Broken Hearts are for Hackers  (Feb 85)

Library Micro News

Even though it is frigid outside (read 24 below) things have been hopping here at the old WLN (not the bibliographic utility offices).  We are totally Mac attacked and once you work on the machine you find it hard to work on anything else.  This may be the last issue of WLN done the ][family; some folks in Boston have developed some software to let me get the margins out to .2 and include graphics in the middle of text: if it would works when it arrives this will be the last issue done on the old guard.  What’s Becky going to do with two computers????

            Library Microcomputer Management Symposium

There’s still plenty of time to join us at the Hyatt-Ohare on Saturday February 23^rd in conjunction with III.  In one day, all in one place you can view the major circ vendors all in a row.  At 8:30 I am going to lead off with the questions I’d ask the vendor; 9:00 brings Follett Book Trak; 10:00 is Gaylord’s GS900; 11:00 is Library Software Co.’s Circulation Plus; 12: is Scribe’s Innovation 45 Plus and 1:00 will be Winnebago’s Library Circulation System.

     Since you’re coming to town for this, make it a real weekend and join the vendors for roundtable disk session with Kay Hick’s MICRO IDEAS Library User’s Group on Friday the 22^nd.  We will be at the Arlington Park Hilton at 3:30 for a discussion loosely centered around the topic “Library microcomputing: Where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

     For the first time east of the Mississippi you’ll be afforded the opportunity to see the best micro based circ systems lined up like ducks on a pond.  If you can’t make your mind up after seeing these…….

            Electronic Bookshelf released……

By the time you read this Jerry and Rosie Carter will finally have started shipping Electronic Bookshelf.  It allows you to manage reading contests by generating five questions from a bank of thirty on a particular title the students claim they read.  If the answer three questions correctly the computer makes a record and at your leisure you can print out a list of who did what.  You can use these lists for prizes or whatever your big heart desires.  Anybody who runs a reading program should have this title.  There are thirteen data disks (with the title question banks already made up) and an editor for you to create your own.  And who says an Apple has nothing to do in a public library…(Rural Rte. 9,.  Box 64, Frankfort IN  46041)

            Reference Search

Sunburst has been announcing the release I their catalogs for a little while now, but I just finished with the betas so I can assume that sometime in February you will be able to start laying your paws on Ann Lathrop’s marvelous Reference Search software.  It is a tool that allows kids to get subject access to your catalog.  You have to spend some time entering your titles in, but the effort is worth it.  The kids come up, pick a subject area and the computer spits out whatcha got.  If you have a printer hooked up it will even dump it there so the rugrat can take a piece of paper to the shelf.  When it gets out of beta it may have two stars.

            Shelving Books the LC way…..

When Woodski over at the bible of Lisci sent this one over, all I could think of was doo wad diddy dewey.  It’s an offering the folks at the Learning Resource Center at the Southwestern Oregon Community College (Coos Bay, OR  97420) developed to train their staff to shelve stuff.  The only thing that keeps me from using it that it only works with the LC persuasion.  For those of you who have to train folks (or perhaps locate??) this title is an excellent offering.  For thirty bucks it could save a lot of your trained staff time, and five levels provide more than a challenge, especially for a guy who hasn’t seen LC since his Rosary grad school days.

            Lores Graphic Plotter

Alberta Courseware Evaluations

David Wighton, the clearinghouse manager at the Alberta Department of Education sent the 1984 edition of their Computer Courseware Evaluations.  We met again in San Mateo and these folks have the highest standards for evaluating courseware I think I have run into.  You can order your own copy for $10 for School Bank Branch, Alberta Education, 10410 121 St., Edmonton, Alberta T5N 1L2.

            How bad is Blue hurting???  looks real bad

We love to banter back and forth the ability or lack there off of the blue meanies to penetrate the educational micro market.  The PC is overpriced and the jr. is a day late and a dollar short.  I am not sure that this is the beginning of the blue end or some guy trying to clean off his shelves, but I got a real nice packet at school offering some very interesting deals.  Full working versions of Open Access for $75 rather than $695; Aladin for $60 rather than $795 and Supercalc 3 for $37.50 rather than $395.  The offer was for “educator’s only”.  I wonder if they are giving it away because it won’t run under DOS 3.0 or because it’s their last breath.  The latter seems hard to believe (blues never die, they just never get upgraded) but the pirate flag just went up another couple of notches.

