The FAT MAC has arrived at Micro Libraries and
we may never go to the golden arches again! I waited for my treat
until it was nice and plump, as I hope all of your Christmas geese
were. I am not sure the better half is impressed that there is
another toy in the trailer (it only comes down for supper) and I am
a little surprised that we can fit four micros in a 7’x14’ trailer
pullout, but that’s my idea of a living room (unfortunately that
opinion is not shared by all).
It is our intention to become the leader in
Library/MAC applications, and in every issue forward you’ll discover
an easy to find page with nothing by MAC Library goodies. Eat your
heart out competition!
MAC is a different world, and I am far from as
comfortable with it as with the old II world. That’s why the rest
of the newsletter is still done on the “c” (and expect it to stay
that way – at least until I can figure out how to get 2 margins on
this thing!) I have played enough with it to wonder why I ever
bothered with any other computer.
I just finished reviewing Filevision for the
bible of lisci (read Booklist) and the MAC world becomes real
apparent. I could never develop this sort of application with DB
Master or the Appleworks data base.
Filevision from Telos is a pictorial data
base. You draw images with a “paint like” tool box and then tie
information to the images. By “clicking on an image Filevision
brings up data on it. The weakest part of the program are the
printed reports: the strongest the ability to hide and highlight
parts for emphasis.
I drew a floorplan of my library out at the
Dakota schools. I split the shelves into cases and labeled each
case with the type of material, the manner in which it was arranged
and where it was indexed. I used a note box for special
restrictions: all of the reference cases state that the materials
may only be checked out overnight. For the periodical back issue
room I created another form, and sure enough you can click on it. I
just wish some of the big libraries I have used had this sort of
tool – it would make one heck of an orientation tool!
Another MAC software item that receives the
Wired Librarian’s seal of Approval is Copy II MAC from Central Point
Software. Backups are (at least for this novice MAC user) one heck
of a lot more important for theMAC then they ever were for the II
familty and Copy II Mac allows you to make “runable” (unlike
standard copies where the copy asks for the original to be inserted
from time to time) copies. It’s already saved my neck a couple of
times.
The grapevine says JAZZ, the Lotus MAC product
is unbelieveable, and as soon as we see it we will let you know.
Currently I am tearing time away from valuable projects to play Run
for the Money and teaching myself to use ThinkTank (I know, I need
it). As more stuff comes in we’ll let you know.
We always begin a new year with resolutions, as I
can think of none better than taking the lead in bringing library
MAC news to librarians. For the hardcore it blows the 8086 family
all to pieces and although it is extremely wasteful of disk space at
present time, the future is gigabytes. Eat your rom out blue……
