And the Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Converging

Destinies of the Rutgers University Libraries and the Center

for Computer and Information Services

by Linda Langschied'

& Gertrude J. Lewis

On October 16, 1990, the following mandate was

issued from the ofnce of the president of rutgers
University...

"Complex interrelationships among print information,

electronic data, resources, and telecommunications have

opened enhanced possibilities for access to both informa-

tion and communication for scholarly and management
purposes. This sophisticated information and communi-
cations environment has, as a result, led to a convergence

of many of the functions of libraries and computing

services.... Bringing computing facilities and libraries

under the same management will enable us to build on

existing strengths, avoid duplication, and coordinate

planning, thereby enabling us to improve service to

users."

Now the directors of the academic and administrative

computing centers report to the Associate Vice President

for Information Services, who is also the Associate

University Librarian for Technical and Automated
Services. He reports to the Vice President for Informa-

tion Services and the University Librarian.

In the beginning....

Two decades ago, representatives from Rutgers and
Princeton universities met at Firestone Library, Prince-

ton, to discuss means for acquiring the 1970 Census of

Population and Housing data. The result of that meeting

was the formation of a group calling itself the Princeton-

Rutgers Census Data Project. A number of agreements

were reached concerning costs, finances, billing for

services, and procedures for acquiring data and software.

Three hundred reels of census data and a number of

utilities to aid in accessing the data were purchased at

that time. The census data was stored at the Princeton

University Computer Center and upon request copies

were made and housed at Rutgers University Center for

Computer and Information Services (CCIS). Training

seminars were made an integral part of the program.

Funding for the Project came not only from the computer
centers and libraries of the two universities, but also from
some individual departments. Although not all contin-

gencies were considered in the original agreement, the

Princeton-Rutgers Census Data Project was founded in a

spirit of cooperation and the belief that the primary

objective was to make the 1970 census data available to

members of the academic community as quickly and as

economically as possible.

As the census data project developed, a "Census Packet"

was sent to Rutgers hbraries and key academic depart-

ments. Originally it was felt that interested people

should go to the library first and not directly to CCIS.

Library staff would help patrons to understand available

census data in printed and magnetic tape form. At first,

the census data tapes were stored at Princeton, and the

Rutgers users paid for programming and computer time

to Princeton. Thus began our road of cooperation

between the CCIS and the University libraries that

continues today.

The current status of MACinNE-READABLE DATA FILES...

Now the Rutgers branch of the Princeton-Rutgers Census

Data Project houses its own data tapes and has been

active in three major areas: education, consultation and

data retrieval. To facilitate the use of census materials,

the CCIS has published many technical documents for

faculty, staff and students that deal with locating, access-

ing, and analyzing census data. On the reference shelves

of the libraries, are publications created by the CCIS staff

in which the researchers can locate the names and

corresponding codes of the census geographic areas in

New Jersey or look up the index of machine-readable

data files available to the Rutgers community. Informa-

tion on the data acquisitions are publicized in the bi-

monthly CCIS Newsletter.

However, census data is only a part of the extensive

machine-readable data files (MRDF) collection services

provided by the CCIS in conjunction with the libraries.

The Roper Center

The libraries and computer centers of both Rutgers and

Princeton University participate in a joint membership

with the Roper Center's International Survey Library

Association (ISLA). The universities are entitled to the

research services of searching the archives, producing

tabulations of data analysis, and acquiring machine-

readable data sets. As part of this venture, we also

subscribe to the Pubhc Opinion Location Library (POLL)

Database.

22 ASSIST Quarteriy



The Inter-university Consortium ofPolitical And Social

Research

Membership in the Inter-university Consortium of

Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides not only

the acquisition of data and accompanying documentation,

but also the opportunity to attend workshops in the

ICPSR Summer Session. Over the years, the librarians,

computer personnel, and academic researchers have

attended these classes and brought information back to

our researchers on ICPSR's expanding resources. When
the CCIS orders a data set from ICPSR, we receive a

magnetic tape and an accompanying codebook in

hardcopy. The tape is stored at the computer center and

is available to anyone on or off campus who has a

computer account The codebooks are shelved in the

CCIS Computer Reference Center (CRC), which is a

small reference room, open about eighteen hours a week.

Data Base Advisory Committee

As an increasing number of researchers discover the

enormous volume of data produced which have intrinsic

research and academic value, they realize that these data

are unmanageable without the use of a computer. In

1976 through the coordination of the CCIS, the Political

Science and Sociology departments, and the library, the

responsibility of the handling of ICPSR and Roper

machine-readable data was transferred to the CCIS.

