LIBJOHN@UOGUELPH.BITNET (John Black) (02/01/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- We have had a CD-ROM workstation available for public use (ie by any user -- faculty, staff, students, general public who may use our library ) since early 1987. In that period it has been used for CD-ROMs from the library collection (eg PC-SIG) and for those users have brought in themselves. To my knowledge it has worked fine --- in this multi-use situation. It is currently located near a 50 unit micro-computer pool which is staffed during a large percentage of our open hours, but this staff has no special responsibility or training on that workstation. I should mayabe note that we have another 7 or 8 workstations located in our subject divisions on which we have mounted "commercial" data bases --- and 60 or 70 CD-ROM OPAC workstations (our public access catalogue is CDROM based.). John Black Chief Librarian, University of Guelph LIBJOHN@VM.UOGUELPH.CA jbb@cosy.uogeulph.ca
C6340A@UMVMA.BITNET (George Rickerson) (02/01/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Based on the number of CD-ROMs I have accumulated in the few months since I acquired a CD-ROM drive, none free but all cheap, I agree that the instances of faculty and students with data in that form and with no means to use it will increase. It doesn't seem complicated to me. If I happened to get a CD-ROM with data which I wanted to upload to the mainframe, I would just go ahead and do it because I have the equipment, the knowledge of how to do it, and the appropriate account on the mainframe. It doesn't seem to me that faculty or students (or staff) who lack some or all of those things should therefore be unable to use their data (and I realize no one has suggested they should), particularly if all they lack is the CD-ROM drive. My druthers would be to have the unit responsible for running the computer labs on campus - at Missouri it would be the academic computing department - have one or two configurations that included CD-ROM drives. In other places it might be the library that would be the natural unit to make such equipment available. I guess I'm saying that the best way to handle this situation will vary from institution to institution. The best way is the way that fits the style and organization of the institution. Libraries are concerned about their prerogatives these days, given the way technology is changing the way information is created, distributed, and used. But I think this particular situation is mainly a mechanical problem. If a patron showed up with data on round reels (and that has happened to librarians I know), the patron would get directed to someone with access to a tape drive. If the patron shows up with data on a CD-ROM disc, the patron should get directed to a workstation with the appropriate equipment - and a host connection, if needed. Where that stuff is will, as I say, depend.
LIBGLA@SUVM.BITNET (02/07/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Re CD-ROM players for personal CD-ROMs. At Syracuse University we are in the process of installing 3 CD-ROM players in our Media Services Department. These will be attached to three PS2 which are available for public use in the library. We are promoting these PC workstations for specialized use involving library resources and materials in the library's collections but also have general purpose software available on the server. These CD-ROM players will not be used for the dedicated CD-ROMs like ERIC, PSYCHlit, etc.