Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet · Chapter 8The Harvard University Library Union Catalog
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To begin a search, select a search option from the list below and type its code on the command line. Use either upper or lower case.
AU Author search TI Title search SU Subject search ME Medical subject search KEYWORD Keyword search options CALL Call number search options OTHER Other search options
For information on the contents of the Union Catalog, type HELP. To exit the Union Catalog, type QUIT.
A search can be entered on the COMMAND line of any screen.
Say you want to see if Harvard has shed the starchy legacy of the Puritans, who founded the school. Why not see if they have "The Joy of Sex" somewhere in their stacks? Type
TI Joy of Sex
and hit enter. This comes up:
HU: YOUR SEARCH RETRIEVED NO ITEMS. Enter new command or HELP. You typed: TI JOY OF SEX *******************************************************************************
ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND. ———————————————————————————————————————- OPTIONS: FIND START - search options HELP QUIT - exit database COMMAND?
Oh, well! Do they have anything that mentions "sex" in the title? Try another TI search, but this time just: TI sex. You get:
HU GUIDE: SUMMARY OF SEARCH RESULTS 2086 items retrieved by your search: FIND TI SEX ——————————————————————————————————————— 1 SEX 2 SEX A 823 SEXA 827 SEXBO 831 SEXCE 833 SEXDR 834 SEXE 879 SEXIE 928 SEXJA 929 SEXLE 930 SEXO 965 SEXPI 968 SEXT 1280 SEXUA 2084 SEXWA 2085 SEXY ———————————————————————————————————————- OPTIONS: INDEX (or I 5 etc) to see list of items HELP START - search options REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database COMMAND?
If you want to get more information on the first line, type 1 and hit enter:
HU INDEX: LIST OF ITEMS RETRIEVED 2086 items retrieved by your search: FIND TI SEX ——————————————————————————————————————— SEX 1 geddes patrick sir 1854 1932/ 1914 bks
SEX A Z 2 goldenson robert m/ 1987 bks
SEX ABUSE HYSTERIA SALEM WITCH TRIALS REVISITED 3 gardner richard a/ 1991 bks
SEX AETATES MUNDI ENGLISH AND IRISH 4 irish sex aetates mundi/ 1983 bks
SEX AFTER SIXTY A GUIDE FOR MEN AND WOMEN FOR THEIR LATER YEARS 5 butler robert n 1927/ 1976 bks
——————————————————————————— (CONTINUES) —————— OPTIONS: DISPLAY 1 (or D 5 etc) to see a record HELP GUIDE MORE - next page START - search options REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database COMMAND?
Most library systems give you a way to log off and return to your host system. On Hollis, hit escape followed by
xx
One particularly interesting system is the one run by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, which maintains databases for libraries throughout Colorado, the West and even in Boston. Telnet pac.carl.org. Follow the simple log-in instructions. When you get a menu, type 72 (even though that is not listed), which takes you to the Pikes Peak Library District, which serves the city of Colorado Springs. Several years ago, its librarians realized they could use their database program not just for books but for cataloging city records and community information, as well. Today, if you want to look up municipal ordinances or city records, you only have to type in the word you're looking for and you'll get back cites of the relevant laws or decisions. Carl will also connect you to the University of Hawaii library, which, like the one in Colorado Springs, has more than just bibliographic material online. One of its features is an online Hawaiian almanac that can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Hawaiians, including the number injured in boogie-board accidents each year (seven).
PENPages, run by Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural Sciences, provides weekly world weather and crop reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These reports detail everything from the effect of the weather on palm trees in Malaysia to the state of the Ukrainian wheat crop. Reports from Pennsylvania country extension officers offer tips for improving farm life. One database lists Pennsylvania hay distributors by county — and rates the quality of their hay! The service lets you search for information two different ways. A menu system gives you quick access to reports that change frequently, such as the weekly crop/weather reports. An index system lets you search through several thousand online documents by keyword. At the main menu, you can either browse through an online manual or choose "PENPages,'' which puts you into the agriculture system. Telnet: psupen.psu.edu User name: Your 2-letter state code or WORLD
California State University's Advanced Technology Information Network provides similar information as PENPages, only focusing on California crops. It also maintains lists of upcoming California trade shows and carries updates on biotechnology. Telnet: caticsuf.cati.csufresno.edu Log in: public
You will then be asked to register and will be given a user name and password. Hit "a'' at the main menu for agricultural information. Hit "d'' to call up a menu that includes a biweekly biotechnology report.
