September 1997 1 STI Bulletin

NASA Image eXchange (NIX) 2

GSFC Technical Information

Services Branch 2

Help Desk 2

Educational Spinoffs 3

NASA Thesaurus Listserv 3

In This Issue

STI A publication for users of the NASA scientific and technical information program

BULLETIN

September 1997 Issue

Agency Printing Management Meeting

NASA Printing Management Officers and other STI professionals

met September 3 and 4 at Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island,

VA for the 1997 Printing Workshop. This annual event is intended

to be an information exchange featuring technology developments

and to provide and review regulations, best practices, and status of

the Agency-wide printing program.

The keynote speaker was Toni Hendricks, Special Assistant to the

Vice President for the Reinvention of Government. Among topics

covered which affect the STI Program are copyright law/fair use

doctrine as it applies to the electronic environment, Federal Depository Library Program, GPO Digital Technology, appropriate use of

color printing and duplicating, Xerox InterDoc product, and trends

in the publishing industry such as electronic transfer of files, online

publishing, and security issues when using electronic equipment to

reproduce classified material.

Other topics, such as status reports and discussion of trends in the

printing industry and how they will affect printing and duplicating

at NASA, are specific to the printing and duplicating functions at

the Centers.

The workshop was organized by a team of printing specialists and

printing officers from Marshall, Goddard, JPL and Headquarters led

by Dennis Dubyk, Installation Printing Management Officer at

Lewis Research Center.

NASA GALAXIE Database

Cleanup Activities at Lewis

As part of the implementation of

the NASA GALAXIE library integrated system, a cataloging librarian was hired to update over 1500

journal titles in the Lewis collection. Information on discontinued

publications, office copies, title

name changes, items that have

been surplussed, location codes,

and other data fields was revised.

Subject headings for all journal

entries were added and live

Internet connections were

included where possible to link

customers to full text journals.

Over 70 electronic journals are

now accessible—many before they

are available in hardcopy—to the

Lewis users at their desktops. In a

related project, electronic media

titles are also being cataloged into

the Lewis NASA GALAXIE database.

NASA-Produced STI Acquisitions Team

This NASA-wide team, which is currently forming, will begin activities

in early October 1997. It will be composed of 14 people from various

NASA centers, codes, and programs, including representatives from the

STI Program. It will concentrate on creating a plan to get more of

NASA’s STI into the program and into the STI Database at CASI. The

timeframe for this team’s activities is six months, and the team will recommend their plan to the STI Program Office Lead Center for implementation. Information on goals and charter for this group can be found

at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/stiteam

For more information, contact George Roncaglia

at g.j.roncaglia@larc.nasa.gov

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Scientific and Technical 

Information Program Office 
September 1997 2 STI Bulletin

NASA Image eXchange (NIX)

NIX, which is an STI Program

initiative, has recently been

named a “Cool Pick” on NASA’s

Spacelink.

Ames, Lewis, Langley, Dryden,

Goddard, Johnson, and Stennis

are now linked to NIX. Work is

continuing to link Marshall,

Kennedy, and JPL. In addition,

Dryden, Johnson, and Stennis,

which received NIX support this

year, have added tremendously to

their local databases in support of

NIX. In the future, Langley will

be adding LAVA, which is a

QuickTimeTM video archive, and

Ames will be working to increase

their database from 50 to 5,000

images. Additional work will concentrate on adding photos from

Hubble and the Planetary

PhotoJournal at JPL. NIX currently provides NASA and the

public access to approximately

400,000 NASA images. (This

number has grown from 68,000

in May 1997.)

The NASA Access

Help Desk

e-mail: help@sti.nasa.gov

fax: 301-621-0134

telephone: 301-621-0390

postal mail:

NASA Center for

AeroSpace Information

800 Elkridge Landing Road

Linthicum Heights, MD 21090

The STI Bulletin, published every

other month, informs NASA STI

users about the products, services,

and news of the NASA Scientific and

Technical Information Program Office.

