Template Reality
Although we still have a
little legal work to do, I cannot convey how excited I am to
announce the creation of the Library Microcomputer
Template Clearinghouse. Two years of hard work and a lot
of getting ticked off at national organizations have finally netted
a little fruit.
Duncan Highsmith, and
some of the other fine folks at the Highsmith Company in Fort
Atkinson, WI, have seen the sense of my proposal and agreed to meet
the expenses of the clearinghouse. Without them, the clearinghouse
would still be an unfulfilled fantasy.
Getting it off the
ground is going to require some help from all of you. A
clearinghouse with no templates is no better than no clearinghouse
at all. Initially we will support Visicalc ™
and DB Master ™
templates for the Apple. If you have a template (or templates) that
work in your library, I would appreciate their donation to the
clearinghouse.
A catalog of donated
templates will be developed. Librarians wishing to use our
collection will be provided this list, and they can choose which
they would like to have. The charge will be $5.00 for a disk of
Visicalc ™ templates (as many as will fit) and $7.50 for DB Master ™ templates. The fees will keep the project going.
If you have ‘em, why not send them to Micro Libraries
145 Marcia Drive, Freeport IL 61032?
If this is going to
work, we all need to work together.
Computer Cat has a new home
Late last month Micro Library Software of Houston Texas purchased
Computer Cat to complement their micro based catalog and
circulation offerings. MLS was the first to beat the keying
game by downloading MARC records into their Micro Cat
system, and the acquisition of Computer Cat should
round out their offerings nicely.
Microcomputer Educators
Jeanne Nolan has joined
forces to form Microcomputer Educators, a group
designed to train librarians in microcomputer use. JN has been
doing a lot of work lately, training (sometimes via
teleconferencing) other librarians. By the time you read this her
new micro software listing should be out, as well as an interesting
volume with critical reviews of library software from their users.
I don’t know the price but I am sure they’ll accept an order at
Nolan Information Services,
21203-A Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 5323,
Torrance, CA 90509. 213-259-3329.
User’s Groups
No matter how good the
programming, systems often run into problems. The time honored
tradition is to form a user’s group, so the experience of many will
help all. Last month I received the second edition of the
Computer Cat newsletter and also the first edition of the
Book Trak newsletter. Both contained valuable hints
as to getting more out of the system, and problems that had crept up
in program operation. User support is more important than any other
factor in a “running with the big boys” system. I am glad to see
this kind of development. If any of the other vendors have such
activities going on, I’d love to hear of them.
Hello Central
I spent some time reviewing communications packages for
the bible of lisci. Not being fortunate enough to live in a
metropolitan area, my biggest problem was the high phone bill
(absolutely everything is long distance and out here MCI is a dog
food.)
I want to stress that I
am not a communications junkie. It is going to be more important,
and even though I dream of war games computer to computer
communication is more important for the travel department of (WLN:Not
the bibliographic utility) at the present. What I look for in a
communications package can be put simply: it must be menu driven,
simple to operate, allow for the creation of macros, set up defaults
for auto connects, and have a decent text editor.
I was very pleased by a
package from Howard Sams software entitled Hello Central.
It met all my criteria, performed well under the stressfull 300 baud
limits of the tin cans strung between paper cups that is sold to us
as a phone system out here. It doesn’t have a lot of whistles and
bells but worked very well in my trials. So much for intensity.