The University of Miami maintains a database of AIDS health providers in southern Florida. Telnet: callcat.med.miami.edu Log in: library
At the main menu, select P (for "AIDS providers" and you'll be able to search for doctors, hospitals and other providers that care for patients with AIDS. You can also search by speciality.
See also under Conversation and Health.
The National Ham Radio Call-Sign Callbook lets you search for American amateur operators by callsign, city, last name or Zip code. A successful search will give you the ham's name, address, callsign, age, type of license and when he or she got it. Telnet: callsign.cs.buffalo.edu 2000 or ham.njit.edu 2000. When you connect, you tell the system how you want to search and what you're looking for. For example, if you want to search for hams by city, you would type
city city name
and hit enter (for example: city Kankakee). Other search choices are "call" (after which you would type a ham's name), "name," and "zip" (which you would follow with a Zip code). Be careful when searching for hams in a large city; there doesn't seem to be anyway to shut off the list once it starts except by using control-]. Otherwise, when done, type
quit
and hit enter to disconnect.
See under Health.
Hewlett-Packard maintains a free service on which you can seek advice about their line of calculators. Telnet: hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com No log-in is needed.
The Electronic Periodic Table of the Elements draws the table on your screen and then lets you look up various properties of individual elements. Telnet: camms2.caos.kun.nl No password needed.
The Library of Congress Information Service lets you search current and past legislation (dating to 1982). Telnet: locis.loc.gov Password: none needed. When you connect, you'll get a main menu that lets you select from several databases, including the Library of Congress card catalog (with book entries dating to 1978) and a database of information on copyright laws. For the congressional database, select the number next to its entry and hit enter. You'll then be asked to choose which legislative year to search. After that, a menu similar to this will come up:
***C103- THE LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION FILE FOR THE 103RD CONGRESS, which was updated on 05/10/93 and contains 4,044 records, is now available for your search.
CURRENCY: All information is NOT current through the above date, which is machine generated when ANY information is added to the file. Bill numbers, official titles, sponsors, and status (STEP) added within 48 hours. Indexing terms and digests added later, in some cases several weeks after the bill is added to the file.
TO START RETRIEVE to find: EXAMPLES: SEARCH: member name ———————> retrieve rep gingrich retrieve sen kennedy bill number ———————> retrieve h.r. 1 subject keywords ————-> retrieve day care
FOR HELP: Type the word HELP and press the ENTER key.
Communications Canada, a Canadian government agency is developing Conversational Hypertext Access Technology (CHAT) is a system being developed by Communications Canada to provide easy database access to people with little or no computer experience, using what are known as hypertext links. Instead of cryptic computer commands, users type questions in English. Telnet: debra.doc.ca Log in: chat You choose one of the three databases now online, one on AIDS, and then ask questions in English. Ask the AIDS database, "When was AIDS first discovered?'' and it answers: "The first case of AIDS in North America was diagnosed in 1979. Before that, it existed in Africa, probably beginning in the 1950's. AIDS was discovered in North America when a number of young men with a history of homosexuality developed a rare type of cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma.'' Sometimes, you do have to rephrase your question. For example, when asked "What is the link between AIDS and drug use?'' the computer responds: "I know two things about drugs: the drugs that are used to treat people with AIDS, and the risks that drug users have in getting AIDS. Please ask about treatments or drug users.''
See under Congress.
Every year, the CIA publishes a Fact Book that is essentially an almanac of all the world's countries and international organizations, including such information as major products, type of government and names of its leaders. It's available for searching through the University of Maryland Info Database. Telnet: info.umd.edu Choose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are using VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational Resources." Then select the number next to "International," followed by "Factbook." You can then search by country or agency. This site also maintains copies of the U.S. budget, documents related to the North American Free Trade Agreement and other government initiatives. At the "Educational Resources" menu, select the number next to "United States" and then the one next to "Government."
The Access Legislative Information Service lets you browse through and look up bills before the Hawaiian legislature. Telnet: access.uhcc.hawaii.edu
Envirolink is a large database and conference system about the environment, based in Pittsburgh. Telnet: envirolink.org Log on: gopher
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains online databases of materials related to hazardous waste, the Clean Lakes program and cleanup efforts in New England. The agency plans to eventually include cleanup work in other regions, as well. The database is actually a computerized card catalog of EPA documents — you can look the documents up, but you'll still have to visit your regional EPA office to see them. Telnet: epaibm.rtpnc.epa.gov No password or user name is needed. At the main menu, type
public
and hit enter (there are other listed choices, but they are only for use by EPA employees). You'll then see a one-line menu. Type
ols
and hit enter, and you'll see something like this:
NET-106 Logon to TSO04 in progress.
