ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries November 1989 / 917 w ould b e to invite public disrespect. MLS envy and th e dangers surrounding it can ­ n o t be given too m uch attention. Successful resolu­ tion o f this com plex is th e key to good relations with paraprofessionals, harm onious operations every­ w h ere in th e library, and th e eradication o f igno­ rance. T he last o f th ese is, o f course, th e tru e mission o f librarians. By dispelling MLS envy, li­ brarians are educating and strengthening A m eri­ can society. Staff training for a multi-database system By Ramona J. Steffey Autom ation Project Librarian Vanderbilt University In January 25, 1989, a new service was im ple­ m e n ted for library users at V anderbilt University. O n th a t day a subset o f th e N ational Library o f M edicine’s M E D L IN E database was first m ade available on public catalog term inals in th e M edical C e n te r Library and certain o th e r branch libraries. This new service was th e result o f over two years o f planning an d d evelopm ent th ro u g h an autom ation effort known as V anderbilt’s E n h an ced Inform a­ tion Access Project, partially funded by a $750,000 grant from th e Pew C haritable Trusts. A prim ary goal o f th e E n h an ced Inform ation Access (EIÁ) P ro ject was to provide access to article level databases through th e developing cam pus-w ide bro ad b an d network. Inquiries w ere m ade to several m ajor com panies in th e field o f autom ation and an ag reem en t was m ade with N O TIS Systems, Inc., to participate in this e n ­ deavor. V anderbilt had already b ee n successful in im plem enting N O T IS ’s L ibrary M anagem ent Sys­ tem , having m ade th e online catalog available in S ep tem b er 1985 and o th e r m odules (e.g. circula­ tion, serials control, acquisitions) soon th ereafter. V anderbilt’s objective in th e E IA Project fit into N O T IS ’s long-range plan o f adding m ultiple d ata­ base access to its in teg rated online system. Following a m eeting with key N O TIS an d Van­ d erb ilt staff in January 1987, work began on w hat cam e to be known as Vandy 1. T h e results ofV andy 1 are access to M E D L IN E using N O TIS search com m ands and th e capability o f database selection and effortless switching from one database to an­ other. This p ortion o f th e p ro ject was considered com plete w hen th e system becam e available to th e public on January 25. T he second phase o f the N O TIS project, known as Vandy 2, will m ake th ree o f th e H. W. W ilson databases available in th e same environm ent and is scheduled to be com plete this spring. W e have subscribed to th e tapes for General Science Index, H um anities Index, and Social Sci­ ences Index. N O TIS is expanding on th e developm ent work do n e w ith V anderbilt an d is m arketing its “M ultiple D atabase Access” p ro d u ct to o th e r N O TIS cus­ tom ers. T h e finished p roduct, w hich will b e avail­ able this sum m er, provides th e conversion p ro ­ grams for M E D L IN E and H . W. W ilson and adds a g rea ter flexibility to th e system ’s in h e re n t design, making it possible for a n o n -program m er to add new databases and m odify screens. W e at V ander­ bilt have already started planning for loading tapes from th e C e n te r for R esearch Libraries as another option on o u r system. W e will continue to work w ith N O TIS on fu rth e r en h an cem en ts to th e m ul­ tiple database product. Planning for staff training began long before the database b ecam e available to th e public. As with th e public catalog, online help screens w ere p re ­ d icted to b e th e m ost im p o rtan t tools for training, b o th for staff and library patrons. V anderbilt staff uséd as a base th e LU IS screens provided by NO TIS. M odifications w ere m ade to highlight th e unique features and fields o f M E D L IN E . Since we anticipated th a t many users w ould eventually be using th e database from rem o te sites, w e w anted th e h elp screens to convey as m uch inform ation as possible. In addition to h elp screens, we p rep a re d a b rie f bro ch u re, o r Q uick R eference G uide, w hich could be given to patrons an d m ade available at te rm i­ nals. This guide covered th e basic search com ­ m ands, Boolean and positional operators, and tips for searching. Field qualifiers for keyword search­ ing, th e stopw ord list, language codes, and journal subset codes w ere fisted. Also fisted w ere the M eSH Check Tags an d abbreviations for M eSH subheadings along w ith tips for searching these. T raining sessions began im m