ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries M ay 1986 / 315 U ser rea ctio n to a com p u terized p erio d ica l in d ex By D ou glas J. Ernest an d Jen n ifer M onath A ctin g Business & Econom ics Librarian Assistant Reference Librarian Colorado State University Colorado State University InfoTrac’s track record at Colorado State University. P eriodical indexes, a stan d b y for accessing li- b ra ry resources, have rem a in ed essentially u n ­ changed since th e ir in tro d u c tio n m any decades ago. Now a new approach to indexing is at hand. InfoT rac, a turnkey so ftw are/h ard w are d a ta pack­ age utilizing videodisc technology, was developed by Inform ation Access C om pany (IAC) and m ade available to libraries in the spring of 1985. The database consisted of half a m illion citations to a rti­ cles found in approxim ately one thousand business, general interest, and legal periodicals, and several newspapers. T he citations are m ounted on a videodisc w hich is changed and u p d ated m onthly. Coverage is re t­ rospective to Jan u ary 1982. H ard w a re consists of IBM personal com puters, H ew lett-Packard Think- jet printers, and Pioneer videodisc players. T he sys­ tem can accom m odate up to six user stations, w ith each station consisting of a PC and p rin ter. From the first, IAC intended th a t InfoT rac provide a search capability for general users th a t required lit­ tle or no assistance from lib rary s ta ff.1 T he user searches In fo T ra c by keying in the w ord or phrase for the topic sought and pressing th e c o lo r-c o d e d “ s e a r c h ” key. T h e p r o g r a m 'R i c h a r d C a r n e y , “ I n f o T r a c : a n In h o u s e Computer-Access System” Library H i-Tech 3 (Is­ sue 10, 1985):91-92; “Inform ation Access C om ­ pany Introduces Videodisc System ,” Inform ation Technology and Libraries 4 (M arch 1985):70-71. searches the videodisc and displays either the full index c o n tain in g citations to th e subject or re ­ sponds w ith “no exact m atch for your req u est,” and displays th a t alphabetical portion of the thesaurus th a t most closely corresponds to the suggested sub­ ject. T he au to m ated search process should last no m ore th a n ten seconds, even w hen four users are searching sim ultaneously.2 The searcher can move the cursor to any subject heading in the thesaurus or to any see or see also reference in the m ain index, and by pressing the “search” key have the system display citations entered at the reference. The sub­ ject heading or see or see also headings do not have to be keyed in once they have been selected using the cursor. The user can browse line by line or screen by screen through either the thesaurus or the full index. Subject headings and citations can be printed at any point, either entry by entry or a screen at a tim e. Upon com pletion, the user can re­ tu rn the system to its original display by pressing a “start/finish" key.3 At present the InfoT rac database includes se­ lected m aterial from several IAC sources: M aga­ zine Index, N ational N ew spaper Index, Business Index, and Legal Resources Index. T he videodisc 2R ichard C arney, “Inform ation Access C o m p a­ ny’s In fo T ra c ,” Inform ation Technology and L i­ braries 4 (June 1985):152. 3“Inform ation Access C om pany Introduces Vi­ deodisc System ,” p. 70. 316 / C & RLN ew s has a capacity of 2-2.5 million references, approxi­ mately one gigabyte, the equivalent of five years of citations. The database uses mostly Library of Congress subject headings, with each citation in­ cluding article title, author, periodical title, date, beginning page number, and number of pages in the article. Volume numbers have, however, been omitted. Menu screens provide the user with assist­ ance in regard to the scope of the database, search­ ing procedures, and function keys.4 IAC first demonstrated InfoTrac to the library community at ALA Midwinter in January 1985. Believing that the system could only receive a thor­ ough test under actual user conditions, the com­ pany offered InfoTrac to a number of libraries on a tria l b asis.5 The University of C alifornia, San Diego, was one of these “beta” sites. Use of the sys­ tem there was continual, and patrons were pleased with it; the ability to have citations printed was es­ pecially v alued. One p o te n tia l d ifficu lty did emerge. Whereas InfoTrac designers had intended that a typical search could be accomplished in five minutes or less, UC San Diego librarians found that some users spent considerable time searching and printing. Hours could be consumed by one person. Another problem proved to be a familiar computer system bugaboo: users assumed the database was comprehensive in scope and consulted it accord­ ingly. On the whole, though, the library staff, like the patrons, reacted favorably to InfoTrac.6 T he C o lo ra d o S tate U n iv ersity L ib ra rie s (CSUL) became involved early on as a test site for InfoTrac. Beyond the beta test sites, CSUL was the first library to express an interest in testing the Info­ Trac system. In the spring of 1985, Stephen Green, the head of the Reference D epartm ent, met with an IAC representative who agreed to using CSUL as a test site. In July 1985 InfoTrac was exhibited at ALA again, this time in Chicago. The system drew considerable interest from libraries around the country, and the University of Colorado (CU) and the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) also became interested in participating as test sites. The testing period for all three libraries took place in the fall of 1985; all then chose to purchase a four- station InfoTrac. The InfoTrac system at CSUL was set up on Sep­ tember 24, 1985. During the first four to five weeks the system worked without a hitch and was well re­ ceived by users. Beginning the last week of Octo­ ber, initial system instability problems developed. These problem s slowly d eg rad ed to th e point where the system was down totally. Every compo­ nent in the laser control cabinet was replaced three 4Carney, “Information Access Company’s Info­ T rac,” p. 152; Carney, “InfoT rac,” pp. 91-92. ’Carney, “Information Access Com apny’s Info­ T rac,” p. 150; Carney, “InfoTrac,” p. 91. 