First experiences with ELSA (Electronic Reference Library for Southern Africa)
| Date | 01 April 1995 |
| Pages | 351-354 |
| Published date | 01 April 1995 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045387 |
| Author | Leslie Lees |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
First experiences with ELSA
(Electronic Reference Library
for
Southern Africa)
Leslie Lees
SilverPlatter
Information
Limited,
10
Barley Mow Passage,
Chiswick,
London W4
4PH,
UK
E-mail:
leslie@silverplatter.com.uk
Abstract: The paper gives
a
brief introduction to the Electronic Reference
Library
concept,
which enables LAN and WAN access
to
compact
disc
databases
using client/server
technology.
Its
introduction to South Africa in the project
known as ELSA is related and the interaction between SilverPlatter as technology
provider, SABINET as the network supporter and CD-ROM Information as
manager of the
project,
is
outlined.
Technology and network requirements for
participants are
listed.
As a
first
in
the
world,
ELSA was launched on
1
November
1994,
serving 26 university
and
Technikon libraries on
an
experimental basis
throughout South Africa.
On
going commercial on
1
March
1995,
the
service had
been introduced to the all major libraries
in
Southern Africa that
have
the
required networking
capabilities.
The paper gives performance figures for ELSA
under test
and
operational
conditions,
and concludes with a description of the
application of ELSA technology in mounting organisations' own
databases
on
the
network enabling joint
access
to purchased and in-house databases from
a
compact disc or hard disk platform.
In November
of
last year SilverPlatter
Information, together with
our
South
African partners SABINET
and CD-
ROM Information, launched
the
test of
a new service, ELSA (Electronic
Ref-
erence Library
for
Southern Africa).
The purpose of this paper
is to
review
this test
of the
ELSA service which
took place
in
South Africa from
No-
vember to February.
It
will present
the
background
to the
service; examine
some of the issues surrounding the test
and its launch in April as
a
commercial
service
for the
Internet delivery
of
data;
and
develop some themes
for its
further development in the near future.
For those
not
familiar with ELSA
from the test
itself, a
little background
and history might be useful. ELSA is
a
partnership between SilverPlatter
In-
formation, CD-ROM Information
and
SABINET.
It
utilises SilverPlatter's
ERL technology
—
a client/server,
wide-area network access software
—
to allow Internet access
to
a collection
of SilverPlatter databases mounted
on
a host server
on the
SABINET net-
work. SilverPlatter provides
the
tech-
nology
and the
data; SABINET pro-
vides
and
maintains
the
network
infrastructure; and CD-ROM Informa-
tion
is
responsible for
the
management
and marketing of the service.
ELSA itself
is
a
part
of
SilverPlat-
ter's project
to
develop means
for the
delivery
of
data
via the
Internet.
The
Internet
is
something of a buzzword
at
the moment
and its use is
gathering
pace in South Africa, both with institu-
tions and individuals. SilverPlatter and
our local partners in this project recog-
nised last year that if such
a
project was
to be
a
success
in
South Africa, it must
take account of local conditions and be
responsive
to
local needs. Hence
ELSA
was
born
as a
local solution
for
Internet
or
remote delivery
of
data.
SABINET's developed infrastructure
and networking experience
and CD-
ROM Information's experience of the
local information market would
en-
able
a
workable
and
responsive local
solution
to the
opportunities that
Sil-
verPlatter's new technology was mak-
ing available.
1 must thank here both SABINET
and
CDR for
bringing the proposal
for
ELSA
to us
in the summer of last year.
It was their sharp-sighted vision of the
possibilities of our ERL technology
in
this local context that
has led to our
policy
of
creating what
we are now
calling Partner Hosted Services.
ELSA
is, in
fact,
the
first such service
in
the
world
and is now, in
fact,
in
commercial operation
so we
have
much
to be
proud of
here.
The
further
developments
to the
service which
I
shall touch
on
later
in
this paper will
also continue
to
keep South Africa
at
the very forefront of SilverPlatter's
ef-
forts to develop delivery solutions that
are genuinely responsive
to the
needs
of the differing markets
for
data.
ELSA represents
a
major advance
in the delivery of data to customers and
end-users,
but why is
that
so? The in-
vention
of
CDROM around
10
years
ago
did
much to democratise access
to
data
for
actual users.
The
approach-
able end-user interfaces and the ease of
cost-control compared
to
online
searching
led to a
significant expan-
sion
in the use
of data,
and
consequent
reduction in costs per search compared
to online services which remain,
to
this
day, comparatively expensive.
The
costs of online searching
and
methods
of billing effectively limited access
to
trained library professionals,
a
limita-
The Electronic Library,
Vol.
13,
No.
4,
August 1995 351
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