Text File

Everything I Need to Know About the Net, I Learned in the Public Library LITA President's Program July 1, 1991 Jean Armour Polly Assistant Director, Public Services Head, Microcomputer Services Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip St. Liverpool NY 13088-4997 (315)457-0310 INTERNET polly@lpl.org AppleLink: UG0314 Well: polly@well.sf.ca.us

In 1985, Liverpool Public Library became the first public library east of Chicago to operate a public electronic bulletin board system. It was up more or less continuously for three years. During that time we grappled with almost every free speech issue known to man. We struggled, trying to apply public library principles to this electronic virtual reading room. We let anyone with a home computer use the BBS. We let them use online pseudonyms, but they had to register with their real names. We posted our Rules and Regulations in the welcome message. There would be no discussion of illegal activities condoned, and no profanity. In fact, we had an obscenity filter in the software. When a person tried to upload a message, it first passed through the filter. If any hits were found, the message was not saved. To make it work, we had to think up all the dirty words we knew. It made for an interesting meeting! However, we hadn't allowed for people who can swear but can't spell, and just how obscene you can get without ever spelling a word out in its entirety. Our parser wasn't THAT sophisticated. We were unsure of our role in providing this service.

BBS's have been described as clearing-houses, and system operators as publishers. But like an analog library collection, we wanted to make decisions about what kinds of things could go on the BBS. After all, we ran the board on a souped up Apple IIe, with three or four disk drives and one phone line. Storage space was a rare commodity, and we couldn't afford to allow one person or group to monopolize the disk, shutting out others. Which is in fact, what happened. A particular religious group began uploading voluminous treatises to the message spaces. Only thirty messages could remain online in each of the sub boards at one time. This group filled every possible slot in record time. And many of the messages were hateful, too, slamming other religions and holiday celebrations. What to do. There was a right to free speech, but it was balanced by the lack of disk space. The evangelists had appropriated more than their share. Our solution was to create a sub board where all these types of messages could be uploaded. It was called The 200 Club, borrowing from the Dewey classification for Religion and Philosophy, and Jim and Tammy Baker's popular TV show of a similar name. A user could choose to go to that area of the board, or could ignore it. As a sidebar to this issue, we found that much of the material being uploaded was from a copyrighted publication. We added to our Rules & Regs list that copyrighted material could not be posted without permission of the copyright owner. That solved part of the problem. Why did we cease operations? For one thing, the proliferation of boards in our area made us somewhat redundant. We felt strongly that there should be a publicly-owned and operated means of telecommunications, since so many boards are run at the whim of their sysops, who may or may not want to support the principles of the Constitution.

For another thing, the time and resources factor caught up with us. It takes time to create an electronic library space, and we had other committments. But the third thing was what pulled the plug. It was the spectre of government regulation that scared us off. We didn't want to be a test case and have our files seized by the FBI. We didn't want to be a place where pedophiles could solicit children. And so after upholding our public-spirited principles for so long and so well, in the face of Big Brother, we gave up with a whimper. Not that we're gone forever. We are committed to the concept of telecommunications' being just one more door to the Library, one that's open 24 hours a day. That's why when our regional network came courting us, we were ready to get married. I'm going to tell you about what NYSERNet, our regional, is doing in New York State, because it is a model that could be replicated by other regionals. But first I want to say what my public library BBS experience taught me about networking:

Acquire what people want. Make everything easily available to everybody. Make it free to come in the door and look. Give everyone library cards, but get some ID first. Don't let people appropriate the materials without your knowing about it. Let them know if they screw up, there may be a fine. If you rip a page, tell someone. Don't use library materials in the bathtub.