Although the Roper membership originated in the

Sociology Department and the ICPSR membership

started with the Political Science Department, the costs

of these memberships come out of the library budget

The CCIS became responsible for the acquisition and

maintenance of the various data sets. It was felt that a

central clearing house for databases would eliminate

duplicate purchases that had occurred. Under the CCIS,

all communications from Census, ICPSR and Roper that

might be of academic interest would be forwarded to the

librarians, the appropriate department chairperson or

representative.

A Data Base Advisory Committee was created to include

participation with the various social science disciplines

and with the libraries (again both Rutgers and Princeton

universities) in order to determine general policies

concerning acquisition and access. This committee

meets periodically to keep up with the current activities

in the field. As usage has expanded, representatives from

other departments who wish to use the data can join the

committee or participate as guests. The Princeton-

Rutgers Census Data Project is no longer limited to its

original mandate of providing the 1970 census informa-

tion. It is now part of the overall data archive program

which also incorporates the ICPSR, the Roper Center and

the New Jersey State Data Center.

The New Jersey State Data Center

In 1977, with the advent of computer sophistication and

the use of the 1970 census data in machine-readable

form, the anticipation of large amounts of 1980 Census

of Population and Housing data prompted the Census

Bureau to develop plans for improved services to data

users. These user services included access to census data

in reports, computer tapes, microform, trainings, and

consultation. The basic concept involved stale-related

organizations operating data delivery and user service

facilities with guidance and assistance from the Census

Bureau. One of the more important resources and

services to be made available was the Federal Depository

Library Program, through which many libraries receive

Census Bureau publications at no charge. During the

time of the 1970 census data, these services had fallen

short of users needs. Not all processing centers offered

training, not all states had census processing services,

and not all locations offered consultation on technical

matters. The State Data Center Program was proposed to

close the gap in these user services. Rutgers University,

as a primary participant of the New Jersey State Data

Center, has fulfilled its obligation to provide these

services.

Continuing education...

As part of the regular education series, conducted by the

Rutgers CCIS, a general introductory seminar in data

archives is given. In addition, special seminars are also

available on an individual request basis. Many of these

seminars have been held with the librarians to help

identify inquiries that we get in common, such as:

• a class for the reference librarians of the university

emphasizing how to find out what is available by

making use of different reference materials;

• a session on exposure to increasingly sophisticated

techniques of research and manipulation of our

machine-readable data files as part of a library

instruction program to enhance the research

capabihties of undergraduate honor students;

• a session on data archives for the librarians and the

researchers on how to bridge the gap between the

traditional hbrary resource materials and the

accompanying computer related material;

• a seminar on how to direct prospective users through

documentation, codebooks and accompanying printed

material;

• a class for the doctoral students of the School of

Communications, Information and Library Studies on

how MRDFs will help the researchers.

In each case, the content of the lecture has been tailored

to the interests and level of computer expertise of the

group. These seminars enhance the interaction of the

librarians and the computer center personnel because

they often confer by phone when handling inquiries on

the data archives. Hundreds of researchers have been

Summer 1990



assisted in this way. We began to realize that as the

University Library utilizes the computer more and more
for information retrieval, bibliographic searches, online

cataloging and other functions, there will be an ever

increasing working relationship between the Library and

the CCIS.

The current status of other projects...

It is to Rutgers good fortune that there were people

within the two units who were keenly aware of the

overlapping nature of our work, and willing to take on

the extra work of communicating across departments.

And so we went forward with a number of cooperative

ventiuies in the early years. The Census project got us

going, and even before our merger, the CCIS and Library

worked out several projects together:

ICPSR Codebook
One of the first joint reference-related projects we
arranged was for the Research Libraries to acquire

additional copies of ICPSR Codebooks provided at the

CCIS. Any time a codebook is ordered by CCIS, the

ICPSR automatically sends a second copy to the Library;

in the event that the codebook is only available on tape,

the CCIS runs off a paper copy for the Library. Thus, the

CCIS copies serve as a stable reference collection, and
the Library copies increase availability— through both

our extended hours of operation and because we circulate

the codebooks. The circulation policy enables our
faculty and students in three distant campuses to have
ready access to the codebooks through our document
delivery systems. Formerly, researchers from Camden
and Newark had to travel to New Brunswick just to see

the codebooks.

