ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 70/C& RLNews Computer literacy over the campus network B y T im LaBorie Networks offer opportunity f o r in d ivid u a lized instruction W h e n c a m p u s n e tw o r k c o n n e c t io n s cam e to Saint J o s e p h ’s U niversity Li­ brary w e saw it as a trem en d o u s oppo rtu n ity to ex p a n d o u r services beyond the library walls. W e also saw th e n etw o rk as a rich reso u rce to s u p p o rt Library activities a n d a p o w erfu l to o l to im p ro v e staff productivity. As system s librarian m y task w as to ac q u a in t th e library staff w ith th e features o f th e n etw ork. For m ost staff m em b ers this re q u ire d in creasin g basic c o m p u te r literacy skills. I fo u n d th at th e cam ­ p u s n e tw o rk itself is th e p e rfe c t vehicle for train in g th e staff to u se th e n etw o rk . This ar­ ticle d esc rib e s th e lib rary ’s objectives for u s­ ing th e n e tw o rk a n d a series o f exercises, d is­ trib u te d th ro u g h e le c tro n ic m ail, th a t hav e h e lp e d sta ff m o v e to w a rd a c h ie v in g th e s e objectives. The n e tw o rk as teaching environm ent Using the netw o rk itself to teac h staff n etw ork skills elim inated the n e e d to assem ble all the users in o n e room for instruction. It also p e r­ m itted ea c h p erso n to w ork at h e r o r his ow n pace, sid estep p ed the p roblem o f trainees hav­ ing different levels o f skill, a n d freed m e to provide individualized instruction to those w h o n e e d e d it most. Finally, it p ro v id ed a com m on set o f experiences that the trainees could refer back to w h en w orking w ith me, a n d each other, to solve individual problem s. T he training fo cu sed o n basic DOS com ­ m ands a n d file handling an d o th e r skills di­ rectly related to using th e n etw o rk an d elec­ t r o n i c m a il. F o r t r a i n i n g in t h e u s e o f ap p licatio n s like W ordP erfect, Q uattro, a n d dB ase, staff a tte n d e d w o rk sh o p s o ffered by o u r A cadem ic C o m p u tin g D ep artm en t. To u n d erstan d h o w the cam pus n etw o rk fit into the library’s plan n in g a n d h o w w e u se d it as a training tool, it is useful to look briefly at a few technical details. N e t w o r k e n v iro n m e n t T he university netw ork uses E thernet an d TCP/ IP protocol w ith Unix an d Sun PC-NFS soft­ w are. Fiber optic cable forms the b ack b o n e an d buildings are w ired w ith u n sh ield ed tw isted­ p air cable. T he technical choices w ere driven b y th e desire to follow standards an d th e n e e d to in terco n n ect e q u ip m e n t using a variety of d ifferen t o p e ra tin g system s in c lu d in g U nix, DOS, a n d M acintosh.1 T he library’s G eac system w as the first ser­ vice offered o n th e netw ork. W hen o u r online n e w b o o k list w as ad d ed , th e library w as given a prom inent place o n the n etw o rk ’s m ain m enu. W hen th e library staff w as in tro d u ced to the netw ork, m ost adm inistrative offices, m any aca­ dem ic departm ents, a n d dorm itory room s w ere already w ired. Initially, seven library m icrocom ­ puters w ere given netw o rk connections. F our w ere d e d ica ted m achines for th e director, se c ­ retary, systems, a n d th e A cquisitions D epart­ ment; th ree w ere configured for sh ared use: o n e w as lo cated in th e R eference D e p a rtm e n t a n d tw o in th e T echnical Services area. T en staff m em b ers, prim arily p ro fessio n al librar­ ians, h a d access to n e tw o rk e d PCs a n d w e re re a d y to le a rn a b o u t th e n etw o rk . L ib ra ry objectives O u r objectives for using the n etw o rk fell into four bro ad areas: comm unication, software shar­ ing, file serving, an d special applications. Tim LaBorie is systems librarian a t the Francis A. Drexel Library, Saint Joseph ’s University, Philadelphia Annotated Bibliographies of Interest to the Librarian Law f o r the Layman: A n Annotated Bibliography o f Self-Help Law Books Frank G. Houdek xiii, 214p. 1991 ISBN 0-8377-0685-8 loose-leaf $42-50 This annotated bibliography will aid expressly for the layman and sepa­ the reader in finding—from among rates them by topic and jurisdiction the hundreds o f books, pamphlets, so that the reader can choose which and articles written for the non­ ones are likely to be most helpful. lawyer—the resources best suited The annotations clearly describe the for the question at hand. The text subject content and identify spe­ identifies items that are written cific features o f each publication. