FYIFrance: networking and Internet at the BibMun de Lyon (pt.1/2) The Bibliothe`que Municipale de Lyon is an institution for which there really is no parallel in the United States. A typical French "bibliothe`que municipale" -- with its closed and restricted stacks, extensive archives, children's activities, general public access collection, and often immense and rich rare items "fonds anciens", and particularly in light of the relative impoverishment of university libraries in that country -- is a cross between what in the US are called "public" and "research" libraries: it might more accurately be called a "state" library in France, for lack of a better term. The New York Public Library offers perhaps the closest US parallel. The BMLyon is one of the largest and best - endowed of the bibliothe`ques municipales in France. The following article, which appears in the current issue of _BBF / The Bulletin des Bibliothe`ques de France_, of the French national library school (Paris: ENSSIB, t.40, no.2, 1995, appearing here, translated by me, with the permission of its author), describes the remarkable project currently under way to bring to this major French library all the benefits, and some of the problems, of computerization, the Internet, and the "Information 'Superhighways' / 'Autoroutes'". North American librarians might be particularly interested in this French library's policy on digital media acquisition and development: "business as usual" is the approach for acquisitions -- the CDROM, for example, "...is not computer equipment, but a document like any other. Its acquisition is a function of subject specialist librarians in collection development", and librarians "...always will be involved in the analysis of content: only the means of gaining access to that content has changed. Their role in the training or education of the public will become important as the networks grow. The public will need assistance to navigate in this environment, which is not yet formalized and which yet contains very few reference points." Jack Kessler kessler@well.sf.ca.us *** The Multimedia Network of the Bibliothe`que Municipale de Lyon: A Summary, and Strategies by Christian Ducharme (translation by Jack Kessler) In 1993, the Bibliothe`que Municipale de Lyon installed a local area network (called the Multimedia Network) to permit the consultation of CD-ROMs, to manage databases of digitized documents, and to provide access to the Internet. After two years of operation, it is possible to present a summary of the techniques and of the impact of these new services on the public and on the professional staff. The decision to create a Multimedia Network at the Bibliothe`que Municipale de Lyon of course was motivated by the desire to extend services to the public, but also by the necessity of experimenting with different methods of collection development and of information retrieval, methods which were starting up at the time and which are in place today. As the network was installed, the following question were asked: will CD-ROM asssume a significant role in the publishing market? Considering the immense size of collections, what documents should be given priority for digitization? What is the position of a large public library, like that of Lyon, in the face of phenomena like the "virtual library" and the Internet? How will the public react to documentation which is electronic and virtual? In the course of this experiment, the strategies adopted envisaged, among other things, access to a range of information that would be as large as possible, using a workstation attached to the network. Ultimately, it was hoped, the public, from a multimedia workstation, would be able to navigate from one document environment to another, capturing any information desired (as either text or graphics, in local databases or remote), and building a personal file to print or to save to disk. Another reason which motivated the library was a desire to experiment with these new information technologies. The basic information system of the library is old. The system, a GEAC GLIS, designed in the 1970s, no longer is being developed significantly. GEAC is offering other products now, which rely on more modern technology. A new information system will be installed at the beginning of 1996, one which must use a high - speed network, permit information search and retrieval on distributed databases, and offer database management for digitized documents. In this sense, the Multimedia Network, which integrates these functions, prefigures the change of the basic information system of the library. The Technical Choice In the choice of a technical approach, we have forced ourselves to follow two rules. The first mandates the acquisition of standardized equipment. Computer equipment must be as standardized as possible. This helps with the management of information infrastructure, and reduces costs of capital outlay and operation (maintenance fees). This concern for standardization extends to software. One must avoid the development of specialized applications, and instead choose products on the market which most correspond to needs and, importantly, which are the most flexible in adapting to their environments. Taurus, a product of the firm DCI, is a good example of such an adaptable product. This electronic document management software, used for the digitization of documents, permits the modification of the user interface. It is possible, in addition, to add entries to its menus and to link them in various ways, as long as the programs are written in "C". This flexibility of adaptation means that there is a single software program, Taurus, but several ways to use it in managing documentation. The second rule is not to use a single supplier for the entire project. An information team within the library oversees the work. Several suppliers have been sought: DCI for electronic text management, GESCO