Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!psuvax1!psuvm!UMVMA!C6340A From: C6340A@UMVMA.BITNET (George Rickerson) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l Subject: Faculty owned CD-ROMS Message-ID: Date: 1 Feb 90 14:41:20 GMT Sender: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum Lines: 31 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway Approved-By: PACS Forum In-Reply-To: LIBPACS@UHUPVM1 -- Fri, 26 Jan 90 08:40:04 CST ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Based on the number of CD-ROMs I have accumulated in the few months since I acquired a CD-ROM drive, none free but all cheap, I agree that the instances of faculty and students with data in that form and with no means to use it will increase. It doesn't seem complicated to me. If I happened to get a CD-ROM with data which I wanted to upload to the mainframe, I would just go ahead and do it because I have the equipment, the knowledge of how to do it, and the appropriate account on the mainframe. It doesn't seem to me that faculty or students (or staff) who lack some or all of those things should therefore be unable to use their data (and I realize no one has suggested they should), particularly if all they lack is the CD-ROM drive. My druthers would be to have the unit responsible for running the computer labs on campus - at Missouri it would be the academic computing department - have one or two configurations that included CD-ROM drives. In other places it might be the library that would be the natural unit to make such equipment available. I guess I'm saying that the best way to handle this situation will vary from institution to institution. The best way is the way that fits the style and organization of the institution. Libraries are concerned about their prerogatives these days, given the way technology is changing the way information is created, distributed, and used. But I think this particular situation is mainly a mechanical problem. If a patron showed up with data on round reels (and that has happened to librarians I know), the patron would get directed to someone with access to a tape drive. If the patron shows up with data on a CD-ROM disc, the patron should get directed to a workstation with the appropriate equipment - and a host connection, if needed. Where that stuff is will, as I say, depend.