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: A n Annotated Guide to Its Literature and Resources, 1980-1991 M. Louise Lantzy xi, 148p. 1992 ISBN 0-8377-9274-6 loose-leaf $37.50 This annotated bibliography and prehensive guide to the legal litera­ resource guide will assist legal re ­ ture and advocacy organizations that searchers, lay advocates, parents, focus on securing diese educational supporters, and education profes­ rights. Materials and resources listed sionals working on behalf of chil­ include federal education law, se­ dren with disabilities in finding lected case law, books, journals, pertinentinform ation onthe “right reporters, looseleaf services, articles, to education” by providing a com­ and support groups. Fred B. Rothman & Co. 10368 W. Centennial Rd. / Littleton, Colorado 80127 800-457-1986 72/C&RLNews 1) C om m unication. We w an ted electronic mail capabilities for intralibrary com m unication. Some staff w ere already using e-m ail through dial-up connections, but a direct n etw o rk co n ­ nection sim plified the process a n d allow ed us to in v o lv e all o f th e staff. W e p la n n e d to b roaden electronic com m unication w ith the rest of the cam pus so that faculty an d students could ask a reference question o r request a n ew bo o k electronically. Finally, the cam pus Internet co n ­ nection allow ed us to com m unicate w ith col­ leagues b ey o n d the cam pus an d subscribe to professional list servers like PACS-L. 2) Softw are sharing. As w e ad d n ew m icro­ com puters to the library, netw ork connections allow us to share personal productivity soft­ w are, alleviating the n eed to p urchase p ack ­ ages for each m achine. The n etw ork offers a variety o f w o rd processors, spreadsheet, and database program s, an d more. 3) File serving. Each perso n w ith a netw ork account is assigned a personal storage area that is ad d ressed as a DOS drive (J: o n o u r system). In a d d itio n , th e library g ro u p can access a shared drive (S:). O n the sh ared drive w e can store an d w o rk o n com m ittee-produced d o cu ­ m ents such as library policies an d o u r new slet­ ter. O ne o f th e key features o f th e netw ork drives is th e security of daily b ack-up protec­ tio n provided by C om puter C enter staff. 4) Special applications. T he b o o k acquisi­ tions staff, using a netw ork co nnection to the university’s administrative com puter, has b een able to elim inate th e p a p e r shuffle required for p u rch ase orders an d bill paym ent. O th er ad­ m inistrative capabilities will certainly follow. We are also exploring new library services rang­ ing from a simple posting o f library hours an d special events to accepting interlibrary loan re­ quests electronically. We w ere o n the n etw ork an d h a d a lot o f ideas. T he next task w as to m ake th e staff n et­ w o rk literate. The exercises T he librarians received a series o f exercises by electronic mail w hich w ere d esigned to p ro ­ vide a practical experience w ith th e com puter an d the netw ork and to teach the skills n e e d e d to m eet o u r objectives. They req u ired an activ­ ity that w o u ld k eep the learner involved, and m ost contained a quiz that required return mail. E x e r c ise # 1: In trod u ction . The first exer­ cise w as delivered by surface mail. It provided users w ith their login nam es an d passw ords an d d irected them h o w to sign on. Instructions led them through th e n etw ork m enus so they could discover th e softw are an d services that w ere available. Further directions led them to o p e n th e mail application2 an d read the m es­ sage that contained Exercise #2. N ow they w ere ready to receive all their exercises b y e-mail. E x ercise # 2: S e n d in g a m e s sa g e . W hen you w rite a letter you h o p e to get o n e back. And w h en you receive an e-m ail m essage it is com m on courtesy to resp o n d , even if just to say “T hanks for th e inform ation.” This exercise w as designed to involve staff in the rudim ents o f sending an d receiving m essages electroni­ cally an d get th em h o o k e d o n checking their mail regularly. E x e r c ise # 3: N etw o rk d riv es. All o f the trainees use m icrocom puters in their w ork but often th e m achines function as “d u m