
public in the form of data analyses,
DOE Reports, information summaries,
state government reports, and journal
citations. AFDC's five hotline
operators use a text-based BASIS Plus
database in a client-server
environment. The system allows
searching by keywords, and enables
the operator to preview or read
information to the caller. The hotline
response system is a two-table
relational database, with citation and
document information, as well as caller
information. The citation and
document section of the system
contains information coded with
standard keywords; special key words
are used to trigger the mailing of
packets of information on selected
topics of interest. Complete text of all
documents is now available and printed
on demand. Documents with copyright
restrictions are not available in full
text; callers are provided with citations
for these documents.
Hotline operators retrieve
information from the hotline response
system and either provide a verbal
response or queue material for printing
and mailing or faxing. Responses often
take the form of a referral to a
Alternative fluels Qata Center,
1 (800) 423-1 &O6
knowledgeable contact or expert at
NREL. The database enables hotline
operators to respond uniformly and
completely, and also because of the
way information is captured, supports
analysis of the types of callers, and of
the material requested. A semi-
automated shipping system steamlines
the process of "stuffing" envelopes for
mailing, enabling hotline operators to
spend more time on the phone
responding to callers. Caller
information is recorded automatically
by the operator and input into the caller
section of the system. This information
is stored and can be used to fill future
requests and send out direct mailings of
new information.
The AFDC is developing a Mosaic
interface for Internet access. Currently
requesters can only view the
documents, but within the next six
months, they will be able to request
that copies be mailed or faxed to them.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
You can call the Alternative Fuels Data
Center at (800) 423-1 DOE, or write to
AFDC, National Renewable Fuels
Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard,
Golden, CO 80401-3393. •
•~
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
David Hastings, National Geophysical Data Center, Denver, Colorado
The National Environmental Satellite,
Data, and Information Service
(NESDIS) is the arm ofNOAA
responsible for acquiring, processing,
archiving, recalling, and disseminating
worldwide environmental data and
environmental scientific information
concerning the atmosphere, oceans,
solid earth, and near space. It is the
world's largest environmental data
storage and distribution facility.
NESDIS provides information on
products for use by government
agencies, the national and
international scientific and engineering
community, industry, commerce,
agriculture, and the public. The
National Geophysical Data Center is
one of the sites managed by NESDIS.
Mr. Hastings began his presentation
by presenting various definitions of
geographic information systems (GIS).
He prefers the most "aggressive"
definition of GIS:
A system of hardware, software, and
data that facilitates the development,
enhancement, storage, manipulation,
and display of multivariate data.
USING GIS
Mr. Hastings explained that GISs can
be used for a broad range of functions
and topics, such as:
• Urban planning;
• Environmental assessment and land
management;
• Litigation preparation, in public or
private agencies;
• Data quality/control;
• Production of publications; and
• Disseminating information.
The National Geophysical Data
Center (NGDC) uses GIS to look at the
quality and character of data. They are
building global environmental
databases with the assistance of
pioneers around the world who collect
datasets. NOAA's first agency wide
GIS meeting was held in 1994, and Mr.
Hastings is involved in developing a
GIS Users Group at the agency.
GIS continued on page 20
SELECTED WWW RESOURCES ON GIS
Exploring the Internet, starting from the leads noted below, should give you an idea of online information about GIS.
When David Hastings started developing this material, he hoped to find more materials. If you know of other active
locations for GIS materials, please share that information with him via email: dah@ngdc.noaa.gov.
• NOAA Geographic Information Systems Interest Group (GISig)—http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov
• An introductory tutorial on GIS, hosted at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland. There is a general introduction to
GIS plus an introduction to ARC/INFO, and a list of other sites that treat GIS uniquely. This introduction has more
detailed text than the USGS one.—http://boris.qub.ac.uk/stephen/Gis/gis.html
• An introductory tutorial on GIS, hosted at the U.S. Geological Survey. This introduction complements the one
hosted by Queens University.—http//info.er.usgs.gov/gis/workl.html
• A Dictionary of GIS Terms, hosted at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.—hhtp://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/root/
agidict/html/ welcome.html
• A summary of frequently asked questions on GIS, taken from the Internet's comp.infosystems.gis.bulletin board,
hosted at the U.S. Bureau of the Census.—http://www.census.gov/geo/gis/faq-index.html
• Selected bibliographies on GIS, hosted at several locations: Ohio State University—file://bastet.sbs.ohio-state.edu/
biblio/biblio_description; University of Stuttgart—http://hpux.bauingenieure.uni-stuttgart.de/~reinhold/data.txt
(specializes in data quality and quality management in GIS); National Center for Geographic Information and
Analysis, University of California, Santa Barbara—file://ncgia.ucsb.edu; University of Maine, Orono—file://
grouse.umesve.maine.edu/ pub/NCGIA/Biblio
• Calendar of Meetings in GIS, with abstract submission deadlines, from the University of Stuttgart—http://
www.ifp.uni-stuttgart.de/veranst/Overview.html
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
SELECTED DATA/INFORMATION FOR USERS OF GIS
Following is a list of WWW/gopher sites that lead to information on
geographic information systems within NOAA's area of responsibility.
• NESDIS National Climatic Data Center - national and global climatic
data (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov); public domain satellite imagery and
derived products (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sdsd/ oscar.html)from
NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites and Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites.
• NESDIS National Geophysical Data Center provides topographic (http://
www.ngdc.noaa.gov//globsys/topo.html), bathymetric (http://
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/bathymetry.html), marine
scientific (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/mggonline.html), integrated
global environmental (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/ globsys/
global_c.html), Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (http://
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/dmsp.html), satellite imagery and other data
(http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov).
• NESDIS National Oceanographic Data Center provides national and
global oceanographic data (http://www.nodc.noaa.gov).
• The National Center for Atmospheric Research (http://www.ucar .edu)
offers information about its considerable data holdings, and some of its
software.
• NOAA's Center for Coastal Ecosystem Health plans to manage spatial
data for scientists and policy developers, (http://www.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/
imageman/noaa_collage/96.188)
• Federal Geographic Data Committee (http://fgdc.er.usgs.gov/ gds/html/
fgdc.html) maintains a list of FGDC products sorted by host organization
(http://info.er.usgs.gov/fgdc-catalog/ title.html).
• The U.S. Bureau of the Census (Http://www.census.gov) maintains Tiger
basemap files and population/demographic information. It also cross-
references several other data and information sources (http://
www.census.gov/geo/gis/gis-resources.html).
• The U.S. Geological Survey (http://www.er.usgs.gov/gis/ title.html)
distributes digital elevation models, line graphs and other information for
the US (http://info.er.usgs.gov). USGS' EROS Data Center maintains a
directory of selected sources of land-surface data (http://
edcwww.cr.usgs.goc/glis/glis.html), including a public domain subset of
Landsat imagery and other data from the National Land Remote Sensing
Archive.
• Purdue University (gopher://meteor.atms.purdue. edu :70/ I/satellite)
hosts a weather map of the US.
GIS from page 19
How TO CHOOSE A GIS
GIS software systems, hardware
environments that support such
systems, and services such as database
development, systems integration,
consulting, and special purpose
publishers are proliferating faster than
any one can keep track of them. Many
managers think that they need GIS
technology, but do not know where to
obtain advice on selecting the
appropriate one. In practice, it is useful
to talk to sales people; they are a ready
source of information despite their
obvious bias toward their own system.
