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November 1994 LANL Research Library Monthly Newsletter
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ASK - Anomalous State of Knowledge: An anomaly in one's state of knowledge, or lack of
knowledge, with respect to a problem faced. The start of the information retrieval
process. Call 7-5809 or e-mail ref@lanl.gov to ASK.
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1. The Library without Walls project
2. Electronic subscriptions to Library publications
3. Current awareness on Lexis/Nexis
4. New databases appearing on LIBNET
5. End-user accounts on Dialog, STN and Compuserve
6. November training opportunities
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1. The Library without Walls Project
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The LANL Research Library's vision for library services seeks to combine the best
information resources, staff, and technology to deliver world-class service to our
research community. It embodies the belief that we will become a leader in providing
access to global electronic information resources only by anticipating and meeting our
customers' needs. One manifestation of those needs is the delivery of information to the
researchers' desktops -- wherever and whenever they need it -- from digital library
resources. This is the essence of the Library without Walls.
Several key goals define the Library without Walls initiative:
1. The virtual library is not a single entity at Los Alamos but requires the seamless
integration of other virtual library resources through technology linkages;
2. Worldwide access to the digital resources of the Research Library and the Laboratory's
scientific research;
3. The convergence of a multitude of distinct efforts, encompassing a variety of
dimensions will be required;
4. New multi-media, inter-active compound documents and digital artifacts that extend
beyond the linear capabilities represented by print publications must be incorporated;
5. Systems and products will need to be measured by their ability to facilitate new forms
of collaboration among our users.
The long term goal is the creation of a network of knowledge systems and machines which facilitate collaboration between people.
Current Projects
The heterogeneous computing environment at LANL places a premium on the ability to deliver services across multiple platforms via TCP/IP. The exponential growth of the WorldWideWeb, with Mosaic as a preferred client tool, has significant implications for library access and project application developments. Consequently, ubiquitous access to the Web, with clients like Mosaic, are driving several efforts to provide library information through Mosaic to the desktop.
Access to Published Literature via Mosaic
Access to published literature in the form of indexes, abstracts and alert services remains vital to keep pace with developing multidisciplinary research. While the Research Library has invested heavily in CD-ROM products which provide access to indexes, abstracts and full-text images, mixing a variety of CD-ROM products from different providers such as Dialog, ISI, SilverPlatter, UMI, and others, creates severe limitations attempting to search across multiple disks or databases, coupled with the high cost of providing external access. The challenge is how to get beyond these limitations. In order to work within our goal of delivering information services via Mosaic as the client interface, the Research Library embarked on a development effort with the CIC-15 Index team to test the delivery of Science Citation Index (SCI) database via Mosaic, with Verity's Topic serving as the database engine underneath Mosaic. SCI was chosen for the pilot effort due to the comprehensive range of science which it covers, the corresponding appeal to the inter-disciplinary research interests of the Laboratory, and the proven value of citation trails.
A prototype of the database with abstracts is now running in a test mode and we have completed arrangements to license SCI data back through 1985. The pilot effort successfully demonstrated the ability to parse the data into the format required by Topic and integrate search results in the HTML format required by Mosaic. Of research interest is the fact that this database grows rapidly (80 MB weekly) and the full set is large enough to require parallel processing to support broad multi-year queries.
Mounting other index and abstract databases is progressing simultaneously. The Research Library is involved in an effort to load the Energy Database (EDB), produced by DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information and the index to UMI's ABI Inform, as citation databases using Geac Advance. The EDB is a multidisciplinary database of 2.5 million records containing references to information related to energy research and technology from worldwide sources. ABI Inform is a full image database of business periodicals.
Mosaic Access to Online Catalog
The Library is experimenting with a Mosaic interface to its online catalog via a Z39.50 connection through the Advance system. This effort will allow the EDB and ABI Inform databases to be accessible to LANL researchers through Mosaic. As a part of the cooperative development efforts between Geac (our library system supplier) and Los Alamos, the Z39.50 work will be extended to connect to other Z39.50 library servers outside the Laboratory, thereby providing a common interface to heterogeneous external library catalogs.
Image Database of Technical Reports
Users clearly want access to end-products rather than information about the end-products. To meet this expectation we must solve the issues surrounding access to and retrieval of full images. Library without Walls projects are tackling these issues by providing desktop digital access to unclassified Los Alamos technical report images. The initial goal is to put the full text and scanned page images of over 5,000 Los Alamos technical reports into a locally mounted server with an easy to use retrieval protocol. Unclassified Los Alamos technical reports are a logical beginning step to develop and test these capabilities because they are a part of our institutional memory and no copyright issues exist.
The LA technical reports go back to 1943 and contain reports of research, conference proceedings, and environmental reports. Furthermore, this effort will support our goal of making the products of Los Alamos scientific research widely available to the public. Some of the more complex research and development issues this project faces include: supporting viewers that will work well on virtually any network machine over the Internet; navigating through large image and text files; authenticating archival digital reports; high quality production scanning and OCRing of microfiche and old paper archives; and finding cost-effective and high performance storage for very large archive image files.
