Next: Does The Discussion Fit Up: Electronic Publications Evaluation Previous: Summarize And Tabulate The Contents

Subsections

Summarize The Content Of The Discussion

CWIS-L: Student Computer Fee?

This thread began when Dr. Phillip Long of the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn wrote in to compare notes with colleagues about charging a `technology fee' to students to help support electronic information services on campus (e.g. the InfoUCLA CWIS or GSLIS Gopher). It appears to be an unprovoked topic. Three people responded with explanations of similar policies at their own or neighboring campuses. One respondent from New York mentioned that entering students are required to purchase a certain model of laptop computer and software upon enrollment at the school, which they then use to search the library catalog and CWIS. Someone wanted details about this, so the final message in the thread explains the details of this mandatory-laptop policy.

I would characterize this sort of topic as a Policy Comparison, in which an individual or group sends out `feelers' on the net, in an attempt to learn from the mistakes and successes of others before implementing their own policy. Here is a chart of current topics on the CWIS-L list, with the number of topics in each thread displayed on the left hand side of each thread title. Our focal topic is in boldface type.

bit.listserv.cwis-l (18T 41A 4K 0H R)                h=help
===============================================================================
     1  + 8  Complete course catalogs online via Gopher or Web?
     2  + 3  Needs
     3  +    Commercial Entities on CWIS's
     4  +    unsubscription
     5  + 2  subscription
     6  +    News Services
     7  + 2  Gopher+ and Forms
     8  + 6  Central campus calendar/CWIS index
     9  +    OS/2 Gopher Server NNTP Gateway Question
    10  +    Cello v1.0 released
    11  + 4  Hunting for Hunt Helpers
    12  + 5  Student Computer Fee
    13  +    January Hunt Results (at last)
    14  +    ASIS Mid-Year Meeting
    15  +    Subscribe
    16  +    Subscription to CWIS-L
    <n>=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select,
  a)uthor search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)ist thread,
    |=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post

Pacs-L: Libraries of the Future

This topic was posted, out of the blue, by a husband and wife without net-access. I would characterize it as a `what would you do in our shoes?' Request. The two are involved in the design of a new library for their small town, and asked the PACS-L list:

``What is the physical appearance of a future library going to look like?'' My contention is that on one hand the funds to build could just as well go into equipping everyone's home with a PC or interactive terminal and CD ROM and do away with the building with the books.

The message was posted on their behalf, appropriately enough, by the ``Networked Information Access Coordinator'' at UCSB. The first respondent appears to be a LIS student from Texas named Trudy Lamb. Her response included five key points of advice based on her recent research. Another respondent added that ``the new library at IUPUI'' has some interesting techno-plans worth looking into. I hope the non-net recipients of this message can decipher that acronym (I sure can't!). To close the thread, the Billy Barron made a ``Teleread'' policy document available to members of the listserv via his ftp site. I wonder if the original information seekers will ever get to see this document. Below is a snapshot of the recent threads of discussion on the PACS-L Listserv:

bit.listserv.pacs-l (85T 96A 0K 0H R)                h=help
===============================================================================
    33  +    Commentary on FINS, Vol.2, No.4
    34  + 4  Libraries of the Future
    35  +    Internet Training
    36  +    Position Vacancy
    37  +    Vacancy Announcment
    38  +    New System at LPI
    39  +    Internet access using Windows
    40  +    GOPHERS & OTHER SERVERS of SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES
    41  +    ALAO Workshop on Communication Skills, 3/11/94
    42  +    International Centre for Distance Learning - Database
    43  +    New Electronic Math Journal
    44  +    POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS- MS, IL, TX
    45  +    email to S.Africa
    46  +    Internet access for public libraries
    47  +    President's Day Etext of FDR
    48  +    MaasInfo net-indexes&documents, what they are, where to find them
    <n>=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select,
  a)uthor search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)ist thread,
    |=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post

alt.culture.usenet: Death of the Net?

This group and thread are an electronic publication that could play an important role in library automation. As soon as our Internet is gone, so are all of the listserv subscriptions and Internet access to library catalogs! This alt.culture.usenet group and dozens of the other 6,000+ available newsgroups a valuable supplement the library-only e-mail lists. The Usenet groups tend to offer a wider range of topics, diverse respondents, and differing opinions.

I joined this thread of discussion, in-progress, while it was comparing the demise of public transportation in L.A. to the anticipated demise of the Internet. The gist of the conversation has ranged from: censorship-to-kids-using-the-internet-to-Al-Gore's-speech-at-UCLA-to-Effect-of-new-users-on-the-Net-to-information-access-for-kids-to-corporate-sponsorship-of-NREN-and-last-night-it-was-back-to-the-L.A.-streetcar-analogy. All of these messages are loosely tied to the theme of (potential) Internet demise. None of the issues are resolved. I would characterize this thread as a true conversation--people express much more reaction, emotion, and opinion than I observed on any of the six library listserver sources I regularly read. In addition to the original thread of conversation, several `child' threads, tangent to this ongoing conversation, have spun off, and are italicized in the screen capture below:

alt.culture.usenet (58T 256A 0K 0H R)                h=help
===============================================================================
    17  +    post Usenet via e-mail?
    18  + 6  Your Help = Free Book
    19  +    Reply from Andrews about C. Thomas, ex orion admin
    20  +    immenent drowning of the net in sticky brown liquid
    21  +    LOOKING FOR 2600 readers & PHREAKS
    22  + 75 Imminent Death of the Net?
    23  + 4  myth about the joys of "reference threading"
    24  +    Introduction to Blacknet
    25  + 5  Is personal email withering?
    26  + 7  Imminent Death of the Net? (2 cheep to meter ?)
    27  +    Public transport in L.A. nonexistant? (Re: Imminent Death of the 
    28  +    Kids on the net
    29  + 36 net.bigots (was Re: Imminent Death of the Net?)
    30  +    Imminent Death of the Net?  was Re: wwwaaaaAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!!!
    31  +    The true dynamics of Usenet (was: no other zoos posting?)
    32  +    >>dead.artist<<
    <n>=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select,
  a)uthor search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)ist thread,
    |=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post

Next: Does The Discussion Fit Up: Electronic Publications Evaluation Previous: Summarize And Tabulate The Contents

sean dreilinger