Likewise with GIS specialists. But our
peers are usually well-versed only in
the systems that they themselves use.
Textbooks, special conference
volumes, technical meetings, and
journals can all provide valuable
information.
The best way to learn about
available/appropriate systems is to dive
in with both feet, with the help of
expert friends, professional society
journals, and meetings, and become an
expert yourself. One viable alternative
is to hire a trustworthy consultant. The
following may help you get started:
• Study the Yearbook of the American
Society of Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing, which provides a
broad perspective of what is
available. (Also check
advertisements in Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing.)
• Peruse the annual survey of GIS's
published by the trade journal, GIS
World, which publishes brief and
uncritical shortcomings of systems.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT/KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ELECTRONIC ERA
Lori Arp, Head of Reference and Media Services, University of Colorado-Boulder and
John Culshaw, Reference Librarian, University of Colorado-Boulder
Collection Development ->
Collection Management ->
Knowledge Management
Information professionals
understand that the themes driving
change in the area of collection
development are the constants of
economics, the evolving technologies,
and changes in the workplace.
Librarians are driven by their
responsibility to ensure that knowledge
must be reliable and sharable, and to
make the right decision for their
clientele.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLITICS
Ms. Arp recommends that every library
should consider the following
questions when formulating collection
development policy:
• Who is your audience?
• What are their collection concerns?
• What is your objective?
• Who are your allies?
• What is your short-term strategy?
• What is your long-term strategy?
• What is your public relations plan?
• What symbols do you want to
represent your collection?
• What resources do you need/have?
ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
Mr. Culshaw led the discussion about
electronic journals, and shared the
results of a brainstorming session held
at the UC-B Library. Following are
some general observations and
questions that came from the
brainstorming session about electronic
journals:
• All should be available or accessible
from the outset.
• All should be available through the
Internet.
• Free vs. fee is not critical to
selection.
• Regular collection development
decisions will determine whether an
item is archived, and which service
route to take.
• Should concurrent print/electronic
subscriptions be maintained?
• Should only archived journals be
cataloged, or should remote access
journals also be included in the
library's catalog?
Mr. Culshaw advised that librarians
also consider the options for providing
services related to electronic journals,
for example, is the most appropriate
service level for each title directional,
instructional, referral, hands-on
assistance, or delivery.
Collection continued on page 22
GIS continued
Acquire one of the public domain or
low cost systems, such as GRASS
or Idrisi, and become familiar with
their capabilities and limitations.
Ask vendors for references in the
environmental science community
and contact those references.
Go to professional meetings,
especially the exhibits. Go to all of
the vendors' booths, and get as
thorough a demo of each candidate
system as possible. Talk to as many
customers of such systems as
possible. After narrowing down the
systems based on functionality,
price, hardware environments,
openness to revision, and personal
enhancements (is the source code
available?), take training in the
systems on your short list. Arrange
to use the systems in situation
similar to your own. Ask the vendor
about a short-term trial license for
the software, combined with data
and tutorial materials in your field.
If you will be a casual user, get a
user-friendly system. If you will
have an intensive daily need for
high-powered GIS, try a simple
user-friendly system that you plan to
outgrow. By the time you outgrow
it, you will know what you want,
and will be better able to evaluate
vendors' demonstrations and
advertising.
FOR FURTHER READING
Geographic Information Systems: A
Tool for Geoscience Data Analysis and
Interpretation, by David Hastings, to
be published. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
SELECTION AND LOCATION OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
Target
Audience Size
Usage Level
Cost of File
Scope of File
Sophistication of
Front End
Who Supplies
the Fron End
Type of File
Time of Use
Curriculum Related
Research Related
Importance of Speed
Ease of Access
Programming
Required
Local:
Stand-alone
small
low to
moderate
moderate
to high
specific or
general
high
vendor
bibliog,
full-txt, or
image
occassional
to regular
maybe
maybe
moderate
easy
no
Local:
LAN
moderate
moderate
to high
high
general
easy to
moderate;
potentioal
invisible users
vendor
(or OPAC)
bibliog &
full-txt
regular to
frequent
yes
no
moderate
easy
minimal
Agency
Remote
Collection from page 21
FOR FURTHER READING
Collection Management and Development: Issues in an Electronic Era, by
Peggy Johnson and Bonnie MacEwan, American Library Association, 1994
Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness, and Reality, by Walt Crawford and
Michael Gorman, American Library Association, 1995
The speakers also recommended two Association of Research Libraries
publications, Electronic Journals in ARL Libraries: Policies and Procedures,
and Electronic Journals in ARL Libraries: Issues and Trends. •
DOCUMENT DELIVERY
IN THE ELECTRONIC ERA
Martha Whittaker, General Manager,
The UnCover Company
UnCover is an online article delivery
service, a table of contents database,
and a periodical index. More than
17,000 periodical are indexed by
UnCover, and new titles are added
regularly. Approximately 60% of the
titles cover the sciences, technology,
and medicine. Four thousand citations
are added to the database every day.
There has been huge growth in the
volume of document delivery over the
last three years. UnCover has built a
database of over 17,000 titles and
approximately 6 million citations over
the past 5-6 years. UnCover produces
UnCover Update, a free newsletter, to
keep customers and interested parties
informed about services. Originally
designed as a component of CARL's
integrated online library systems,
UnCover's database can be accessed
by direct dial or via telnet. Through
UnCover2, articles that have been
ordered previously are saved on an
optical storage device (with publisher
permission) and can be delivered
within one hour. UnCover has found
that about 30% of requests are not in
their database, and in the future
provide a means to fill those requests.
UNCOVER REVEAL
UnCover Reveal, an email alerting
service, delivers enhanced table of
content pages to subscribers'
mailboxes. The user selects a subset of
titles, which are sent by email or
obtained through ftp. UnCover data
entry operators input information from
actual tables of contents. Reveal was
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
more successful than the UnCover
Company anticipated, and is currently
provided to more than 16,000 users.
Since there is a significant amount of
customer service provided, primarily
involving fixing email addresses,
UnCover will charge $20 per year for
the service beginning May 1, 1995.
FUTURE UNCOVER SERVICES
UnCover's new SOS service enables
users to request items by mail, email,
and telephone. UnCover provides
notification of the availability of the
requested item within 2 hours, the
same turnaround that is provided with
the database. The cost is about $10 per
article plus, applicable copyright fee.
The average copyright fee for material
available from UnCover is $3; the fee
is generally higher for medical,
scientific, and technical documents and
articles.
A CD-ROM version of the Uncover
database should be available soon, and
an UnCover graphical user interface,
Personal UnCover Navigator (PUN),
will be released May 1, 1995. Both PC
and Macintosh versions will be
available for stand-alone terminals, and
UnCover plans to sell site licenses.
FOR FURTHER READING
If you want to read more about
UnCover and its services, several
journal articles have been published in
a wide range of information journals,
including the following:
• "Internet database review:
UnCover," by GR Notess,
Database, 16(4):99-102, August
1994
• "Electronic dissemination of full-
text journal articles," by NC
Burckel, College & Research
Libraries News, 53(5):322-3, May
1992 •
FEDLINK's VISION FOR THE YEAR 2000
Susan M. Tarr, Executive Director, Federal Libraries
and Information Centers Committee (FLICC)
FEDLINK and FLICC are involved
in several activities designed to
provide improved service and
guidance to all Federal libraries and
information centers. They are:
• Conducting a FLICC Survey of
Federal Libraries and Information
Centers, so they can better assist
the libraries.
