Paper submitted to Australian Library Review. issue on Australian IT and Electronic Library Developments.
It is questionable in the long term whether there will be such a thing as a campus wide information system (CWIS) any more there is a telephone system. While there are a group of services which form a core of what we now regard as a CWIS the degree to which they need to be, or in fact are, organised as a monolithic service is in question as network publishing capability grows. Currently developments in such services are dominated by the Internet Gopher software developed at the University of Minnesota and much of the discussion below revolves around this.
It is also not always clear when viewing a campus from the network whether there is a "Campus Wide Information System" in any official sense at all. With the increase in electronic publishing of internal directories and policy documents and network access to all of this it is open to any individual with a workstation to produce a coherent view of these resources which can be functionally equivalent to many less well stocked "official" systems 1. While in the longer term it is likely that there will be one information server on a campus to give a view of "official" information this information may be sourced from information servers in many areas. The view provided may only be one of many . Whether the library is included in the "official" CWIS or not will not affect whether Library and official information are available and only to some extent the view of that data which is available.
The provision of a central source of authoritative data, equally accessible to all has clear advantages for administration. A mechanism where news, circulars and other general public announcements can be disseminated as widely as a mailing list or notice board but with far less effort, clear advantages ensure.
Far from there being a single monolithic CWIS at each institution each individual can publish direct from the desk to their networked colleagues. It is likely that the amount published in this way will be much greater than that published on paper and that there will be an explosion in preprint and ephemera. The future task of the library profession could well include that of managing and simplifying access to networked publications. But also as central publishing organisations weaken in their ability to influence, control and filter what gets published there will be scope to assist individuals in their network publishing endeavour. If libraries help provide a view of the network for their own internal users there is a converse responsibility for the library to provide a coherent view to the inquirer from outside the institution who is seeking publications of the University. There is scope for the Library within an institution to become a significant player in the publishing process.
While the internet mainly reaches the academic and research sector this is rapidly changing in the US as there part of the network starts to commercialise. Even in Australia despite resistance to opening AARNet up individuals are starting to spread access.6. The limitations in the distribution of electronic publishing are likely to rapidly decrease.
A more difficult problem is the blurring of the concept of a document. If information is provided electronically from a server it may be that the author, for some types of documents, will wish to, and will, modify the document to take into account additional information and ideas as they come to hand. Where a document is changing in an essentially continuous fashion it may become difficult even to talk of editions of a document only the content at a particular date and time.
With the cost of disk now an order of magnitude cheaper than paper, with networks making remote information easily available it is now quite feasible to publish the source data upon which the conclusions and reasoning in a paper are based so that they can be checked. Indeed, in an academic environment, to pressure to make working data available can be quite great. The networks will increasing see data of this kind and certainly in the fields of biology and space science we are seeing this now.
The end result of these trends is the creation of a central organised source of documents and data serving the needs of the host institution including both material from within the institution and outside. In short a library.
While the these campus networks remained free-standing, and while no standardised easily used information retrieval software existed at an affordable costs these service could only look inwards to the problems of providing internal information to local clients and they followed the model of delivery natural to the times and for which software could be made available, a central service provided from a mainframe.
It is ironic that the developments at Minnesota would appear not to be based upon a desire to achieve what they eventually produced but motivations to create a campus information systems which could be achieved on multiple workstations and distributed across multiple workstations in order to cut costs rather than a mainframe approach 8. The introduction of one simple concept, that of allowing one server to chain to another, fundamentally altered the concept of what a CWIS could be and do. It generated the capability of multiple sites sharing information and being able to link information services together into one integrated whole without keeping multiple copies of the data or extensive coordinating mechanisms between sites. This could be done between not just within institutions, but between institutions as they became linked through the Internet. With the extension of this linking concept to support gateways to other network tools like anonymous FTP archives, Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) databases, remote terminal connections, usenet news an extremely powerful set of tools was created to deliver internal information and information from other institutions. By putting this software in the public domain, Minnesota, not only followed the traditions of the Internet but they also served their own interests by ensuring that information published by other institutions using their software became accessible
The shift to an outward view for CWIS systems could not have evolved until these software developments had occurred. Even before then, interest had arisen and was stimulated by the CWIS-L mailing list on BITNET, along with the PACS-L mailing list was one of the earliest e- mail lists serving the campus information service community. This group is still active and it is mirrored to Usenet news 9
Not only are there likely organisational problems, the standards for directory compilation and access are not yet settled with complete clarity. From the OSI world comes the x500 standard. Currently the University of Adelaide is providing access to this service for AARNet users 11. Many institutions have opted for an older 'standard' the CSO server which is reputed to be easier to install and which is better integrated into gopher 12. Still others have opted for a seemingly simplistic method of using WAIS software to index their directories as a text file 13. While this may seem quick and dirty, it works. The various approaches used with Australia have been tabulated at ANU 14.