ENTER SELECTION —>
Choose one and you'll get a menu that lets you search by document title, keyword, year of publication or corporation. After you enter the search word and hit enter, you'll be told how many matches were found. Hit 1 and then enter to see a list of the entries. To view the bibliographic record for a specific entry, hit V and enter and then type the number of the record.
The University of Michigan maintains a database of newspaper and magazine articles related to the environment, with the emphasis on Michigan, dating back to 1980. Telnet: hermes.merit.edu Host: mirlyn Log in: meem
The University of Michigan Geographic Name Server can provide basic information, such as population, latitude and longitude of U.S. cities and many mountains, rivers and other geographic features. Telnet: martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000 No password or user name is needed. Type in the name of a city, a Zip code or a geographic feature and hit enter. The system doesn't like names with abbreviations in them (for example, Mt. McKinley), so spell them out (for example, Mount McKinley). By typing in a town's name or zip code, you can find out a community's county, Zip code and longitude and latitude. Not all geographic features are yet included in the database.
The National Technical Information Service runs a system that not only provides huge numbers of federal documents of all sorts — from environmental factsheets to patent abstract — but serves as a gateway to dozens of other federal information systems. Telnet: fedworld.gov Log on as: new
See also under Congress and Current Events.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration runs a database of health- related information. Telnet: fdabbs.fda.gov Log in: bbs
You'll then be asked for your name and a password you want to use in the future. After that, type
topics
and hit enter. You'll see this:
* NEWS News releases * ENFORCE Enforcement Report * APPROVALS Drug and Device Product Approvals list * CDRH Centers for Devices and Radiological Health Bulletins * BULLETIN Text from Drug Bulletin * AIDS Current Information on AIDS * CONSUMER FDA Consumer magazine index and selected articles * SUBJ-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Subject * ANSWERS Summaries of FDA information * INDEX Index of News Releases and Answers * DATE-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Publication Date * CONGRESS Text of Testimony at FDA Congressional Hearings * SPEECH Speeches Given by FDA Commissioner and Deputy * VETNEWS Veterinary Medicine News * MEETINGS Upcoming FDA Meetings * IMPORT Import Alerts * MANUAL On-Line User's Manual
You'll be able to search these topics by key word or chronologically. It's probably a good idea, however, to capture a copy of the manual, first, because the way searching works on the system is a little odd. To capture a copy, type
manual
and hit enter. Then type
scan
and hit enter. You'll see this:
FOR LIST OF AVAILABLE TOPICS TYPE TOPICS OR ENTER THE TOPIC YOU DESIRE ==>
MANUAL BBSUSER 08-OCT-91 1 BBS User Manual
At this point, turn on your own computer's screen-capture or logging function and hit your 1 key and then enter. The manual will begin to scroll on your screen, pausing every 24 lines.
The Federal Information Exchange in Gaithersburg, MD, runs two systems at the same address: FEDIX and MOLIS. FEDIX offers research, scholarship and service information for several federal agencies, including NASA, the Department of Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Several more federal agencies provide minority hiring and scholarship information. MOLIS provides information about minority colleges, their programs and professors. Telnet: fedix.fie.com User name: fedix (for the federal hiring database) or molis (for the minority-college system) Both use easy menus to get you to information.
Stanford University maintains a database of documents related to Martin Luthor King. Telnet: forsythetn.stanford.edu Account: socrates
At the main menu, type
select mlk
and hit enter.
See under weather.
NASA Spacelink in Huntsville, Ala., provides all sorts of reports and data about NASA, its history and its various missions, past and present. You'll find detailed reports on every single probe, satellite and mission NASA has ever launched along with daily updates and lesson plans for teachers. The system maintains a large file library of GIF-format space graphics, but you can't download these through telnet. If you want them, you have to dial the system directly, at (205) 895-0028. Telnet: spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov When you connect, you'll be given an overview of the system and asked to register and choose a password.
The NED-NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database lists data on more than 100,000 galaxies, quasars and other objects outside the Milky Way. Telnet: ipac.caltech.edu. Log in: ned
You can learn more than you ever wanted to about quasars, novae and related objects on a system run by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. Telnet: cfa204.harvard.edu Log in: einline
The physics department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst runs a bulletin-board system that provides extensive conferences and document libraries related to space. Telnet: spacemet.phast.umass.edu Log on with your name and a password.