NYSERNet is a nonprofit corporation "whose mission is to advance science, education, and research through the interchange of information via computer networks". Affiliates include over 40 academic sites, libraries, non-profit organizations, commercial research and government facilities. Their goal is statewide connectivity for everyone. NYSERNet used to own its own hardware. But it found it was doing so much in that realm it didn't have enough time to concentrate on its real mission, the network advocacy business. Now it manages the regional network on hardware owned by PSI (Performance Systems International). PSINet was founded several years ago by some ex-NYSERNet employees. PSINet has POPs or Points of Presence on over 40 US cities, with more coming online all the time. PSI offers such things as Internet access on demand, with no dedicated lines for the customer to install, although the Standard Connection Service is available as well. There is also an individual dial-up service, which allows you to dial into a local POP and telnet out to any PSI standard connection remote site. This would be especially useful for those who travel frequently but want to access their home LAN. There's a $35 a month internet after dark service, too. NYSERNet is doing so much in the field of K-12 networking, FrEdMail, and individual dialup access that I will only highlight a few of their many current projects.

New Connections

NYSERNet is aggressively bringing new users to the internet. Recently a number of sites have come online due to the New Connections grant program, one of them is the Liverpool Public Library. Others include the American Museum of Natural History, the Russell Sage Foundation, the New York Public Library, and various K-12 sites. NYSERNet subsidizes network costs for a trial period of varying lengths. Although the site must provide its own phone line, 9600 baud modem, and computer, NYSERNet loans the software necessary to launch a SLIP connection directly to the network backbone. This is what PSI calls "Dial-up Host" capability. For example, at my library I run the TCP/Connect II software for the Macintosh, published by InterCon. It is configured to call my local POP in nearby Syracuse. Once I access PSINet with my host name and password, I am given a dynamic IP (Internet Protocol) address, which I then use to begin my SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) connection. At that point I am connected directly to the network backbone and can use the full range of internet activities, from electronic mail to ftp and telnet. At the end of the grant period, we can elect to keep the software and pay for our connection, which at this time is about $200 per month.

Liberty Hi Recently, NYSERNet received a $90,000 grant from IBM for its "Liberty Hi" program. The idea is to link several NYS high schools and colleges in a kind of "electronic intrastate of learning" in order to facilitate a "seamless path" for the student about to enter college. Via email, high school students can discuss subjects with college professors, talk about college life with university students, search the library OPAC, or get the straight story direct from the admissions offices of the pilot program's colleges. There will also be an electronic (and anonymous) counselling service modelled on Cornell's nationally-known "Ask Uncle Ezra". It is the idea that the student can be virtually at college before being admitted. Then when the student does reach college, it is a known territory and less of a culture shock.

NYSERNet and the New York State Library

In 1989, the Statewide Automation Committee released a report on the telecommunications future of New York State's 7,000 libraries. It proposed the idea of the "Electronic Doorway" through which even the smallest and most remote libraries could access the resources of other libraries around the State. The New York State library is the largest State library in the nation, with over 5.5 million items in its collection. In 1991, it will join NYSERNet and make its OPAC available to internet researchers. Further, the State Library and NYSERNet will collaborate in a joint initiative to begin implementation of the Electronic Doorway concept. They will begin to explore possibilities for staging a replacement of the NYS Interlibrary loan system (NYSILL). And they will investigate a statewide electronic mail system among libraries and library systems. It is still a puzzle how libraries, some of whom do not even have a phone, will be funded in order to buy telecommunications equipment.

Interest Groups NYSERNet also facilitates two interest groups, one for K-12 users and one for libraries. The NY State Library cosponsors the Library IG, which has big plans and is advising NYSERNet on many fronts. Soon to be mounted is an easy to use interface, tentatively called NYSERGate, which will permit users to log on, study a menu of remote hosts, and then telnet out to a variety of other sites, which may hold unique or unusual resources. It will not be limited to solely library OPACS. This summer, a NYSERNET/PSI BBS will be created, It will be available to anyone with a computer, a modem, and an Individual Dial-up Service account from PSI. The account is free. IG members can participate in moderated discussions with other affiliates. Also, users of the BBS can use the email features of the board to send and receive mail across the internet.

