This paper describes the BITNET communications system, a network which links more than 1,000 computers at over 350 institutions of higher education and research centers, including almost 200 in Europe (EARN), Canada (NetNorth), and Japan and the Far East. First, the capabilities of the "store-and-forward" network are described, including…

This digest describes the traditional, new, and emerging points of access to the ERIC system: (1) traditional print access; (2) online access through commercial vendors; (3) CD-ROM; and (4) ERIC Digests Online. Also described are services offered by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources (ERIC/IR) that provide access to the system--ERIC…

This workbook for participants in a 1988 Texas State Library workshop is designed to provide a step by step outline for the full process of bibliographic, item, and patron conversion from paper files to an online environment; to orient participants to various methods and major vendors of bibliographic retrospective conversion; and to provide a…

This manual is intended primarily for libraries that wish to purchase a turnkey automated circulation system and online catalog, but lack the staff, time, and expertise to develop a set of specifications, or the money to hire consultants. Specifications are provided to assist in the selection from several options: (1) development of an in-house…

Intended for librarians familiar with basic online searching techniques and various vendor protocols, this manual describes and illustrates the policies, record-keeping, and forms used by the online services department of the Woodward Library at Austin Peay State University (APSU). Where specific examples are used, they are given with DIALOG…

This progress report delineates activities completed during the first year of a federally funded project to catalog and preserve the Charles Coffin Collection, located in the Tusculum College Library at Greeneville, Tennessee. The Coffin Collection is described as the nearly intact original library of Greeneville College, which was a frontier…

Designed to assist educators in selecting a computer network, this paper contains a listing and description of seven networks that currently exist specifically for educators, and compares the quality of their services in the areas of accessibility, responsiveness, cost, text editing, humanization, guidance and documentation, control, forgiveness…

This study of library requirements for a new circulation system is organized into three sections: (1) items required for initial implementation in July 1982; (2) items relating to notice generation and activity statistics, with implementation expected by fall 1982; and (3) items provided in the system as initially implemented, with additional…

The study reported was conducted at Concordia University after using the CAN/DOC ordering system to procure documents in the sciences directly from the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) to assess the efficiency of interlibrary loan (ILL) procedures using this system. This study focuses on the relative turn-around…

This review of videodisc technology and its potential for use in conjunction with microcomputers in the development of interactive instructional systems includes: a brief discussion of the background and current state-of-the-art of videodisc technology; a review of videodisc formats and the costs and advantages of particular formats in the…

In the fall of 1979 a third-year course in educational administration at the University of Victoria was presented via an interactive communication satellite called Anik B. Students enrolled in this first Canadian university satellite course for credit were 65 administrators and potential administrators of schools, and classes met in community…

This review of the research on subject access to library collections focuses on the problems of and prospects for improved online subject access to library collections. Summaries of the general findings of studies on library catalog use and catalog users and some reasons for the frequent failure of subject searches in library catalogs are followed…

This guide is designed to give persons working with developmentally disabled clients a practical introduction to the strengths and weaknesses of electronic message systems. It supplies answers to questions often asked by human services personnel, and includes brief descriptions of message systems now available or anticipated in the near future.…

Citation indexing, which matches linked articles through links with authors rather than through subject keyword matching, is particularly relevant to educational technology, a widely-spread subject with a special user group of varying interests, difficult to cover in one retrieval service, and whose terminology is often ambiguous. By including…