Integrated Bibliographic Information System: Resource Sharing Tailored for Local Needs

摘要

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) is charged with providing information services to the scientific and technical community of the Department of Defense (DoD). These service range from collecting and disseminating bibliographic information to sponsoring and directing research into innovative information handling technologies. Through this research, DTIC actively seeks ways to promote resource sharing as a means for speeding access to information while reducing the costs of information processing throughout the Defense technical library community. As part of this research, DTIC is sponsoring the development of an Integrated Bibliographic Information System (IBIS). The prototype of this system has been under development since April 1983. It will be used to demonstrate and evaluate the advantages of combining an integrated library system with an intelligent gateway capable of querying and updating -- simultaneously -- heterogeneous bibliographic databases. Queries and updates of databases will be performed using a common command language, relieving the system user of the need to master separate languages and procedures for each database accessed. Users will be able to download and post-process data from external sources. This capability will allow libraries to tailor search results -- derived from external sources and a local catalog -- to their patron's needs and deliver a single product in an economical and efficient manner.