Preprints
A science library's ability to provide access to preprint literature is strategic to address the issue of timely communication of scholarly research. Leveraging the work of Paul Ginsparg in T-8, the Research Library is providing support to Paul to staff the operations and further development of the preprint system developed at LANL (xxx.lanl.gov). We are interested in both scientific communications archiving and electronic publishing. As yet unanswered questions about the future of the system include technical questions, such as what network utilities are best suited for archiving and retrieving information, and social issues such as questions about the need for a review process for submitted papers and whether new forms of peer recognition for authors will be needed.
In the December issue, Allan McKinnon will discuss another current project of the Library without Walls effort. Allan has been successful in getting several laboratory documents electronically accessible via Mosaic. These documents include the newest issue of "Research Highlights" and an issue of "Dateline Los Alamos."
Richard Luce, rick.luce@lanl.gov
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2. Electronic subscriptions to Library publications
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The Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library announces e-mail access to several of
its internal publications via two list-servs.
Lib-New-Books - Weekly list of new books received in the Research Library.
Lib-News - Postings will include the Library Newsletter (a monthly electronic newsletter on library services and information-related topics) and the monthly training schedule for library-offered training ( e.g., Dialog, CD-ROM databases, Gopher resources).
These publications are currently available on the Laboratory's Gopher and World Wide Web server. Now you can receive these publications via e-mail by subscribing to one or both of these list-servs. Subscription selections can be changed at any time.
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to ListManager@ lanl.gov. Leave the subject line blank. The body of the message should contain the SUBSCRIBE message exactly as printed below:
subscribe lib-new-books
end
subscribe lib-news
end
You can subscribe to both lists with the message:
subscribe lib-new-books
subscribe lib-news
end
Once registered as a subscriber, you will receive more detailed instructions on how to use this service. We are very excited about being able to offer this new service and would like your comments so that we can make further improvements. Send comments to ses@lanl.gov.
Frances Knudson, fknudson@lanl.gov
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3. Current awareness on Lexis/Nexis
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How to keep up with changes in the Federal Register or the Code of Federal Regulations?
Legislative actions? Issues reflecting change in science policy? Political speeches?
International affairs? These topics and more can be tracked through the alert service of
Lexis/Nexis, called ECLIPSE, for its Electronic CLIPping SErvice. Similar to the other
alert services previously highlighted in this newsletter, ECLIPSE stores a search
strategy, then, on a regular basis, provides the user with relevant information.
As with other alert services, the establishment of a refined search query is often a multi-part process involving the user and the librarian. Once the search actually is saved, results can be output to the user on a monthly, weekly, business-day or daily basis, according to the user's requirements. The default option for search results is full-text of the article, newswire story or legislative action, which gives the requester not only the references, but the entire article. The New York Times originally provided the backbone of the Nexis service in 1983; coverage now has grown to thousands of wire reports, international and domestic newspapers, magazines, laws and regulations.
If your information needs require continued currency in the types of information described above, perhaps a Lexis/Nexis ECLIPSE would satisfy those demands. Call (7-5809),e-mail (ref@lanl.gov) or stop by the Research Desk to set up your ECLIPSE service today!
Marie Harper, mharper@lanl.gov
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4. New databases appearing on LIBNET
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The LANL Research Library has added a number of new databases to its network, LIBNET. The
databases and the network are available within the Library building 24 hours a day,
without charge, to Laboratory employees. The newly acquired databases are:
Energy Database: Produced by the Department of Energy, this database references unclassified, unlimited technical report literature on all aspects of energy and related technologies. In addition to the materials supplied by the DOE, similar type report references from counterpart agencies around the world are also covered. Included are references from 1974-present; previous LIBNET coverage was the most recent 5 years.
Nuclear Science Abstracts: Similar in scope to the Energy Database, this predecessor includes bibliographic references to nuclear-related technical literature from 1948-1976.
Standard & Poor's: A business directory, listing address, sales, executives and brief financial information for approximately 55,000 public and private American corporations.
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers: This database is the premier source for directory-type information for American and Canadian manufacturers. Approximately 180,000 firms are searchable by name, code, product or location.
Ulrich's Periodical Directory: Essentially a "Books in Print" type access to journals published around the world. Over 100,000 serials from 181 countries are searchable by editor, publisher, title or indexing source.
In approximately the middle of November, LIBNET will make available the full-text compilation of all fifty parts of the Code of Federal Regulations. The networked version of the CFR's is updated more frequently than is the print edition. Heavily utilized parts include the Codes for Energy (10), Labor (29), National Defense (32), the Environment (40) and Transportation (49).
Each of the above mentioned databases will be incorporated into the Research Library's training schedule for December 1994.
Marie Harper, mharper@lanl.gov
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5. End-user accounts on Dialog, STN and Compuserve
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The Research Team is updating all end-user accounts for the database vendors, Dialog, STN
and Compuserve. Every end-user will be contacted either by e-mail or by interoffice mail.
If you have inherited an account on one of these systems and have never had the name
changed, we need to hear from you ASAP. Any accounts for which we can not identify a
current owner will be deactivated. The following are the people to contact:
Dialog - Mona Mosier, mmosier@lanl.gov, 667-5809
Compuserve - Anne Menefee, amenefee@lanl.gov, 667-5809
STN - Frances Knudson, fknudson@lanl.gov, 667-5809
Frances Knudson, fknudson@lanl.gov
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6. November training opportunities
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The training schedule will no longer appear in this newsletter. It has always been
available on the gopher as a separate document. Separating it from the newsletter will
allow us to disseminate the information on a more timely basis.
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