On-line retrieval systems and networks
The present availability of on-line services in Narth America and Eurape is reviewed and some differences between bibliographic and data bank services are identified. Mapping of points of access ta on-line networks shows a very uneven distributian of availability. There is little evidence of systematic planning in the past nor any sign that future plans will lead to mare availability in under-privileged areas. Costs far access to on-line services vary widely as a result of nansystematic lacation of netwark access points. In addition the duplicative develapment of an-line services prevents the growth in valums use an any ane service which can lead to economies of scale in costs. Charges made by suppliere of data bases are relatively low and likely to be unrealistically so if growth of on-line services reduces other saurces of revenue. Mare effective planning may alleviate some existing problerne and prevent the appearance of new problems. What is an line? Wall, according to aur data base of data bases there are just aver 500 publicly available machine-readable files (1). This excludes private files in industry ar private files in government, and of these something like 150 are publicly available on-line, again not through some secrat industrial ar gavernmental arrangement, but publicly. The anline services I want ta talk about are the dialable anes, in ather wards not in-hause facilities or those which require leased circuits, but those yau can get thraugh to over the telephone, be it by dialling inta a computer direct, ar by dialling a remate cancentratar which will take you to a computer, legitimately or otherwise, The really remarkable development of the last year or couple of years has been the rise af data banks as opposed to bibliographic files, and yau see that about 70 out of 160 are on-line, In ather words the on-line percantage of data banks is much nigher, af the arder af 40, than with bibliographic files, where it is about 20. This of caurse is due to a number of data banks being not of the Crystallagraphic Data Centre kind, which invalve analysis, but af the pr.ime data kind, made available straight away, not related to litersture at all, by-passing the publicatian analysis and data base canstructian circuit. They are much eheaper as a result; this applies notably to statistical data banks which ere abtained as a by-product, ! 111 try ta run through some of these services for you in a few minutes. Far the banefit of those who can 1 t see, these are the public operators of on-line services in Narth America and Eurape (2). At the top you see Canadian On-Line Enquiry, CAN-OLE, followed by Cammodity Information Data Service, a new-comer operating in Califarnia thraugh TeleNet, d.own ta Tymshare, in alphabetical order. In the data base of data bases we have the following material (3): yau see the data bases an the left and the operatars an the right and yau see how much there is in chemistry. That is bibliographic. Now in the data bank field you see chemistry begins half way down (4). Yau can probably see the little heading chemistry, and there is a very large number of banks, ·it goes an for another page and a bit. You will get something mare legible presently. The remarkable thing is that there is a significant number of chemical data banks which are not available on-line and particularly in Europe. Let 1 s lock at something mare legible and we 1 11 start off with aur transatlantic friends Lockheed and SDC (5). What I've done is to draw transpareneise far you of all they have up, and then I 1 ve underlined what can be said to be of chemical interest. So this is following Tony Kent's advice not to be cantroversial, to be descriptive. ! 1 m being non-contraversial and descriptive naw. The full underlining means that the file is wholly cancerned with chemistry and is intended for the chemical cammunity as its main thrust. The anes with the datted underlining are files which are knawn to cantein a significant amaunt of material of interest to the chemist. I 1 ve made no further distinctians, althaugh obviously the impartance to the ehernist varies very much as between for example Compendex, the chemical material of which is abaut 13%, and as we heard yesterday, PASCAL and !SI, ar SCI, where the 1871