The University of Maryland Info Database maintains U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1991 on. Telnet: info.umd.edu Choose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are using VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational Resources" and hit enter. One of your options will then be for "United States." Select that number and then, at the next menu, choose the one next to "Supreme Court."
Hytelnet, at the University of Saskatchewan, is an online guide to hundreds of telnet sites around the world. Telnet: access.usask.ca Log in: hytelnet
To find out the exact time:
Telnet: india.colorado.edu 13
You'll see something like this:
Escape character is '^]'. Sun Apr 5 14:11:41 1992 Connection closed by foreign host.
The middle line tells you the date and exact Mountain Standard Time, as determined by a federal atomic clock.
The Subway Navigator in Paris can help you learn how long it will take to get from point A to point B on subway systems around the world. Telnet: metro.jussieu.fr 10000 No log-in is needed. When you connect, you'll be asked to choose a language in which to search (you can choose English or French) and then a city to search. You'll be asked for the station you plan to leave from and the station you want to get to.
The University of Michigan's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Space Sciences supplies weather forecasts for U.S. and foreign cities, along with skiing and hurricane reports. Telnet: madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 (note the 3000). No log-in name is needed. Also see under Weather in the FTP list for information on downloading satellite and radar weather images.
You might think that Usenet, with its hundreds of newsgroups, would be enough to satisfy the most dedicated of online communicators. But there are a number of "bulletin-board" and other systems that provide even more conferences or other services, many not found directly on the Net. Some are free; others charge for access. They include:
Bookstacks Unlimited is a Cleveland bookstore that uses the Internet to advertise its services. Its online system features not only a catalog, however, but conferences on books and literature. Telnet: books.com Log in with your own name and select a password for future connections.
Cimarron. Run by the Instituto Technical in Monterey, Mexico, this system has Spanish conferences, but English commands, as you can see from this menu of available conferences:
List of Boards Name Title General Board general Dudas Dudas de Cimarron Comentarios Comentarios al SYSOP Musica Para los afinados…….. Libros El sano arte de leer….. Sistemas Sistemas Operativos en General. Virus Su peor enemigo…… Cultural Espacio Cultural de Cimarron NeXT El Mundo de NeXT Ciencias Solo apto para Nerds. Inspiracion Para los Romanticos e Inspirados. Deportes Discusiones Deportivas
To be able to write messages and gain access to files, you have to leave a note to SYSOP with your name, address, occupation and phone number. To do this, at any prompt, hit your M key and then enter, which will bring up the mail system. Hitting H brings up a list of commands and how to use them. Telnet: bugs.mty.itesm.mx (8 p.m. to 10 a.m., Eastern time, only). At the "login:" prompt, type
bbs
and hit enter.
Cleveland Free-Net. The first of a series of Free-nets, this represents an ambitious attempt to bring the Net to the public. Originally an in-hospital help network, it is now sponsored by Case Western Reserve University, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and IBM. It uses simple menus, similar to those found on CompuServe, but organized like a city:
<<< CLEVELAND FREE-NET DIRECTORY >>>
1 The Administration Building 2 The Post Office 3 Public Square 4 The Courthouse & Government Center 5 The Arts Building 6 Science and Technology Center 7 The Medical Arts Building 8 The Schoolhouse (Academy One) 9 The Community Center & Recreation Area 10 The Business and Industrial Park 11 The Library 12 University Circle 13 The Teleport 14 The Communications Center 15 NPTN/USA TODAY HEADLINE NEWS ———————————————————————— h=Help, x=Exit Free-Net, "go help"=extended help
Your Choice ==>
The system has a vast and growing collection of public documents, from copies of U.S. and Ohio Supreme Court decisions to the Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution. It links residents to various government agencies and has daily stories from USA Today. Beyond Usenet (found in the Teleport area), it has a large collection of local conferences on everything from pets to politics. And yes, it's free! Telnet: freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or freenet-in-b.cwru.edu or freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
When you connect to Free-Net, you can look around the system. However, if you want to be able to post messages in its conferences or use e-mail, you will have to apply in writing for an account. Information on this is available when you connect.
DUBBS. This is a bulletin-board system in Delft in the Netherlands. The conferences and files are mostly in Dutch, but the help files and the system commands themselves are in English. Telnet: tudrwa.tudelft.nl
ISCA BBS. Run by the Iowa Student Computer Association, it has more than 100 conferences, including several in foreign languages. After you register, hit K for a list of available conferences and then J to join a particular conference (you have to type in the name of the conference, not the number next to it). Hitting H brings up information about commands. Telnet bbs.isca.uiowa.edu At the "login:" prompt, type
bbs
and hit enter.
