ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Febru ary 1983 / 53 NEW T E C H N O L O G Y • A n d r a S y s t e m s . I n c .. New York, has designed a security system, called “ArtGuard” that protects rare works of art and documents. The system con­ sists of a cigarette pack-sized transmitter weighing less than five ounces which is mounted together with paintings or hidden on the underneath side of a display case. When an attempt is made to move the painting or cut its canvas, the transmitter is ac­ tivated and sends a radio signal up to 150 feet away to a wall-mounted receiver. The receiver decodes an annunciator, usually located at Security Head­ quarters. Each receiver is capable of handling 15 separate rooms with over 1000 transmitters and an area of 22.500 square feet. For further informa­ tion, contact Andra Systems, 84 West Broadway. New York. NY 10007:(212) 285-0198. • B i o S c i e n c e s I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e . Philadel­ phia. has announced the availability of Z oological R ecord Online, the machine-readable version of the largest index to zoological literature. Corres­ ponding very closely to the printed version of Z oo­ lo g ic a l R eco rd , the database includes thorough subject indexing using both controlled and natural language. It is currently accessible through DIA­ LOG Information Services as File #185. Contact Arthur W. Elias. BIO SIS. 2100 Arch Street. Phila­ delphia. PA 19103-1399: (215) 587-4800. • B o l e y I n t e r n a t i o n a l S u b s c r i p t i o n A g e n c y , a division of B.H. Blackwell, and Blackwell’s Period­ icals Division are offering to North American li­ b raries th e ir new d istrib u ted serials system . PER LIN E. The system, based on D EC PDP 11/23 minicomputers, allows most common serials func­ tions to be performed locally, with benefits in both response time and cost avoidance. It was demon­ strated publicly for the first time in America at ALA Midwinter in San Antonio. For more infor­ mation, contact Boley International. 260 Northern Boulevard. Great Neck. NY 11021; (800) 645-6595. •The B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a U n i o n C a t a l o g u e is proceeding with a six-month pilot implementation of an online computer system for its proposed Brit­ ish Columbia Library Network, despite its failure to obtain a special start-up grant during a time of cutbacks in provincial government spending. In or­ der to minimize the initial cash requirement, staff and data communications facilities are being vol­ unteered by three B.C . university libraries. The system that has been selected is B LIS. a turnkey version of the W ashington L ib ra ry Network. BC LN -BLIS will be headquartered at the Univer­ sity of Victoria Computing Centre. The Network plans to retain online links to UTLAS and to estab­ lish online access to WLN as well. Five British Co­ lumbia libraries will be using the system for cata­ loging support functions by March 31. 1983. • C u a d r a A s s o c i a t e s . Santa Monica, is coordi­ nating a project by which twenty information bro­ kers in the United States. Canada, and Mexico are offering access to a new range of 40 European data­ bases. under a special arrangement with six Euro­ pean online service organizations. The databases are offered exclusively through these online ser­ vices and are not available on services based in the U.S. The Commission of the European Communi­ ties is participating along with DIANE, the associ­ ation of major European online services. There are now 49 DIANE services in operation, offering over 200 databases not available through any U.S. or Canadian online service. Many of these databases have English-language content, and the online sys­ tems through which they can be searched have an English-language interface. T h e six p a rticip a tin g services are S L IG O S (Paris), ESA/IRS (Rome), Finsbury Data Services, L td . (Lo nd on). T elesysteines-Q uestel (Paris). Samsom Data Systems (The Netherlands), and ECHO (Luxembourg). Three academic libraries (Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Florida, and Ohio State University) are acting as information brokers. • E a s t m a n K o d a k C o m p a n y . Rochester. New York, has developed the first microprocessor- controlled binding system ever designed for in-line use with a high-volume electrophotographic dupli­ cator. making it possible to automatically produce sets of copies bound much like a book. The binding featu re is available with the Kodak Ektaprint 250AFB duplicator, which is also equipped with a conventional finisher that produces stapled sets. The finisher-binder can produce booklets or sets of copies with front and back covers ranging up to 100 sheets each, and its delivery tray can hold up to 2.000 sheets. For additional information, write Dept. CD -2023. Business Systems Markets Divi­ sion. Eastman Kodak Company. 