ediately after the 9 1 8 / C& RL News d atab ase was p u t in to p ro d u ctio n m ode, ju s t o n e w eek b efo re p u b lic term in als w ere “tu rn e d o n .” In ad d itio n to library staff, c e rtain m e m b ers o f th e M edical C e n te r staff (doctors, etc.) w ere in v ited to a tte n d th e train in g sessions .T h e s e staff, w ho w ere in te re s te d in evaluating th e N O T IS M E D L IN E p ro d u ct, h a d b e e n id e n tified th ro u g h a survey c o n d u c te d in O c to b e r 1988. M ost o f th e m w ere already so m ew h at fam iliar w ith M E D L IN E , hav­ in g access to it on o th e r system s such as BRS, D IA L O G , N L M , an d co m p act disc. E ac h o f o u r train in g sessions lasted ab o u t tw o h o u rs an d co n ­ sisted o f le c tu re an d h an d s-o n experience. T h e first p o in t to b e em p h asized in th e train in g sessions was th e scope o f th e database; exactly w h at was in th e file, w h en a n d h ow it w ould b e u p d ated , an d how th e u sers w o u ld know w h en th e file was changed. T h e N O T IS system provides a “N E W S ” sc re en fo r each d atab ase o n w hich this ty p e o f in fo rm atio n co u ld b e conveyed. At th e tim e o f th e first train in g sessions, th e file consisted o f th e en tire 1988 M E D L IN E file. W e k new th a t it w ould soon b e relo ad ed , so w e to ld users th a t o ld e r reco rd s (p u b lish ed p rio r to 1988) w o u ld soon b e d ele te d a n d th e 1989 reco rd s w ould b eg in to b e added. T h e u sers w o u ld b e able to e n te r th e “new s” co m m an d to find o u t w h en th e se changes o cc u rre d an d to k e e p u p to d ate ab o u t th e latest ta p es loaded. Attention, authors! College & Research L ibraries N ew s w el­ com es m anuscripts s u b m itte d on d isk ette o r via A L A N E T . T h e C ö R L N e w s A L A N E T n u m b e r is ALA0306. I f you can u p lo ad it, I can dow n­ load it, b ec au se A L A N E T tran slates text into p u r e A S C II files. I f you d o n ’t have A L A N E T or you p r e fe r to se n d a d isk ette, m ake su re it is fo rm a tte d for M S-D O S; e ith e r 5.25-inch o r 3.5-inch d iskettes can b e accepted. W e use Xywrite I I I + for w o rd processing, b u t w e tran slate files from o th e r m ajo r program s. W h e n su b m ittin g a d isk ette w ith a file cre a te d b y a n o th e r w o rd pro cessin g p ro g ram , it is b es t to also in clu d e an A SC II tex t file. Always sen d a p a p e r copy o f y o u r m a n u scrip t along w ith th e d isk ette, ju s t in case w e can n o t re a d y o u r file. I f you can n e ith e r se n d a d isk ette n o r tra n s ­ m it via A L A N E T , su b m it th re e p a p e r copies in a sta n d ard ty p eface such as C o u rie r o r Pica. P lease avoid sen d in g p ro p o rtio n al o r oversize typefaces. S u b m it all m aterials to G eo rg e M . E b e rh a rt, E d ito r, C Ö R L N ew s, ACRL/ALA, 50 E . H u ro n St., Chicago, I L 60611.— G M E . A b r ie f p erio d was s p e n t o n th e trad itio n al a u ­ th o r, title, an d su b je ct indexes an d search co m ­ m ands. S am ple searches em p h asized how sim ilar th e M E D L IN E g u id e screen s an d index screens w ere to th o se in A corn (V anderbilt’s n am e fo r th e o n lin e catalog), a n d how m o v e m en t from sc re en to sc re en an d selectio n o f reco rd s was accom plished in th e sam e way in b o th databases. Som e reco rd s w ere show n to g et u sers fam iliar w ith th e lab elled re c o rd w hich id en tifies each o f th e fields displayed. T h e fo rm a t fo r au th o rs in th e M E D L IN E d a ta ­ base an d th e use o f M eS H vocabulary for su b ject se arch in g w ere discussed. Since A com contains reco rd s w ith L ib rary o f C ongress su b je ct headings an d M edical S u b ject H eadings, th e re are two com m an d s (s= an d sm =) for su b ject searching; how ever, M E D L IN E has only M edical Subject H ead in g s so th e s= co m m an d is invalid. I t was em p h asized th a t only th e E nglish translations o f titles w ere in d ex ed an d th a t title search es co u ld be u se d w h en th e exact title o f a jo u rn al article was know n. T h e titles o f th e jo u rn als them selves, as show n in th e S O U R C E field, are n o t se arch e d by t= ; h o w ever users m ay locate articles p u b lis h e d in a p artic u la r jo u rn a l by keyw ord searching. U sers w ere show n how to sw itch back a n d fo rth from M E D L IN E to A com to d e te rm in e if th e lib rary ho ld s th e jo u rn al id en tified in th e M E D ­ L IN E r e c o rd ’s S O U R C E field. T h e