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     Date:    Tue, 29 Mar 1994 18:28:21 BST
     From:    "D.Donald" <ddo@GCAL.AC.UK>
     Subject: Importing from CD-ROM

     >NR Phillips's says
     >>We now use the approach of using a utility to automatically convert
     >downloads to Refer format, then importing from that.
     >This in reply to Lucy Marshall who says that she uses EndNote with
     >16 networked CD Roms. This is helpful in relation to my original
     >query except that I am rather interested in the details of the ROM
     >readers and the networks involved. I have a campus wide net with my
     >MAC (and EndNote) on an EtherNet connection. the ROMs are currently
     >'stand alone' in the library. What goes between? If REFER the
     >downloads are to a Unix box? or what?

     Our CD-ROMs are networked and accessible from any networked IBM-PC in
     the School. To use a particular CD-ROM you run a program called N-INFO
     that is really just a system of menus and batch files. Hence you
     select the CD-ROM/online service you want to use from a menu and that
     runs a batch file that connects you to that service.

     Take Silver Platter CD-ROMs for example: The default filename for
     downloads has been set to !SPIRS.TXT. After quitting from the CD-ROM
     the batch file looks for a file called !SPIRS.TXT and if it is found
     asks the user if they want to convert it to Refer format - if yes it
     invokes our utility to do the conversion.

     From the user's point of view it is all pretty much automatic. From
     our point of view we have to write the batch file, and write a
     conversion template for each online/CD-ROM source that our utility
     will use to peform the conversion. The conversion template is just a
     text file with rules about what to do with each field in the download
     file.

     The utility is PC-only. The next step is to provide access to the
     CD-ROMs from networked Apple Macs, but that's another story!

     +---------------------------------------------------------+
     | Nick Phillips                                           |
     | IT User Support Officer                                 |
     | British Library of Political & Economic Science         |
     | London School of Economics  Tel: 071-405 7686           |
     | 10 Portugal Street          Fax: 071-955 7454           |
     | London WC2A 2HD          E-mail: N.R.Phillips@lse.ac.uk |
     +---------------------------------------------------------+