News Library News Online
Vol. 22, No. 3/Spring 2000

Table of Contents
Regular Features

New This Month

News Library News
SLA News Division Home

 

Tech Tips
By Laura Mann 

On a recent lecture tour, John Morse, publisher of the 10th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary spoke about the Dictionary, the editing process, and the social and technological changes that are shaping our language. Morse reports that about 100 new words are being added to the dictionary annually, including techie words like "spam" (e-mail, not lunch-related), "browser", and "gigaflops."  Newslibbers everywhere will breathe a collective sigh of relief to hear Morse predict that one word we all came to dread in 1999 will never make it into the Dictionary’s hallowed pages.  What word will disappear from memory in a year or two?  "Trust me on this,"  Morse states, "Y2K."  Hallelujah!  If early January 2000 comments on the News Library listserv are any indication, he may be right.  While some minor and annoying glitches were reported,  most problems were easily fixed. Tim Rozgonyi of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on January 3rd that his MediaStream library system could not search for dates in the year 2000. He added, however, that MediaStream worked quickly to solve the problem. Rozgonyi states, "I actually just got a call from one of our reporters. Looks like we’re going to write this up for the paper as an example of a Y2K glitch.  That shows you how quiet things have been on the whole."

Pete Basofin of the Sacramento Bee reports that his library has just installed the KwikDISC CD-ROM storage system, a 25-gigabyte stand-alone hard drive that serves up CDs (up to 250 of them) to workstations on a network. Basofin explains, "KwikDISC doesn’t store physical CD-ROMs, but images, or copies, their contents to the drive. Because the material is in a drive rather than a CD player, response time is faster and more people can use it at the same time.  Since there is no monitor or keyboard, KwikDISC is administered through a web interface on another machine."  Basofin wanted to provide reporters with dictionaries, encyclopedias, PhoneDisc, and other programs from a central server. He states, "This seemed to be a better solution than a CD tower." He cautions, however, that many of these products also require expensive networking licenses if used in this manner. Basofin continues, "The product we most wanted on the network is TraceWizard National Residential Locator, a 19-CD database of names, addresses, phones, and some DOBs.   The data is derived from public directories, voter registration and marketing lists, with some unlisted phone numbers. It’s not as good a people-finder as AutoTrak, CDBInfotek, etc., but it’s a good tool to make available on every reporter’s PC."   Basofin feels that both KwikDISC and TraceWizard are not easy to set up. He states, "I spent a lot of time calling product tech support, but I think it was worth the time and trouble. I just wish these CD products would run on the Intranet.  I know there are ways to web-enable CD-ROMs through third-party software, but I’ve heard they are slow and problematic."  More information on these products can be found at http://www.boffin.com/products/kwikdisc/ and http://www.merlindata.com/TWFromCatalog.html.
 
Inmagic, Inc., of Woburn, MA, a leading developer of library automation and information management software, has announced the release of BiblioTech PRO version 2.0.   Inmagic’s products offer companies Internet, Intranet, and PC-enabled solutions for managing large volumes of text-based or multimedia information.   BiblioTech PRO version 2.0 is a fully integrated library system (ILS) powered by Progress Version 9.0 software, and can operate in a Windows NT, UNIX, LINUX or AS400 environment. Product features include a 32-bit desktop for the Windows interface, and Progress WebSpeed version 3.0, providing advanced browser support for the web-searching interface.  Standard modules include cataloging and record update, indexing and searching across one or more indices, and an ANSI-standard thesaurus.  Optional modules include procurement and accounting, integrated serials management and circulation management.  Available utilities include data conversion and downloading interfaces, security control at the document level, batch uploading options, e-commerce and Intranet/Internet access using any browser. Inmagic, Inc.’s customers include more than 15,000 special libraries in more than 50 countries. For more information, check out  http://www.inmagic.com, or contact Inmagic at 800-229-8398.

Any finally, last year, we reported here that several papers in the U.S. were set to replace their current pagination systems. In 1998, executives at Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., decided to switch from the Atex system they had used for years, to the Hermes system, designed by an Italian company owned by Unisys.  For a candid look at the bumpy road encountered by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News in switching over to the new system, read "A Bad Case of Hermes" at http://www.citypaper.net/articles/022400/cb.onmedia.shtml.    Hermes has been blamed for many hours of staffer frustration, as well as one very embarrassing and widely reported Inquirer misprint.  The article concedes, however, that, Unisys has been very responsive in efforts to make the system more user-friendly.
 
Laura Mann is a researcher at Newsday. Her email is lmann@newsday.com


News Library News
SLA News Division Home

The page was reformatted on 4/8/03. The content, including URLs and contact information, on this page has not been updated to preserve the historical record.

Comments about News Library News should go to the editor.
Comments about the Web site should go to the Webmaster: newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com