• Managing listservs and planning
the implementation of additional
ones, including:
- Fedlib-L—a forum for
discussions of the full-range of
issues affecting Federal
libraries.
- Fedcat-L—moderated by Patti
Fields, a FEDLINK Librarian,
was set up to discuss common
cataloging problems in Federal
libraries.
- Fedref-L (planned)—to be
moderated by the Public
Reference Working Group, will
provide a forum for reference
librarians in Federal libraries.
- Fedacq-L (planned)—will
coordinate discussions on
acquisitions issues in Federal
libraries.
• Implementing a WWW home
page, which at first will be a
pointer to basic information, and
then include links to ALIX,
FLICC's bulletin board, and other
online resources.
• Producing bimonthly Tech Notes
issues through the summer, and
using Information Alerts and ALIX
to distribute information in
between Tech Notes publication
cycles.
• Offering new OCLC services to
the member libraries, including:
- PromtCat.
- ILL Fee, a fee management
system (may.be available as
early as May 1995).
- EPIC and First Search (added to
the FEDLINK contract).
- PromtSelect, Electronic
Journals, and Electronic Dewey
(will probably be added for
FY96).
FEDERAL LIBRARIES
IN THE YEAR 2000
FLICC's 1995 Forum focused on the
life cycle of government information
and the challenges of electronic
innovation. At the forum, Mr. Toffler
described his vision of the future, "a
knowledge-based,
service-oriented, individualized, and
home-based" future. He proposed
future-oriented solutions and
emphasized the need for software,
intelligence, and ideas. After the
Forum, librarians at the Library of
Congress held a brainstorming
session to determine the status and
role of libraries in the future. They
envisioned that Federal libraries in
the year 2000 will:
• Promote open democratic access to
public information.
• Provide leadership in access to and
distribution of government
information.
Fedlink continued on page 24
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEMS
The speakers in this session addressed
three different aspects of planning and
implementing integrated library
systems. Eveline Goodman
(contractor), from the EPA Region 2
Library, focused on the selection of the
system and the actual implementation.
Lynda Kuntz, the NOAA Central
Library's Systems Librarian, focused
on the procurement process. Barbara
Wagner, from USGS's Central Region
Library, focused on the technical
aspects of the system they chose and
the implementation that in still in
process.
AUTOMATING THE
EPA REGION 2 LIBRARY
Eveline Goodman (contractor).
Region 2 Librarian, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
The Region 2 Library, which was
founded in 1965 under the auspices of
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Administration, has special collections
in hazardous and solid waste,
environmental law, total quality
management, environmental education,
and pollution prevention. Region 2
decided to base its OP AC on the
combined holdings of both libraries.
The Region 2 Office, including the
Regional Library, moved to a new
facility in Manhattan in February
1995.
Region 2 made the decision to
automate their Regional Library in
1993. After a lengthy evaluation
process they chose INMAGIC, for a
variety of factors, including its track
record in libraries, compatibility with
the Regional LAN, integrated
automation capacity, flexibility and
ease of use, technical support, and cost-
effectiveness. While there are many
pros and cons, the overall result in
Region 2 has been excellent.
WHERE THEY WERE
Two years ago at this time, the Region
2 Library had OLS, OCLC, DIALOG,
CD-ROMs, and a semi-automated
circulation system. They wanted to
automate their entire complex of
operations and services, and do it in a
cost-effective manner. This included
the creation of an OP AC (showing
both Edison & New York library
holdings), automated ordering, serials
control, interlibrary loan tracking,
report generation, and circulation. And,
as they were scheduled to move to a
new facility, they also wanted their
new system to be compatible with the
new security system and with the
barcoding project they were planning.
How THE PROJECT BEGAN
Using Library Journal's annual
automation issue, they looked at trends
in other libraries and in the industry.
They talked to professional contacts to
see what worked for them. Then they
isolated those vendors who seemed
likeliest to be of interest, and contacted
them. They finally saw about a half
dozen vendor demonstrations, and
almost all were impressive, but
expensive!
Now Region 2 had a dilemma. They
did not want to compromise their
primary goal: full integration or
nothing! They wanted a system that
was compatible with the Region's
goals for information processing via
the LAN. So they sat down and
evaluated short-range vs. long-range
requirements for each system and
narrowed the choice to two vendors:
INMAGIC and Data Trek.
Region 2 opted for INMAGIC,
which offered an entire integrated
automation capacity for a relatively
small amount of money. The whole
package, including training and set-up
Fedlink from page 23
Serve as the "brain trust" for agency
information.
Provide training in
telecommunications, systems, and
information access.
Form partnerships for resource
sharing among Federal libraries.
Advocate electronic data archiving
and develop better communications
and partnerships with archivists.
Participate in the resolution of
intellectual property issues for
electronic information, and promote
owner's responsibility for
information quality on the Internet.
Provide leadership in a change-
dominated environment.
Play an active role in setting
standards for information use.
Help recruit and train future
librarians. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
assistance came to less than $6,000.
INMAGIC is successfully installed in
thousands of libraries all over the U.S.,
so the Region 2 planners did not feel
that it was endangering their aims at
all.
How IT CAME ABOUT
The major problem with getting any
automation process started is the
retrospective conversion.
• Adapted OLS data and then ran a
conversion program which was
provided with INMAGIC.
INMAGIC assisted with designing
the original structure. The Region 2
staff then coordinated with Jim
Mitchell (contractor), the OLS
Database Administrator, who did a
superb job in readying the data for
conversion. They transferred the files
using a file transfer program on their
LAN, ran the conversion program, and
within a few hours had the entire
holdings of the New York and Edison
libraries up and ready to view in an
OP AC!
BUILDING THE ILS
After this the library began to automate
one function after another. The next
was serials control, following by
ordering/acquisitions, and interlibrary
loan. Finally the Region 2 Librarian
modified the OP AC to retain
circulation information. They now had
the bare bones of an integrated
automation system! Because
INMAGIC is a database program
designed for the flexible management
of text, it was easy to create some site-
specific databases, including:
• A MAPS database to catalog
5,000+ topographic maps;
• A New Acquisitions database to
highlight new items in the Library;
• A SERVICES database to provide
information about the Region 2
Library itself;
• A CD-ROM database to provide
information about the 20+ CD-
ROMs held by the Library; and
• A database designed for the
forthcoming Region 2
Environmental Information
Directory.
All of the databases are accessed
using the same search engine.
CONCLUSIONS FROM REGION 2
Having worked with a variety of
systems over the years, the Region 2
Librarian said that INMAGIC provided
an excellent basis for their integrated
automation system, without which the
library would have remained "in the
dark ages." The work they invested has
given the library a viable future in
terms of both information delivery and
organizational management.
The future of automation in the
Region 2 Library is extremely bright;
automating their basic services and
operations was only the first step. Soon
they will be providing services to the
public via Public Access PCs that will
give limited access to such tools as
SEARCHMAGIC (the OPAC), the
Online Library System, CD-ROMs
(networked and local), and potentially
Gateway/Envirofacts. They will also be
upgrading their patron services with
full utilization of the Internet by
reference staff starting this spring. And
this year after barcoding, they will be
able to complete their first electronic
inventory, which will give them the
best picture of the Region 2 collections
to date. Not a bad place to be, given
where they were not two years ago at
this time!
If you want to know more about
Region 2's integrated library system,
contact Eveline Goodman (contractor),
Region 2 Librarian at (212) 637-3187.