343 State Street. Rochester, NY 14650. •The ALA L i b r a r y a n d I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l ­ o g y A s s o c i a t i o n ’s Video and Cable Communica­ tions Section has prepared an information packet 54 / C &R L News for librarians and others concerned with video in libraries. It includes a bibliography of cable TV pe­ riodicals, a bibliography on satellite communica­ tions, the results of the Public Service Satellite Con­ sortium (PSSC) C ab le Library Survey and the PSCC National Satellite Network, and the October 1981 issue of C om m unity Television R eview , much of which is concerned with community access to in­ formation through library video. The kit also con­ tains the October 1980 issue of the F ed era l C o m ­ m un ication s C om m ission In fo rm a tio n Bulletin explaining cable regulation and legislation, and the ALA pamphlet, "3 0 Questions Librarians Ask About Taping Copyrighted Television Programs for Educational Use.” Barbara Ortiz, chair of the LITA/VCCS Video and Cable Utlization Commit­ tee, prepared the kit. The price is $8.50, prepaid, and may be ordered from LITA/VCCS. American Librarv Association. 50 E. Huron St., Chicago. IL 60611.' • P r e d i c a s t s . I n c .. Cleveland, has announced the availability of a new database. Annual Reports A bstracts‚ with applications for marketing, plan­ ning, and financial specialists in all areas of corpo­ rate and institutional activity. ARA now contains 27,000 abstracts of information in annual reports covering 3,000 companies. Predicasts intends to ex­ pand coverage to 4,500 companies by the end of 1983. For more information, contact Predicasts, Inc.. 11001 Cedar Avenue, Cleveland. O H 44106. •The R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s G r o u p . Stanford, has created a special database of information on the collecting patterns of their member libraries. Called the RLG Conspectus On-line, the data can be used for comparing and analyzing existing col­ lections and future collecting policies and for iden­ tifying designated primary collecting responsibili­ ties among member libraries. Using ranges of the LC subject classification schedule as a guide, mem­ bers have assigned to specific fields two numbers, varying from 0 (minimal) to 5 (comprehensive), to characterize their collections in those fields. The first number represents the existing strength of the collection, and the second describes the scope of the current collection policy. Users of RLIN. R L G ’s automated information system, can search this new database interactively at any terminal capable of connecting to the RLG computer. • T e k n e k r o n C o n t r o l s . I n c .. Berkeley, Califor­ nia. and S O N Y V i d e o C o m m u n i c a t i o n s P r o d ­ u c t s . Lanham , Maryland, have been awarded contracts by the Library of Congress for a pilot pro­ ject to use laser optical disk technology for informa­ tion preservation and management. Teknekron will provide a system that will use digital optical disks for computerized mass storage, preservation, and retrieval of printed materials, including text and half-tone illustrations. SONY will deliver 50 copies each of five analog optical disk productions of films, videotapes, photos, and graphics, and 50 digital compact audio disks of two audio produc­ tions over the next 18 months. T h e Teknekron p ilot system w ill provide archival-quality document storage of 500,000 im­ ages of pages from frequently-used periodicals, rapid access and display of the images, and repro­ duction of single or multiple copies of specified pages or multiple documents. Display will be on special high-resolution terminals (2.200 lines per screen) and will take advantage of existing LC computer indexing and abstracting systems. Sev­ eral work stations for accessing the system will be installed at various locations throughout the Li­ brary’s three-building complex. Materials to be converted to analog disks by SONY include 35mm and 16mm motion pictures, 2-inch and 3/4-inch videotape, 90.000 motion pic­ ture stills, 30,000 glass plate negatives from the De­ troit Publishing Company Collection. 4.000 origi­ nal illustrations from the Cabinet of American Illustration, 4.000 images from the American Car­ toon Drawing Collection. 66 photo albums from the Abdul Hamid II Collection, and 1.500 color slides from the Farm Security Administration Col­ lection. In addition to offering attractive features for preservation, disk storage may offer the public un­ paralleled high-speed access to some of the most fragile and important materials in the Library’s collections. ■ ■