Spring 1996 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force

High Wire Press

Vicky Reich, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford University

Consistent with Stanford’s mission of creating and disseminating knowledge, Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SUL/AIR) established the HighWire Press (http://highwire.stanford.edu/) to provide new models for publication of scholarly literature. These models reflect changing ideas about who owns information and provide a means for interactive communication among scientists that go beyond the one-way publishing/broadcasting model. HighWire Press has co- published two important scientific journals on the Internet, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Science. The Press plans to put several more journals online in 1996. For each new project, SUL/AIR establishes a partnership with a scholarly society. SUL/AIR acts as a systems integrator, bringing together faculty scientists, librarians, technologists, and students. This new partnership provides the opportunity to rethink models, not just recast old ones. Universities and scientists can design services that fit the way they want to work in the future.

Interactive Data Service In Academic Libraries: The UVA Experience

Patrick M. Yott, Coordinator, Social Sciences Data Services, University of Virginia

Academic data centers have long supported instruction and research by building collections of machine-readable numeric data. With the development of the WWW and associated programming tools, data centers now are capable of serving an expanded clientele in new and exciting ways. Data centers can now offer not only wider access, but more interactive access to numeric data. This briefing will discuss these potentialities within the context of efforts at the University of Virginia Social Sciences Data Center (SSDC).

Integrating Bibliographic Databases with Primary Journal Literature

Peter Ciuffetti, Director of Corporate Development, SilverPlatter Information, Inc.

William Roberts, SilverPlatter Information, Inc.

Bradley McLean, SilverPlatter Information, Inc.

Paul Sanders, SilverPlatter Information, LTD, London, UK

Nick Roberts, SilverPlatter Information, LTD, London, UK

This briefing describes the efforts of project “WILD Thing” at SilverPlatter Information. Starting in November 1994, the authors developed a technology architecture that enables the construction of sophisticated digital libraries. We present here solutions we considered and deployed to address features not provided by many current digital library technologies. These include: 1) unification of the organization and presentation of content at the primary (digital), primary (non-digital) and secondary levels; 2) tools to help librarians establish organization among large collections of digital artifacts; 3) opportunities to exploit the richness of information encoded in SGML in ways not achievable with HTML; 4) extensibility mechanism to support the unique requirements of searching non-textual data; and, 5) features to enable the distribution of commercial and non-commercial content among cooperating domains. This briefing will focus on and demonstrate the first of these solutions where we have taken steps to integrate primary and secondary material. As time allows, it will also touch upon the other four aspects.

Columbia University Online Books Evaluation Project

Carol Mandel, Deputy University Librarian, Columbia University

David Millman, Manager, Research and Development, Academic Information Systems, Columbia University

Mary Summerfield, Coordinator, Online Books Evaluation Project, Columbia University

In the Online Books Evaluation Project, Columbia University is assessing the potential for online delivery of books to supplement or replace traditional print books in research, teaching and learning. The three-year project, supported by a grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation, is examing: users’ adoption of and responses to various counterparts; implications of intellectual property regulations and commercial traditions for the online format. Reporting on the Project’s start-up year, this briefing will describe the evaluation methodologies designed for the project, the technical environment developed to deliver materials and measure use (e.g. Web “session” data, user data, etc.), traditional books and expectations of online books.

Assessing the Academic Networked Environment: Strategies and Options

Charles R. McClure, Distinguished Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University

This session will introduce the just published CNI manual Assessing the Academic Networked Environment: Strategies and Options authored by Charles R. McClure and Cynthia L. Lopata from the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University. McClure will provide an overview of the manual and its contents, discuss the uses of the manual, and offer recommendations regarding future work to be done in assessing academic networks.

The New NSF Program for High-Performance Connections to the Internet

Mark Luker, Program Director, NSFNet, National Science Foundation

The present Internet is a great success by many measures, and has led to significant advances in research, access to information, publications, and collaboration for research and education. It fails, however, to meet certain emerging needs of research and higher education since it does not guarantee the “quality of service” required, for example, to view large images rapidly, to control remote instrumentation in real time, or to reliably support human teleconferencing. The National Science Foundation is updating its original “Connections to the Internet” program to focus on quality of service for advanced applications. It is hoped that this program will help to stimulate the development of additional Internet services that better address the full needs of research and education.