te ch n ical serv­ ices staff o f th e M edical C e n te r L ibrary have ad d ed th e jo u rn a l title ab breviation to an in d ex ed M ARC field fo r all o f its titles, so u sers can b e fairly successful in search in g th e form as it ap p ears on th e M E D L IN E reco rd . H ow ever, th e re are som e jo u r­ nal titles in d ex ed in M E D L IN E w hich are h e ld by o th e r V an d erb ilt libraries an d have n o t b e e n in ­ d ex ed in this way. U sers w ere advised to search th e full title, w hich co u ld b e id en tified in ce rtain o th e r re fe re n c e sources, w h en th e y w ere unsuccessful se arch in g b y th e ab b rev iated title o n A com . A g rea t d eal o f tim e was s p e n t o n keyw ord search in g since it was p re d ic te d th a t this w ould be th e p rim a ry m eans o f accessing th e database. M ost o f th e library staff h a d rec en tly a tte n d e d keyw ord train in g on A com ; skills ta u g h t in th o se sessions co u ld b e tra n s fe rre d to th e n ew database. H ow ever, m any o f th e M edical C e n te r staffw ere b ein g in tro d u c e d to th e N O T IS keyw ord system f o r th e first tim e. F o r b o th groups, th e re was m uch to co v er reg ard in g th e fields w hich w ere available for keyw ord search in g an d tips for m aking th e m o st o f th e keyw ord system. W e a tte m p te d to le arn how m u c h a n d w ith w hich systems any o f th e a tten d e es h a d prev io u s o n line/ondisk exp erien ce an d tailor th e sessions fo r th e m , b u ild in g o n w h at th e y m ight already know. T h ro u g h o u t th e train in g p erio d , th e ex p e rim en ­ tal n a tu re o f th e M E D L IN E p ro je c t w as e m p h a ­ sized. L ib rary staff an d M edical C e n te r profession- November 1989 / 919 als w ere encouraged to give us feedback on th e system, its utility an d its shortcom ings. W e in ten d to do a follow-up survey to those volunteers id en ti­ fied in th e O cto b er survey an d to provide forms at library term inals for in-house users to fill out. W e will use th e inform ation g ath ered to d eterm in e possible changes in th e c o n ten t o f th e locally m o u n ted database and n u m b e r o f access points to th e records. W e are able to analyze transaction logs and oth er rep o rts g en erated b y th e N OTIS system to see how m uch th e various indexes are u sed and how suc­ cessful users are w ith th e ir searches. T hese tools are valuable ways to analyze th e effectiveness o f the training program . By identifying com m on p ro b ­ lem s and mistakes, fu tu re training will p erhaps be m ore effective. ■ ■ Trading places: Planning an international jo b exchange By David L. McChesney Reference Librarian University o f C onnecticut Key elements in a successful job exchange overseas. D urin g th e 1987/88 academ ic year, I ex­ changed m y position as referen ce librar­ ian at th e University o f C o n n ecticu t w ith T erry H anson, a social sciences librarian at P ortsm outh Polytechnic, England. I offer my personal observa­ tions o n th e experience and jo b exchanges in gen­ eral, w ith an em phasis on th e reasons for an ex­ change an d th e d etailed planning necessary. Exchanging jobs req u ires risk-taking by th e p a r­ ticipants. Q uestions relating to many issues have to b e investigated and resolved. C oncerns on th e quality o f schools for th e children, em ploym ent availability for spouses, and th e responses to having com plete strangers use o n e’s house an d personal p ro p erty com e to mind. T h e effect on library serv­ ice an d collections at th e institutions involved, and th e willingness o f th e library adm inistrators to ac­ c e p t som e o f th a t risk are also issues th a t m ust be addressed. T h e success o f an exchange d ep en d s on careful an d detailed planning. Before asking for official sanction, I ’d reco m m en d finding a specific librar­ ian in te reste d in an exchange and th ro u g h co rre­ spondence d o cu m en t th e com m itm ent to th e ex­ change; th e n p re se n t it to th e adm inistration. T he p lanning for o u r exchange sp an n ed two years and w ithin this tim e w e w ere able to develop a firm co m m itm en t and could resolve th e problem s th a t w ould have otherw ise com prom ised th e exchange. Since this was th e first tim e anyone h ad exchanged in e ith er o f o u r libraries, we b o th felt co m m itted to succeed so others could follow. Why exchange? W h at m ost attracted m e was th e challenge o f changing jobs and learning new service and collec­ tion dev elo p m en t m ethods. W ith th e stagnant job