A CWIS will certainly contain other listings and directories but there are more site dependent.
While integrated library management systems trail behind the mainstream of network developments as they continue to be provided via telnet links rather than by using the newer protocols of Gopher or Z39.50. A number of groups are making movements in this area, notably the Norwegian library systems which provide direct Gopher access to their bibliographic records 16 and the work of the Z39.50 Implementors Group 17 which is leading to the deployment of native Z39.50 catalogues rather than those using the now outdated 88 version of the protocol utilised by WAIS software.
The developers of Gopher and World Wide Web client software have added item inspection facilities to display the linking information to reveal the source of the information. With the Gopher+ protocol this has been extended a step further so that the server will display additional information about the source such as the size of the data, the date it was last changed and the name and address of the administrator of that part of the system.
A number of simple expedients have been followed by those creating Gopher menus. Two extreme approaches for the top level have been followed with every variety in between. One approach is to only have one menu item at the top through which ALL external information can be obtained 18. The second is the reverse. All menus but one go to external or "unofficial" sources with one going to internally provided material 19. Both approaches have problems. Where the real desire may be to isolate "official" university material from other material, finding a dividing line is not easy as more groups on a campus that are remote from the central services staff publish their own material. Libraries in particular tend to be less concerned with the source of the information and more concerned with this subject area and hopefully, the usefulness of the information.
For 'official' organisational information some patterns may be emerging. Firstly, input is needed from those whose expertise lies with the media over which the system travels - the computing staff. So far their input seems to have been predominant. Secondly, those groups concerned with the presentation and organisation of information , librarians and staff in public information areas, need to provide guidelines. Librarians in particular are developing a role in the provision of campus wide information systems.
Lastly, the actual information providers need to be involved, the compilers of directories, handbooks, agendas and minutes. To date their involvement seems minor, but their role must become a central in the long term if these systems are to provide current, useful information.
The need for coordination that is associated with the official electronic publication activities of a University is also to be found with the less formal network publishing activities occurring on campus. However this often seems to amount to less, rather than more coordination than that found for official publications. How it is done , the degree of control exerted and the formal organisational structure set up to do this will vary in response the local organisational culture rather than any generic model which can be imported.
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There are further limitations on the type of textual material which can be delivered due to the different characteristics at the client end. To ensure global accessibility the following guidelines need to be followed -
A gopher server maps the file system of it's host computer into the menu structure it displays, each directory presenting a separate menu. Files in each directory are presented as retrievable menu items. Special files in each directory can add links - gateways - to items from other servers. The Unix server is best developed and can offer menu items which provide gateways to -
Server specific indexing systems exist for Next systems which have indexing built into the operating system and the gn, a Gopher and WWW server, has an item level indexing systems built in 29 as has the ftpd server for the Mac 30.
The first moves to integrate Gopher into Integrated Library Management Systems have been reputed to have begun. Both VTLS and NOTIS are alleged to be working on a capability to build gopher into their OPACs so that the full text of an item can be retrieved via the Gopher protocol from within the OPAC.
