The Daily Tar HeelFriday, September 13. 19853
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By KEITH BRADSHER
SfaffWnfer
A rapidly growing number of com
puter databases give UNC students and
faculty a new. fast way to locate research
materials.
A doen UNC libraries and depart
ments now offer the direct searching of
computer-stored files of periodical
literature. Reference librarians can call
up in minutes nearly exhaustive lists of
recently published articles on most
subjects of research interest, Judith
Wood, an assistant professor of library
science, said Tuesday.
"There is a new database in just about
anything you can think of," she told
22 graduate students and faculty
members in a seminar sponsored by the
Institute for Research in Social Science.
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By ROBERT KEEFE
Staff Writer
It's a familiar scene the little guy .
being pushed out of business by the big
guy. But this time the outcome of this
struggle might effect the way consumers
choose their entertainment.
Independent video tape rental servi
ces are slowly but surely being pushed
out of business by the chain and
franchised retailers.
Yet many people prefer the conven
ience of having the smaller stores
around, as well as being able to pick
up a videos at the grocery store while
shopping for TV dinners.
"We always get our movies from the
grocery store," said Laura Azar, a
freshman from St. Petersburg, Fla.
"Being just a few munutes from our
house, it makes it very convenient, and
I think that they are a little cheaper too."
Many grocery and department stores
are now renting out video tapes and
machines as a result of the recent craze
for home movies. But according to some
full-time video stores, grocers and other
small-time stores will never have the
selection that the chain and franchise
operators have to offer.
"I think that eventually (grocery
stores and other outlets) will either have
to go full force in the video business,
or will have to back off," said Jean
Watson, manager of North American
Videos in Carrboro.
"For instance," she said, "there is a
Food Lion store next to us that rents
tapes and machines, but they really can't
compete with us because of their small
selection.
"IVe talked with some of the people
that work there, and they've said that
they don't really enjoy it because they
don't have that much business," said
Watson. "They don't think it's very
profitable."
Watson's North American Video is
just one in a chain of eight in the
Triangle area. A ninth store is scheduled
to open in October or November. ,
1 But some grocers are successful in the
business. Dot Watson, with The Farm
Fresh store in Raleigh, said business in
her video department was booming.
"1 think that we actually do a better
business than the straight video stores
because we're also a grocery store, and
we have a lot more to offer than just
the movies," Watson said.
"We also do not have a membership
fee, with something like that, people
know that they won't get their money
back, but they know they will with a
security deposit."
Dot Watson said that her store
usually rents videos at a price of 95 cents
a day, plus a $50 security deposit that
is refunded upon return of the tape.
The price at Jean Watson's North
American Videos is usually $2.99 per
film per day, with a $1 charge for each
additional night for members, while
nonmembers must pay $10 per film, and
can keep it for up to 3 days. The store
is now offering a lifetime membership
for $50.
Still, the chain stores usually have a
much wider selection than the grocers.
According to Dot Watson, Farm Fresh
carries about six hundred features.
"We're a medium sized store, and we
carry around 1,600 VHS and about
1,500 BETA titles," said Jean Watson.
"In addition, we carry 400 adult titles
in both formats.
"We also have about 200 releases
floating around from store to store, and
we keep anywhere from 15 to 100 tapes
in stock that we offer for sale."
High overhead might be the leading
factor in the decline of 'mom and pop'
video stores. According to Jean Wat
son, the average cost of the latest
releases run around $79.95, while the
less popular ones can be bought for
about $59.95-$69.95 each. Older films
sometimes can be picked up for as low
as $15-$20, but aren't really in demand.
"I think, there are a lot of advantages
to being in a chain," Jean Watson said.
"There's a lot more capital base by
which we can expand and offer a bigger
selection to our customers."
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Since 1981, the number of databases
has quadrupled from 800 to 2,800, she
said. The number available online
(accessible over a computer link without
a human intermediary) has risen from
half to nearly all.
In the past year, the number of
undergraduates requesting computer
searches has also risen dramatically, .
Diane Strauss, head of the Davis
Library business administration and
social science reference desk, said.
Top University librarians are debat
ing how campus libraries should, sub
sidize these searches, which are not free
for students, said Joe Hewitt, associate L
University librarian for technical
services.
In addition to saving time, searching
a computer database offers three
advantages over paging through printed
indexes. First, more recent information
is often available
Second, databases can be searched
for more -r.ift i-o-ric o rvii-cc tv
can indexes, which can only offer a
relatively limited number of categories.
