Catalist
Stan Moreo did an excellent job putting on the second annual
Libraries and the Microcomputer meeting in Champaign the three days
directly preceeding AASL. Attnedance overall was up (although the
school crowd was down for obvious reasons) . I did sessions on
overdue a catalog card production, and one on the clearinghouse.
Many other WLN (not the bibliographic utility) reader’s were present
and it was good to see old friends. The dates for next year, so you
don’t miss this outstanding event, are September 15 – 17 1985.
What’s new Eric?
3 ½ drive for my “c”
Haba Systems has released 3 ½” drives for the Apple II family.
Plug compatible with a c you get 320K of storage, PRODOS compatible,
and the retail of $495. I wonder what the street price for these
are – and one will be my first “c” addition. (Haba Systems, 15154
Stagg Street, Van Nuys, CA 91405)
Man. Bytes, Dog
Less than five days after the last issue of WLN (not the
bibliographic utility) hit the post office inslot, Joan Spencer of
the Joliet Public Library sent us the citation. I was right – it
was a highbrow eastern rag – and if you want to read a classic piece
of micro writing scope out Man, Bytes, Dog in the July 2 84 issue of
The New Yorker. It will be worth your while.
Softalk replacement
We received a letter today saying that the old standby, Softalk
subscription was replaced by A+. Only if they bring over DOSTALK
will it be a “worthy substitute”, to use their words.
School Library Journal; ancient again
I received many comments on my piece last month about the absolute
dog job done by School Library Journal with their recent movement
toward providing librarians with reviews they can use Everybody
said the same thing: we were excited until we saw the reviews.
“What ancient stuff”. Needless to say their second offering
followed the antiquated tradition they started. Maybe old stuff is
the only stuff they can cope with. I am about ready to quit holding
my breath.
Blue Blues
Some of the participants in the Berkley Blue group still report that
they don’t have all of their hardware. Awful tough to stick the HAL
stickers on the Epson printers. Latest word also indicates that the
Blues Buster campaign doesn’t need any steam; all you have to do is
look at junior to buy anything else.
A mandate for micro based library management
In a disjointed way, over the years, we have tried to express some
concern over the development trends micro vendors have provided us
for solution. The Atlanta show was a landmark: the players have
been in it long enough to feel the reins and hear their user’s
comments and fine tune their systems. Since 99% of the libraries
who can use the micro to solve their problems haven’t gotten in
their game, we would like to provide some mandates for developer’s
to consider.
“Catalog Card Screens”
Library users are just that: none of the mini systems picked up on
the idea of giving people screens that look like catalog cards. How
shocking it might be for the big boys if micro based screens looked
like catalog cards. Data base junkies already have micros: the
common person needs something they are used to.
“Common Bibliographic Records”
When we can avoid keying we are 90% home. We buy catalog cards from
vendors with books, I want vendors to provide downloadable records
for all of my new stuff (not to mention bringing a system up) and
the only way it will happen is with a common record format. We are
not going to have MARC, why not make everybody’s life easier by
having a common format? I am really going out on the limb, but
that’s not new for WLN (not the bibliographic utility). Not only
that it will make sharing data among libraries a great deal easier.