SELECTING AN
INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEM
Lynda Kuntz, Systems Librarian, NOAA
Central Library, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
The NOAA Central Library in Silver
Spring, Maryland, contains over one
million books, journals, technical
reports, documents on microform, over
100 audiocassettes, and several
hundred CD-ROMs. Because it is a
central library, the multi-faceted
collection contains works on a broad
range of topics, including meteorology,
climatology, oceanography, marine
biology and chemistry, marine
fisheries, remote sensing, and ecology.
Since September 1993, the library has
been a selective government repository
for GPO publications. The NOAA
Headquarters Office, including the
Central Library moved from Rockville
to Silver Spring, Maryland in 1994.
In her presentation, Ms. Kuntz
described the process the NOAA
Central Library worked through to
select and procure an integrated library
system. She emphasized the fact that
throughout the process, the Library
staff has worked with IRM staff, and
they continue to do so. She
recommended that any library
undertaking the selection and
implementation of an ILS should
establish and maintain a good working
ILS continued on page 26
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
ILS from page 25
relationship with the organization's
IRM team.
START WITH
A REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS
In 1993, the library staff completed a
requirements analysis. At that time, the
Central Library had a Novell network
with LANs to manage circulation,
serials control, and a CD-ROM
collection. NOAA's Library
Information Access Committee assisted
in the development of the new system.
Linda Pikula, Manager of NOAA's
Regional Library in Miami, co-chaired
the committee with Maureen Woods,
Manager of NOAA' s Regional Library
in Seattle. Committee members
collected information about local
automation and resources and provided
input on system and regional library
requirements. They determined that
they needed to plan for more access to
information in electronic format, that a
client-server network would be ideal
for their needs, and that they needed
greater flexibility in hardware than
previously.
There are three integrated
components in the Central Library's
integrated system: an OP AC with
gateways, a library technical services
module, and an administrative
management module. The information
is entered at one point and enhanced as
it is moved from one module to
another. The proposed structure was
similar to the existing systems in that
the central library maintains the
system, with contributions from the
participating network libraries. The
Central Library supports all standard
terminal emulations to enable remote
access from the network libraries.
PROCUREMENT AND FUNDING
Ms. Kuntz expressed NOAA's thanks
for the assistance of the USGS Library
staff, which shared the statement of
work prepared for its integrated library
system—in electronic format. Ms.
Kuntz noted, as an aside, for those just
beginning the ILS procurement
process, the University of Texas
Library put their statement of work on
Internet for interested individuals. She
recommended that the libraries use
listservs to talk to individuals who have
developed integrated systems and gone
through the procurement process.
Ms. Kuntz further recommended
that libraries planning for an integrated
library system should proceed as if all
the funds are available. The NOAA
Central Library provided the base
budget for their integrated system, but
were able to obtain the balance of the
necessary funding from other sources.
They received funding from Earth
Systems Data Analysis Management,
from the High Performance and
Computing and Communications
Program, and from the Center for
Coastal Ecosystems.
IN CONCLUSION
Ms. Kuntz ended her presentation by
saying that there are many possible
problems in the process, but there are
also many opportunities: to provide
full-text information, to provide
pointers to resources within the
organization and to other Federal
agency resources, and to do more with
less staff.
If you want to know more about the
NOAA Central Library's integrated
system, contact Lynda Kuntz, Systems
Librarian, at (301) 713-2600.
A NEW HORIZON AT USGS
Barbara Wagner, Head Librarian,
Central Region Library, US Geological
Survey, Denver, Colorado
The U.S. Geological Survey Library,
established in 1882, is one of the
largest earth science libraries in the
world. The Library System consists of
the Headquarters Library in Reston,
Virginia, and three branch libraries in
Denver, Colorado; Flagstaff, Arizona;
and Menlo Park, California. The
Denver Library's holdings include
USGS publications and materials from
sources throughout the Central Region,
State and foreign geological surveys,
publications from geological and other
scientific societies, documents from
museums and academic institutions,
and reports from government scientific
agencies.
Ms. Wagner began her presentation
by describing some of the special
archival collections and materials held
by USGS libraries, including:
• Map collections at Denver and
Menlo Park, CA libraries;
• An archaeological collection in
Reston, VA;
• Aerial photographs and videotapes
at Menlo Park;
• Field records consisting of
notebooks, sketches, biographies,
and aerial photos, held at all of the
libraries; and
• Photographs taken by USGS
personnel in the field, most
unpublished, along with a broad
range of accompanying historical
and recent materials, at most of the
libraries.
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
ONLINE LIBRARY SYSTEM: BASIS PLUS ENHANCEMENTS
Contributed by the Region 5 Library
Jim Mitchell (contractor), the OLS
Database Administrator, led a
discussion about the changes to the
Online Library System (OLS) from the
implementation of BASIS PLUS. The
main enhancements to the OLS, at the
command level, are proximity
capability, the phrase search and the
FIND WITHIN command.
FIND WITHIN
The first search enhancement, the
FIND WITHIN command, is available
at the BASIS PLUS command level, or
at the "Enter Line Number:" prompt
under the Display/Combine option in
the menus, leaving off the word FIND.
ILS continued
WORKING TOWARD AN ILS
Ms. Wagner informed the group that
the USGS libraries are in the process of
implementing their integrated system.
She explained that it took four years
and two systems librarians to achieve a
signed contract for the integrated
library system. The contract, which
was signed in August 1994,
encompasses equipment, software, and
training for staff in all four USGS
libraries. Since the contract was signed,
486 computers and WordPerfect Office
links have been installed for the library
staff. The next step will be to install
Horizon hardware and conduct staff
training. Ms. Wagner explained that
staff training will be completed in
April and May, and by summer the
system should be available to the
public through the Internet and
GeoNet. At the same time, plans for a
The FIND WITHIN operator has the
following components:
• FTND WITHIN command
(required);
• The range (required);
• The proximity unit, ie., words,
sentence, or context (The default for
the OLS is WORDS since the other
units are only useful for full-text);
• The order of terms (the default is
"any order", the other option is "in
order");
• The FT£LD=TERM (the default for
the field is KY);
• The semicolon (equal to the AND
operator); and
• the FffiLD=TERM.
Now a word of warning... The FIND
WITHIN command does not work as it
does in some other systems. For
example, based on the norm in other
systems, if you try to find all where
"journal" is within one word of
"ecology", ie., one word intervenes
between the two target terms, you
would assume that the FIND WITHIN
command should be FIND WITHIN 1.
When you try this, the system sends an
error message. FIND WITHIN 2 words
yields a result of zero. FIND WITHIN
3 at last retrieves the four titles that fit
the criteria of "journal" within one
word of "ecology". What the system
OLS continued on page 28
fiber optic connection to the
Department of Interior's WAN are also
in the works.
THE TECHNICAL PART...
USGS's Horizon system is Unix-based
and runs on OS2. OS2 has many
advantages, including multi-tasking,
network compatibility, a graphical
interface, and DOS- and Windows-
compatibility. The system uses Sybase
(relational database management with
Structured Query Language) in a client
server distributed network, and was
customized for USGS to provide
multitasking between modules for the
OP AC, circulation, acquisitions,
cataloging, and serials control.
Ms.Wagner has a library technician
who is certified as a Network
Administrator to support the system in
the Central Region Library.
