Action for Libraries

              ACTION FOR LIBRARIES
APRIL,1987
Volume XIII, No.4
ISSN: 0363-0250
(
Reference
Update
by Julie Clark
OCLC LINK Reminder
In the March AFL BCR announced an introductory offer
for' OCLC LINK, OCLC's electronic mail service and tele­communications
gateway to database vendors (BRS,
DIALOG,VU/TEXT, and WILSONLINE). OCLC LINK
ensures a minimum 35% reduction in the telecommunica­tions
charges that are now experienced via the standard
TELENET and TYMNET telecommunications services. You
may access OeLe LINK with a dumb computer terminal, an
oeLe dedicated line workstation, or a microcomputer with
modem and telecommunications software.
BeR's introductory offer includes a $60 administrative
fee waiver and $100 worth of credit on OCLC LINK elec­tronic
mail usage. We encourage all of our members to
participate in this new program. If you need more informa ...
tion on OCLC LINK, or if you would like to sign up, please
contact us at your earliest convenience.
Highlights from the 11 th Annual BRS User Meeting
I was pleased to attend the BRS User Meeting which was
held on March 9th and 10th in Kansas City, Missouri. There
was much new information exchanged which I would like to
share with you.
The merger between BRS Information Technologies and
BRS/Colleague this past year has introduced some changes
within the organization, most noticeably in terms of person~
nel. Martin F. Kahn, previously with Colleague, is the new
President of BRS, and Debbie Hull, also from Colleague, is
the Vice President of New Products, Sales, & Marketing.
Moreover, because of the absorption of Colleague, there is a
strengthened BRS presence throughout the country, as new
regional representatives have been added.
In his opening remarks, Marty Kahn addressed the
accomplishments at BRS over the past year in terms of new
databases, features, and gateways. He spoke about the BRS
revised pricing algorithm, characterized by reduced connect
charges and increased display charges, and indicated that the
new charging has thus far proven to be a wash in terms of the
total BRS billing. Mr. Kahn feels that the new pricing pro-
52nd YEAR OF SERVICE TO LIBRARIES
Editor: Joyce Coyne
Assistant Editor: Mary Flowers
vides a much fairer way to bill searchers, as it does not
penalize those of us using slower baud rates. He stressed that
the focus ofBRS will be to continue to add multidisciplinary
and complementary databases to their service, however BRS
will also continue to build upon their strength as a supplier of
medical information. Mr. Kahn addressed three goals for the
future of BRS: continued excellence in the services they
currently offer, including documentation and customer sup~
port, training, and administration; using changing technol~
ogy, such as optical disk technology, to serve the online
searcher better; and actively supporting the international
nature of information exchange.
Lloyd Palmer, Vice President of Technical Services, talked
about system performance and enhancements over the past
year. System scheduled downtime was reduced by three
quarters, and computing power was increased by 80% with
an increased disk capacity of 25 billion characters. In terms
of software developments', BRS has added a {tquick search"
feature for searchers of the MEDLINE files. This feature
enables more efficient searching of MESH subheadings.
Also, printing enhancements have just been completed that.
are particularly valuable in fulltext database searching, or
when searching via a microcomputer Ivideo display terminal.
With a new scrolling feature, a searcher may now specify a
screen by screen presentation of search results, with the
records being painted down from the top of the screen,
facilitating an easier method of scanning the results of a set
and a sophisticated way to browse through a full text docu­ment.
Moreover I a searcher can initiate continuous printing
when making a paper copy or when downloading to a
diskette. Scrolling allows reviewing specific parts of a record
without being charged additional citation charges. (For a full
explanation of all of the print enhancements, refer to online
NEWS, document #8). The online order feature has been
improved by the capability of ordering a document directly
from a search statement, and by increasing the number of
document delivery suppliers. As an outgrowth of the
Colleague merger, Mr. Palmer predicts that by this summer
the searching interfaces on all of BRS' end~user systems
(Colleague, AfterDark, and BrkThru) will share a commo­nality
of function, with the menus being consistent across
these different systems. Mr. Palmer addressed the new gate­ways
that will be available soon, including the Pergamon
InfoLine gateway, the gateway to the German Bertlesmann
service, and the OCLC gateway. New features to look for in