There is an active news group comp.infosystems.gopher 31 and a variety of specialised mailing lists, one of which GO4LIB, is of particular interest to Librarians , as it supports discussion of Library related Gophers. A fairly complete list of Gopher servers is set out below and these may be accessed via the ANU Library Elisa gopher.32
Institution Host
____________________________________________________
AARNet Archive Server archie.au
ANU - COOMBSQUEST Soc.Sci & Humanities
Inf.Facility at ANU cheops.anu.edu.au
ANU - Electronic Library Information
System at ANU info.anu.edu.au
ANU - Research School of Biological
Sciences (RSBS) Biology Gopher life.anu.edu.au
ANU Campus Information System cwis.anu.edu.au
Austin Hospital PET Centre Gopher pet1.austin.unimelb.edu.au
Australian Defence Force Academy gopher.adfa.oz.au
Australian Environmental Resources
Information Network (ERIN) kaos.erin.gov.au
Australian National Botanic Gardens 155.187.10.12
Centre for Design at RMIT daedalus.edc.rmit.edu.au
CSIRO Australian National Telescope Facility crux.rp.CSIRO.AU
CSIRO ITS Branch Information Server
(commsun.its.CSIRO.AU) commsun.its.CSIRO.AU
Curtin University of Technology info.curtin.edu.au
Flinders University frodo.cc.flinders.au
Griffith University gopher.gu.edu.au
James Cook University marlin.jcu.edu.au
La Trobe University gopher.latrobe.edu.au
Monash University Gopher cwis.monash.edu.au
Murdoch University Library infolib.murdoch.edu.au
Queensland University of Technology Gopher.qut.edu.au
University of Adelaide ITD
Experimental Gopher jarrah.itd.adelaide.edu.au
University of Canberra services.canberra.edu.au
University of New England - Northern Rivers alsvid.une.edu.au
University of New South Wales usage.csd.unsw.oz.au
University of Queensland brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
University of Southern Queensland helios.usq.edu.au
University of Sydney Law School sulaw.law.su.OZ.AU
University of Sydney Library gopher.fisher.su.oz.au
University of Sydney, Australia gopher.su.edu.au
University of Tasmania info.utas.edu.au
University of Western Australia uniwa.uwa.edu.au
University of Western Australia
Virology Gopher virus.microbiol.uwa.edu.au
University of Western Sydney ob1.uws.edu.au
University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury hotel.uws.edu.au
University of Western Sydney, Macarthur tscc.macarthur.uws.edu.au
University of Western Sydney, Nepean gopher.nepean.uws.edu.au
University of Wollongong gopher.uow.edu.au
Victorian Institute of Forensic Pathology brain.vifp.Monash.edu.au
A WWW or Web document is annotated in Hypertext Mark Up Language (HTML) a derivative of SGML 33. The tabs used in the document can specify general format information about a document such as heading levels, text style and paragraphs. Graphics can be included in the text. Links to other documents can be embedded in the text as Uniform Resource Locater (URL) references. These other documents can be of all media or multimedia types. They do not need to be included on a WWW server but can, for instance, be linkages to documents available from anonymous file transfer (FTP) sites or via Gopher All material in GopherSpace is therefore available to users of the Web.
Despite it's power, the use of WWW software has been limited until very recently because of two factors.
Firstly, client software was only available for either dumb terminal interfaces that are unable to access formats other than text or for X-Windows systems that are financially out of reach of most potential users.
Secondly, WYSIWYG editing software was unavailable. This situation is improving with converter software written for formats like RTF which can be output from a number of word processors such as Microsoft Word; and the release of specialised editors.
The use of WWW on the Net is now growing much faster than that the use of Gopher. Documentation for WWW is more extensive than that available for Gopher 34,
It's development is supported by a newsgroup comp.infosystems.www and a number of mailing lists.
At the time of writing there were only nine Web server in Australa most of them at ANU 35.
November 1993.
