ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 10 / C&RL News Coalition for Networked Information: The second year, part 1 By T hom as G. Kirk College Librarian Berea College and N o r ee n S. A lldredge Dean o f Libraries M ontana State University I n an effort to b e a catalyst for th e develop­ m en t o f netw orked inform ation services, th e Coalition for N etw orked Inform ation (C N I) b an am bitious set o f activities in 1991-92. C N I, now in its second year o f operation, is an organization doing som ething ab o u t th e develop­ m en t o f national inform ation networks. A fter a first year o f getting organized and setting goals, C N I has, in th e first six m onths o f th e second year, taken on a new flavor. It has imaginatively com bined many activities o f m em b er organizations, an d th e indi- The program is designed to promote the development o f a more effective national network to meet the information needs o f American society. viduals w ho re p re sen t th em , w ith its own projects to create a m ultifaceted program . T h e program is designed to pro m o te th e developm ent o f a m ore effective national netw ork to m e e t th e inform ation needs o f A m erican society. T h e creation o f C N I an d its organization activi­ ties have b e en re p o rte d earlier. T hese reports p ro ­ vide b ackground for those unfam iliar w ith its p u r­ poses a n d program . (See C & R L News, Sep tem b er 1990, 751-753, an d April 1991, 229-230.) In the paragraphs th a t follow h e re an d in a follow-up article in th e F e b ru a ry issue w e re p o rt on the activities o f th e Coalition since th e last m eeting in th e spring o f 1991, as well as th e fall m eeting o f the Coalition. In th e F eb ru ary issue w e rep o rt in m ore detail on th e p resentations at th e N ovem ber 21-22 m eeting o f th e T ask F o rce o f th e Coalition. In the last six m onths som e o f th e activities o f the Coalition include: • T h e n u m b e r o f organizations an d institu­ tions th at are m em bers o f th e Task Fo rce o f th e egiCnso alition has grown from 117 to 143. • Two o f th e w orking groups w ere renam ed, leadership was diversified, an d charges clarified. T h e w orking groups now focus on: M odernization o f Scholarly Publishing; T ransform ation o f Schol­ arly C om m unication; D irectories an d Resource Inform ation Services; A rchitecture and Standards; Legislation, Codes, Policies, and Practices; Access to G overnm ent Inform ation; T eaching an d L earn­ ing; and M anagem ent and Professional an d U ser E ducation. • T he Coalition-sponsoring organizations (As­ sociation o f R esearch Libraries [ARL], CAUSE, and E D U C O M ) are discussing th e m ost effective ways o f rep resen tin g b oth “netw ork co n te n t” and “netw ork conduit” in terests. A key factor is ensuring th e m ost effective w orking relationship betw een th e Coalition and E D U C O M ’s N etw orking and Telecom m unications Task Force. T h e boards o f ARL, CA USE, an d E D U C O M are reviewing re c ­ om m endations for an expanded Coalition program th a t w ould include a “conduit” agenda. • In J une th e W orking G roup o n D irectories and R esource Inform ation Services h eld an invita­ tional m eeting to find com m on ground on provid­ ing d ire c to ry inform ation a n d services on th e In te rn e t and th e pro p o sed N R E N . Technical and policy experts, p roducers o f products, an d ser­ vice providers attended. W hile a single d irect­ ory solution is n o t envisioned, all are encouraged to share inform ation as various m odels are ex­ plored. • M ichael Swartz (U niversity o f Colorado) described th e N e tF in d p roject which is a facility th a t searches th e In te rn e t itself an d avoids th e n eed for a directory. B rew ster Kahle (Thinking Ma­ chines, Inc.) described th e W ide A rea Inform ation Server (WAIS), a navigation tech n iq u e which al­ lows for English-language questions, feedback, and iterative retrieval, dialog and dynamic hypertext links. A th ird p roject was described by David Ely January 1992 / 11 (C orporation for N ational R esearch Initiatives) in w hich know bots assist in providing parallel access to several N LM databases. An outco m e o f th e m e e tin g was a reco m m en d a­ tion th a t C N I im p le m e n t a directo ries T o p N o d e on its server. This will b e an ongoing, regularly u p d a te d d irectory o f d irectories using stan d ard d a ta e le ­ m ents a n d including evaluative inform ation. This is now in th e dev elo p m en t stage. A nyone in te re s te d in this p ro je c t should c o n tact C raig Sum m erhill, sys­ tem s coo rd in ato r for C N I. • T h e T eaching an d Learning W orking G roup had an invitational agenda-setting m e e tin g in m id­ sum m er. T h e w ork o f th e g roup for th e y e ar will include a co m petition fo r m odels o f netw orks for e d u catio n resources a n d services; d ev elo p m en t o f inform ation packets