U.S. Agricultural statistics on the internet extending the reach of the depository library

Journal of Government Information

Volumn 23, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 443-452

  Lawrence, Gregory W ^a  

^a Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

Author keywords

Agriculture; Federal depository library program; Internet; Partnership; Statistics

Indexed keywords

EID: 85009622979     PISSN: 13520237     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/1352-0237(96)00025-1     Document Type: Article

References (4)

1. There are multiple points of access to the USDA service. WWW access is available at: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda. Gopher, telnet, and ftp access is available at: usda.mannlib.cornell.edu. E-mail information can be obtained by sending an e-mail message to: usda-reports @usda.mannlib. cornell.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message simply type "help." Do not append a signature. A message file with instructions will be mailed to you.
2. Two UNIX languages are used in Acquisitions to automate processing. Expect, a subset of tcl (Tool Command Language), helps automate connections for ftp and telnet data transfer. Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language) simplifies writing programs which exchange information between UNIX system utilities. Shell scripts are written for general programs which may need periodic "tweaking" by staff. The Korn shell is used because it is easy to read and modify.
3. For a more detailed description of cataloging issues associated with the USDA information, see Marijo S. Wilson, "Mainstreaming Electronic Numeric Data Files: the Impact on Technical Services" in Continuity and Transformation: the Promise of Confluence, Proceedings of the Seventh National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Ptitsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 29-April, Proceedings of the Seventh National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Ptitsburgh, Pennsylvania, ed. Richard AmRhein (Chicago: American Library Association, 1995) 267-71.
4. Funding for the server comes from a small annual appropriation from the three agencies which is matched with in-kind services from the library. These funds are seed money to develop or enhance network dissemination systems or procedures for agency information. These systems will be maintained or extended by the library when the partnership goals are met, and funding is phased out.