ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 576 / C&RL News INNOVATIONS A HyperCard call number directory: Using stacks to find stacks By W illiam P . K an e Reference Librarian W ayne State University W ayne State University Libraries now use a ded­ icated Macintosh term inal running a custom-built H yperC ard stack to assist users in locating items by call num ber. This autom ated Call Num ber Direc­ tory leads patrons through a series of questions un­ til the exact floor and stack for a particular call num ber appear on the screen. Purpose Since WSU unveiled its online catalog LUIS in October 1987, the form erly routine determ ination of floor location by call num ber has become more complicated. Users and librarians m ust answer (at least implicitly) a series of questions before heading to the stacks. The revered Collections Directory— an in-house chart th a t indicates an item ’s where­ abouts according to its card catalog num ber and deciphers some quaint card catalog stamps—has been rendered obsolete by the online system. Be­ cause WSU hosts DALnet (Detroit Area Libraries netw ork)—a consortium of libraries which partici­ p a te a n d w h o se rec o rd s a p p e a r in th e L U IS catalog—users can search WSU’s catalog and find call num bers for books in libraries throughout southeastern Michigan. Despite obvious on-screen indications of the holding library and/or any spe­ cial location w ithin, patrons can ignore such vital inform ation and have been known to search the wrong building’s shelves for the books they need. Description Patrons use the Macintosh mouse (no keyboard is required) to click on a series of “buttons” which lead them to a variety of inform ational “cards” or screens culm inating in the on-screen presentation of a digitized floor plan w ith call num ber ranges in­ dicated on the stacks. Arranged hierarchically, the H yperC ard stack explicitly asks patrons to answer the following questions for each call num ber: •D id this call num ber come from LUIS or the card catalog? • I f LUIS, is this a WSU item? •W h ich library w ithin WSU is indicated (there are four libraries on campus)? •A re there any special locations or collections such as Reserves or Documents or Reference? • I s it a Dewey or LC call num ber? • I s the item oversize? • W h a t is the first letter (or num ber) of the call number? Only upon this kind of analysis is the patron shown the particular stack of the particular floor of the particular library for each call num ber. Moreover, on-screen warnings about the items in the card catalog (which hasn’t been updated since 1981) a n d in the D ew ey collection (WSU switched to LC in 1966) compel the patron to think about looking for m ore current materials. Practical information The WSU Call N um ber D irectory stack cur­ rently consists of 60 cards and 198K of memory while the H yperC ard utility itself occupies 622K. For this reason, and since opportunities for revising and expanding the Call Num ber Directory stack are virtually limitless, a Macintosh SE hard disk is recommended. W SUL’s term inal is installed prom ­ inently among the m ain library’s other OPAC te r­ minals in the reference area. Ideally, patrons can move from the LUIS term inal to the Macintosh to the shelf. The program is designed for autom atic loading July/August 1989 / 577 using the Mac’s “Start up” program and by em bed­ ding a script into H yperC ard’s Hom e stack th a t goes to th e desired card upon opening. Thus, the Call N um ber D irectory stack is enacted merely by turning on the m ain pow er switch to the term inal. This is an im portant program m ing feature in an environm ent w ith m any public term inals, each of­ fering different files w ith different passwords and protocol. Similarly, the m achine can be shut down at the click of a well-scripted butto n enabling Ap­ ple’s ResCopy tool. T he fam iliar m enubar at th e top of the M acin­ tosh screen is easily hidden through “openStack” scripting and, w ith no keyboard in use, essentially off-limits. F u rth er, since the stack is “browsing” only in the public mode, and since a password is re­ q u ire d before any m odifications can occur, the stack is protected from tam pering. T he autom ated Call N um ber D irectory—turned on in the m orning and off in the evening—has an introductory screen th a t states its purpose and invites patrons to click away. Simple scripts can be w ritten th a t keep track of p atron use by counting in invisible fields. Peak pe­ riods can be sim ilarly identified by com paring these use statistics w ith th e M ac’s internal clock. Use Installed w ith no fanfare or announcem ent, the term inal has attracted atten tio n —if for nothing o th e r th a n curiosity. A M acintosh in an IBM- dom inated area demands attention despite its com­ petitively small screen size and lack of color. The presence of even im perfect graphics compares fa­ vorably to the lack of same in th e online and CD- ROM term inals. T he Reference and Inform ation Desk staffs have been gradually introducing p a ­ trons to th e te rm in a l’s fu n c tio n — p a rtic u la rly w hen faced w ith the general question of “How do I find books by call nu m b er in this library?” More­ over, the program is now being introduced through the C enter for Bibliographic Instruction—an of­ fice w hich ad m in isters BI to all new students through a required one-credit course—to fam iliar­ ize a new generation of library users w ith the pro­ gram. In th e m eantim e, however, some patrons prefer to bypass the system in favor of asking a quick ques­ tion of a staff m em ber. Despite an inherent “Short C u t” in the program (which allows users to skip some screens once com fortable w ith the system), some patrons simply are confounded by the num ­ ber of questions th a t m ust be answered before find­ ing out the correct floor or location. Indeed, the term inal is sometimes abandoned m id-stream . Al­ though scripts are w ritten to bring the program back to its introductory card after a certain am ount of inactivity, program m ers can make the “Payoff” of the location as exact as possible (down to th e ex­ act shelf) to keep the users’ attention. Future In a m ulti-institutional database environm ent like W SU’s online catalog, th e H y p erC ard Call N um ber D irectory could eventually be expanded to include all system-w ide libraries’ collections. W ayne State University Libraries are currently ex­ ploring the possibilities of adding features to the ex­ istin g p ro g ra m : la r g e r sc re e n , c o lo r m o n ito r, touch-screen response. Eventually, these features m ay evolve into an autom ated Inform ation Kiosk th a t includes tours (with floor plans culled from the Call N um ber D irectory), instruction (a required H yperC ard BI program is in th e final stages of de­ v e lo p m e n t), a n d general c am p u s in fo rm a tio n . M eanwhile, th e H yperC ard stack is a noticeably innovative alternative to an otherwise m undane transaction. For further inform ation about the H yperC ard Call N um ber D irectory, please contact: W illiam P. Kane, Purdy L ibrary, W ayne State University, D etroit, MI 48202; (313) 577-6439. The academic reference librarian: Serving graduates in their job search By L aura W indsor Reference Librarian Texas State Technical Institute Academ ic reference lib rarian s w ill encounter reference questions each q u arter or semester from those students w ho are on the verge of graduating, or have already graduated. They can range from “Do you have any books on how to w rite a re ­ sume?” through “W ho’s hiring in the field of elec­ tronics?” to “Do you have some sort of list of com­ panies in th e im port-export business?” Most of us will show them adequate reference sources, but our role in a stu d e n t’s quest for em ploym ent is