News
| Pages | 258-262 |
| Published date | 01 May 1986 |
| Date | 01 May 1986 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044708 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
news
GENERAL
Utlas International news
Utlas International's online service. Catalog
Support Service (CATSS) is now available
twenty-four hours a day, rendering Utlas the
only bibliographic utility to provide round
the clock database access.
Utlas serves libraries worldwide, and its
full time operation means that it offers
a
truly
flexible and convenient international service.
It is able to offer twenty-four hour service
because maintenance, source files loading
and the balancing of system can be com-
pleted while the system continues to serve
customers.
Utlas'
database grew by five million
records in the first six months of this year.
Utlas online database now has over three
million authority records and twenty-nine
million bibliographic records contributed by
national agencies and Utlas customers.
Utlas'
database
is
accessible online through
CATSS,
which supports full authority
control, acquisitions processing, interlibrary
loan and a wide variety of customised
products. The Utlas database can also be
used to provide a variety of retrospective
conversion options.
Over 500 institutions and government
agencies, representing 2,000 libraries,
maintain user-owned databases through
Utlas'
facilities. Utlas International Canada,
a division of International Thomson Ltd.,
has offices and/or representatives in Canada,
Japan, the United States, Britain and
Europe.
CLSI appoints new President
and Chief Operating Officer
CLSI recently announced the appointment of
Gene Robinson to the position of President
and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Robinson
succeeds Richard Goldberg, who will assume
the responsibilities of President of
a
recently
established business group with CLSl's
parent organisation, TBG Inc.
CLSI will serve as the core organisation
of
this new business unit, established to
assemble a family of companies that will pro-
vide innovative products and services to
meet
the growing information and automation
needs of the library marketplace
Telecom's highlights
A new business service was recently
introduced in Britain aimed at the insurance
industry. The British Telecom Insurance
Services incorporates Pins (Prestel Insurance
Network Services) and Mediat (a network
service for
brokers).
BTIS will provide value-
added services and new technology to
insurance brokers, building societies and
others in the insurance field.
Livenet is an interactive video network
which aims to revolutionise teaching and
re-
search methods in the University of London.
Trial operations with the network, which will
link seven of the University's sites in
London, are due to start in October. The
fibre optic network will provide a means of
bringing staff and students together without
moving them by permitting meetings,
tutorials and lectures to be spread geographi-
cally and by allowing views and information
to be exchanged via the medium. The system
will use switched star techniques and the
latest generation of fibre optic equipment
developed for video transmission. Each fibre
will carry four colour TV channels,
associated sound and a 2Mb data channel.
British Telecom's integrated services
digital network (ISDN), in operation since
last June, has set a new standard in business
communications. An A4 page can be sent by
facsimile in
six
seconds;
photographic quality
colour pictures can be used with videotex;
slow-scan TV is readily available; greater
reliability means instantaneous call set-up.
A
new generation of access equipment will
enable, by the end of next year, a single-line
service to be offered in compliance with inter-
national standards. The full spectrum of
information technology services will then
become available to customers — data, text,
fast fax, graphics and speech.
The world's first undersea optical fibre
cable is being laid between England and
258 The Electronic Library, October 1986.
Vol.
4, No. 5.
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