Online end-user searching

End-user online searching at Rutgers has been addressed
mutually, as well. Programmers at CCIS developed a

special communications software for the Libraries'

online end-user search service, entitled "kNightsearch."
This software permits a masked password logon with an
automatic self-destruct after one paid usage, and auto-

matically terminates the session after the prescribed

period of time. CCIS contributed not only their program-
ming expertise, but also their Student Microcomputer
Centers machinery as search terminals. The project was
only partly successful: The Microcomputer Centers
ultimately proved to be unsuitable environments for

search; however, the software continues to be used in

large science courses in the departments' own labs.

Local mounting ofdatabases
As the Library further sought to enable patrons to gain
access to online information, we began to investigate the
mounting of databases locally. As an initial test project,

for which the bbraries invested seed money, we decided

to mount ISI's Current Contents database, through the

BRS OnSite program. Once again we turned to CCIS for

their assistance in determining the technical needs, and
for use of their mainframe. Having Current Contents

available locally will allow researchers to search for titles

directly instead of going through one of the commercial

database vendors, like Dialog. Although both of CCIS's
mainframes, an IBM compatible and the VAXcluster
were very heavily used, it was determined by the CCIS
systems staff that if we purchased an additional disk, we
would be able to run Current Contents on the CMS
operating system of the IBM. However, when we tested

the system, with two groups of about fifteen librarians

each, using a bench mark program developed by the

librarians, we brought the CMS operating system almost

to a halt

By this time, we were already committed, by contract, to

both BRS and ISI, and what we mainly had to show for

all our efforts was a system with a response time that was
too slow to be acceptable: to quote one member of the

test team, "By the time you get a response, the Contents

aren't Current anymore." Most unfortunately, we had
lost the chance for a trial period, where we could have

detected the problem before committing ourselves in a

contract, because of the amount of time that it took to

communicate up two separate administrative ladders—
the Library's and the CCIS's. This project serves as an

example of how front-line efforts need coordinated

support from administration in order to succeed.

Online interface to data

The Libraries have provided an online interface to CCIS-
held polling data from the Roper Center since the

introduction a few years ago of POLL, the Public

Opinion Location Library. The Library offers searches

of the database to identify appropriate surveys, and the

CCIS provides data retrieval. Similarly, the Library can

search the ICPSR Guide to Resources and Services for

researchers online before they approach the CCIS for

data. Furthermore, the library subscribes to and performs

searches of some numeric databases produced by the

U.S. government, and the state of New Jersey. For

example, the New Jersey State Data Center/Business &
Industry Data Center Electronic Bulletin Board provides

access to data prior to publication. Data is downloaded
in either ASCII or Lotus 1-2-3 format for post-search

manipulation. Again, we see a blurring of distinction

between the kinds of information provided by the

Libraries and the CCIS.

One important addition will be the availability of the

government information on CDRom. Some of these data

will be distributed to depository libraries by the Govern-

ment Printing Office. Users can download the data and

access with a commercial data base product. Again

lASSIST Quarteriy



librarians and computer programmers will investigate

and support this media.

Student Microcomputer Project

The creation of the Student Microcomputer Project was
another result of sharing the resources of the two units.

About five or six years ago, due to a tuition supplemen-

tal, different university governing bodies, which included

student representatives, voted on buying microcomputers

for non-classroom use. One of the student stipulations

was to have them placed in the libraries so access would

be during normal library hours and library resources

would be available to them. Macintosh and AT&T
microcomputers were purchased and placed in four

locations on the main campus. While the libraries agreed

to provide precious physical space, the CCIS agreed to

maintain the computers and give general support As a

result, this has proven to be one of the most successful

projects that has greatly benefited students. The micro-

computer areas are staffed by trained students; software

and documentation are available on site. Each semester,

seminars are held on operation of equipment, word

processing, spreadsheets, databases and graphics. After

the initial expenditure, the university provided funds in

its ongoing budget to support the program.

Software Information Center

In almost any field, computers have become as essential

as books, and in fact, in some instances, are even replac-

ing books. To address this issue, the Software Informa-

tion Center (S.I.C.) was estabUshed as a centralized

forum for identification, evaluation, and sharing of

software for the entire university. It also serves as a

liaison to other consortia engaged in academic software

development and exchange program. At the center,

faculty and graduate students can preview various

software packages; the range of courseware available is

wide and holdings are constantly being expanded. The

programs are available for both IBM and Macintosh

microcomputers. In addition, assistance in using author-

ing programs is provided to help faculty develop their

own courseware. The software collection is cataloged in

the Integrated Rutgers Information System (IRIS) as a

joint project with the University Libraries. IRIS is a

computer database that contains the records for books

and other material cataloged for the Rutgers Libraries

and networked by the CCIS.