for specific n ew n etw o rk u ser co m m unities to advance linkages b e tw ee n K-12 an d h ig h e r ed u cation; an d b uilding links w ith o th e r educational associations a n d in te re st groups. Those in te re sted in th e w ork o f th e T each in g an d L earning G ro u p should co n tact a m e m b e r o f th e group leadership: Jam es Luckett, Executive D ire c to r o f N Y SER N ET , 111 College Place, R o o m 3-211, Syra­ cuse, NY 13244-4100; Susan L an e Perry, D irector, D e p artm e n tal System s G roup, Stanford U niver­ sity, Stanford D a ta C en ter, Stanford, CA 94305- 4136; A rt St. G eorge, Executive N etw o rk Services Officer, U niversity o f N ew Mexico, C IR T , A lbu­ q u e rq u e , N M 87131; o r Philip T om pkins, D ire c to r o f Library In form ation Services, E stralla M ountain C o m m u n ity C ollege C en ter, M aricopa C o m m u ­ nity C ollege D istrict, 3910 E ast W ashington, P h o e­ nix, AZ 85034. • An ad ho c g ro u p m e t to discuss ways in w hich th e Z39.50 a n d C W ISP “client/server” infor­ m ation retrieval protocols can b e com bined. Both protocols w ere d esigned to en able users to in stru ct clien t system s to search a n d re triev e in fo rm a­ tio n across a netw ork from a variety o f server systems. W hile th e Z39.50 was develo p ed in a p red o m in ately bibliographic setting, th e C W ISP p rotocol evolved in a p red o m in ately non-biblio- graphic setting. T h e m eetin g o f d evelopers and im p lem en to rs recognized th e ir com m on in terests a n d have ag re ed to in teg rate th e ir efforts an d w ork in a c om m on setting. • Susan Brynteson, le a d er o f th e W orking G ro u p on Legislation, C odes, Policies, a n d P rac­ tices, has p re p a re d a com pilation o f position s tate­ m ents, principles, statutes, an d o th e r p e rtin e n t statem en ts re la te d to a n d e n title d In form ation Poli­ cies. T h e alm ost 200-page d o c u m e n t includes a wide range o f policies, m ission statem en ts, and guidelines from inform ation organizations (e.g., A LA , N S F , E D U C O M , N a t i o n a l P u b li c T eleco m p u tin g N etw ork) an d U n ite d States laws an d statutes relevant to n etw orked inform ation. T h e p lan is to revise th e p ublication a n d have a c u rre n t e d ition available on th e C N I server. Pap er copies o f th e N o v em b er 1991 version a re available from C N I. • T h e W orking G ro u p for M anagem ent, P ro ­ fessional & U se r E d u c a tio n is developing a pack et o f inform ation for use in form ulating a n d a d dress­ ing in stitutional a n d organizational issues arising from th e e m erg en ce o f a national n etw orked infor­ m ation in frastru ctu re an d environm ent. T h e p lan is to develop a n u m b e r o f b rie f statem ents th a t cover a w ide range o f topics including th e c u rre n t state o f e le ctro n ic in fo rm a tio n re so u rc es a n d services; N R E N developm ent; issues o f standards, legisla­ tion, directories, publishing, teaching a n d learning, training, a n d security; a n d netw ork p lanning in individual organizations including long-term p lan ­ n ing reco m m en d atio n s in th e areas o f inform ation policy, adm inistration, fees, a n d technology su p ­ p o rt. T h e W orking G ro u p plans to have th e packet read y by m id-1992. In addition to th e m eetings o f th e In te re st G roups th e N o v em b er 2 1 -2 2 m eetin g o f th e Task F o rce o f th e C oalition for N etw o rk ed In form ation in cluded a series o f talks a n d discussions o f various ongoing pro jects re la te d to netw o rk ed inform ation. T h e talks focused on th e econom ics o f inform ation deliveiy, alternatives to revision o f th e copyright law to p ro te c t rights h olders in terests, a n d th e inform ation need s o f h u m anities scholars a n d n e t­ w o rked inform ation. W e will re p o rt th e substance o f th e se talks along w ith b rie f rep o rts on th e o th e r p o rtio n so f th e Task F o rce m eetin g in th e F e b ru a ry issue o f C R & L N ews. ■ ■ F o r m ore inform ation T o g e t answ ers ab o u t th e w o rk o f th e C oali­ tion for N etw orked In fo rm atio n co n tact o n e o f th e A C R L rep resentatives to C N I: • N o re e n A lldredge, D e a n o f Libraries, T olland R. R en n e L ibrary, M ontana S tate U ni­ versity, Bozem an, M T 59717-0332; voice: (406) 994-3119; fax: (406) 994-2851; e-mail: alldredge/ lib@ renne.lib.m ontana.edu • T h o m a s K irk , C o lle g e L i b r a r i a n , H u tc h in s Library, B erea C ollege, B erea, KY 40404; voice: (606) 986-9341, ext. 5266; fax: (606) 986-9494; e-m ail: U K.BERTGK@ UKPR. U K Y .ED U T h e C oalition for N etw o rk ed Inform ation can b e co n ta cte d directly for g eneral inform a­ tion at: 1527 N ew H am p sh ire A venue, NW, W ashington, D C 20036; voice: (202) 232-2466; fax: (202) 462-7849; e-m ail: joan@ cni.org. mailto:lib@renne.lib.montana.edu UKY.EDU mailto:joan@cni.org