The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

68 The University of California Libraries
When the on-line system for public use is initiated in 1981/82,
however, over 4 million records will be available for consultation and
the number of records in the on-line catalog will grow steadily from
that point. In answer to a request via the terminal, the user will
first receive brief, identifying information, as indicated earlier.
If he desires further bibliographic information, the terminal will
instruct him to do one of two things. If the item is represented by
full cataloging information in machine-readable form, it will instruct
him to press a button, and the screen will present the full
information. If only brief, locational information has been placed in
the data base, the terminal will instruct the user to con-sult a
particular record in a microfiche file near the terminal.
The Microfiche File. The microfiche file will consist of full
cataloging records that have not yet been converted to machinereadable
form, but that have been filmed so that the information can
be available at the same locations as the terminals. The microfiche
file will be in a "register" format--that is, with records simply
added in sequence as they are filmed--rather than in an alphabetical
arrangement, and the terminals will indicate the location of the
appropriate records within the microfiche file. This is by far the
most economical way of making this cataloging information available,
because it means that the file does not have to be re-compiled and republished
periodically, as an alphabetical arrangement would.
The microfiche file will also serve another important function:
as a back-up to the on-line system in case of system failures.
Multiple processors are contemplated for the on-line catalog system,
so that it is unlikely that the complete system would be unavailable
for any significant period of time, but there will inevitably be
breakdowns in particular terminals and in communication links. There
may also be times when the number of terminals available is insufficient
to handle the demand from users. For all of these reasons, it is
important to have an alternative means of identifying and locating
library materials. To serve this purpose, the microfiche register
will contain not only all cataloging records that have not been converted
to machine-readable form, but all those that have been