A. Barry and D. Stanton
1 At the time of writing the National Library did not offer a 'CWIS' of it's services but it was quite possible to provide these from an external point through a gopher server. gopher://info.anu.edu.au:70/11/OtherSites/au
2 ANU's Electronic Library entry on it's Elisa gopher is organised in this way, gopher://info.anu.edu.au:70/11/elibrary
3 Dr Matthew Ciolek through the CoombsServer offers a coherent view of networked material in the Social Sciences, gopher://cheops.anu.edu.au:70/1
4 David G. Green 'Landscapes, cataclysms and population explosions'. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 13,6 (1990).:75-82. http://life.anu.edu.au:80/edmonton.html
5 David G. Green - PUBLICATIONS , http://life.anu.edu.au:80/people/dgg/dggpapers.html
6 Zik Saleeba (Comp.) 'Australian Public Network Access FAQ v1.3'. Release version 1.3 -93/08/04 http://life.anu.edu.au:80/australia/publicfaq.html
7 Judy Hallam . 'Campus-wide information systems'. Advances in Library Automation and Networking, Vol 5. 1993. gopher://gass.cc.uow.edu.au/00/Library/tech/hallman.txt
8 Rich Wiggins, 'The University of Minnesota's Internet Gopher System: A Tool for Accessing Network-Based Electronic Information', The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 4, no. 2 (1993): 4-60 (to retrieve this file, send e-mail messages to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU containing GET WIGGINS1 PRV4N2 and GET WIGGINS2 PRV4N2)
10 ANU Information Technology Directions Statement. Campus Wide Information System Committee Report 1993, gopher://cis.anu.edu.au:73/11/Admin/Documents/ITD/ITD4
11 University of Adelaide X500 link, gopher://jarrah.itd.adelaide.edu.au:70/11/Dirs/X.500 and AARNet and also National Directory Services project .Final Report, 1993?, 68p., gopher://plaza.aarnet.EDU.AU:70/00/ftp/projects/directory-services/report/REPORT.ascii 12 ADFA maintains a CSO directory . gopher://qi.cc.adfa.oz.au:105/2
13 ANU used WAIS for both its phone and email directories; gopher://cis.anu.edu.au:70/11/ANU-dir
14 ANU phone & email directory collection; gopher://info.anu.edu.au:70/11/Refbooks/phone
15 University of Canberra supports calendar information in this manner ; gopher:///11/News/Calendar/Events
16 Norwegian National Library; gopher://gopher.bibsys.no:70/1
17 Draft rfc for z3950 over tcp/ip. gopher://libmac1.anu.edu.au:70/00ftp%3aftpd%20gopher%3aNetwork%20Tools%3aWAIS%3adraft%20rfc%20for%20z3950%20over%20tcp/ip
18 The ANU campus information system limits external access on it's top menu to one item for externally provided data and another for external links.; gopher://polly.anu.edu.au:70/1.
19 The Hong Kong University's gopher server only provides one link to it's services. gopher://info.csc.cuhk.hk:70/1
20 Prentiss Riddle gmail ftp://info.anu.edu.au/gopher/Unix/GopherTools/gmail-1.01.shar
21 gopher://infolib.murdoch.edu.au:70/1
22 gopher://services.canberra.edu.au:70/1
23 These can be access via hytelnet which is available for all platforms even WWW http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/HytelnetGate/Overview.html.
24 Judy Hallam List of CWIS systems ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/docs/about-the-net/cwis/cwis-l
25 Techinfo link http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/TechInfoGate.html
26 MOO software and information: ftp://info.anu.edu.au/gopher/GopherMoo/
27 The Australian National Botanic gardens has linked Oracle databases to its gopher server gopher://155.187.10.12:70/00anbg-data/ibis/gopher-dbms-gateway.txt
28 gopher://cheops.anu.edu.au:70/11/Socioinf-query/JugheadVeronica 29 gn documentation ftp://info.anu.edu.au/gopher/Unix/gn
30 ftpd link or indexing explanation. ftp://archie.au/micros/mac/info-mac/comm/Network/ftpd-220.hqx
31 news:comp.infosystems.gopher
32 Access to Australia gophers is obtainable at gopher://info.anu.edu.au:70/Othersites/au/
33 A beginners guide to hhtp. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/html-primer.html
34 WWW documentation is available at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
35 Australian World Wide Web ervers http://life.anu.edu.au:80/links/ozweb.html
36 Link to Unix software http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html
37 Link to X Mosaic ftp://archie.au/NCSA/Mosaic/
38 Windows Mosaic ftp://archie.au/PC/Mosaic/
39 Mac Mosaic ftp://archie.au/NCSA/Mac/Mosaic/