[WEB4LIB] Re: Please help SLJ: Milestones in Library Technology

[Bill Drew]

At Morrisville College we had a web site running off of our gopher server
back in 1994.  It was up and running about the same time as Dan's at Boise
State.  Here is the text of an article I wrote for a SUNY newsletter.

LibLynx -- written for LaipLetter #36 (July 26, 1994)
LibLynx -- WorldWideWeb site for the SUNY Morrisville College
Library Information System  -- Bill Drew, Systems Librarian

The purpose of our service is to provide our users at Morrisville
with an easy interface to library resources on our campus and to
Internet resources.  The name LibLynx comes from Library and Lynx
(which is the WorldWideWeb, or WWW, client our service uses).  To
access LibLynx you also must have a WWW client on your computer
system.  Check with your computer center.  Lynx and other WWW
tools such as Mosaic allow users to browse the Internet easily
through the use of hypertext links which connect resources.

A portion of the menu below is the opening menu for our public
OPAC terminals.  (The links are bolded.)  We limited it so that
most users would gain access only to specific sites and services.
I also disabled the "Go" function which allows the user to go to
any Universal Resource Locator (or URL, the electronic address or
location of information).

                                  WELCOME TO LIBLYNX

        If you are a new user, press RETURN key here.

        To send a comment about this service, press the RETURN key here

                                LIBRARY INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

          * Library Online Catalog (replaces the card catalog)
          * Help Files & other information for the Library
          * SUNY Library Catalogs (same as ours) based on Multilis
          * Other Libraries.
          * New York State Regional Weather Forecasts.
          * UnCover -- Search TABLES OF CONTENTS of MAGAZINES.
          * Electronic Desktop Reference Set
          * "What They're Reading on College Campuses," a new list
            of best-selling books in college bookstores, compiled
            by The Chronicle.
                     ___________________________________________

                     MORRISVILLE COLLEGE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

          * College Wide Information Services from all areas of
             the college
                     ___________________________________________

                     WORLD WIDE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

         * INTERNET based Information & Resources around the world
         * Course Related Resources on the Internet
         * New or Changed Resources
         * Electronic Books, Newspapers, Journals and electronic
           sources related to libraries

To see for yourself, use this URL --


gopher://SNYMORVA.CS.SNYMOR.EDU:70/hhgopher_root1:[library-
docs.html]library.html

Who set it up?

Lynx is available on the Internet as shareware.  It allows text-
only systems such as the VAX to access files over the Internet
that are in WWW format (called HTML - short for hypertext markup
language).  I installed Lynx myself.  The most recent version
uses our gopher server to access the files.  This allows users
outside of the Morrisville campus to access it.  The current VMS
gopher server can handle HTML documents very well.  Craig Brown
of Computer Services performed the necessary system set-up to
make LibLynx available to all our users.

How was it set up?

The hardest part of setting up LibLynx was learning the HTML
format and commands.  Once that is learned it is a relatively
simple task to create the files in a plain ascii text editor.  I
used the VAX editor EVE with a special setup for entering HTML
symbols and formatting.  After creating the HTML file, the next
step is to move it to the proper directory and configure it for
the proper levels of access.  The set-up also allows me to
install updates to the Lynx software without requiring the help
of the computer center.

Current and Future Uses

Currently, LibLynx allows our users to access help files for the
library, our online catalog (multiLIS), an electronic ILL request
form, and similar functions.  It also allows access to many
Internet resources.  One major purpose of LibLynx is to help our
students and faculty access information in subject areas taught
here.  This is done under the course related-menu.  When
requested, I will assemble Internet resources that pertain to a
particular course or program.  This may include online library
catalogs, listserv discussion groups, WWW pages (a screen with
default settings and addresses of information sources), gophers,
and other items.  In this way we are slowly and methodically
building a virtual library that reflects the needs of our
students and faculty.  Eventually, the system will migrate from
being housed on a gopher server to a true World Wide Web server.
As we replace VAX terminals with microcomputers with direct
connections to the Internet, we will start using Mosaic or
another graphics-driven program in addition to Lynx.  The future
is really only limited by our imaginations.