PUBLIC ACCESS
The system, which should be available
to the public later this year, supports
the use of searching with boolean
operators, truncation, and assisted
searching. Users will be able to:
• Perform tangential searches from
any point in the database;
• Browse through title, author and
subject lists;
• Save sets and sort citations;
• Change the number of characters
and fields in the display; and
• Save searches, and rerun or refine
them in future search sessions.
The system uses Mosaic on the front
end, providing a gateway to other
information sources, for example, CD-
ROMs and other online systems.
If you want to know more about
USGS's new Horizon system, contact
Barbara Wagner, Head Librarian,
USGS Central Region Library, at (303)
236-1004. •
D
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
OLS from page 27
does is count the term "journal" as one,
the intervening term as two, and the
term "ecology" as three. Now, doesn't
it make perfectly good sense that FIND
WITHIN 1 doesn't work. So if you are
thinking in terms of intervening words,
just add two to the number range when
you use FIND WITHIN. Also note the
FIND WITHIN 2 in BASIS PLUS
actually finds terms that are adjacent to
one another.
You can truncate using the FIND
WITHIN command.
You can use a set number in the
same search statement as the FIND
WITHIN command. All you have to do
is end the search statement with a
boolean operator and the set number.
Also, you can't use a phrase inside
the FIND WITHIN command.
THE PHRASE SEARCH
The phrase search feature works in four
modes, one of which is the "ANY"
mode. The ANY mode is equivalent
to an "OR" operator, so we can
discount it as a true proximity feature.
The default phrase is available through
the menus, the other phrases are
available using BASIS PLUS
commands.
The phrase mode ALL we've
actually had since we started enclosing
multiple words in quotes. The ALL
mode basically finds the words
enclosed in quotes, in the same field,
in any order. Stop words can't be used
in the search and are ignored by the
system.
The phrase mode LIKE finds the
words in quotes together in the order
given. Stop words can't be used in the
search and will effect retrieval. If a
stop word separates the terms enclosed
in quotes, the system will not retrieve
that occurrence. For instance, when the
phase is set to LIKE, the system will
not find any records for the phrase
"journal ecology."
The phrase mode EXACT finds
the words in quotes in the order
given and includes stop words. This
will be especially useful when
searching a phrase like "used oil".
Most of the time LIKE and EXACT
retrieve the same number of items. If a
phrase has an intervening stopword, a
LIKE mode search retrieves nothing.
Logically an ALL mode search will
produce more retrievals than the other
two, and can be useful for title
searching. For example a patron called
asking for the title he quoted as "a
video primer on bioremediation." An
EXACT mode search found nothing.
Likewise, a LIKE mode search, when
entered omitting the stopword
produced no hits, while an ALL mode
search found an NTIS record for a
video entitled Bioremediation: A Video
Primer.
The library network needs to decide
what the default should be for phrase
mode searching. With the default
phrase set to the ALL mode, patrons
can find records with the phrase
"pollution prevention" or with the
phrases "prevention of pollution,"
"prevention of air pollution," etc.
Remember, the ALL mode is what
current end-users are used to. If we
change the default to the LIKE mode,
as it is now set in the test database,
handouts would need to be radically
revised. Users and network librarians,
would have to be re-taught, without
real gain. If you can think of any
advantage to choosing the LIKE mode
as the default over the ALL mode, you
can send your comments to Penny
Boyle (contractor) at the Region 5
Library. Her All-in-1 address is
Library-Reg5, and her Internet address
is Library-reg5@epamail. epa.gov.
AWOL is DEAD!
LONG LIVE AND AND AND NOT!
Another change to the OLS worth noting
is that AWOL and AWOL NOT have
been replaced by AND and AND NOT.
(Note you can also type ANDNOT.)
There are a few pit-falls. In the old
BASIS you can type in terms to search
without preceding the terms with the word
FIND, however if you entered a search set
number, the word FIND had to be typed.
In BASIS PLUS you no longer have to
type FIND when using set numbers,
however now you must type the word
FIND before the terms if you truncate
them! There is one more pitfall related to
truncation. When you truncate in a search
the system's first response to your query
gives an unexpected, unpredictable set
number. For example, if after creating
four sets you use a search statement that
truncates the root term "pollut," the set
number for pollut* will appear to be set
number 47, not set number 5. This number
reflects the number of various endings the
system found for the root term. Do not
panic, and do not call Jim. He has reported
this oddity to the BASIS PLUS
programmers and will let us know their
response, if there is one. What you should
do is issue the command "LIST SETS",
then you'll see that your working set
number for the pollut* term is 5, the set
number you expected.
A BASIS PLUS TEST
DATABASE is AVAILABLE
The test database is available now, and
librarians can contact Jim Mitchell
(contractor), at (919) 541-2524 for further
details about logging on to the system.
Penny Boyle (contractor), the Region 5
Librarian, has been testing the system for
the last few months, and can provide
assistance with using the enhanced
capabilities. Penny's phone number is
(312) 353-2023. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
SPECIAL REGIONAL FILES ON OLS
Prior to 1986, document control
systems were used in several libraries
in the network to organize and provide
access to uncataloged material such as
EPA reports without EPA or NTIS
numbers, and State or local
government agency documents. Four
of the EPA libraries, Regions 1, 4, 5,
and 9, worked with John Knight and
contractors at RTP to migrate their
systems into separate files on the
Online Library System (OLS). Two of
the four regional files are still active,
and the Region 9 Librarian has been
working with Jim Mitchell (contractor),
the OLS Database Administrator, to
plan the integration of their regional
file into the National Catalog.
Region 1 and Region 5 maintain
their own regional files on OLS online,
as does Ilsabe Urban (contractor),
Manager of the Environmental
Financing Information Network Center
at EPA Headquarters, who maintains
the EFIN file. They work closely with
Jim Mitchell (contractor) to ensure
network-wide access to their
collections. Penny Boyle (contractor)
from the Region 5 Library and Peg
Nelson (contractor) from the Region 1
Library, talked about their files on
Agency Day in Denver.
R5OLS
The Region 5 Librarian, Penny Boyle
(contractor), discussed the Region 5
site catalog - R5 OLS for short - and
how it has improved cataloging in the
Region. In addition to improved
cataloging, R5 OLS makes the
holdings information available to the
network, and beyond that, to the
public. The advantages of using R5
OLS include:
• The library staff is able to catalog
materials when OCLC service is
suspended, making them accessible
without OCLC.
• The library staff is whittling down
the backlog of uncataloged material.
Materials can be cataloged at a
clerical level, using shortcuts such
as "US EPA" for a publisher instead
of the ever long "United States.
Environmental Protection Agency."
• EPA reports, cataloged on OCLC as
a first choice, are cataloged on R5
OLS when no OCLC record is
found; R5 OLS then serves as a
shelflist for the reports.
• R5 OLS also serves as a shelflist for
annuals, thus avoiding the spending
OCLC dollars for updating the
annual record every year, and
eliminating the need to update
shelflist cards.
• Enhanced access to vertical file
material such as pamphlets, reprints
and clippings, and the library's
special collections.
• R5 OLS is a life-saver for a major
integration project (Great Lakes
Office publications and documents)
the Library is conducting because
material can be cataloged at a
clerical level.
• The Library is using R5 OLS to
track orders of free publications;
when the publication is received, all
the cataloging that is needed is a
status change.
• Anyone who wants to know more
about R5 OLS can contact Penny
Boyle (contractor), the Region 5
Librarian in Chicago, at (312) 353-
2023 or on email at Iibrary-reg5.
