WELCOME 
BACK ISSUES
By Valerie Jackson Feinman, feinman@adelphi.edu
Recently I read the book Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee, and was reminded of what has happened since I wrote a brief article on hypertext for the LIRT newsletter in 1990. At that time the group that became our Emerging Technologies Committee was closely following the development of hypertext, a word coined in 1965 from the writings of Ted Nelson. Hypertext is defined as hypertext as non-linear, non-sequential reading and writing. Applications for the PC began appearing in the mid- to late eighties, when Apple produced the HyperCard and by 1990, we at LIRT were taking a serious look at how this could aid in bibliographic instruction.
In 1991, the LOEX conference had demonstrations of in-use hypertext products developed in large universities [Utah and Ohio State], that used a “gateway”, a small program that made another world available as a part of the “Web”, developed by Berners-Lee. At several conferences, we saw librarians promoting the use of bitnet for communication between committee members in the intervals betwe en meetings. When the NeXT computer was unveiled, faster and more efficient communication with what was fast becoming called the worldwide web was available. Connectivity was nothing like what we have now, using only a dial-in UNIX login, but we could see what might happen.
It soon became apparent that we needed rules or protocols, which would enable my computer to talk to your computer or to any computer anywhere in such a way that the system would not break down when many computers were accessing it. When the concept of “http” [HyperText Transfer Protocol] was developed, this provided rules of protocol, such as which computer speaks first and which replies when. The “web” was not a physical entity, it was merely a space in which information could exist. The concept of HTML [HyperText Markup Language], was the next step, enabling computer users to talk to one another using the same language even though using different software.
During this development period, we librarians were tracking it carefully. The large university libraries, needing to provide instruction for thousands of frosh, welcomed the hypertext method even though it was extremely labor-intensive. Smaller libraries found the cost prohibitive, and were waiting for “shells” to be developed which could be customized for the individual library needs. Personnel in my library took weeks to develop a hypertext tour and we knew that we would not be able to update this for lack of funds and time. Something new was needed and it appeared right on cue: HTML. The other day I sat down to develop a web page, which would, incidentally, list my publications and presentations [part of my vita], because our entire faculty must have a web page. I had already ensured that I had a digital photo stored on my “desktop” and that my data existed in digital format [that is, in a file I could access easily]. Producing the web page, with connectors to the bibliography and connectors to the URLs of related papers took me about two hours. I know nothing about coding, but coding is done for me in the software now available.
This summer I will have achieved 50 years of work in libraries, a period in which I have seen many changes in our operations, although not in our philosophy. We still assist and teach others in accessing our materials. The changes in the past decade have been faster and more comprehensive than those of the preceding decades. We are now looking back at twenty-five years of the existence of LIRT and wondering what will happen in the next twenty-five. Our profession is rather unique, both in its particular set of skills and knowledge needed, and in its adaptability to changing technologies along with its sophistication in using these for library needs. Long ago we thought we could predict what might happen in the next decade, but now I wouldn’t want to try to predict beyond the next two years. I do look past our anniversary in 2002 and forward to the next decade of LIRT.
Valerie Jackson Feinman is Coordinator of Library Instruction at the Adelphi University Libraries, Garden City, NY 11530.
LIRT News, March 2001. Volume 23, number 3.
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