            Apple Access

Michael McAffee has put together yet another bibliographic tool for fruit owners.  Entitled Apple Access this is a subject arranged index to citations.  It’s keyword oriented, displaying title, page, source, date and form.  There are more than twenty categories in this semi-annual. Volume I covers Jan-June 84 and he hopes to keep up the pace.  It includes obscure (‘cause there not standard hacker reading) references like Newsweek and has some interesting sections such as maintenance and repair, indexes and directories, buyers guides and lexicons.  It’s $21 from Stony Point Publications, Box 4467, Petaluma, CA  94953.

            BRS Biblio Link

VR over at Personal Bibliographic Software informed WLN (not the bibliographic utility) that his popular program Biblio Link now allows users to download BRS info directly into PBS.

            CILMUG meeting

Randi and Lori, down at the Parlin-Ingersoll Library were kind enough to sent the newsletter of the Central Illinois Library Microcomputer Users Group which contained details of their second meeting.  They will meet again Friday, March 15 at the Illinois Valley Library System in Pekin.  If you’re in the area phone Randy Wilson or Lori Logsdon in Canton at 309-647-0328 for complete details.

            Walking by a library on a snowy evening

Infoworld   Thursday just isn’t Thursday without it.  Dvorak first (inside the back cover) then front to back, page by page, letter by letter.  I ignore anything tainted by the qualifier MS-DOS, but then it’s my newsletter.

     Byte    Once a month I at least make it through Jerry Pournelle and the Chaos Manor report.  Most of the other stuff goes right over the grey stuff but you must remember I gave up writing code and wire wrapping simultaneously one evening in late 1982.

     Book Report.   Every other month you get to read Carolyn’s fine job on editing Wired Librarian stuff; the software reviews are lengthy and it’s even got other library ideas of the non-wired variety.

     Booklist   Every other month there are more up to date software reviews here than in any other library journal (oh Reneski, what a pun.   Anybody else catch it?)  Even computer book reviews.  And for only $33 a year.  Such a deal.  Can I get you one in a 44 portly?

     CMC News   For those of you looking for an above ground school oriented micro journal there is none better.  If Deacon goes to monthly (it has always been quarterly) I’m dead in the water.

     Apple Library User’s Group Newsletter   It’s publication schedule is erratic (even worse than WLN (not the bibliographic utility) but Monica does a dynamite job (if only we could get the fruit company to get a library marketing person).  Another thing that merits the Wired Librarian’s Seal of Approval is it’s free.  Write for yours today: Monica Ertel, Corporate documentation 26B; Apple Computer Inc. 20650 Valley Green Drive, Cupertino CA  95014.

     The Computing Teacher  The granddaddy (ok Sharon I’m off on one of my sexist trips again) of educational computing journals it’s tight, light and heady all in one.  Guru Morsound (FYI: Guru is one step above wizard) edits the conscience of educational computing.  Without it I am dead in the water.

     Library Currents   They keep up with stuff, although sometimes it is mini stuff.

     Media and Methods  Not hardcore hacker stuff but Caputo’s editorials (very rarely micro) are worth reading.

     Playboy  Their software adds are outasight.  Featured a programmer in the center once.

     Small Computers in Libraries   Really needs to be retitled Digest of Product Announcements but recent changes indicate improvement on the horizon.

     OK That’s the good stuff.  Now for the pulp that clutters my desk

     Electronic Learning    They lost all points when they gave folks a budget to buy software and five of the six bought their version of Bank Street Writer rather than the Broderbund one that is $30 bucks cheaper.  I suppose if you have a chart mind you can live withit – remember it’s just the Weekly Reader for the technically hyped administrators.

     School Library Journal    Antideluvian software reviews and no replies to my letters.  One more and there out.

     Suzy does Syracuse    A bulletin boards in upstate NY dedicated to the proposition that nobody needs libraries anymore.  Use your Zambesie-English dictionary when connecting to this one.

     Classroom Computer Learning.  Correct me if I am wrong but they are the folks that sponsored the contest for the nicest looking computer room.  DP is the place, and I am sure yours is just as bad as mine where you can barely see the Keyboard except on Friday when you push all of the stuff of the top into the drawers.

 In the real world

     Dave Friday (Infoworld  Jan 21 85 p.8) has a marvelous piece entitled “But Everybody Does it, Do you”.  A must read (By the way Dave we haven’t published any parms since August of ’83-

you are absolutely right;  they are dangerous and destructive)

     John Verity and Willie Schatz have an interesting piece called “Fast break in Armonk” (Datamation Jan 1 85 p. 68-74) with a little insight into the blue mentality.