Graphics & Editing Team

John Jones, D.J. Drumheller

NASA CASI

For additional information, contact

George Roncaglia

NASA Langley Research Center

Mail Stop 157, Hampton, VA 23681

E-mail: g.j.roncaglia@larc.nasa.gov

The Lead Center Information

Desk at sti+leadcid@larc.nasa.gov

handles customer inquiries for

NIX and coordinates other STI inquiries with the NASA Access

Help Desk at CASI. Use the url

http://nix.nasa.gov to view and

search NIX.

For more information, contact

Lynn Heimerl at

n.l.heimerl@larc.nasa.gov

TISB Publications Group—

Personnel Changes

Senior Technical Writer/Editor,

Betty Graham, retired on May 2

after 10 years of service in the

Publications group.

TISB is pleased to announce that

Ms. Terri Randall has been promoted to Technical Writer/Editor.

TISB welcomes Lynne Keffer and

Mary Collins, both of whom

joined the Publications Group this

summer. Ms. Keffer transferred

from the Education Division at

Headquarters.

Ms. Collins was providing administrative support to TISB prior to

joining the Publications Group.

Goddard Space Flight Center Technical Information

Services Branch (TISB)
September 1997 3 STI Bulletin

NASA Thesaurus Listserv

The NASA STI Listserv, Thesaurus-L, was created in 1994 to provide a broader and more open

forum for the continuing development of the NASA Thesaurus. The Listserv, originally established as an

informal e-mail network, was implemented in response to requests from NASA Center Librarians and CASI

indexers for a more timely method for receiving information related to NASA Thesaurus changes, and for a

more convenient means of submitting candidate subject terms.

Thesaurus-L currently has over 40 regular members including participants from NASA and other

Government agencies, the European Space Agency, and private industry.

The Listserv performs the following functions:

• Provides regular, timely announcements of new thesaurus terms and changes

• Informs potential contributors about candidate terms currently being considered for

inclusion in the NASA Thesaurus

• Supports and encourages the electronic submission of new-term requests, questions, and

other feedback related to ongoing thesaurus development and subject indexing

Additional information can be obtained by contacting the CASI Lexicographer at

mgenuardi@sti.nasa.gov or (301) 621-0114.

program to create an expert tutor

and advisor. AnSim’s

IEPLANNER and TPLAN products are interactive computer-based

systems that can run either independently or together as one complete system. Utilized as an Individual Education Plan tool, a user

can define a goals list, as well as

identify a host of student needs including motor skills, social skills,

life skills, social issues, even legal

and leisure needs in the user’s area.

Both systems allow parents and

educators to monitor the student’s

progress from year to year while

making sure that all areas of potential need are covered.

These software programs made use

of CLIPS (C Language Integrated

Production System), a NASAdeveloped expert system shell

Educational Spinoffs From NASA Technology

The benefits from NASA’s space

program have found their way into

many areas of today’s business

world. From computer programs,

to industrial applications and even

consumer products, the secondary

benefits of NASA technology have

gone far beyond their original intentions. Yet, the commercial arena

is not the only place that has benefitted from NASA technology and

assistance. Thanks to computer

programs and technologies originally developed to support NASA’s

missions, students and educators

have also found that they, too, can

benefit from the abundance of

NASA knowledge and expertise.

Analysis and Simulation, Inc.

(AnSim) of Buffalo, New York is

an example of one company that

used a NASA-developed computer

which originated at Johnson

Space Center. Through the Computer Software Management and

Information Center (COSMIC),

American businesses, like AnSim,

can have access, at relatively low

cost, to government-developed

computer programs that have

secondary utility.

This is only one example of the

many successful spinoff companies that have been featured in

the NASA Spinoff publication.

To have your story published,

contact Walter Heiland at

(301) 621-0244. For a free copy

of Spinoff 1997, call the National

Technology Transfer Center at

(800) 678-6882. Or visit our

website at http://www.sti.nasa.

gov/tto/spinoff.html for more

information.
September 1997 4 STI Bulletin

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