Youngstown Free-Net. The people who created Cleveland Free-Net sell their software for $1 to anybody willing to set up a similar system. A number of cities now have their own Free-Nets, including Youngstown, Ohio. Telnet: yfn.ysu.edu At the "login:" prompt, type
visitor
and hit enter.
Finger is a handy little program which lets you find out more about people on the Net — and lets you tell others on the Net more about yourself. Finger uses the same concept as telnet or ftp. But it works with only one file, called .plan (yes, with a period in front). This is a text file an Internet user creates with a text editor in his home directory. You can put your phone number in there, tell a little bit about yourself, or write almost anything at all. To finger somebody else's .plan file, type this at the command line:
finger email-address
where email-address is the person's e-mail address. You'll get back a display that shows the last time the person was online, whether they've gotten any new mail since that time and what, if anything, is in their .plan file. Some people and institutions have come up with creative uses for these .plan files, letting you do everything from checking the weather in Massachusetts to getting the latest baseball standings. Try fingering these e-mail addresses:
weather@cirrus.mit.edu Latest National Weather Service weather forecasts for regions in Massachusetts.
quake@geophys.washington.edu Locations and magnitudes of recent earthquakes around the world.
jtchern@ocf.berkeley.edu Current major-league baseball standings and results of the previous day's games.
nasanews@space.mit.edu The day's events at NASA.
coke@cs.cmu.edu See how many cans of each type of soda are left in a particular soda machine in the computer-science department of Carnegie-Mellon University.
So you have a friend and you want to find out if he has an Internet account to which you can write? The quickest way may be to just pick up the phone, call him and ask him. Although there are a variety of "white pages" services available on the Internet, they are far from complete — college students, users of commercial services such as CompuServe and many Internet public-access sites, and many others simply won't be listed. Major e-mail providers are working on a universal directory system, but that could be some time away. In the meantime, a couple of "white pages" services might give you some leads, or even just entertain you as you look up famous people or long-lost acquaintances. The whois directory provides names, e-mail and postal mail address and often phone numbers for people listed in it. To use it, telnet to
internic.net
No log-on is needed. The quickest way to use it is to type
whois name
at the prompt, where "name" is the last name or organization name you're looking for. Another service worth trying, especially since it seems to give beginners fewer problems, is the Knowbot Information Service reachable by telnet at
info.cnri.reston.va.us 185
Again, no log-on is needed. This service actually searches through a variety of other "white pages" systems, including the user directory for MCIMail. To look for somebody, type
query name
where "name" is the last name of the person you're looking for. You can get details of other commands by hitting a question mark at the prompt. You can also use the knowbot system by e-mail. Start a message to
netaddress@info.cnri.reston.va.us
You can leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, type
query name
for the simplest type of search. If you want details on more complex searches, add another line:
man
Another way to search is via the Usenet name server. This is a system at MIT that keeps track of the e-mail addresses of everybody who posts a Usenet message that appears at MIT. It works by e-mail. Send a message to
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
Leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, write
send usenet-addresses/lastname
where "lastname" is the last name of the person you're looking for.
* Nothing happens when you try to connect to a telnet site. The site could be down for maintenance or problems. * You get a "host unavailable" message. The telnet site is down for some reason. Try again later. * You get a "host unknown" message. Check your spelling of the site name. * You type in a password on a telnet site that requires one, and you get a "login incorrect" message. Try logging in again. If you get the message again, hit your control and ] keys at the same time to disengage and return to your host system. * You can't seem to disconnect from a telnet site. Use control-] to disengage and return to your host system.
The Usenet newsgroups alt.internet.services and alt.bbs.internet can provide pointers to new telnet systems. Scott Yanoff periodically posts his "Updated Internet Services List" in the former. The alt.bbs.internet newsgroup is also where you'll find Aydin Edguer's compendium of FAQs related to Internet bulletin-board systems. Peter Scott, who maintains the Hytelnet database, runs a mailing list about new telnet services and changes in existing ones. To get on the list, send him a note at scott@sklib.usask.ca. Gleason Sackman maintains another mailing list dedicated to new Internet services and news about the new uses to which the Net is being put. To subscribe, send a message to listserv@internic.net. Leave the "subject:" line blank, and as your message, write: Sub net-happenings Your Name.