Access to and Services for Federal Information in the Networked Environment

Joan Cheverie, Head, Government Documents Department, Georgetown University and Visiting Program Officer, Coalition for Networked Information

Peter Graham, Associate University Librarian for Technical and Networked Information Services, Rutgers University

Joan Lippincott, Assistant Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information

With the increasing use and availability of information technologies, there has been a significant change in how federal agencies disseminate government information. This change is resulting in new dissemination mechanisms, as well as new and changing user needs and expectations. As a result, the responsibilities and capacities of institutions that facilitate the flow of federal information to academic and civic communities need to be rethought in this shifting environment. This session will update attendees on the Coalition’s white paper, “Access to and Services for Federal Information in the Networked Environment.” This paper will guide higher education and other institutions in the development of strategies for providing access to federal information by their constituencies using the powerful and rapidly expanding global information infrastructure.

Cost Centers and Measures Project in the Networked Information Value Chain

Paul Evan Peters, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information

Mark A. Tesoriero, Market Research Account Executive, Robert Ubell Associates

Robert N. Ubell, President, Robert Ubell Associates

The three main objectives for the “Cost Centers and Measures in the Networked Information Value-Chain” project are:

• to produce a white paper on the value-chain of productive relations and activities that link authors and readers in the scholarly and scientific communication and publication system;
• to identify the value centers and cost categories that will experience the greatest impacts due to the increased significance of networks and networked information in the scholarly and scientific communication and publication system; and,
• to formulate strategies for measuring those impacts over time.

At this project briefing, we will review the methodologies of the past research (expert panels convened in New York), present the preliminary findings of the draft report, discuss the recommendations gathered from the panels, and consider the next steps in moving the project forward.

An Overview of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

Heather Boyles, Policy Analyst, FARNET (Federation of American Research Networks)

This session will review the major provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, passed earlier this year; report on the immediate timetable for implemention of its provisions; discuss coming changes within the industry; and attempt to predict how the whole thing will affect users and providers of communications services.

Secure Electronic Commerce and Digital Rights Protection

Michelle Arden, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Electronic Publishing Resources

Bob Weber, Senior Vice President, Business and Technology Strategy, Electronic Publishing Resources

A vast amount of information, literature, video, images, and music is not yet available in digital format, even though digital distribution and storage have significant advantages for both providers and customers. The primary reason is the providers’ concern that their information property-if provided in digital form-will be copied and redistributed uncontrollably without generating any revenue after the initial sale. The future growth of electronic commerce requires that creators, publishers and distributors retain the same kind of control in the electronic marketplace as they do in today’s physical marketplace. What is needed is a self-enforcing electronic rights management system that is seamlessly integrated into the electronic marketplace and persistently protects content without inhibiting its free flow.Electronic Publishing Resources has pioneered electronic rights management and has created the first such system, consisting of the DigiBox(tm) secure container technology and the InterTrust(tm) distribution and event management architecture. NetTrust(tm) 1.0 is the first EPR(tm) product line utilizing the DigiBox and InterTrust technologies. The availability of NetTrust toolkits for clearinghouse developers, software tool developers, and content creators will be announced throughout 1996. The EPR information commerce technologies provide powerful capabilities that:

• Persistently protect digital properties while ensuring appropriate payment for use;
• automate copyright, contract, and licensing compliance for customers and business partners, and thus make possible ad hoc business agreements; and,
• enable compelling new business models such as superdistribution, in which every customer is a potential redistributor.

AMICUS System Implementation at the National Library of Canada

Louis J. S. Forget, Director General, Information Technology Services, National Library of Canada

Louis-Paul Normand, Director, Consulting Services, CGI

This session will discuss the large scale implementation of the new Z39.50-based library management system using a relational and full text engine at the National Library of Canada. The system, named AMICUS, is a client-server based system and it was put in operation in June, 1995. The AMICUS data base includes 11 million bibliographic records. The system is used by the National Library of Canada, and the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) as well as a few federal libraries for searching and cataloguing and by over 500 Canadian institutions who are members of our Access AMICUS national database service.

Using Networks to Build Bridges: Reaching Out To and In From The Black Community

James Briggs Murray, Curator, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division and Assistant Director, Media Productions and Theatre Operations, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Rosie Albritton, Assistant Professor, Wayne State University

E. David Ellington, Chief Executive Officer, NetNoir Inc.

Itabari Zulu, Director, Center for African American Studies Library, University of California, Los Angeles

Gary Puckrein, Founder/President, American Visions Society

The progress and success of any community in the 21st century will depend upon the ability of ALL of its citizenry to create and access computerized information, to use electronic resources adroitly, and to translate these skills successfully into applications beneficial to themselves and society. If Blacks are to be aptly represented as the electronic information infrastructure evolves, then they must contribute their share of content relating to the African-American community. This session will discuss how black information professionals and executives have taken proactive measures to ensure that the black community is made made aware of the positive potentiality of emerging technology, both as consumers and producers. Particular attention will be given to successful community partnerships, and the collaborative ventures of NetNoir Inc. and America Online and the AMERICAN VISIONS Magazine and CompuServ.

