🚀 go-pugleaf

staplei@planet.ari.dpi.qld.gov.au (Ian Staples) wrote:
> Richard Parry <Richard.Parry@natlib.govt.nz> writes:
> 
> >Well, I dunno about buying books, because I've never done that - always
> >seemed a bit of a waste of money if you have web access (which you seem
> >to).
> [...]
> 
> >--
> >Richard Parry                                Network Controller/Analyst
> >National Library of New Zealand            Richard.Parry@natlib.govt.nz
> >Phone 64 4 474 3010         Mobile 021 664 655        Fax 64 4 474 3140
> 
> Jeez, the bugger works for a library and he reckons books are a bit
> of a waste!  ;-)
> 

Well here's a bit more for yer:

The National Library of NZ has just announced it is going to use a web
based catalogue from Voyager. The University of Auckland started using
this with a hiss and a roar from the start of July. Previously we had
telnet connection to a Notis system, and after the changeover there was a
warning screen that the old system didn't work anymore, and then a flick
across to a telnet connection on the Voyager system. 

Our librarians were trumpeting the glory of the web version. Well, yeah,
heaps of flashy coloured buttons for the point'n'clickies. I analysed the
downlink traffic for a search on title keyword which gave 25 results:
telnet 1850 bytes (including white space chars) 
     virtually instantaneous
http   85k bytes in 25 seconds and you need all that 
     because there are no <alt> tags on most buttons

One of the "benefits" of the web version is a button to
"Save" the search result. Heck, I could always do that from
my Mac screen with the old telnet/Notis system.

I say bring back clay tablets, give librarians some real work  ;-)

-- 
Peter Kerr                        bodger
School of Music                   chandler
University of Auckland NZ         neo-Luddite