b ” term i­ nals to connect them to OCLC o r another online database. H ard drives an d m enus obviate the n e e d for m ost users to learn about file storage. W hen they are using W ordPerfect they save their file an d it is sto red — so m ew h ere— an d later th e application helps them to retrieve it. This exercise ad d ressed th e co n cep t o f disk drive storage an d in tro d u ced the idea o f indi­ vidual an d shared “n etw ork drives.” The idea o f a “J:” drive, w hich exists on a m achine on th e o th er side o f cam pus, w as difficult for som e to grasp. E x e r c ise # 4: F ile d irecto ries. Few of the trainees h ad significant DOS skills, b u t to use the n etw ork effectively they n e e d e d to u n d er­ stand th e structure o f DOS directories. O u r mail application allows th e u ser to create a n “ad­ dress b o o k ” o f freq u en tly u s e d nam es, an d aliases that contain a gro u p o f nam es. This ex­ ercise led the trainees through the process of creating an address file using Edlin or a w ord processor. T hen they w ere given th e basic DOS com m ands for m oving through directories to see w here that file w as stored. E x ercise # 5: N etw ork services. Among the n etw ork services available are a cam pus events calendar an d the library’s n e w b o o k list. To use these services trainees learned th e “telnet” co m m and to sign u p to the n etw ork server. T hen they w ere introduced to th e basic Unix com m ands u se d to navigate thro u g h th e n ew b o o k list an d search for author nam es, key­ w ords, an d b o o k classification num bers. E x e r c ise # 6: P ro d u ctiv ity so ftw a re. Al­ th ough the trainees h a d opportunities to learn standard applications like w ord processing, they February 1993 / 73 n e e d e d to leam h o w to access applications from the server an d sto re files o n the n etw o rk drives. For this exercise a d o cu m en t w as created an d sto red o n the sh ared n etw o rk drive w hich is accessible to all library staff. T he trainees w ere given step-by-step instructions for loading the n e tw o rk c o p y o f W ordP erfect, o p e n in g th e d o cu m en t, a n d ad d in g inform ation to it. E x e r c is e #7: E x te r n a l c o m m u n ic a tio n . Many academ ic librarians n o w h av e access to th e In tern et th ro u g h th eir cam p u s netw orks, an d have d iscovered th e ease an d co n v en ie n ce o f c o m m u n ic a tin g e le c tro n ic a lly w ith c o l­ leagues. This exercise ta u g h t trainees h o w to se n d a n In tern et m essage. A form er em p lo y ee at an o th e r institution ag reed to b e th e recipi­ e n t o f their practice m essages. In addition, since I su b scrib ed to several library-oriented lists o n th e Internet, I b e g a n forw arding relevant m es­ sages to ap p ro p riate staff so they w o u ld b e ­ com e aw are o f the usefulness o f th e national n etw o rk for exchanging inform ation a n d ideas.3 E x e r c is e #8: M o d em c o m m u n ic a tio n . Li­ b rarians h av e p re c e d e d m ost o th e r m icrocom ­ p u te r u sers in realizing th e p o w e r o f th e m o­ d e m b e c a u s e o n lin e s e a r c h in g o f e x te rn a l d atab a ses has lo n g b e e n a stan d ard service at m ost academ ic libraries. With this exercise train­ e e s le a rn e d h o w to access th e university n e t­ w o rk by m odem . T hey w ere in tro d u ced to the basic Unix com m an d s re q u ire d to read th eir m ail an d se n d a m essage. T hey also saw h o w o u r library catalog w as u se d b y dial-in patrons. W h a t w e le a rn e d P eo p le learn at different rates a n d hav e differ­ e n t tolerances for th e n e e d to teach them selves through experim entation. T he staff b eh av ed like a typical class o f students: som e d id th e ex er­ cises regularly, others d elay e d w o rk a n d th en d id several at on ce. Individual tu to rin g w as available o n request, b u t q u estio n s d u rin g th e training exercises w ere few. M ost users w aited until th ey h a d a specific project o r n e e d before asking for help. No o n e will u se th e n etw o rk to its fullest. T h e m anuals w hich d o c u m e n t th e n etw o rk an d all its applications fill m an y shelves, b u t m ost u sers discover th e tech n iq u es th at m ake their lives easier a n d stick w ith them . W ith e n c o u r­ a g e m e n t, a d v e n tu re s o m e u s e rs c o n tin u e to e x p lo re n e w w ays