The JSTOR Project of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Kevin Guthrie, Mellon Foundation, JSTOR

Wendy Lougee, Assistant Director, Digital Library Initiatives, University of Michigan

The JSTOR (Journal Storage) Project, developed and sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is a large-scale undertaking to convert the backfiles of journals into digital form and develop access tools which allow both full text searching and indexed tables of contents. In its pilot phase, JSTOR has focused on 10 journals in history and economics, but expansion is underway. JSTOR is securing rights to additional titles, linking current issues to backfiles in certain cases, and (later in 1996) developing an economic model to offer access to potentially hundreds of institutions. The presentation will provide a description of the production process, system technologies, and objectives of the project.

The Electronic Library of Delaware and The New Hampshire Automated Information System: Statewide Networking Strategies

Tom Sloan, State Librarian, Delaware State Library

James Cayz, Senior Librarian, Delaware State Library

Kendall F. Wiggin, State Librarian, New Hampshire State Library

Various states have differing strategies for meeting the needs of the networked library user. This session will present two approaches being taken by state libraries to network library resources within their respective states. The presentors will provide background on how each intiative came about, examine technical and policy issues that arise in a statewide network, and discuss the current status of their systems and future directions they are headed.

MESL Project Description

Jennifer Trant, Manager, Imaging Initiative, Getty Art History Information Program

The Museum Educational Site Licensing Project (MESL) brings representative museums, colleges, and universities together to define the terms and conditions for educational use of museum images and information on campus-wide networks. During this two-year collaboration, launched in 1995, sixteen. selected educational and collecting institutions are collaborating to agree on the terms of the capture, distribution, and use of digital images and their associated texts. MESL participants are exploring and evaluating the educational benefits of digital access to museum collections through campus networks. Administrative, technical, and legal mechanisms are being developed and tested to enable the future use of large quantities of high-quality museum images by all educational institutions.

Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI) Cultural Heritage Information Online (CHIO) Project: Update on Z39.50 Application Profile for Cultural Heritage and SGML DTD for Museum Exhibition Catalogs

John Perkins, CIMI Project Director, Computer Interchange of Museum Information

William Moen, Z39.50 Application Profile Project Manager, University of North Texas

Robin Dowden, National Gallery of Art Washington

Steve Dietz, National Museum of American Art

CIMI has been working on Project CHIO, a demonstration project, of the application of SGML and Z39.50 to the online search and retrieve of museum information. This session will review the work on a DTD for museum objects and exhibition catalogues that allows comprehensive markup of catalogs, and the Z39.50 application profile being written that will make them searchable.

Planning for Digital Archives

Ronald Larsen, Associate Director of Libraries for Information Technology, University of Maryland at College Park

Peter Hirtle, Policy & IRM Services, National Archives and Records Administration

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP), in collaboration with CNI, are sponsoring a series of workshops beginning in the fall of 1996 to examine strategic issues in the development of digital archives. Each workshop will bring together leaders with specific expertise in the workshop topic, with the objective of increasing shared knoweldge of archives in an increasingly digital world. The draft set of workshop topics includes:

• Access issues: Finding, accessing, & using archival materials digitally;
• Archival preservation: Standing on the shoulders of legacy systems;
• Security & Privacy: Balancing open systems, secure information, & individual privacy;
• Conversion: Accommodating a world of mutable information & information sources; and,
• Architecture: Laying the foundation for a coherent system.

The purpose of this project briefing is to engage the CNI community in the planning process for the workshop series, to refine the initial list of workshop topics, and to identify individuals and organizations who have a significant interest in participating

Leveling the Road Ahead: The Effective Use of Computers and Online Information Systems by Persons with Visual and Physical Disabilities

Judith M. Dixon, Consumer Relations Officer, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress

This session will provide an overview of computer and network use by persons with visual and physical disabilities. A demonstration of refreshable braille and synthetic speech access will be provided as well as an in-depth discussion of strategies for making online material accessible.

PURLs: Persistent Names for URLs

Terry Noreault, Director, Research & Special Projects, OCLC, Inc.