In THE FUrURE ...

Networking

Networking, which is a scheme for connecting comput-

ers, is now on the horizon as the most important aspect of

communicating between and among clients. We can

reach most national and international networks but not all

campus buildings. Most academic buildings on the

campus where the main computer center is located are

linked by a campus-wide broadband system. In addition,

there are networks at each of the four remote computer

locations. Now, with the merger of the libraries, aca-

demic computing and administrative computing, we are

embarking on connecting all personnel electronically so

that everyone will have access to an electronic mail box.

This certainly will stimulate demand for computers. The

logistics have to be worked out: significant upgrades will

be required for existing systems; standards will have to

be established to determine which system(s) will be used

and how to handle capacity issues. We have a big job

ahead of us. This can only be done through cooperation

among those departments that provide information

services to the university.

National Centerfor Machine-Readable Texts in the

Humanities

Rutgers and Princeton Universities have received grants

from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the New Jersey

Committee for the Humanities to joinUy undertake the

planning for a national center for machine-readable texts

in the humanities. Project staff from Rutgers University

includes the Associate University Librarian, an associate

director from CCIS, and a member at large along witii

similar personnel from Princeton University and repre-

sentatives from the Research Library Group.

During the course of the planning period the project staff

will be investigating issues relating to the establishment

of a cooperative center which will act as a central source

of information on humanities data files and a selective

source of data files themselves. The initial goals of the

Center are to continue the on-going inventory of ma-

chine-readable texts; to catalog and disseminate this

information; to acquire, preserve and distribute the

textual data files which otherwise become generally

unavailable; to distribute such data files in an appropriate

manner; and to establish a resource center/referral point

for information concerning other textual data. Other

issues such as initial setup costs, administration of the

project and the feasibility itself are also under investiga-

tion.

The Center plans to complement and enhance these

collections by bringing bibhographic control to existing

data files. To that end the project staff will be network-

ing wiUi other centers to establish appropriate means of

collecting inventory data for the cataloging of archival

holdings.

Library Committee on Cataloging Machine-Readable

Data files

The CCIS Machine-Readable Data Files Committee was

formed by the Technical and Automated Library Services

to study how the cataloging of the data files housed at

Summer 1990



CCIS should proceed. The purpose of this study is to

make the university aware of this collection, to

strengthen the existing liaison between the libraries and

the computer center, and to make a contribution in the

area of computer file cataloging.

As yet, the MRDFs are not accessible to the Rutgers

community via the Ubraries online catalog system neither

are a large number of codebooks which accompany these

files. Computer personnel have and will continue to

work with the librarians on creating these catalog entries.

Recommendations, as a result of this study, are that

cataloging the data files and codes should be performed

by librarians and administered by the Special Formats

Cataloging section. It is just a matter of time before this

project will begin.

Problems and solutions

Researchers need information, and do not particularly

care where the information resides within the university.

As is implied throughout this paper, some of the distinc-

tions that the Library and CCIS make between our

services tend now to be rather artificial, maintained more
out of habit than by design. We need to rethink our roles

from the point of view of the patron in need of informa-

tion, to break from tradition when appropriate, and create

information systems that are responsive to our constitu-

ency.

Across the years, the Libraries and CCIS have both

committed staff, time, machinery, and hard cash to

common causes. We have done a great deal, voluntarily,

and together. Yet it must be said that in what we did,

there were often problems; and moreover, there was so

very much more left to be done.

On thefront lines...

Yes we communicated. And yes, we did not The
problem, I believe, on the Library's part went to respon-

sibility. While it is wonderful for individuals to volun-

tarily take on new and cooperative projects with another

unit, the lack of formal responsibility led to things simply
falling through the cracks. For example, when we began
to collect a duplicate copy of the CCIS copy of ICPSR
Codebooks, back-ordering was assumed, and the availa-

bility was publicized enthusiastically in Library and
CCIS newsletters. So, we were very red-faced when a
faculty member from our Newark campus, some thirty

miles distant, responded to our much-publicized tout

about availability of codebooks, and asked for the entire

run of codebooks for the Annual Housing Survey. We
were able to provide only codebooks from the past few
years, as our subscription turned out not to be retroactive.