6Carney, “InfoT rac,” p. 92; Judith Herschman and Kristen Maultsby, “InfoTrac: Impressions from a Beta Site,” Library Hi-Tech 3 (Issue 10, 1985):93—94. times. An IAC microsystems analyst visited the site, replaced some parts and brought the system up, but it stayed up for only three days. The same problems we had been experiencing began to re­ cur, that is, the system would lock and die. No m at­ ter w hat was done, the same problems arose re­ peatedly. Instability became a perm anent problem and unreliability became the status quo. This led to increasing and persistent user frustration among the students, staff and faculty. The InfoTrac sys­ tem was working very smoothly in the other Colo­ rado libraries. It became quite apparent that this was not a system design flaw. As time passed, with much equipment replacement occurring, we be­ gan to look beyond the system to the environment for solutions. We noticed that fluorescent bulbs hooked into the same electrical circuit flickered from time to time. Therefore, it was surmised that these flickerings might be causing a power surge. In other words, we had a dirty line. A dedicated line was installed, and since that time virtually no problems have occurred. Another contributing factor to the system’s in­ stability may have been the daily turning on and off of the monitors, memory and laser disc. C ur­ rently InfoTrac is being left on 24 hours daily under normal circumstances. As a result of our experi­ ences with system instability, we highly recom­ mend having a dedicated electrical line for the sys­ tem and leaving the system on as much as possible. A user survey was conducted during the test pe­ riod at CSUL. A total of 229 surveys were returned and analyzed. Undergraduates proved to be the heaviest users. All 9 CSU colleges w ere re p re ­ sented: Business; Professional Studies; Natural Re­ sources and Forestry; Veterinary Medicine; Agri­ culture; Arts, H um anities and Social Sciences; Engineering; N atural Sciences; and Hum an Re­ sources Sciences. Of these, the Business College and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences were the predom inant users. The three leading m a­ jors were Marketing, Computer Information Sci­ ence, and M anagem ent. Business topics w ere searched most frequently, with social sciences a close second. The majority of respondents were already fam il­ iar with either Magazine Index or Business Index; approximately 95% preferred InfoTrac because it was easier to use, saved time, and was more accu­ rate. They also found the instructions for use very clear, validating IAC’s claim that InfoTrac is user friendly. Respondents overwhelmingly w anted In ­ foTrac purchased in spite of the fact that there was often a w ait to use it. Another frequently offered comment was that more stations were needed. A similar user survey from UNC indicated that patrons thought InfoTrac was a great enhance­ ment to the library, that it could be used w ithout any formal training, that it was easy to use and timesaving, and that the “help” screens provided valuable information for using the system. How­ ever, data collected showed that users wanted a May 1986 / 317 InfoTrac users in action. better printer and preferred to have UNC’s serials list on the system. A user survey at CU also indicated that patrons were highly satisfied with InfoTrac and were p ar­ ticularly happy with its ease of use. Respondents preferred the system to printed periodical indexes by a margin of four to one. Suggestions were made to obtain more term inals and establish a thirty minute time limit on usage. Over all, InfoTrac was a big success at all three Colorado test sites. Users readily adapted to using the system and quickly became dependent on it, and, as a result, great dissatisfaction arose at CSUL any time the system was down. At least one student was seen to walk up to a term inal, curse when he noted that it was out of order, and leave the li­ brary. Others showed great persistence in gaining access to the system. Some drove to UNC, thirty miles distant, to use the InfoTrac there. Others were willing to postpone their literature searches until the system had been repaired, refusing to use print indexes in the interim because “InfoTrac is so much faster!’’ Apart from the lengthy periods of down time, CSUL experienced many of the same successes and frustrations of InfoTrac as did UC San Diego. Chief among the frustrations was the extended use of the system by individual patrons. Such users would monopolize a station for anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours. This behavior was sometimes accom panied by a tendency to print reams of citations. One student was observed to copy every citation under the heading “airlines” as fast as they appeared on the screen. Obviously no attem pt was made to discriminate among the vari­ ous subheadings. One way to eliminate lengthy searches would be to set a time limit on at least some of the terminals and place the terminals at a height that would require the user to stand. The ability to print citations free of charge is one of the m ajor attractio n s of the system and a certain amount of excess use can be expected. As the survey indicated, most students were able to use InfoTrac without asking for assistance from library staff. The searches they conducted appar­ ently were satisfactory, as few complained about not finding information on their subject. Probably not all were using the system as effectively as possi­ ble. Although one searches by a term or terms, the search itself is not keyword. Instead the system matches the search against the subject thesaurus to find an appropriate heading. For example, the best strategy for searching articles on parks in Colorado would be to first search “Colorado,” browse the su b ject th e sa u ru s u n til th e su b h e a d in g “Colorado—Parks” is found, then use the cursor to command the system to search that heading. A di­ rect search using “Colorado—Parks” or “Colorado Parks” as a heading or phrase would not work. We Correction The correct address for JAI Micropublishing, Inc., is 271 Main Street, P.O. Box 218, East­ chester, NY 10707; (914) 793-2130. The address was given incorrectly on p. 180 of the March is­ sue of C&RL News. 318 / C & R L N ew s at CSUL have yet to determ ine how m any users are aw are of the value of the thesaurus in fram ing their searches. A closer examination of their searching techniques w ould probably reveal w h at has al­ ready been noted in other library end user contexts: “ ...a n expectation th at the com puter is intelligent or at least has some powers of in terp retatio n .”7 The idea th a t a com puter-based system has some ability to interpret requests may, in p art, account for the popularity of InfoTrac. The system is u ti­ lized by both undergraduate and graduate students to search a large variety of topics, including some th a t are technical and scientific in n atu re, and therefore not appropriate considering the contents of the database. It is commonplace for library p a ­ trons to w ait patiently to use InfoTrac rather than consult printed periodical indexes, despite the fact th at the latter are situated only a few feet away. In ­ deed, for some, it was as though printed indexes had ceased to exist; when InfoTrac crashed, they could conceive of no other method of locating in­ formation. Another facet in the response to the system is probably the fact that it is the first end-user system to become available at CSUL. An online catalog is in the design stage, but still some months away. As the only com puter show in tow n, InfoT rac has 7Jean Dickson, “An Analysis of User Errors in Searching an O nline C atalo g ,” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 4 (Spring 1984) :35. draw n a real crowd. On the other hand, CSUL us­ ers a re th e re fo re p e rh a p s less c o m p u te r- sophisticated than library patrons in other situa­ tions; hence, there were only a few requests for searching devices such as keyword and Boolean searching, both absent in InfoT rac. Most com ­ p lain ts received thus far concern th e fact th a t CSUL does not subscribe to all the periodicals in­ dexed in InfoTrac, rather than any perceived lim i­ tations of the database itself. Curiously, there has been little com m ent here on the fact th a t InfoTrac provides more timely citations than do the prin t in­ dexes. Perhaps users simply assume th a t a com­ puter by nature has to be more current than a book. L ibrary users at Colorado State University have been highly satisfied by InfoT rac, particu larly since dow n-tim e problems have apparently been solved. The system is quite user-friendly and is used by undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty alike. InfoTrac, like any index, has limitations, but these are less apparent and less significant to users th a n to lib ra ria n s . T h e fa c t th a t In fo T ra c is com puter-based lends to it an aura of “m agic” th at print indexes lack. This suggests th a t users need careful instruction to inform them of the lim ita­ tions of a com puter-based system; otherwise, they may assume it is universal in scope. F urther, one suspects th a t end-user searching techniques are not as sophisticated or effective as they could be, just as their use of the card catalog often defies the efforts of catalogers. ■ ■ Midwest Library Service You w on’t find a wider selection . . . anywhere College and university librarians: Midwest Library Service has what you’re looking for. With 24 years of experience in the field, Midwest can supply you with virtually any book you want—even one from the smallest, most obscure publisher. This includes nearly all U.S. and Canadian publishers, U.S. distributors of foreign published works, university presses, non-profit organizations, private associations, and societies, in addition to many reprint publishers and paperbacks. You won’t find a wider selection of books your library wants, whether you’re a small college or a large university. Midwest Library Service has what you’re looking for! 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