The Internet and OCLC: |
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| Abstract: | The Internet has provided OCLC with another delivery mechanism to support its chartered public purpose of ex- access to the world's information and reducing rising information costs. This network of networks has helped OCLC and its member libraries reach electronically a new audience of end users with new products and new technologies designed especially for them. OCLC offers three reference products via the Internet: The First - Search Catalog, the EPIC service, and The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials. All can be accessed using the Internet from an enduser's home, office, dorm room, laboratory, hotel room-or any other location with a modem nearby-as well as from a library. FirstSearch is a new online information service designed for library patrons, with an end-user interface that allows patrons to move through the online search process in just a few simple steps, without special training or online searching experience. The EPIC service is an online information service with a command interface designed for the advanced searcher. Both of these services offer access to a number of databases, including the OCLC Online Union Catalog, an electronic card catalog of 28 million records used by more than 16,000 libraries. |
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