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GERALD M. QUINN LIBRARY
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY AT LINCOLN CENTER
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10023

DRA USERS' CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-6, 1996
By Linda LoSchiavo, Director, Quinn Library,
Fordham University at Lincoln Center

The focus of this year's conference was the presentation of the new DRA products: DRA Find (Version 1.1), DRA Web and DRA Kids, as well as announcements of enhancements to the existing products.

New Products: DRA Find, DRA Web and DRA Kids are all PC-based products.

DRA Find is Z39.50-compliant and Microsoft Windows-based. It is the next generation OPAC following the transitional Information Gateway that we are using currently. DRA Find allows the user to search multiple databases simultaneously (for example, Fordham, Columbia, University of Illinois, University of London) and merge all the results from such a search into a single results display, thereby eliminating duplicates. Users can define their own merge programs. DRA Find offers an enhanced holdings display, which allows detailed descriptions of your own (and other libraries') collections. When a user clicks on a record he can see the owner library displayed across the bottom of the screen. DRA Find provides a multilingual search interface which enables the product to provide, for example, an English user interface to display Hebrew records, or a French user interface to display Chinese records, or other combinations of languages, regardless of the underlying character set.

The DRA Web interface allows users to move from their online catalog directly to Internet locations. DRA Web users can access any Z39.50-compatible database from any World Wide Web browser (for example, Netscape, Lynx or Mosaic). DRA Web is capable of playing back sound and displaying images if linked to the appropriate fields in the MARC record. As with DRA Find, DRA Web includes the ability to search multiple databases simultaneously and save search results. Both DRA Find and DRA Web provide a great deal of flexibility. Libraries can decide what their system will look like since the possibilities for modification are vast, or they are free to stay with the generic package. They are configured almost infinitely, so there is no limit on the number of agencies a library can have. (The current limit is three). Multiple levels of functionality and sophistication allow libraries to better serve their particular constituencies.

DRA Kids is a Z39.50-compliant interface designed specifically for younger users. It requires only a third-grade reading comprehension level and a basic point-and-click knowledge of computers to access the library catalog.

Enhancements to existing products: The following enhancements to the current DRA software will be available this summer.

Information Gateway: Individual records, such as Reserve items or OP on-order material, can be suppressed from display in the OPAC, while still being available in Acquisitions and Circulation. Backward browsing will be possible. Searches that produce no hits will show the closest entries. Volume enumeration will expand to 40 characters.

Circulation: Overdue fines can be transferred to the Bursar while still retaining fine records in Circulation. Items can be charged to carrels or study groups. The optional SHELVING status for recently returned materials can be set to expire at different times in different locations.

Acquisitions: The existing e-mail and electronic order transfer operations will be supplemented by an industry-standard Electronic Data Interchange option.

Serials: A new bindery submodule in Acq/Serials will generate lists of issues to be pulled from the shelf when a volume is completed; display the status BINDERY in the OPAC; show binding instructions for individual subscriptions; generate bindery slips; provide reports on bindery shipments.

Other matters:

DEC terminals: DRA will continue to support the VT3xx/4xx/5xx dumb terminal environment for the next five to seven years (minimum).

Security: There was a presentation on the physical security of computers in libraries, stressing the problems of PCs in unsupervised areas. Most users reported having some security problems with their PCs, even those in highly visible areas of the library, and were not planning on replacing the dumb terminals with PCs in remote stack areas.

Interlibrary Loan: DRA has indicated that there will be new developments with the ILL subsystem within the next 6 to 12 months.

Staffing: Moving to a PC-based system will result in a need for more staff and more sophisticated staff. In terms of existing staff, librarians will be called upon to learn, monitor and maintain both the software and the hardware of the new system. DRA has initiated a fee-based 7 x 24 Network Monitor help desk. Libraries who subscribe to this service will be provided with 7-day a week, 24-hour a day technical support from DRA.

MAC environment: DRA is looking at its new products with an eye toward the MAC environment, but at this time does not feel it is reasonable to port two environments at once. If DRA does move to MAC it will be sequential: first, Windows-based PCs; second, MACS.

The Banquet: Almost 600 people attended this year's banquet in the main ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis. In a radical departure from tradition, New York strip steak was served in place of filet mignon. The steak was tough, but the savory Missouri corn chowder, the exquisite chocolate ganache cake (topped with raspberries) and a dainty California Merlot more than compensated for the disappointing entree. At each place was a pair of cheap sunglasses bearing the logo for this year's conference. Supposedly at each place was a small card with the DRA logo which, when scratched off, would inform one lucky person that he/she had won the laptop computer. No one from Fordham found a scratch-off card at their place. We felt cheated.