The oversight was not caught because there was no-one
who's job it was to catch it! And this is just one example
of a small detail which nevertheless hinders information

access to the researcher, and erodes our own credibility,

as well.

One step that the Alexander Library, which is the

research library fw social sciences and humanities

research at Rutgers, has taken to try to address this

situation, is to designate a librarian to serve as coordina-

tor for non-bibliographic database services. Besides

working with the above-mentioned numeric databases,

that person's natural function will be to work in concert

with appropriate CCIS staff to see that researchers

working along those "blurry" lines are guided along the

most direct path to needed information.

On the administrative end...

Rutgers University's former president, the late Edward
Bloustein, was a primary mover in the merger of the

University's computing activities, articulating the need

for coordination of the complex interrelationships

between print information, electronic data resources and

telecommunications. At a time when resources are

limited and budgets strained, this plan of pooling re-

sources, while perhaps not showing actual dollar savings,

is intended to produce "intangible" savings via a stream-

lined and more efficient organization.

So, in order to coordinate the complicated, yet obviously

converging, activities of the computing organizations on

campus, a recent restructuring brings the Libraries and
the computer services under one organizational umbrella.

All units now report to the Vice President for Informa-

tion Services at Rutgers, and University Librarian,

Joanne Euster. President Bloustein also appointed Peter

Graham, Associate University Librarian for Technical

and Automated Services, to serve as associate Vice

President for Information Services, in addition to con-

tinuing with his current responsibilities.

Joanne Euster explains the administrative rationale for

restructuring in this way: "Economies of scale, as well as

an apparent fading of the distinction between administra-

tive and academic computing suggest that those functions

should at least share some of the same pool of exjjertise

and infrastructure. The goal should include minimizing

duplicate input of information, ensuring the integrity of

shared databases, being cost efficient, and making
possible optimum individual control of one's own data

access and utilization." Basically, this concept recog-

nizes that the three affected units have tasks that are

distinctive, and which are well-served within the unit, but

that there are also certain aspects of the operations. For

example, the academic and administrative sides of the

computer share CPUs; the library and academic side

share data; and the administrative side provides its

registrar's and personnel tapes to the hbrary for its online

patron file.

ASSIST Quarterly



Already, the administrative restructuring is having an

effect on front-line services. Our plans to mount the

Current Contents database have been resurrected thanks

to the Associate Vice President for Information Services'

decision to purchase a new mainframe computer that will

fit our needs. The organizational changes provide new
opportunities to expand the cooperative tradition of the

Libraries and the CCIS, building on existing strengths,

and exploring new ways of improving our services to

Rutgers faculty and students. Our aim is to provide a

"seamless" system of information services to data users.

In conclusion...

Computing services have changed. Library services have

changed. Research methods have changed. Whether it

becomes the responsibiUty of the library or the computer

center to respond to change and meet new challenges is a

moot issue. The clients continue to require information

and increasingly this information is available in machine-

readable form. Although the library and the computer

center are independent of each other and deliver different

forms and types of services, some of the information

services overlap. The computing environment grows

more complex each year and correspondingly, the

responsibilities of our staff become more demanding.

Because new technologies require us to be technically

proficient in these areas, the merger of the hbraries and

the academic and administrative computing centers make
sense. Because of the current budget restraints, these

tasks must be clearly defined. Because of different

perceptions of the type and level of service needed, there

will be challenges in meshing these services. But with

our long history of successful collaboration, the outcome

of this new relationship is assured. And the faculty,

students and staff will be the beneficiaries.

IPresented joindy to the International Association for

Social Science Information Service and Technology

(lASSIST) Conference on "Numbers, Pictures, Words
and Sounds: Priorities for the 1990's" Poughkeepsie,

New York on June 2, 1990. Linda Langschied, Informa-

tion Services Librarian, Alexander Library, Rutgers

University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, &Gertrude J.

Lewis, Deputy Associate Director, Center for Computer

and Information Services, Rutgers University, Piscata-

way. New Jersey

3480 cartridges.

For those interested in 3480 cartridges:

NTIS (PBS 233135) is selling for $12.95
National Archives Technical Information

Information Paper No. 4 "3480 Class

Tape Certridge Drives and Archival

Tape Storage: Technology Assessment
Report."

Call 703/487-4600 or write to Document
Sales NTIS, Springfield, VA 22161.

This paper covers the "mechanical &
technological future of the systems" &
"provides valuable information to data

center managers data librarians, and
archivists, in fact to all who are con-

cerned about the long-term storage of

machine-readable data."

Summer 1990