REGION 1 's OLS FILE
The Region 1 Librarian reported
similar cataloging uses of the Region 1
Library site file. The Region 1 Library
adds holdings for materials added to
the Region 1 collection exluding EPA
reports, but does not do any original
cataloging on OCLC. They rely on the
OLS National Catalog for searching
EPA reports. All "original cataloging"
is done directly in OLS including
records for EPA reports without EPA
or NTIS numbers.
The advantage to using OLS is
simplicity of data entry, freedom to use
subject prefixes which have local
meaning, and east search capability of
our collection. It was used to identify
special collections such as the
Wetlands Collection and the Boston
Harbor Environmental Impact
Statements Collection. The librarians
established special classification
schemes for these collections, using a
"WET' prefix for Wetlands materials,
and "BOS" prefix for the Boston
Harbor materials. In this way, by
shelving these materials physically
together, they were able to facilitate
access by regional staff and the public.
Peg Nelson (contractor), the Region
1 Librarian, noted that using OLS as
the primary cataloging tool does
involve some double cataloging, by
adding holdings to OCLC as well as
cataloging the title on OLS, but it has
been manageable so far. She said that
the Regional file is a good option for
those who are not OCLC catalogers,
Special Regional Files continued on page 30
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
AROUND THE LIBRARY NETWORK
This section of INFO ACCESS is used to report on projects currently underway
or recently completed in the Regions, laboratories, and Headquarters libraries.
Contact Mary Hoffman (contractor), Library Network Coordinator, at (919) 968-
3849, or at email box Hoffman.Mary if you would like to contribute to this section.
NEW STAFF AT THE HQ LIBRARY
There have been several staff changes
at Headquarters Library over the past
several months. They have an "Internet
librarian" who has responsibility for
suggesting ways to organize the
information on the EPA public access
server, among other things. Her name
is Robin Murphy (contractor) and her
phone number is 202-260-5080. The
new Cataloger is Ruihong Zhang
(contractor); you can reach her at 202-
260-5060. Our new Interlibrary Loan
contact is Jennifer Beaufort
(contractor), and she is at 202-260-
5933. The new Water librarian, is
Alison Nixon (contractor): her phone
number is (202) 260-8670.
NETWORKING IN ADA
Staff working in the EPA libraries from
coast to coast, and in the "heartland"
understand the importance of
networking with other information
professionals. Recently, Jessie Choate
(contractor), the ILL/Cataloging
Technician at the RSKERL Library,
was selected to serve on the Board of
the Rose State College's Library
Technical Assistant's program. This
program, offered through Oklahoma's
Televised Instructional System, is sent
to receiving stations throughout
Oklahoma and makes it possible for
students to obtain a certificate or an
associates degree in the field. Jessie
will be able to use contacts made
during this opportunity to identify and
obtain a broader range of information
sources for RSKERL Library clients.
OLS USE DURING APRIL 1995
by the OLS Database Administrator
The Online Library System(OLS) was
accessed a total of 6,201 times. The
databases under the OLS menu were
accessed a total of 7,685 times.
Remember that these totals include
only the accesses by public access
users.
TOTAL SYSTEM ACCESSES OLS
6,201
Individual Databases
National Catalog
Hazardous Waste
Access EPA
NCEPI
EF1N
Region 1
Region 5
Region 9
Chemical Collection
Help (all others)
Help Access EPA
Help NCEPI
TOTAL
4,034
982
1,101
357
190
161
131
114
133
241
166
75
7,685
Note: Accesses to OLS are up by
900 over April 1994.
Special Regional Files from page 29
and it has the advantage of providing
access for the entire network and the
world. While the traditional ILL
function of OCLC is diminished by
having the bulk of the collection
available on OLS, access by the public
is probably increased.
The Region 1 Library has three
dedicated OLS terminals, one at the
Reference desk, and two of them for
public access. The WordPerfect Office
(WPO) menu on the Regional LAN
lists the Library's CD-ROM's, and the
librarians are working with regional
staff to establish an OLS access point
from WPO. It is currently off another
menu used by few regional staff.
If you want to know more about the
Region 1 file on OLS, contact Peg
Nelson (contractor), at the Region 1
Library in Boston, at (617) 565-3298
or on email at nelson.peg. •
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
HAZARDOUS WASTE INFORMATION
AT THE EPA REGION 9 LIBRARY SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
irregular newsletters and EPA
miscellaneous documents pertaining to
these topics have been photocopied and
consolidated into respective binders.
This "one-stop shopping" approach has
been a big hit among EPA staff and
other Library patrons and it saves
library staff time. Each binder contains
a table of contents which has proved to
be quite useful in and of itself.
EPA staff have become accustomed
to coming to the Library to obtain
copies of needed technical reports and
guidance documents. Having worked
in this subject area for the past several
years Deborra is able to anticipate
which documents will generate
multiple requests. By making use of
the various EPA clearinghouses and
distribution centers she obtains
multiple copies to have on hand for
staff and "sister" agency requests. EPA
staff are also accustomed to offering
her unwanted documents for recycling
to other interested parties. Regional
offices of state agencies are beginning
to benefit greatly from the recycling of
these surplus documents.
In September 1988, the Region 9
Library established a special
Hazardous Waste Collection (HWC).
Deborra Samuels (contractor), was
hired as the Superfund Librarian to
develop the collection and provide
reference and research assistance with
hazardous waste information sources.
Over time the HWC has grown into
one of the most heavily used
collections within the Regional
Library. Initially consisting of
monographs, EPA reports, OSWER
Directives, and Superfund Records of
Decision, the HWC has grown to
include EPA newsletters, fact sheets
and special compilations pertaining to
SACM and Presumptive Remedies.
ORGANIZED FOR
OPTIMAL ACCESSIBILITY
Like most of the Library, the HWC is
organized primarily by document type.
OSWER Directives are filed in five 4-
drawer lateral files and organized by
OSWER number. Also interfiled in this
collection are OERR Publications
which use the same OSWER
numbering scheme. Though not
officially considered OSWER
Directives the similarity in numbering
lent itself to inclusion in this collection
and for all intents and purposes these
two publications are considered a
unified collection. As OSWER
Directives are in heavy demand, direct
access and short-term borrowing
privileges are limited to EPA staff.
EPA Fact Sheets, which are also
frequently requested items in the
Library, fill the top two drawers of a 4-
drawer lateral file cabinet. Filed
numerically, multiple copies are
available for immediate use. A list of
the 158 fact sheets is available as a
guide to this sub-collection. EPA staff
and visiting personnel from other
federal, state and local agencies are
frequent users of the list and its
associated collection.
Superfund Records of Decision
(RODs) are housed in binders by EPA
region, and within the region
alphabetically by site name. Region 9
RODs are received directly from the
Remedial Project Manager and filed in
their respective binder until the
"official" version is received from
NTIS. An dBASE HI inventory list
allows them to keep track of what they
own. RODs are for Library use only
and do not circulate.
EPA reports and monographs
specifically relating to hazardous waste
are shelved in the HWC. Organized by
EPA report number and LC call
number, respectively, these items may
be checked out under standard library
policies for one month. Hazardous
waste related EPA newsletters tend to
be irregular in distribution, and are
stored in clearly labeled binders. A list
of newsletter titles is posted with the
document series number(s) as assigned
by the issuing office.
