Approved-By:  Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Fri, 11 Dec 1992 13:32:08 CDT
From:         Eric Morgan <eric_morgan@library.lib.ncsu.edu>
Subject:      A Memo From Mr. Serials

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

A Memo From Mr. Serials.


A few weeks ago I inquired to the folks of PACS-L about methods for
systematically collecting ejournals. I got a few responses. To all of you who
responded, "Thank you." Only a couple of people said they were collecting
ejournals. Unfortunately, no one had the sort of systematic method I was
looking for.

Consequently, I hired a consultant to investigate the matter. His name is Mr.
Serials. Below is a memo I got from Mr. Serials outlining his progress using
the LISTSERV, FTP, Gopher, Perl, and WAIS technologies. I am forwarding it on
to you for your information.

Eric Lease Morgan

============================

  To: Eric Lease Morgan
  From: Mr. Serials
  Date: December 8, 1992
  Re: Ejournal collection

I am happy to report I have made significant progress towards discovering
methods for collecting ejournals. Although the project is still under
development, I believe you can look forward to having a system in place before
the end of Spring. This memo outlines what I have done so far.

As I see it, I have five collection management issues to address:

  1) selection,
  2) storage,
  3) organization,
  4) access, and
  5) acquisitions.


SELECTION

My first task is to select and subscribe to the ejournals. I took it upon
myself to collect only a small segment of the population, specifically the
titles dealing with library and information science. These titles include:

  * ALAWON,
  * ALTCS Network News,
  * Citations for Serial Literature,
  * Current Cites,
  * IR List Digest,
  * Newsletter for Serials Pricing Issues,
  * Public Access Computer Systems News, and
  * Public Access Computer Systems Review.

This part of the process was easy. I just used Charles Bailey's list of
ejournals as a guide and followed the instructions listed there. (There are a
few other titles listed in Bailey's guide, but I haven't gotten around to them
yet.)


FTP FOR STORAGE AND RUDIMENTARY ACCESS

I decided to solve my storage problems using anonymous FTP. This way anybody
can get the articles if they have access to the Internet. FTP also provides a
mechanism for archiving the materials. It is important to note I created a
single directory for each title. Within that directory are all the issues and
articles from that title, each with a unique but identifying name. For example,
every file from Citations for Serial Literature (CSL) is designated to begin
with "csl". Since CSL is issued in volume and number, each designation is
followed with something like "-v1n22". Therefore a complete designation is
"csl-v1n22". Issues from Public Access Computer Systems News looks like
"pacsn-v1n03". IR List Digest, which comes out sequentially, is saved as
"irld-001". Take note of the leading zeros in the preceding examples. They make
it possible to accurately sort the files by volume and number, and consequently
date. Also, keep in mind, the serial codes I have created are arbitrary. As
long as I am  consistent and there is a method to my madness, then it doesn't
matter what I call them.


GOPHER FOR ENHANCED ACCESS AND ORGANIZATION

FTP is strong on storage, but weak on access. This is where a Gopher comes in.
The Gopher protocol excels at maintaining pointers to Internet resources. Since
anonymous FTP sites are Internet resources, and since I have a Gopher server in
place, I created Gopher pointers (called link files) to my ejournals. This
solved a number of problems. First, the link files provide the capability to
list files in a more readable fashion. Second, the user no longer has to use
FTP commands to access the collection. Below is a fictitious, but correctly
formatted link file:

  Name=ALAWON v1n35 (May 5, 1992)
  Type=0
  Port=70
  Path=ftp:dewey.lib.ncsu.edu@pub/stacks/alawon/alawon-v1n35
  Host=dewey.lib.ncsu.edu

When the patron uses the Gopher they see "ALAWON v1n35 (May 5, 1992)." By
selecting the item the Gopher transparently opens up an anonymous FTP
connection to dewey.lib.ncsu.edu, changes to the /pub/stacks/alawon directory,
retrieves the file "alawon-v1n35" as a text (ASCII) file, closes the
connection, and displays the file. From there the patron can save the file on
their computer.

Furthermore, the Gopher protocol allows me to organize my ejournals into
volumes or years with an abbreviated link file called a "cap" file. Thus I can
organize my ejournals and eliminate very long menu listings.