to u se th e netw ork. It is difficult fo r p e o p le to c h e c k th e ir m ail each day a n d m ak e full u se o f th e n etw o rk w h en e a c h p e rs o n d o e s n o t hav e a m icrocom puter o n h e r o r his desk. But n o w it is reassuring to k n o w that th e draft o f th e library new sletter, th e dB ase file o f th e gift books, the sp re a d ­ sheets o f cataloging statistics, a n d o th er im por­ ta n t files resid e o n th e secure n etw o rk drive. T h e le a r n -th e -n e tw o rk -b y - u s in g - th e -n e t- w o rk -a p p ro a c h h as b e e n successful. Staff have a co m m o n set o f ex p erien ces th at m akes dis­ cussing individual p ro b lem s easier. T he value o f c o n tin u in g ed u catio n th ro u g h individualized instruction can n o t b e d en ied , a n d th e n etw ork exercises have sim plified o u r effort. As a p e r­ so n w h o finds c o m p u ters quite interesting an d enjoys discovering new ways to use the computer to d o old tasks, this trainer took delight as staff interest in the netw ork began to grow. And as staff members becom e more confident, they becom e motivated to make their ow n discoveries. N otes ’T he cam pus n etw ork environm ent is m ore fully d escrib ed in Shyam aia Reddy, “School m aze, n e tw o rk in g a geographically diverse university c a m p u s,” L A N 5 (May 1990): 114-22. 2PC-NFS p ro v id es a user-friendly m ail a p ­ plication called LifeLine Mail. 3For a useful overview o f th e n etw o rk s see: C aroline R. Arms, “Using the national netw orks: BITNET a n d th e In tern et,” O n lin e 14 (S eptem ­ b e r 1990): 24-29. ■ (Novel idea c o n t.fro m p age 69) ing pro g ram d u rin g N ational Library W eek in April. T h ere is a display in th e lo b b y o f th e library consisting o f th e b o o k s rev iew ed an d p h o to g ra p h s o f th e review ers. The b o o k lets are distrib u ted at various p o in ts w ithin th e library, in university colleges, th e stu d en t u n io n , an d th e b ran ch cam puses. To im prove to w n an d university relations, w e also d istrib u te these b o o k lets to th e p u b lic library, civic organiza­ tions, a n d th e cultural center. Always e a g e r to offer com m unity service spots, local radio an d television stations air interview s a n d p ro m o te o u r su m m er read in g program . In this age o f c o m p u ter technology, librar­ ies are m ore th an just bytes o f inform ation flow ­ ing th ro u g h a tan g led w e b o f netw orks. T here a re s h e lv e s o f b o o k s th a t p r o v i d e id e a s , th o u g h ts, a n d p leasu re. A positive indicator for th e pro g ram is th e increase in circulation sta­ tistics for th e b o o k s review ed. P eo p le co m e to th e library a n d ask for th e b o o k le t a n d th e fac­ ulty are very su p p o rtiv e a n d positive a b o u t the program . ■ Education Research Ju st Became Easier W ith the New ED-INFO C D T h e ED-INFO CD is a comprehensive national Data Facts statistical data base containing information on all a) Data are obtained from administrative records public elementary and secondary schools and school maintained by State Education Agencies (SEAs). districts in the United States. b) Public school file contains data on over 84,000 schools. Census finance data is also included. Compiled from data obtained from Nation c) Public education agency (districts) universe file Center for Education Statistics. (Department contains 17,000 records. o f Education), the ED-INFO CD contains three d) State file contains fall membership by grade; full­ categories o f information: time equivalent teachers and other staff by major 1. General descriptive information (includes name, employment categories. Includes revenues by address, phone number, and type of locale.) source; current expenditures by major function; 2. Basic statistics (includes numbers of students and and per pupil expenditures. staff, and associated data.) 3. Fiscal data (includes revenues and current expen­ ditures.) The data base contains three levels o f information: 1. Schools 2. School Districts/Agencies 3- State (non-fiscal, fiscal) The three data files w ithin ED-INFO can be used separately or in conjunction with on e another to determine: 1. Size of school and pupil-teacher ratio 2. Size of school district 3. State expenditure for education and per pupil expenditure 4. Racial/ethnic composition 5. Students by grade level and number of graduates