for color document digitization, CD-TECH for CD-ROM networking and, finally, WANG for the network, AIRTEC for the routers, and IBM for the concentrators and other network peripherals. The network system is Novell NetWare. This is a 16 Mbps Token Ring in a star configuration. The concentrators are multi - protocol and ATM / Asynchronous Transfer Mode - compatible. Cabling is double screened twisted pair with hermaphrodite connections (IBM type). Two protocols are used in the network: IPX and TCP/IP. We are aware that it is not possible to handle large multimedia applications with a 16 Mbps distributed network. The cables in use, however, can support speeds of up to 300 Mbps, and are installed so as to enable eventual migration to a switched network such as ATM. From a distributed 16 Mbps network we will progress to a 100 Mbps switched network, one which will permit true multimedia applications. The 16 Mbps Token Ring network nevertheless has permitted us to complete certain projects. The response time in search and display for the digitized images is acceptable. And already the network includes 30 workstations, of which 12 are reserved for the public. The other workstations are installed for databases distributed in different reading rooms and in the library offices, where they are used for indexing and for the digitization of documents. All workstations are 486 DOS / Windows, with 8 Mbyte RAM and 200 Mbyte hard disks. The public workstations are equipped with 17 inch high resolution screens and sound cards. Screen quality is tied to the digitized image display. A 17 inch screen allows display of image bit - maps and journal articles, both with a price / quality relationship which is satisfactory. The NEC screen was chosen because it displays black and white images as well as it does those in color. Sound cards were made necessary by the CD-ROMs. The workstations are not yet equipped with audio headsets, as there are very few CD-ROMs which allow the networking of sound. The sound found on most CD-ROMs is designed for the user's loudspeaker, and is not yet encoded so as to circulate on a network. There are two methods for putting CD-ROMs on a network: one can use the network server for the CD-ROMs or set up another server dedicated to this use. The second solution, known as "client - server", is preferable because it allows many CD-ROMs to be put onto the network. It also has an advantage in not consuming the resources of the network server. The installation includes three optical servers, each giving access to 21 CD-ROM users, totaling 63 CD- ROMs. CD-ROM At the beginning of 1993, it was not certain that the CD-ROM would take a significant place in the world of publishing. We examined the market and analyzed the titles available in French. We gambled that this medium would develop. There were favorable signs, such as the number of titles produced in the United States, and the trend of the online producers (Questel, Dialog, etc.) to publish versions of their databases on CD - ROM. We began with a small number of titles, not by lack of conviction but for financial reasons. The CD- ROM is not computer equipment, but a document like any other. Its acquisition is a function of subject specialist librarians in collection development. It therefore often enters into competition with the book or with other media. But this is not the real problem. Most of the time it is relatively easy to demonstrate the "superiority" in terms of performance of CD-ROM over other media, including books. The possibilities for research, and the ease with which the information may be copied (printing on a nearby printer replacing the waiting lines for the photocopier) are the convincing arguments. If one adds to this the possibility of consultation on the network, even the most anti - computer librarian lines up in support. The electronic version of Kompass is a very good example of this. Its paper version, even though it appears in several volumes, may not be consulted by several users at once. Nor is it easy to use: its index is printed in small characters, and shifts from one volume to another. The CD-ROM, on the other hand, is user - friendly, and represents in my opinion one of publishing's successes in optical media: easy searching, the ability to combine search criteria, consultation of search history, and the printing - out of complete data on the items searched. In addition, the publisher offers network versions at reasonable prices. One can see here a product which rapidly will improve attitudes toward digital media, and will convince decision - makers of the importance of offering the service of CD-ROM consultation in a library. But this becomes more difficult when there is no paper equivalent to the CD-ROM. The librarian in such a case lacks a point of reference for evaluating the product. It is thus not a choice between two modes of consultation. The CD-ROM therefore must be integrated into an overall acquisitions policy. (continued) *** FYIFrance e - newsletter ISSN 1071 - 5916 * | FYIFrance is a monthly electronic newsletter, | published since 1992 as a small - scale, personal, | experiment, in the creation of large - scale | "information overload", by Jack Kessler. Any material / \ written by me which appears in FYIFrance may be copied ----- and used by anyone for any good purpose, so long as, // \\ a) they give me credit and show my e - mail address, --------- and, b) it isn't going to make them money: if it is // \\ going to make them money, they must get my permission in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me. Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYIFrance may be found via gopher to infolib.berkeley.edu 72 and gopher.well.sf.ca.us , and it is in various online archives: the easiest to use is the PACS-L archive, reached via telnet to a.cni.org , login brsuser . 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