Third, a computer printout usually
includes an abstract of the article, giving
the researcher a better idea of how much
effort should be spent tracking down
the, material.
To run a search, the researcher, with
the help of a research librarian, first
identifies a set of key words or phrases
unique to the topic under investigation,
Wood said. The librarian types the
words into a desktop microcomputer
and sends them over an ordinary long
distance phone line to the computer of
a commercial database service, which
checks through its memory for articles
using those words. Abstracts of articles,
or for a few of the newer databases,
statistics and even entire articles, begin
to flow within seconds to the librarian's
computer, where they can be skimmed
on the screen or printed out.
A search usually lasts 10 to 20
minutes and costs the researcher 50
cents to $3 per minute.
"It can be cost effective," Wood said.
"It can also be very expensive if you
don't know what you're doing,"
Careful selection of search words is
critical in keeping the price down,
Strauss said. Before asking a commer
cial database for information on some
effect of stress, for example, a researcher
should decide whether to exclude the
animal studies available, she said. Some
subjects may be so obscure that virtually
nothing has been written.
"We're always really careful to say
it's not free, and we discourage people
if it's marginal," she said.
Another problem of databases is that
they rarely include sources published
before the database was established,
Wood said.
"If you want something written in
1757, you're probably out of luck," she
said.
The database most frequently used
at UNC last year was ERIC, an
education database tapped more than
300 times last year, Wood said. Physical
education, business administration and
social science databases followed in
frequency of use.
The business administration and
social science desk at Davis Library
performs about 70 percent of all
computer searches at UNC, Wood said.
Other campus libraries offering compu
ter searches are the Brauer (Math
Physics) Library in Phillips Hall, the
Couth (Botany) Library in Coker Hall,
the Geology Library in Mitchell Hall,
the Chemistry Library in Venable Hall,
the Chapin (City and Regional Plan
ning) Library in New East, the Zoology
Library in Wilson Hall, the Health
Sciences Library, the Carolina Popu
lation Center Library, the Law Library,
the Social Sciences Data Library and
the humanities reference desk in Davis
Library.
So wee of com
By KEITH BRADSHER
Staff Writer '
University librarians at UNC and across the country
are trying to decide how to finance student access
to commercial computer databases.
At issue is whether libraries should pay all the costs
of computer searches, which unlike books only benefit
a single student, Joe Hewitt, associate University
librarian for technical services, said.
Up to now, most libraries, including the UNC
system, have paid for terminals, trained staff and
database subscription fees, while charging the
researcher for the search fee and the phone call to
the database, he said. With these charges adding up
to $30 to $150 an hour, the increasingly valuable
service is more readily available to better-funded
students, professors and departments.
The existing arrangement, Hewitt said, "would tend
to discriminate in favor of the people with grants,
departmental money."
"We are at about the same stage as most libraries
in dealing with this problem," he added.
The cost of online services is unlikely to drop in
the next few years, said Judith Wood, assistant
professor of library sciences.
Members of non-humanities departments are taking
a greater interest in library funding decisions, calling
for more spending on computer services, Hewitt said.
The difficulty for top library officials lies in whether
funds for the purchase of materials, traditionally
allocated for the purchase of books that can be used
year after year, should now also go for data and
computer printouts that one student keeps.
"You're using funds for something not permanent,"
he said. But he added, "We think weVe got to do
it anyway."
This year, the materials budget was automatically
raised by $10,000 as an adjustment for higher student
. enrollment. Largely at the request of the chemistry
department, the entire sum will be spent supporting
the instruction of students in the use of online services,
Hewitt said.
The move was made necessary in part by a policy
change by the chemistry department's favorite online
database, Chemical Abstract Services. CAS charged
an annual subscription fee of more than $15,000 last
year, and allowed unlimited searches free of further
charge. Use was higher than expected, however, and
CAS has returned to billing separately for each search.
Online services costs are unlikely to drop. Today's
databases came into being when publishers made
available the computer files from which they printed
books and magazines. That has now become a
profitable business, Wood said.
Moreover, most of the costs of databases stem not
from buying increasingly cheap hardware, but from
paying computer programmers to develop software,
she said. Library administrators are also having to
look for personnel skilled in choosing search words.
Roughly 80 percent of ads offering positions for
librarians now ask for applicants with experience in
online systems, she said.
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