For the past year and a half or so, anyone within earshot of Pattee Library at the University Park campus has been aware of the construction of a major library addition between the existing East and Central Pattee structures. So extensive is the work that it necessitated moving many of the Libraries' staff and work units to other parts of the building, and even to other parts of campus, for the duration of the construction effort. Library users must separately access adjacent wings that are no longer connected; visitors to Pattee certainly understand the meaning of the phrase, "You can't get there from here." Will the new Library addition ultimately be worth the tedious separation of buildings, the noise and the wait? The answer: yes.

Quiet Revolution

What is not so well known is that another major reconstruction has been happening at the same time, within the walls of Pattee. This effort is also a substantial one. It will have as great an effect on library users as the newly-constructed Paterno Library, which provides a link between old and new buildings, and old and new ways of providing service. This reconstruction is not about bricks and mortar. Instead, it involves the redesign of LIAS (Library Information Access System), the online system which has provided the public with access to the Libraries' collections since it replaced the original card catalog in 1983. LIAS has been the heart of background functions such as cataloging and circulation since the late '70s. Over the course of the year-long rewrite of the system, users have been unaware, for the most part, of the "open heart surgery" going on in their midst, during which existing services have been maintained and new ones added. A major effort? Yes, but clearly the only choice for a system that offers more than 100 separate databases and resources, and whose online catalog logs well over a million transactions weekly, providing sole access to 1.9 million cataloged titles. For the Penn State students and faculty, and the Libraries' staff who depend heavily on LIAS for daily work activities, was it worth it to maintain the old system with no interruption of service while simultaneously creating its successor? The answer: yes.

This article describes the results of the quiet revolution that has been going on within Pattee, in the offices of Library Computing Services to be exact, where LIAS is created and maintained.

Since its public release as an online catalog in 1983, LIAS was a 'command-line' telnet system, built on the premise that with little introduction users could access the system and search its storehouse of information.

Over the years, there have been many firsts and near-firsts for LIAS in the library community. LIAS was among the first systems to offer remote access to the online catalog from any location to any user and to offer the ability to browse endlessly as if standing in the stacks through books arranged in call number order. One project was the conversion of the entire library card catalog to machine-readable form so patrons did not have to use a combination of card and on-line catalogs. It was also important to champion and help pioneer easy access to, and searching of, any other library's catalog, regardless of the software it used or the hardware platform on which it resided.

In the '90s, as the World Wide Web became viable and ubiquitous, it was time for the existing command-line LIAS to evolve into a fully Webbed version. The migration consisted of two parts:

• The creation of a Web-based search engine that searches and displays LIAS databases, including The CAT (online catalog), and a number of other locally mounted journal and newspaper databases.
• The creation of a Web interface whose purpose was to repackage and deliver the wide range of databases, services, instructional programs and self-service components in an easy-to-find format.

Library Computing Services and the Libraries staff worked jointly on the underpinnings for this interface, and will continue to develop it based on usage statistics, direct feedback from users, and new services that are added.

Just another Pretty Face?

Yes, LIAS on the Web does look good, as many Web environments do, but that is not its primary contribution. What it does, and does well, is position LIAS to take full advantage of the power of the Web through links to full text, images, sound, etc. As a result, a database like The CAT is no longer a static pointing tool; it has the ability to take the user from a description of an item to the item itself to full text, another Web site, sound recording or score, video, or other destinations.

LIAS on the Web Launched

On September 17th, 1998, LIAS on the Web was officially released. Penn State University President Graham Spanier and the Penn State Nittany Lion were at Pattee to help celebrate the festivities. Dr. Spanier reminisced about his arrival at Penn State in 1973, and referred to the vast card catalogue that provided the entrance point to the library collections. He spoke of the opportunity that Web LIAS provides as the "Center of the Information Desktop for our Penn State community . . . If the World Wide Web offers an ocean of information, Web LIAS offers you an easy way to navigate that ocean." The Nittany Lion conducted the first official search in The CAT, and found a title added just for the occasion called LIAS on the Web: Launch Ceremonies. Not surprisingly, it was linked to an image of the Nittany Lion and a sound file of the Penn State Blue Band playing the Penn State Fight Song.

Real-Life Examples

While the Nittany Lion's first official search in LIAS was just for fun, there are also real examples that demonstrate the expanded research power of LIAS. The examples given below are just a few that illustrate the meaning of 'digital library', which offers the opportunity for the user to interact with library resources in a new way, the library's contents can be brought directly to the remote user.

• Portions of The Pennsylvania Bridges Collection which includes prints of Pennsylvania railroad bridges 1891-1915, technical drawings and lantern slides, have been scanned and the images are now viewable in The CAT.
• Periodical Abstracts, a journal database that indexes more than 1,500 journals, provides full text for many of the articles it indexes. While telnet LIAS was able to support full text, the Web version can give access to text and additional media.
• Amanda Maple, Music Librarian, is working with Music Department faculty to provide Web-based access to scores and sound recordings that are required listening components of specific classes currently being taught at Penn State. They have developed a demonstration project to make these materials available to students in the class. Links to projects such as this one can be available through Web LIAS.

Features

The Features box (shown below) outlines some of the highlights the new Web LIAS offers. A number of these 'features' were already available in telnet LIAS. However, the Web's graphic style supports a type of discovery and use that empowers both the user and the system.

Feedback from Users

Libraries staff and users had access to a PREVIEW of Web LIAS where they were able to offer suggestions and react to the evolving system. The initial PREVIEW was offered in February 1998 as a survey with 'would you like this or that' questions. As Web LIAS evolved to a working product, it too was shared through subsequent PREVIEWS. This provided a forum for ongoing dialogue, and LCS was able to gather and use some excellent suggestions from users. Focus groups were also held, with staff and student participation.

Problem Resolution

As Web LIAS completes its first full month of operation, the shakedown of previously undiscovered bugs, glitches, and bumps is taking place. This non-glamorous part of bringing up a new system is to be expected. Major post-release issues being attended to include:

• Frames-based interface. The frames-based interface occupies horizontal and vertical screen space; when Web LIAS links to other frames-based sites, the screen display area is further reduced. Design modifications will take place to resolve this.
• Earlier Features still being added. While the initial release of Web LIAS included most of the features of its predecessor, some are still being added, such as the ability to limit search results to a particular library or publication year, and the ability to easily e-mail results. While it was useful for LCS to release the system in its present state of development, users who rely on known features find it confusing if they are not immediately available. The earlier telnet system remains available so users can access both the old and new systems, and addition of the absent features to Web LIAS will occur shortly.
• Speed concerns. It is to LIAS' credit that it has always been known as a fast system, and some users report speed concerns with the new Web LIAS. While efforts were made pre-release to load test the new system, nothing can really simulate the reality of the entire Penn State community accessing the new system. Staff are working on search optimization to handle this.
• Training. While so much information readily available is an advantage in the long term, it can in the short term overwhelm users who have to discover where features that they formerly relied on now reside, and how the new system works. Also, features that users were unaware of before are now visible, further adding to the complexity. Additional training and documentation will address this issue.

Future Plans

• Ability to restrict searches to specified criteria before a search is issued. Presently, LIAS permits limiting of search results after the search has been conducted.
• Customizable interface: user-defined displays and sort order
• Individual user profiles for setting defaults, creating scripted searches, etc.
• Ability to save search results and re-establish them during a later session
• Marking titles for selective printing, downloading, e-mailing and bibliography creation
• Simultaneous searches across multiple data-bases

For further information, see Web LIAS at the following URL: http://www.lias.psu.edu