Gilreath, 'Network', NCSU Libraries Newsletter v19n06 (April 1992)
 
_The NCSU Libraries Newsletter_
Volume 19 no. 6
April 1992
Gilreath, Charles L.01
"Network Access to CD-ROM Databases"


Over the next several months, the NCSU Libraries will be 
implementing its new online information system and users 
will start to capitalize on features the new system provides.  
As a foretaste of those features, the library is undertaking a 
number of pilot projects that will both extend resources and 
broaden accessibility to its users.  One of the new projects, 
discussed in the March 1992 _Newsletter_ in the article 
entitled "Introducing UnCover," is explored further in this 
issue in the article "About UnCover."

A second pilot project being offered is NETWORK ACCESS TO 
CD-ROM DATABASES.  For reference tools, CD-ROM technology 
is an ideal medium for storing vast quantities of text for 
searching via a personal computer, and NCSU students and 
faculty have embraced these new services.  Needless to say, 
competition for time at CD-ROM stations is often keen.

So far, access to the library's compact disc services has 
required that users actually come into a library facility and 
conduct a search at one of the machines there.  By late spring, 
however, the Libraries will begin initial testing of a pilot 
service that will make two databases available on the campus 
network.  The two databases, _Applied Science and Technology 
Index_ and _EI Page One_, will be mounted on equipment in the 
library that can be accessed by any terminal with X-windows 
and capable of communicating on the campus network.

Although these resources will be potentially accessible by any 
user on the network, the equipment on which they will be 
mounted can accommodate only one user on the system at a 
time.  To reduce the frustration of users vying for access to 
the indexes, senior design students in the Department of 
Electrical and Computer Engineering have been working with 
library staff throughout the year to implement a scheduling 
program that will enable users to reserve search time as much 
as two weeks in advance.

The indexes that will be mounted in the network pilot project 
were chosen to complement each other.  _Applied Science and 
Technology Index_ is a long-established, standard reference 
tool providing nine years' worth of indexing for a broad range 
of widely owned scientific and technical journals.  _EI Page 
One_, in contrast, provides intensive coverage of the tables of 
contents of engineering journals and conference proceedings 
published in the past twenty-four months.  Both services allow 
the user to search by author, title, and keyword.