Starting from Zero - exciting and scary!

[Hillel Weintraub]

I've been lurking for the past few months trying to get a handle on what's
going on in the world of Libraries and Media Centers. Much of the
conversation passes over my head. I need help but it's difficult to know
where to start and who to look to.
          Since Libraries and Media Centers are now merging their
functions, there must be others like me who come from one side without
having much knowledge of the operations of the other. I'm teaching at a
Japanese jr/sr high school of 1200 students in Kyoto, Japan, and have been
running our Media (i.e., computer) Education program and will also be
responsible for our New Media Center, which will combine the functions of
our library and Computer programs.
        We have a small library - about 40,000 volumes in Japanese and
English -  (most of you seem to be serving as many PEOPLE as we have
books!). Presently our library has only a card catalog system, but we're
planning to move to a database system when we move into our new media
center in 9/97. This new media center will be completely wired so that kids
can sit anywhere, plug in a notebook computer and be connected to our own
server and the internet.
        We're getting some professional advice about how to proceed, but
mostly we are being given rather expensive solutions by people trying to
sell their own products. Someone suggested that we use Oracle as the basis
for our Library Database and try to build on that. Initial Software cost
for 8 users was about $35,000.  I checked out INNOPAC and they said that
the smallest system they offered was for a one-time fee of $150,000, plus
an annual fee (unspecified), and this included "A license for about 15-20
simultaneous users, and the following modules: cataloging, public catalog,
circulation, serials, acquisitions."  Of course there are other costs to be
added on to this.

But my real problem is that I have an image of what I want, but I don't
know how to get there.  What do I want? Well, one way to help others see my
image is to visit the homepage of Amazon Books at           www.amazon.com
Please go there and explore a bit.
        Yes, it's a commercial site, but in interactivity and flexibility
it seems unparalleled to anything I've visited yet. (Not saying much since
it's only a few months since I've started visiting library sites.)  It's a
database in which everything can be hyperlinked. both within their own
database and to the www and anything available out there.  In addition,
great and real interactivity (Not the hyped interactivity from most one-way
new media) is possible, with readers and authors able to input comments
about books and add that to the database. If you ask for information about
one genre or author, suggestions are made for related genres or authors.  I
was tremendously impressed and asked someone if we could create a system
like that. Yes, for about $300,000 we were told. Wow. that's a lot of
programming hours. We're working on finding out what we'd be getting for
this amount of money.

Can someone give me some direction - articles to read - people to talk to.
Remember that I'm in Japan and can't pick up copies of Library Science or
any journals. What I can order, I will, or I can use internet to pick up
stuff or contact people.

Sorry this is a long posting. I'd appreciate it if anyone could help me get
started on this.

Regards,        Hillel

Hillel Weintraub, Director, Cooperative Design Center,
Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School
Tatara, Tanabe, Kyoto 610-03, Japan
Phone: 0774-65-8911; Fax: 0774-65-8990
school homepage at http://www.doshisha-intnl.tanabe.kyoto.jp
personal homepage at http://el.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/people/alumni/hillel/