WAIS FOR KEYWORD ACCESS

I am now using FTP primarily for storage and rudimentary access. With Gopher I
ehnanced access and organized the information. Unfortunately FTP and Gopher are
only useful if the patron knows exactly which issue or article they want. WAIS
now enters the picture allowing the patron to search the collection via
keywords.

Since I own all the articles associated with any particular ejournal, and since
I have a WAIS server in place, then it is a simple matter of creating a WAIS
index for each of my titles and putting these indexes in the appropriate
directory of the Gopher server. An unexpected benefit became of this. It will
be described later.


AUTOMATED ACQUISITIONS WITH PERL

Finally, after all this planning, I had a place to put my ejournals once I
collected them. I began by manually retrieving the files with the LISTSERV
"get" command. Once retrieved, I manually edited the files, saved the edited
versions in their appropriate FTP directory, wrote Gopher link files, and
updated the WAIS indexes.

Needless to say, this got old quickly! From the comp.infosystems.gopher USENET
newsgroup I had heard a lot about a programing language called "perl". I
retrieve the perl archive and wrote my very first perl script. This script,
which I call "makelink" automates much of the process listed above. It:

  1) reads a file (email message) given from the command line,
  2) removes the header,
  3) displays the first 19 line of the file,
  4) queries the user for a Gopher name for the file
     (ex: ALAWON v1n12 (May 13, 1992))
  5) queries the user for a FTP name for the file
     (ex: alawon-v1n12)
  6) saves the edited file in the appropriate FTP directory, and
  7) creates a link file and saves it the appropriate directory.

Now, all I have to do is wait for mail to arrive, save the message as a file,
and use makelink to make it available to the world.


SUMMARY AND FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

Looking back, the most labor intensive aspect of this ejournal collection
process has been collecting all the back issues. Now that I have them, this
problem is behind me.

It was tempting to begin the acquisitions process without a structure for
storage and access, but now that the structure is in place things are going
smoothly.

The acquisitions process can be further automated. There is a program called
"procmail". Procmail "listens" to your email and processes it when it arrives.
I plan to use procmail to save incoming files from my subscriptions into a
directory called "process-us". I will then rewrite makelink to run once a day.
It will read all the files in the process-us directory, examine the contents of
the files, and automatically create its own link and FTP files. This in turn
will decrease the probability of data-entry error and increase my lunch hour.
The success of this automated acquisitions process will be based on the
consistency of the ejournals. If they are created with a basic form, and they
consistently use that form, then it will a simple matter of extracting the
identifying information from them.

You may ask, "How do people get access to these ejournals if the don't have a
computer or Internet access?" The answer is the OPAC. It is probable that the
opening screen of our new OPAC will contain a list of databases. One will be
the card catalog. Another will the the CWIS. Another choice may be the Gopher.
Patrons will be able to access the ejournal collection through terminals
throughout the library.

"What about bibliographic control?" Well, I haven't addressed that problem. I
suppose it would be possible to catalog the ejournals and create a note saying
that the title lives on the Gopher. A better solution would be if the OPAC
could include Gopher client capabilities, and thus the OPAC would retrieve a
selected file. Hmmm...

Previously I mentioned a side benefit of WAIS indexing. Here it is. Since I
have a (almost) complete set of the library and information science titles I
can (and have) created an electronic version of _Library Literature_. I call it
Electronic Library Literature Index (ELLI). With ELLI I can search the entire
body of electronic library literature and retrieve articles from a number of
titles. For example, I can search for "NREN" can come up with articles from
Public Access Computer Systems News, ALAWON, and IR List Digest. There is no
reason why this idea can't be used for other ejournals and subjects.

This concludes my memo. All of the ejournals and their indexes can be found in
the Stacks of the Library Without Walls at the Gopher of the NCSU Libraries.
ELLI is located in the Library and Information Science Study Carrell. Point
your Gopher client to dewey.lib.ncsu.edu on port 70.

If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to ask. Anybody
interested in obtaining the scripts I wrote are encouraged to send my boss a
note.

Mr. Serials

============================

Eric Lease Morgan is a Systems Librarian at the North Carolina State University
Libraries. "My professional goal is to discover new ways to use computers to
improve library service." Eric can be reached at (919) 515-6182 or
eric_morgan@ncsu.edu.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU