Automation began to be considered by a few Puerto Rican academic libraries as an alternative to improve their internal library operations as early as 1969. Planning for a project to automate acquisitions began at the José M. Lazaro Library, University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Rio Piedras campus began during that year, however, the inhouse system did not start being implemented until 1973 (Maura, 1987a). Shortly after, a plan to automate the library at the UPR General Library at Mayagüez was developed, but the system was never successfully implemented. Between 1979 and 1984, the Jose M. Lazaro library designed and implemented an inhouse circulation and cata-loging module, but these modules were never developed into an integrated system (M. Maura, personal communication, September 1990).

Sources consulted as well as the information gathered for this study show that automation projects were very limited in Puerto Rico up to 1984. Before this date, the costs, the lack of local maintenance support, the lack of reliable telecommunication infrastructure, the lack of prepared personnel in the area of library automation, (Griffiths, Goshen & Harding, 1984), and the lack of administrative support, were among the most inhibiting factors to library automation. It was not until 1983 that automation became a real option to the majority of the main public and private Puerto Rican academic libraries. Automation was seen not only as an alternative to improve the libraries internal operations but to provide an effective and efficient access to information. At that time, the problems which impeded automation began to be solved, but of particular importance was the administrative support given to library automation projects due to the fact that at this point they were seen as part of the total university automation. According to Maura (1987b), in 1984 the UPR at Mayagüez implemented ATLAS, from Data Research Association (DRA), the first automated integrated library system used in Puerto Rican libraries. The automation project at the three Ana G. Mendez foundation libraries began in 1983, and in 1984 the DRA system was chosen as their alternative. By 1986 the Inter American University (IAU) began their automation project and after developing a needs analysis and a request for proposal, the Dobis- Leuven system was chosen (Maura, 1987b). By 1990 the above mentioned systems were successfully in place.

In 1986 the UPR Central Administration Office began developing a plan to automate their eleven campuses and regional colleges libraries (Maura, 1987b). After the need analysis was completed and the request for proposal submitted to different vendors, the NOTIS system was selected for this project in 1989. The system's installation is presently being done.

The UPR Medical Library and the UPR General Library at Mayagüez were the pioneers in online services. However, in addition of these libraries, by "1984 IAU Educational Resource Center, Sacred Heart, and the University of Turabo [were also offering] online searching... Two law libraries [were] also planning to use computerized searching of law materials, UPR Law Library through Lexis and IAU Library through WESTLAW" (Griffiths, Goshen, & Harding, 1984, p. 10). At present the main academic libraries offer online searching services to their users and the majority of them pass the cost of this services to the users.

2. CD-ROM AS AN ALTERNATIVE

In order to identify the current status of the use of CD-ROM technology in Puerto Rico and the libraries experience, twenty one personal or telephone interview were made by this researcher with present or former library administrators, library automation project directors, or librarians in charge of automation services, a CD-ROM publisher and an independent consultant, all of them involved with the libraries using CD-ROM in Puerto Rico. (See Appendix A, List of People Inter-viewed.)

According to the interviewees, by 1986 very few librarians had any experience with automa-tion projects and very few had learned to use the MARC format, which was basic to the automation of library records. Very few university libraries were able to use OCLC online services for cataloging purposes due to the high service and telecommunication costs. Mainly as a result of these factors, library administrators began to see CD-ROM technology, as an alternative support to library operations. This technology was easy to use and could be obtained at an affordable price.

In 1986, the universities under Ana G. Mendez foundation acquired the first CD-ROM stat-ion, to be used with Bibliofile. According to Rey Smith (personal interview, September 1990), its library automation director during that period, the use of this technology was seen as the most viable alternative to help them in the development of the MARC database needed for their future automated system.

According to the people interviewed, a total of seventeen university libraries and a central technical service unit are using CD-ROM technology to date. Nine of the public and private university libraries and the central technical service unit are using CD-ROM for cataloging, all of them with Bibliofile. Additionally, local entrepreneur, Doris Robles de Soto, purchased Bibliofile in 1988, and has been working from that time as a cataloging consultant for academic and other types of institutions. Four libraries are using Books in Print Plus and one of them is also using Ulrich Plus for selection and verification purposes. Eight of the eighteen libraries are also using CD-ROM discs for reference and for patron use. (See Appendix B for a list of Puerto Rican libraries using CD-ROM technology.)

In order to implement their CD-ROM projects three libraries and the central processing unit were able to obtain their initial funds from the university automation projects, three through federal or other types of grants, and the remaining twelve from their regular budgets. Those who bought the first CD-ROM workstation from their regular budgets were able to do so because the Bibliofile initial subscription included the equipment. This made CD-ROM technology affordable to public institutions or smaller university campuses, where the budget for library equipment has been kept to a minimum.

Most of these libraries have been able to continue their subscriptions or to add new databases to their collections by justifying them as a regular library subscription. In a few libraries, subscriptions have been added with the aid of other university units or professional organizations, for example at Turabo University Library, the Science Program bought for Applied Science and Technology CD-ROM for the library (B. Borges, personal interview, September 1990) and at the Inter-american University, metropolitan campus, the BIOSIS CD-ROM was bought by the Science and Technology Department and the library (M. E. Arguello, September 1990). At the library at the University of Puerto Rico's School of Medicine, a combination of the sources mentioned above as well as federal funds are used to maintain the subscription of ten CD-ROM products (M. Gonzalez & A. Moscoso, personal interview, September 1990). At the UPR School of Architec-ture, the CD-ROM workstation was bought by the architects professional organization (S. Muñiz, personal interview, August 1990).

3. CD-ROM IN TECHNICAL SERVICE

The library administrators or personnel in charge of library automation projects interviewed indicated that they chose to use the CD-ROM technology because they could not afford to pay the continuous telecommunication charges with the limited library budgets. In technical services this technology allowed libraries to have large databases to search for a flat fee, which was easy to budget, and faster to use than the manual procedure. They could also print catalog cards easily and most important, it allowed the preparation of an automated database for future use.

The interviews revealed the following advantages in the use of CD-ROM in technical ser-vices:

• Reduced the cataloging backlog significantly,

• Increased the speed of verification for interlibrary loan information,

• Facilitated the redistribution of library personnel chores, thus allowing more time for the professional librarians for higher intellectual tasks,

• Allowed to edit the records in Spanish when needed,

• Facilitated the library personnel's training with the MARC format, without time and costs constraints,

• Speeded the verification and acquisition processes, and,

• Allowed the production of bibliographies used for collection development in a fast and efficient way.

Having the CD-ROM workstation in the libraries was the first contact with any type of automation for most of the library personnel. At first many were fearful and anxious and others had a negative attitude towards its use, all of these being very common reaction to change. How-ever, after the initial traumatic experience was surpassed, the use of the CD-ROM workstation allowed library personnel to become familiarized with computer technology and their learning of other automated databases was made easier (M. Gonzalez and A. Moscoso, personal communica-tion, September, 1990). Most of those who learned to use this technology were willing to teach it to others. Even those libraries which began its implementation earlier, offered workshops to personnel of other libraries (J. Encarnación, personal communication, August 1990). In the long run this experience prepared many of the library personnel to deal with more complex automated projects in their libraries (R. Smith, personal communication, September 1990).

As in the implementation of any new technology, the early steps in the use of CD-ROM brought a series of technical problems with the equipment and software. There were no experts in the area of this technology, thus, telephone orientations given by the companies and the computer center support were very helpful in overcoming those problems. Some of the problems mentioned in the survey were the initial set up of the system, the transfer of information retrieved to a data-base, and the difficulties of writing Spanish diacritics when customizing records.

The only complaint made by library personnel about the use of CD-ROM databases in technical services in Puerto Rican libraries was the limited inclusion of Spanish language materials, as they represent a large portion of their library collections.

4. CD-ROM FOR END-USERS

The first CD-ROM workstation for end-user purposes was implemented in 1988 at the University of Mayagüez library to be used with Test Disc 2 from the US Census Office, as part of the Text Digitalizing Project of the National Agriculture Library. At present, this library has the largest collection of CD-ROMs in Puerto Rico (I. Rivera, personal communication, August 1990). Eight of the eleven CD-ROMs have been obtained free through different testing projects and through the GPO, since this is a state data center and coordinator library for the US government documents. Ten of their CD-ROM titles are for end-user information retrieval. The library at the UPR School of Medicine has nine CD- ROM discs and eight titles for patron use, because they have two Medline discs; the Caribbean Central University School of Medicine has nine titles included in two sets; the Inter American University, metropolitan campus has three titles, and the Law Library at the UPR has two titles. The remaining libraries have only one title.

According to those interviewed, the main purpose for selecting this technology, besides the ones mentioned earlier, were to offer library users a cheaper alternative than online searching and to provide a faster and easier medium than the printed format. Among other advantages, CD-ROM workstations are available as long as the library is open, the users can perform their own searches, combine several terms, search in specific fields, browse, limit or broaden their search and print the needed information easily, among others. In only one library, the one at the IAU, metropolitan campus, the CD-ROM is searched by a librarian who acts as an intermediary for library users and charges $0.25 per printed page of retrieved material, which barely covers the paper cost.

Most of the CD-ROMs for end-users are located in the periodicals collections, although a few are located near the circulation desk, the reference desk, computer room or in the documents sec-tions. In most cases space constraints have been the determinant factor on the location of the CD-ROM databases.

In the eight libraries in which the CD-ROM databases are directly searched by the public, these are used by undergraduate and graduate students, professors, library personnel, adminstra-tors, professionals in the field and researchers. On the other hand, in two of the libraries where the service is offered by a librarian, the CD-ROM retrieval service is mostly used by graduate students and professors.

In only three of the eight libraries some of the CD-ROMs are used as a substitute of the printed version. Space limitations in these libraries was the main factor taken into consideration in this decision.

According to Rey Smith (personal communication, September 1990), besides the satisfaction expressed by students and faculty with their CD-ROM searches, its presence at the library has begun to change the traditional image the users had of the library. CD- ROM has prepared users to work with high-technology retrieval systems which will be or will have been very useful in the users acceptance of integrated automated library systems. Most of the library personnel inter-viewed indicated that CD-ROM technology has improved information access greatly. They have noticed an increase in periodicals use and in interlibrary loan services shortly after the adoption of these systems.

When CD-ROM projects for patron access began, librarians thought that the use of online services was going to be affected significantly, however, it was discovered that although in some institutions it has been slightly reduced, the greatest contribution of the CD-ROMs has been the attraction of a large number of patrons who were unable or unwilling to pay the online searching fees.

Very few complaints have been made by the users about the CD- ROM. The main one has been that not all the materials corresponding to the bibliographic citations they retrieve from these systems are available in the library, nonetheless this also happens when using the printed or online version. Some users have also complained about the lack of materials in Spanish and the lack of Puerto Rico and Latin America materials indexed in these databases, as well as the need to use English for retrieval purposes. This is so since most of the databases acquired by Puerto Rican libraries come from the United States market. Other limitation of CD-ROM for public use is that patrons have to make previous arrangement for its use since each database can only be used by one patron at a time. Only the library at the UPR School of Medicine is attempting to establish a local area network in order to reduce this problem (M. Gonzalez & A. Moscoso, personal interview, September 1990).

Problems related to computer systems configuration have occurred in those libraries with more than eight different titles and a limited number of workstations. In some instances the machines have to be turned off in order to run another disc. Other problem related to the use of

the technology has been that in a few cases users placed the CD-ROM in the floppy disk unit.

No definite trend has been found in the user instruction of this technology. In four of the libraries no formal instruction is offered related to CD-ROM use, the orientation is incidental and based on user request. In one library workshops are offered only to faculty, in another CD-ROM use instruction is offered as part of the user education program. In two libraries the producer offered an initial workshop to personnel and students. The remaining one has instructional activities twice a week and for special groups, when necessary.

5. FUTURE PROJECTIONS OF CD-ROM USE IN PUERTO RICAN LIBRARIES

The interviewees see the future of CD-ROM in Puerto Rican libraries as one of growth. Be-cause of their high costs, remote online services have never become as widely used as expected, on the other hand, CD-ROM, being a free service has had a wide appeal to users as a means to satisfy their information needs. As a result of this, most academic libraries are planning to increase the number of CD-ROM titles, particularly of the more widely used indexes and the ones most relevant to graduate programs. They are projecting an increase in the number of workstations and the integration of the CD-ROMs to local area networks (LANs). CD-ROM also provides the oppor-tunity to obtain information from other developing nations (The use of..., 1990). Libraries are already looking at the Latin American CD-ROM market to obtain materials which have been difficult to obtain in other formats. The Catholic University at Ponce, which has a large collection of books in Spanish is acquiring a CD-ROM from Mexico and another from Venezuela, both of which will be very helpful in the development of their automated database (A. Altamirano, personal interview, September 1990). Other libraries are looking at CD-ROM as an alternative to provide automated catalogs. American University will soon have its catalog in CD-ROM using the Intel-ligent Catalog and will provide a copy of it to the other institution campuses (A. Hernández, personal interview, August, 1990). This is something which could have been very difficult to do in this small academic institution with another type of technology. Other libraries which are using OCLC online services for cataloging are considering CD- 450 for retrospective conversion in order to reduce costs. Furthermore, a school library has begun to make use of CD-ROM technology, the St. John's high school library, which has recently installed Infotract (I. Flores, personal interview, September 1990).

6. CD-ROM AS A TEACHING TOOL

CD-ROM is also being used as a teaching tool at the Graduate School of Library and Infor-mation Science, UPR, Rio Piedras campus. The School, as well as other units at the UPR has received a very limited budget for equipment, materials and other services. However by 1985 in order to provide the library personnel with necessary skills in the use of information technology the school began offering demonstrations of online searching to its students. Database searching fees in addition to the high telecommunication costs made the use of this service impossible for student practice. However, as a result of the availability of CD-ROM technology at the School, in 1989 a course was re-designed to develop online searching skills through its use. As part of the course students were given several exercises to do on their own; search strategies and their results were later discussed with the teacher. The students also had the opportunity to conduct an interview with a student researcher from the Faculty of Education for whom a search was performed after the search strategies were designed. The results of the search were evaluated by the user, who had already done a manual search. The majority of the "clients" found the information retrieved highly relevant and very useful for their research project. This semester the course will be complemented with an online search demonstration on Dialog and a search done by the student.

7. CD-ROM INDUSTRY IN PUERTO RICO

CD-ROM is also being used in Puerto Rico for electronic publishing. Puerto Rico has the only CD-ROM development corporation in the Caribbean region. In 1988 this company, Compact Disc Technology published Compuclerck, the first CD-ROM containing all the decisions of the Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Supreme Court) from 1899 to 1987. Within the next few months the product will be updated to include the decisions up to September 1990, which means that the CD-ROM version will be more up to date than the printed one (M. Díaz, personal communication, September, 1990). The cost of Compuclerk is less than the cost of all the volumes of the decisions in printed form. In addition, it saves law libraries or firms a lot of valuable space, as well as providing faster and easier searches. The Laws of Puerto Rico (LEPRA) will soon be also published in CD-ROM by this firm. The Graduate School of Library and Information Science is exploring a joint venture with this firm to create a series of reference works on CD-ROM which will make a needed contribution to Puerto Rico's national bibliography and national bibliographic control.

8. CONCLUSIONS

"CD-ROM is not a panacea" (Nicholls & Majid, 1989). However, in spite of the limitations mentioned, this technology has brought Puerto Rican libraries the opportunity to improve their internal library operations and to improve information access through services which were limited or never offered with other types of technology. It has proven to be a good and viable alternative for technical services, for patron searching, for teaching online searching skills to library school students and for electronic publishing. It is hoped that this last area will be widely emphasized in the next few years, making this technology one of the best means to improve Puerto Rico's national information infrastructure.

REFERENCES

Griffith, J., C. Goshen & L. Harding. Multiple library consortium to computerize library services in Puerto Rico: Feasibility study. Rockville, MD: King Research, 1984.

Maura, M. A., "Automatización de bibliotecas en el sistema de bibliotecas del Recinto de Rio Piedras: Past Present and future [Library automation experiences at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus: Past, present and future]," Paper presented at the semi-annual meeting of the Puerto Rico Library Association, Humacao, PR, 1987 (1987a).

Maura, M. A., "Resource sharing experience in Puerto Rico and possibilities for expanding re-source sharing in the Caribbean," inThe Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials. Miami, FL: SALALM, 1987. pp. 74-82. (1987b).

LePoer, P. M. & C. A. Mularski, "CD-ROM's impact on libraries and users," Laserdisk Pro-fessional 2 (4): 39-45 (1989).

Nicholls, P. & S. Majid, "The potential for CD-ROM technology in less developed countries," Canadian Library Journal 46 (4): 257-263 (1989).

Online Computer Library Center, "1987 OCLC compact disk study," Laserdisk Professional 1 (1): 44-49 (1988).

Schultz, K. and K. Salomon, "End-users respond to CD-ROM," Library Journal 115 (2): 56-57 (1990).

"The use of CD-ROMs in developing countries,"The Faxon Report 1(1): 1, 6 (1990).

Zink, S. D., "Planning for the perils of CD-ROM," Library Journal 115 (2): 51-55 (1990).
 
 

Mara Elena Argello Director at the Inter American University library, metropolitan campus

Alonso Altamirano Ponce Catholic University library automation project director

Ruth Ashton Inter America University library automation project director

Blanca Borges Director at the Turabo University library

Josefina Bulern de Oxios Director of circulation services at the UPR Law Library

Roberto Coln Ocasio Director of the library at the UPR Ponce campus

Luis Concepción Director of the library at the UPR Arecibo campus

Manuel Daz Ruiz President of the Compact Disc Technology Corporation

Dr. Jorge Encarnación Former director of the library at the UPR Bayamn campus

Ins Flores St. John's school library director

Mara de los Angeles Garín Director of the Sacred Heart University Library

Margarita González CD-ROM project coordinator at the UPR School of Medicine library

Maritza Grajales Director of the Politechnic University Library

Alberto Hernández Director of the American University Library

Ana Moscoso Director of the library at the UPR School of Medicine

Sylvia Muñiz de Olmos Director of the library at the UPR School of Architecture

Regina Oquendo Librarian in charge of the periodicals section at the Sacred Heart University library

Ricardo Ortiz Director of audiovisual center at the Caribbean Central University School of Medicine

Ismael Rivera Library automation project coordinator at the UPR Mayagez campus

Doris Robles Soto Cataloging consultant

Rey Smith Former automation project coordinator at Ana G. Mendez Foundation
 
 

I. Technical Services:

• Cataloging:

Antillian College

American University

Inter American University (IAU) Central Processing Center

Catholic University at Ponce

The Junior College

Metropolitan University

University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Arecibo

UPR Bayamn

UPR Ponce

Turabo University

• CollectionDevelopment:

IAU metropolitan campus

IAU School of Optometry

UPR Mayagez

UPR Ponce

II. Patron Services:

• For end-users

Caribbean Central University School of Medicine

Catholic University at Ponce

IAU, metropolitan campus

Sacred Heart University

UPR Law School

UPR Mayagez

UPR School of Architecture

UPR School of Medicine