University Daily Kansan, April 8, 1982
Page 7
Computerized card catalog to save money, time
By DOUG CUNNINGHAM Staff Reporter
1984 is approaching fast, and computers are taking over—at least they are in Watson Library's card catalog.
"We're a little bit out in front. We're not doing much in this area," Ramaz said, doing much in this area. "Ramaz said,
Jim Ranz, dean of libraries, said recently that the computerized card catalog system the library plans to install in its kind will be the first in this area.
Library budget figures show that the one-time cost of starting up the system will be $19,033. That includes money for computer terminals and printers that will be used by the library staff in cataloging books.
The continuing yearly cost for the new card catalog will be $111,282. However, the actual figure spent on the new system will be considerably less than that spent on the old system, because of its greater efficiency.
The computerized card catalog project is part of a long-term effort to computerize library functions, said Mark Anderson, manager at the Academic Computer Center.
Plastic cards of microfiche, used in a special reader, will tell people if the library has a certain book. Sausit said. In columns on the microfiche cards,
ONE ADVANTAGE of microfiche cards is that people looking for books can compare catalog entries more easily, Susso said. Instead of having to flip through dozens of paper cards, you can search a microfiche card and place it in a reader.
Because what is printed on the microfiche cards is controlled by
computer, librarians will be able to change headings for different books and authors more easily, Suott said.
Mary Roach, supervisor of the automated card catalog system at Watson Library, said changing the only computer would be a big advantage.
"As the situation exists now, we have to physically change the cards," she said.
With the new system, an entry such as "Samual Clemens" could be changed to "Mark Twain" simply by typing the change into the computer, changing each paper card individually, or be done under the old system.
The library files an average of 10 cards for each new book, Roach said. Even with older books, the library would have to change at least three cards for each heading change, she said.
Roch predicted that acceptance of the new system would be good, partially because many students would be familiar with it.
"A lot of people, even coming out of high school, are receiving training in, and have access to, computers," she said.
Paulette DiFilppo, head of catalog maintenance at the library, said the library would have an educational resource that would get used to the new microfiche system.
"It doesn't hurt to have a good educational program at the outset," she said. "That has to be a crucial part of the whole project."
Roach said that the new card catalog would be updated monthly to include any additions or heading changes.
ALBERT WEAVER, a programmer at the computer center, said because
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Watson from being included in the new system.
ances to have their own copy," he said. Roach said that residence halls and branch libraries also would be able to have copies of the catalog. Having catalogs at the branch libraries would save students a lot of time, she said.
the microfiche cards were not very expensive, card catalogs of library materials could be duplicated easily.
Students in the science or engineering libraries could check on the holdings of
Mr. Lee Douglass, a self-employed handman and Eudora resident, fell from a tree on March 19 and suffered injuries which will require a recuperative period of some two months. Because of the Reagan Administration's new rules governing welfare eligibility, Mr. Douglass' family was denied public assistance by the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Even as this victim of circumstances beyond his control was denied public assistance in the name of governmental frugality, a federal mediator ended one of baseball's longest arbitration hearings by deciding that stoppage Ozzie Smith should be paid $450,000. Mr. Smith had sought $750,000 for playing baseball this year with the St. Louis Cardinals. Upon hearing of the attorney connected to mispaced governmental concern, an optimist said night concert instance of the Reagan Administration is only relatively, not entirely, at risk of the irritating Journal World Edition记者 responsible for several sentences describing those persons who give "in absentia" advice," without "having to shoulder any responsibility for implementing their alleged expertise." 'I'd like to present some evidence to the con-
Roach said having two catalogs would not be a big disadvantage because people generally look for books that have been published in the last five years. But if you want to find something would also become more useful as more and more new entries were added to it.
The main costs for the project, Suosti said, would be for the microfiche cards and the hardware such as the readers
Last year the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect's budget was 22.9 million dollars. In the coming year this worthy program will receive only 16.2 million dollars while next year's its budget will be reduced to 4.6 million dollars. The following sentences are columnist Jack Anderson's reaction to this display of organizational myopo:
CARNIVOUS CAPITALISM CLOSES EYES TO REAL WORK
to lighten the budget just a little, the Reagan Administration has chosen to strangle the federal child-abuse its corp. the abused kids have no control over them.
situations.
Let's look at how we are liberating all obscure expressions or depictions produced for profit, every kind of sexual favors, each successful abortion, while conservatives consider productive a legal mechanism which permits more automobiles, guns, and air pollution; hidebound ideologues who people both of these group members are in country in which, in the words of the book, "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction," is the first and only legitimate object of good government.
*This year in America, 4,000 babies will be slugged, slammed and battered to death by fists, belts, clubs, baseball bat or other weapons. Child abuse an intrinsic part of American culture.*
"It will be possible for departmental
offices to have their own copy." he said.
An administration which can convince the electorate that purchasing a new car is more important than protecting a battered child has unwittingly discovered that, in the words of Adolph Hitler, "The great masses of the people . . . will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."
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less more books and materials.'
—Paulette DiFilippo, head of catalog maintenance
at Watson Library
at Watson Library
'In the long run, it will allow the cataloging department to process more books and materials.'
Books purchased since 1976 will be included in the microfiche card catalog, Roach said. All of these books are presently on a computer record.
the math library without going to that library, she said.
LIBRARIANS NOW spend 100 hours a week filling cards, Diflippoo said. With the new system, librarians will have time for other tasks.
The library will purchase 25 microfiche readers and 70 holders for the microfiche cards out of the initial start-up money.
"In the long run, it will allow the cataloging department to process more books and materials." she said.
Even though Watson will be switching to a new card catalog system, the old system, with its thousands of paper cabinets, will not disappear.
Susott said the enormous cost of putting all books purchased before 1975 on computer records would prohibit
and the computer terminals that librarians will use to type in new catalog entries or headings.
The library also will save money by
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not buying and processing new catalog cards, and it will not have to buy any cabinets to hold the cards.
Last year, librarians filed 280,000 cards, Roach said. The library buys eight to nine cabinets each year to hold the new cards, she said.
Library budget figures show that Watson will save $21,000 by not buying the catalog cards for the old system.
other libraries with computerized card catalog systems include those at Harvard and UCLA. The system at Harvard has worked very well and received excellent acceptance by library patrons, Roach said.
The computerized microfiche system that Watson Library is working on now will evolve into an "on-line" card catalog system. The microfiche system
The computer record developed for the microfiche system will be used for an on-line system, if that ever becomes practical, Suotti said.
The main limitation on buying such a system would be the cost of the hardware, such as the large number of terminals that would be required, he said. Over time, the cost of that hardware may drop drastically, similar to what happened with pocket calculators, Sus屯 said.
Because all books purchased since 1976 are on a computer record, library patrons will eventually be able to sit at a computer terminal, type in the entries they wish to see, and a list of books whose headings will appear on the screen.
can be considered a backup for what is to come, Susott said.
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