Using Cable Television for Library Data Transmission
| Published date | 01 January 1985 |
| Date | 01 January 1985 |
| Pages | 35-38 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047580 |
| Author | Douglas A. Whitaker |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Using Cable Television
for Library Data Transmission
Douglas
A.
Whitaker
The
Wayne
Oakland Library
Federation (Ml)
has
been
experimenting
with digital
cable
transmission
since 1981. Initial
experiences
were
unsatisfactory due to odd frequency
assignments
and the need to
customize
modems.
With the advent
of
adjustable
modems,
such as
Zeta's Z-19 RF, promising
results
have
been attained. A number
of key questions that will affect
the future
use
of
cable
for data
transmission
are
listed.
There
is
growing speculation that cable television
will become
an
important local communications
medium
in
addition
to
providing sports, news,
movies,
and
personalized information channels.
Rising telephone line charges give reason
to
hope this
speculation
is not
without foundation.
Tests
of
cable
as a
remote site interactive data
carrier have left questions
of
reliability
and
main-
tenance costs unanswered. These
are
essential ques-
tions
for
librarians interested
in
using cable
as a
data
carrier
for
current automated bibliographic control
systems
and for
other future databases.
Through
a
grant from
the
W.K. Kellogg Founda-
tion,
the
Wayne Oakland Library Federation
(WOLF),
has
been able
to
test cable data circuits
on a
Geac bibliographic control system.
The
information
gained from this test
is
discussed
in
this article.
An Introduction
to
Cable
Most automated library systems utilize
a
basic
communication scheme that requires
a
dedicated
telephone line between
a
terminal
and the
computer
serving
it.
When several terminals
are
used
at a
single
location
a
multiplexed dedicated line
may be
used.
Some systems allow libraries
in the
same immediate
vicinity
to
share
a
single line through
a
multidrop
configuration.
The
latter
two
techniques reduce
communication line costs,
but
even
so,
communica-
tion line costs are high
and
constantly increasing.
The increasing cost
of
dedicated telephone lines
and
the
growing requirement
for
them threaten
the
ability
of
libraries
to
utilize
the
capabilities
of
auto-
mated bibliographic systems
to
their full potential.
Because
of
these factors, attempts
are
being made
to
Whitaker
is
Deputy Director
of the
Wayne Oak-
land Library Federation, Wayne, MI.
ISSUE
9 35
To continue reading
Request your trial