ONE-STOP SHOPPING
Another helpful tool has been the
compilation of all material received on
two currently hot topics: SACM and
presumptive remedies. OSWER
Directives, EPA fact sheets, EPA
INFORMING THE REGIONAL STAFF
To alert EPA staff to new items in the
HWC, a monthly memo is issued. The
memo lists new OSWERs, EPA
reports, fact sheets, EPA newsletters,
selected monographs, US GAO reports
and pertinent miscellaneous items. The
memo was originally posted on EPA
bulletin boards as well as routed to
staff through their Hazardous Waste
Section Chief. It is now sent through P-
Mail via the Regional LAN. In addition
Hazardous Waste continued on page 32
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INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
THE POLLUTION PREVENTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE
The Pollution Prevention Information
Clearinghouse (PPIC) is a free, non-
regulatory service of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency that
was established in response to
requirements in the Pollution
Prevention Act of 1990.
WHAT is POLLUTION PREVENTION?
Pollution prevention is a
comprehensive and continual effort to
systematically reduce or eliminate the
quantity and toxicity of wastes at the
source of generation. Pollution
prevention stresses the management of
wastes in all environmental media,
including air, land, and water, so that
pollution is not simply transferred from
one medium to another. Pollution
should be prevented or reduced at the
source whenever feasible.
Source reduction is defined in the
law (Pollution Prevention Act) to mean
any practice which reduces the amount
of any hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant entering any waste
stream or otherwise released into the
environment prior to recycling,
treatment, or disposal; and which
reduces the hazards to public health
and the environment associated with
the release of such substances,
pollutants, or contaminants. Besides
benefiting the environment pollution
prevention reduces costs for pollution
control and waste disposal, improves
employee safety, and reduces
environmental liability.
CLEARINGHOUSE
CLIENTS AND SERVICES
The objectives of the clearinghouse are
to reduce or eliminate industrial
pollutants through technology transfer,
education, and public awareness. PPIC
services target Federal, State, and local
government agencies, industry,
academia, and other entities involved
in pollution prevention activities.
PPIC provides several services
including document distribution,
reference and referral telephone
services, and access to a special
collection of pollution prevention
materials. The clearinghouse
distributes pollution prevention related
documents such as pamphlets,
newsletters, and reports published by
EPA program offices. Although
requestors are generally limited to ten
items each, PPIC does send multiple
copies of documents to conferences
upon request.
Requests can be made for specific
documents or for a current distribution
list of pollution prevention publications
by telephone, mail, fax, or email.
PPIC's address:
PPIC, US EPA (3404)
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC, 20460
Phone: (202) 260-1023
Fax: (202) 260-0178
Email: ppic@epamail.epa.gov
SPECIALIZED
REFERENCE AND REFERRAL
PPIC's reference and referral telephone
service handles requests for
documents, answers questions about
pollution prevention, and refers callers
to appropriate sources of information.
The telephone line is staffed from
Monday through Friday between 10 am
and 4 pm. There is a 24-hour voice
PPIC continued on page 34
Hazardous Waste from page 31
to the Hazardous Waste Division, staff
working on hazardous waste issues in
Regional Counsel, Quality Assurance,
Contracts and ATSDR have asked to
be included in this distribution. Copies
of the memo are also put in on-site
mailboxes for Superfund contractors.
Response from EPA staff has been
positive and prompt.
It has recently come to Deborra's
attention that with the latest issue
someone is loading this memo on an
engineering list available via the
Internet. This has generated a few calls
from private industry. The memo often
also serves as an alternative source for
tracking down previously announced
items of interest. Though it is
cumbersome to flip back through
earlier versions it is not prohibitive.
And more often than not other items of
interest are discovered in the process.
This is how the Region 9 Library
staff organize and manage the varied
information pertaining to hazardous
waste. If anyone would like additional
information on this topic, contact
Deborra at EPA Region 9 Library,
P-5-3, 75 Hawthorne Street, San
Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 744-1513,
fax: (415-744-1474), Email: Samuels.
Deborra. She looks forward to talking
hazardous waste with you. •
-------
INFO ACCESS
JUNE 1995
PPIC's "BEST SELLERS'
PPIC's manager, Rowena Griem (contractor), and her staff compiled the following list of their top ten documents:
• Federal Facility Pollution Prevention Planning Guide, EPA/300/B-94/013
• Pollution Prevention Directory, EPA/742/B-94/005
• Pollution Prevention News (latest edition)
• Abstracts of Pollution Prevention Case Study Sources, EPA/742/B-94/001
• Pollution Prevention Benefits Manual Vol. 1-2
• Summary of Pollution Prevention Case Studies with Economic Data (by SIC Codes), EPA/742/S-94/001
• Federal Environmental Regulations Potentially Affecting the Commercial Printing Industry, EPA/744/B-94/001
• CTSA—Executive Summary—Screen Printing, EPA/744/R-94/005
• Pollution Prevention Incentives for States - Spring 94,
• EPA/742/K-93/001
• Pollution Prevention at POTWs Case Studies - Winter 94,
• EPA/742/F-94/001
PP1C from page 33
mail system to take caller's requests
when the line is not staffed.
PPIC's special collection of
pollution prevention and source
reduction materials includes EPA
publications, Federal and State
government publications, pollution
prevention materials, training
materials, conference proceedings,
industry case studies, research studies,
periodicals, and videos. Bibliographic
records of PPIC's circulation collection
are accessible through EPA's Online
Library System by modem, with dial-in
access at (919) 549-0720. Or you can
visit PPIC in the Headquarters Library,
Room M2904 at EPA's Waterside Mall
facility. Walk-in visitors are welcome
to visit PPIC on Monday through
Friday between 10 am and 2 pm.
PPIC operates under the auspices of
EPA's Pollution Prevention Division,
in the Office of Pollution Prevention
and Toxics, in the Office of Prevention,
Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. EPA
Project Officer Beth Anderson (202-
26-2602) oversees PPIC operations. •
Jj-brarian—JCnowledge worker
whose primary task is to know
and use information, and to
help users identify the specific
information they need.