There is an immediate need to establish a naming convention which can be used to identify and locate resources on the Net. PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) has been developed and distributed by OCLC to address this need. PURLs function like URLs for the Web client and are resolved using redirection by a special HTTP PURL server. The briefing will discuss the motivation for URNs, the PURL proposal, additional PURL services, and the PURL server being distributed by OCLC.

State of NIDR in Colorado: ACLIN, BPL, Z39.50, DIPP & other TLA’s (3 letter acronyms)

George H. Brett II, Consultant, Boulder Public Library, Colorado State Library, ACLIN project, University of Colorado at Boulder

This briefing will present information about NIDR projects in the State of Colorado that involve distributed networked information discovery and retrieval. Some specific examples are the Access Colorado Library and Information Network (ACLIN), the remote access imaging project, the Distributed Information Processing Protocol, Z39.50 and distributed information environments, and all the above working in diversely aggregated environments. A presentation summary will be made available online after the briefing session.

The Electronic Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (EJECT): A Libraries-initiated publishing venture

Judith Sessions, Dean and University Librarian, Miami University

The Electronic Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (EJECT) project is an ejournal project undertaken by the Miami University Libraries incooperation with the Office for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching. This electronic publication is produced using existing library staff and equipment. The proposed session will focus on the Libraries’ role in the development of this project and the strategies used to minimize costs and staff time. Other topics discussed will include collaboration with the Office of Scholarship and Teaching, production costs (staff time and equipment), data collection on usage of articles, and future directions.

The International Library School in Central and Eastern Europe: A Call for Collaboration and Involvement

Maria Sliwinska, Deputy Director, University Library, University of Torun, Poland

Czeslaw Jan Grycz, Director, The Wladyslaw Poniecki Foundation, University of California Extension

Barbara Rodes, Library Consultant

The significant role of librarians in managing and harnessing the power of distributed digital networks is well known to CNI Task Force members. That role–in the context of developing economies and emerging democracies of the Third World–is even more central than it is among technologically-advanced nations. For this reason, the University of Torun, in Poland, is endeavoring to establish a new form of “International Library School,” which can act as an efficient conduit of training, education, practical workshops, and online support for practicing librarians from Third World and developing countries. Already having received the support of the Ministry of Education and the Council of University Rectors in Poland; The Mellon Foundation, The Soros Foundation, and The Poniecki Foundation in the U.S.; and from Universities and Libraries in the EU; the ILS now seeks active collaboration and partners from among U.S. Libraries and Institutions to help flesh out appropriate curricula and course requirements, provide guest and distance-delivered lectures, and make available 4-week long internships for students enrolled in the ILS. This briefing session will provide information about the current status of the project, and the important opportunities available to Task Force members to support a truly innovative and significant global outreach project.

The Virtual Magistrate: A Pilot Project for Online Dispute Resolution

David G. Post, Georgetown University Law Center and Cyberspace Law Institute

System operators in today’s online environment face a difficult choice when their subscribers, or third parties, bring to their attention allegations of tortious communications appearing on their system (e.g., messages alleged to infringe the rights of a copyright holder, defamatory messages, or the like). Taking no action at all in the face of such an allegation would appear to be unreasonable; quite apart from questions of possible vicarious liability, most system operators, we may assume, are not interested in allowing their systems to be used for illegal or otherwise harmful activity. At the same time, simply removing the allegedly tortious communications is equally unsatisfactory; the allegation may, of course, prove to be a false one, and removal of the communications unfairly and unnecessarily impacts on the communication of third parties who have engaged in no wrongdoing. And determining whether the communication in question is, or is not, tortious may be extremely difficult; it may not be (and generally is not) clear from an examination of any particular message whether it contains infringing, or defamatory, material.The Virtual Magistrate is a pilot project for resolving disputes about online postings through new, rapid- response, online arbitration. The pilot project was convened by the Cyberspace Law Institute, with funding provided by the National Center for Automated Information Research (NCAIR) and operational support provided by the American Arbitration Association. The project’s goals are to (a) Establish the feasibility of using online dispute resolution for disputes that originate online; (b) provide system operators with informed and neutral judgments on appropriate responses to complaints about allegedly wrongful postings; (c) provide users and others with a rapid, low-cost, and readily accessible remedy for complaints about online postings; (d) lay the groundwork for a self-sustaining, online dispute resolution system as a feature of contracts between system operators and users and content suppliers (and others concerned about wrongful postings); (e) help to define the reasonable duties of a system operator confronted with a complaint; (f) explore the possibility of using the Virtual Magistrate Project to resolve other dispute related to computer networks; and (g) develop a formal governing structure for an ongoing Virtual Magistrate operation.