     John Dvorak (Inforworld Dec 24, 84 p.64) finally learns how to party.  He should come to some library shows and be part of the Wired Librarian’s Intellectual Development and Social Hour – you’all are invited too.  Hey John, can I get an invite for the Chicago CES?

     Your own 512 Mac Upgrade?  Rumor report there are complete directions in the Jan ’85 Dr. Dobs to make your Mac fat on your own at one third the price – the same grapevine says that TP (aka soldering iron wizard) thinks its risky.  Go on your own with this one.

            Template Clearinghouse

Things are still cooking, and interest is still strong.  The Appleworks templates have been added (there are ten) ranging from an Ordering spreadsheet to a micro software data base.  All ten files fit on one disk and it costs $5.  Order directly from Micro Libraries.

     Tom Hanifan, a DB Master Wizard has also added his templates to the collection.  These fine new additions (I got off just looking at them) include: Acquisitions (DB018) Borrower File (DB019) Continuations (DB020) Overdues (DB021) Pamphlets (DB022) Serials  (DB023).  Each template is $7.50 and may be ordered directly from Micro Libraries.

     Appleworks has been out long enough that some you surely have developed templates to handle some of your tasks.  We wish you’d consider adding them, or any Visicalc or DB Master templates to the collection.  We’d appreciate hearing from you at Micro Libraries  145 Marcia Drive, Freeport IL 61032.

The Mac Page

Only in the Wired Librarian’s Newsletter

     If you’re still in the 128K world, I highly suggest you move up to the fatski and find yourself a ram driver.  You load you applications into the higher 316K and move like a bunny on the operative end of a 10 gauge.  Change a font and it’s done almost as quick s you can get your finger off the button; change a tool in MacDaint and it’s changed.  Print a document and it start’s off right away because it writes to RAM rather than a disk.  Whew……..blow you away!!!

     The large truck drove by and left a new version of MacWrite: it spools to disk so that you can have up to 100 page documents (the numbering is something like3.4) and the underground reports that higher numbers (like 3.8) even allow you to center a line without pulling down a ruler.  These underground versions massage old files and make them unreadable to 2.9 or less.  This has caused some problems because above ground versions of MegaMerge and Hayden’s Speller are designed for the old files.  When I called with the problems, the producers just sighed and said “How can we release software to work with software that hasn’t been released yet?”  There point is right and when I get their updates, and the official fruit company ones, we’ll comment.  I did use the Hayden Speller with an old file, and it is slick!!!more later.

     Overvue from Provue Development is funky combination between a spreadsheet and a data base.  It is Quick, and you can run all sorts of totals.  It’s got some features I love:  Overvue will try and figure out a sequence and number records or insert dates in a file to speed keying.  The one problem that the really need to work on is that it does not support the “clipboard”  and you cannot directly carry things over on the Mac’s built in pipeline.

     MegaForm, from Megahaus, is part of the “Mega”line, accepting data from MegaFile, but it will fry your perspective of what software should be.  It’s 512K only (and really works best with a second drive, especially at print time) but am I glad my Mac is fast.  You use MacDaint tools to create a form: like your budget or an expense report (the sample disk has a 1040 tax form that will make the IRS think twice about the way it does business) or whatever.  After the form is designed you can treat it just like a spreadsheet!!!!

Compbine that with data from MegaFiler and inventory will just never be the same at the old chat of the month club.

     The Hayden Da Vinci series will keep MacArtists up all night.  The Building Blocks and Landscapes disks are intense art with the intent of letting you use their talents to come up with drawings – and what an assortment.  The Commercial Interiors disk is even more exciting: it provides a font of office furniture that lets your keeboard become an office supply store!  There are several grids ¼ and 1/16) that allow you make outrageous drawings!!!

     I keep promising that we will have the first piece of library management software real soon now, and rest assured that as soon as we get it, WLN (not the bibliographic utility)  will fill you in.   WE ARE THE MAC LIBRARY LEADER AND WE INTEND TO MAC IT TO THE MAX….Eat your rom out blue…

    In like a lamb, out like a 68000: March 85 (next issue)

A wrap up of the symposium (Feb 23, Hyatt Ohare for those of you who have yet to make your reservations) or How the west coasts likes Illinois in February.  Notes from the Mico Ideas Conference (Feb 21 & 22 – Arlington Park Hilton: be there or be hex-dec)

65535

An Index to the Online Issues

1983 - When there were four microcomputers at the ALA show

December 1984

1985 - wow we've got hard drives !!!