-------
LIBRARY NETWORK DIRECTORY—MAY 1995
Librarian
Abraham, Pamela, Legislative, DC
Bankson, John, Duluth*
Barrus, Phyl, Dallas*
Bianchi, Stephanie, Corvallis*
Biggs, Dorothy, NEIC, Denver
Boyle, Penny, Chicago*
Bruneske, Kathy, RIC, DC*
Bruno, Cynthia, Ada* ;
Byrd, Jonda, IAB, Cincinnati
Cavanaugh, Michelle, TRI/OPPT*
Cook, Alison, PIC/DC*
Craven, Pat,; Denver*
Dietch, Jan RTP, NC*
Dugan, Ann, DC*
Ellis, Rose, Las Vegas*
Friedman, Fred, Boston/RCRA*,
Gamache, Rose Ann, Narragansett
Goodman, Eveline, NYC*
Griem, Rowena, PPIC*, DC
Hoffman, Mary, NC*
Issaacson, Sandra, KC*
Knight; John, RTP, NC
Lindeman-Orr, Barbara, Seattle*
Livingston, Cindy Uvlngstoadhdy*
Lyon, Wendy, DC*
MacKinnon, Barb, HQ Lib, DC*
Magierski, Pat, Chicago*
McCreary, Diane, Philadelphia
Mitchell, Jim, OLS, RTP*
Morrison, Barbara, Law, DC
Moss, Char, NEIC*
Mytes, Colette, San Francisco*
Nelson, Peg, Boston*"
Nixon, Alison, HQ/Water*
Flatten, Joan, Legislative, DC
Pinnell Liz, Gulf Breeze*"
Poole-Kober, Evelyn, AREAL
Poore, Linda, OPPT, DC*
Pride, Priscilla, Atlanta*
Ramponi, Lois, WRC, DC*
Sears, Julienne, Seattle
Shellenberger.Dawn, (SF) HWTIC Philadelphia*
Sims, Janice, Athens ~"
Skinner, Lauren, Annapolis"
Stewart, Barbara, New York*
Strougal, Patricia, ATI/ORC*
Sullivan, vlcki (1NFOTERRA), DC*
Szefczyk, Dorothy, Edison*
Toblrv Joanne*
Urban, llsabe, EFIN, DC*
VarvancyAlifred, T1U*
York, Sandy, Denver*
Young,JJsa, DC*
Youngen, Greg, Cincinnati*
E-mail
Abraham.Pamela
; Bankson.John
R6-Library
Bianchi.Stephanie
Library-NEIC
Ubraiy-RegS ;,
Bruneske. Kathy
RSKERL-Ubrary
Byrd.Jonda
Cavanaugh. Michelle
Cook.AHison
Craven.Pat
Dugan.Ann
Library-LV
Ubrary-Regl
ERL-Narragansett
Goodman.Eveline
Griem.Rowena
Hoffman.Mary
Ubrary-Reg7
KhightJ
Library-Reg-X
Lyon.Wendy
MacKinnon-Barbara
Library-RegS
Library-Reg3
MitchellJim
Library-Law
Moss.Charmagne
Library-Reg9
Nelson.Peg .
Moriarty.Kimberly
PlattenJoan
Pinneil.Uz
ASMD/AREAL
Poore.Linda
Ubraiy^Reg-iV
Ramponi.Lois
Ubrofy-Reg-X
Shellenberger.Dawn
ERL-Athens
Skinner.Lauren
Library-Reg2
Strougal.Patricia
Sullivan. VicW
Library-Ed
TobinJoanne
Urban.llsabe
Valvano.Al
York.Sandy
Young.Lisas •..
Youngen.Greg
Phone
(202) 260-5425
(2ll) 720-5538 • ,
(214) 665-6424
(503) 754^4731
(303)236-5170
(3i2);353^2623 I
(202) 260-3231
(405)436^8505
(513) 569-7183
(202) 260*588 ""I
(202)260-3059
(303)294-1391
(919) 541-2777
(202) 260-2464 :
(702) 798-2648
(617) 573^9687
(401) 782-3025
(212)637-3187
(202)260-1758
(919)968-3849
(913) 551-7358
(919)541-2794
(206) 553-8337
(313)668-4311
(202) 260-2049
(202) 260-3561
(919) 541-2524
(215) 597-7904
(919) 541-2524
(202)260-5919
(363)236-5170
(415) 744-1507
(617)565-3298
(202) 260-8670
(202)260-2060
(904)934-9218
(919) 541-4536
(202) 260-9774
(404^347-4216
(202) 260-2814
(206) 553-2969
(215) 597-6633
(706)546^3362
(410) 573-2603
(212)637-3185
(404) 347-2335 ext. 2133
(202)260-5638
(908) 321-6762
(404) 347-2401 ext. 49
(202)260-0420
(513)589-7300 ". '.'
(303) 840-0464
(202)260-3533
(513) 569-7992
Fax 1
(202) 260-4046
(2183K720&5539V','' *;- •
(214) 665-2146
(503) 75<
-------
EPA LIBRARY NETWORK DIRECTORY OF ILL CONTACTS—MAY 1995
| Region 1— Boston
Judy Saravis"
ERL/Narr— Rose Ann Gamache*
Region 2— New York
Irene Rouse* or Nancy O'Brien*
Edison— Dorothy Szefczyk*
Region 3— Philadelphia
Barbara Brown
CR17 Ann— Lauren Skinner*
Region 4— Atlanta
Kathy Piselli*
ERL/Attiens — Janice Sims
ERL/Gulf— Sonya Doten*
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
RTF Lib— Katie Pathe*
AREAL— Evelyn Poole-Kober
Region 5— Chicago
Pat Magierski*
ERL/Ann— Cindy Livingston*
ERL/Dul— John Bankson*
AWBERC— Louise Gunkel*
Region 6— Dallas
Phyl Barrus* or Sherri Toon*
ERL/Ada— Jessie Choate*
Region 7— Kansas City
Janice Hood*
Region 8— Denver
Peg Hooper*
NEIC— Kazuko Uchida*
Region 9— San Francisco
Erick Harrison*
EMSL/LV— Connie Lyons*
Region 10— Seattle
Mike Martin*
ERL/Corv— Barbara Hagler*
Headquarters— Washington, DC
Headquarters Library— Jennifer Beaufort*
Law Library— Barbara Morrison
Legislative Library-Pam Abraham
OPPT Library— Tiffany Williams*
E-mail
Library-Regl
ERL-Narragansett
E-mail
LJbrary-Reg-2
Library-Ed
E-mail
Brown. BarbaraJ
Skinner.Lauren
E-mail
Piselli. Kathy
ERL-Athens
Pinnell.Liz
E-mail
Pathe.Kathleen
ASMD-AREAL
E-mail
Library-Reg5
Livingston.Cindy
Bankson.John
Gunkel.Louise
E-mail
R6-Library **
RSKERL-Library
E-mail
Library-Reg7
E-mail
Library- Reg8
Library-NEIC
E-mail
Harrison. Erick
Library-LV
E-mail
Library-Reg-X
Hagler.Barbara
E-mail
Beaufort.Jennifer
Library-Law
Platten.Joan
Library-TSCA
Phone
(617) 585-3300
(401) 782-3025
Phone ,
(212) 264-8940
(908) 321-6762
Phone
(215) 597-0580
(410) 573-2603
Phone
(404) 347-4216
(706) 546-3302
(904) 934-9318
Phone
(919) 541-1370
(919)541-4536
Phone
(312)886-7717
(313)668-4311
(218) 720-5538
(513) 569-7701
Phone
(214) 665-6424/6427
(405) 436-8502
Phone
(913) 551-7241
Phone
(303) 294-1389
(303) 236-5170
Phone
(415)744-1511
(702) 798-2646
Phone
(206) 552-2133
(503) 754-4740
Phone
(202) 260-5933
(202) 260-5919
(202) 260-5425
(202) 260-3944
Fax
(617) 565-9067
(401) 782-3030
Fax
(212) 264-5433
(908) 321-6613
- -fax"""
(215)597-1106
(410) 573-2698
[ jfclX/J^ "~J
(404) 347-4486
(706) 546-201 8
(904) 934-9201
,JFax '_' " '_ _
(919) 541-1405
**
Fax " ."" ^ '".
(312) 353-2001
(313) 668-4368
(218) 720-5539
(513) 569-7709
Fax
(214) 665-2146
(405) 436-8503
Fax
(913) 551-7467
Fax
(303) 391-6216
(303)236-3218
Fax ~ -""
(415) 744-1474
(702) 798-2622
Fax
(206) 553-8509
(503) 754-4799
Fax /
(202)260-5153
(202) 260-8046
(202) 260-8866
(202) 260-4659
= contractor
= Prefers E-mail requests rather than Fax requests
= Prefers Fax requests rather than E-mail requests
------- |