Beyond the Walls Kit

Beyond the Walls*, the World of Networked Information, was the theme of a workshop sponsored by NYSERNet, Inc. and the Academic Computing Services, School of Information Studies, and Library at Syracuse University, It was presented in January, 1991, and was so successful that many participants asked that the show "go on the road" to be presented at other academic sites. In response to this, a kit has been developed which contains all the materials necessary to help you replicate this workshop at your own organization or campus. It includes, among other things, all the course handouts and a videotape of the demo portion. The video includes all phases of an internet session, including logging in and out, reading and sending electronic mail, using anonymous FTP to transfer files, subscribing to LISTSERVs, and use of telnet to log onto remote hosts. The kit can be easily customized to your own situation. It's available from NYSERNET, 111 College Place, Room 3-211, Syracuse, NY 13244-4100. The cost is $99 which includes postage, or $49 for NYSERNet affiliates and Interest Group Members.

New User's Guide to Useful and Unique Resources on the Internet This guide was created to highlight twenty-two interesting places for users to visit in their first uses of telnet and FTP. A new project of the K-12 Networking Interest Group and the NYSERNet Library Networking Interest Group, the guide was just released in May, 1991. Version 2.0 will be out in September or October. The guide was compiled and edited by Andrew Perry, Assistant Director of Libraries and Systems Management at the State University of New York at Binghampton. It includes instructions for connecting to popular sites such as the Cleveland Free-Net, CARL (Colorado Association of Research Libraries, and WUGATE, as well as sessions for NASA Archives, Lou Harris Data Center, US Supreme Court Opinions, the Weather Underground, and more. A copyrighted document, the over 70-page guide is available from NYSERNet for $10, which includes postage and handling. The fees will be used to seed a funding pool for special networking projects.

More I want to take a moment to talk about public libraries on the Internet, and beyond that, on the NREN (National Research and Education Network). Now that I've got my internet connectivity, what am I going to do with it? Interest my colleagues, no doubt, and show them the places they can visit and the souvenirs they can bring back through FTP. But, even more critically, I want to show my library patrons what this data highway is all about. I want to get them excited about it, so they can start getting excited about public access to the NREN. Because if they don't ask for it, they are not going to get it. Much has been made of the idea of a public on ramp to the NREN's high speed data highway. I'm here to say that we don't just need an on ramp. We need rest stops with travel folders where experienced guides will direct us. Possibly the regional nets will provide these value-added services, which may consist of training, guided tours, and various other ways to humanize the often-chilly ether of telecommunications. Pioneers do have to deal with a harsh environment. But around the campfire of a glowing offhook light, I envision bards like Vint Cerf delivering a soliloquy like this:

Rosencrantz and Ethernet By Vint Cerf

All the world's a net! And all the data in it merely packets Come to store-and-forward in the queues a while and then are Heard no more. 'Tis a network waiting to be switched!

To switch or not to switch? That is the question. Whether "Tis wiser in the net to suffer the store and forward of Stochastic networks or to raise up circuits against a sea Of packets and, by dedication, serve them.

To net, to switch. To switch, perchance to SLIP! Aye, there's the rub. For in that choice of switch, What loops may lurk, when we have shuffled through This Banyan net? Puzzles the will, initiates symposia, Stirs endless debate and gives rise to uncontrolled Flights of poetry beyond recompense!

So now the Internet has its own video and its own poem. Both serve to humanize it. It's only a matter of time before someone spots Elvis telnetting into their host, or subscribing to a LISTSERV.

I think the library's mission is to help remove barriers to accessing information, and part of this is removing barriers between people. One of the most exciting things about telecommunications is that ASCII is the Great Equalizer. The old barriers of sexism, ageism, racism are not present, since you can't see the person you're talking to. You get to know the person without preconceived notions about what you THINK they are going to say, based on prejudices you may have, no matter how innocent. It's like the Julie Gold song, the one that won the Academy Award last year:

From a distance You look like my friend Even though we are at war. From a distance I can't comprehend What all this war is for.

Telecommunications helps us overcome what has been called the tyranny of distance. All of a sudden sudden we DO have a global village, where kids from all over the world can discuss their dreams for for the future on KIDS-91 and now KIDS-92. Children are comparing their likenesses instead of focusing on their differences.

I think librarians have to become advocates of advocacy. I urge you to participate in a listserv discussion group, get involved with an electronic conference on the WELL or other service, join Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and/or the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Don't just put your notes away and think the conference is over. It is just beginning.

--