Database Searching and Document Delivery via Communications Satellite

摘要

Librarians, scientists and engineers at several laboratories associated with NASA used an online information system, DIALOG, to search SPIN, a computerized database of abstracts of physics and astronomy articles; requested articles were delivered by facsimile transmitter. A database of abstracts of articles accepted for publication but not yet in print was also available. Searches and document delivery used either the experimental Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) or telephone lines; an ATS satellite was occasionally used for document delivery. The report also examines the human factors involved in the acceptance of a new information delivery system; the way in which the service was presented at each site had a significant impact on utilization and adoption by library patrons.