Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 16

and hit enter. You should see something like this:

Trying 128.138.140.44 ...

Followed very quickly by this:

telnet india.colorado.edu 13

Escape character is '^]'.

Sun Jan 17 14:11:41 1994 Connection closed by foreign host.

What we want is the middle line, which tells you the exact Mountain Standard Time, as determined by a government-run atomic clock in Boulder, Colo.

6.2 LIBRARY CATALOGS

Several hundred libraries around the world, from the Snohomish Public Library in Was.h.i.+ngton State to the Library of Congress are now available to you through telnet. You can use Hytelnet to find their names, telnet addresses and use instructions.

Why would you want to browse a library you can't physically get to?

Many libraries share books, so if yours doesn't have what you're looking for, you can tell the librarian where he or she can get it. Or if you live in an area where the libraries are not yet online, you can use telnet to do some basic bibliographic research before you head down to the local branch.

There are several different database programs in use by online libraries. Harvard's is one of the easier ones to use, so let's try it.

Telnet to hollis.harvard.edu. When you connect, you'll see:

***************** H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y ***************** OFFICE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY *** *** ***

*** VE *** RI ***

*** *** *** HOLLIS (Harvard OnLine LIbrary System) ***** *****

**** TAS **** HUBS (Harvard University Basic Services) *** ***

***** IU (Information Utility) ***

CMS (VM/CMS Timesharing Service)

** HOLLIS IS AVAILABLE WITHOUT ACCESS RESTRICTIONS **

Access to other applications is limited to individuals who have been granted specific permission by an authorized person.

To select one of the applications above, type its name on the command line followed by your user ID, and press RETURN.

** HOLLIS DOES NOT REQUIRE A USERID **

EXAMPLES: HOLLIS (press RETURN) or HUBS userid (press RETURN) ===>

Type

hollis

and hit enter. You'll see several screens flash by quickly until finally the system stops and you'll get this:

WELCOME TO HOLLIS (Harvard OnLine Library Information System)

To begin, type one of the 2-character database codes listed below:

HU Union Catalog of the Harvard libraries OW Catalog of Older Widener materials LG Guide to Harvard Libraries and Computing Resources

AI Expanded Academic Index (selective 1987-1988, full 1989- ) LR Legal Resource Index (1980- ) PA PAIS International (1985- )

To change databases from any place in HOLLIS, type CHOOSE followed by a 2-character database code, as in: CHOOSE HU

For general help in using HOLLIS, type HELP. For HOLLIS news, type HELP NEWS. For HOLLIS hours of operation, type HELP HOURS.

ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND

The first thing to notice is the name of the system: Hollis.

Librarians around the world seem to be inordinately found of cutesy, anthropomorphized acronyms for their machines (not far from Harvard, the librarians at Brandeis University came up with Library On-Line User Information Service, or Louis; MIT has Barton).

If you want to do some general browsing, probably the best bet on the Harvard system is to choose HU, which gets you access to their main holdings, including those of its medical libraries. Choose that, and you'll see this:

THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNION CATALOG

To begin a search, select a search option from the list below and type its code on the command line. Use either upper or lower case.

AU Author search TI t.i.tle search SU Subject search ME Medical subject search KEYWORD Keyword search options CALL Call number search options OTHER Other search options

For information on the contents of the Union Catalog, type HELP.

To exit the Union Catalog, type QUIT.

A search can be entered on the COMMAND line of any screen.

ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND.

Say you want to see if Harvard has shed the starchy legacy of the Puritans, who founded the school. Why not see if they have "The Joy of s.e.x" somewhere in their stacks? Type

TI Joy of s.e.x

and hit enter. This comes up:

HU: YOUR SEARCH RETRIEVED NO ITEMS. Enter new command or HELP. You typed: TI JOY OF s.e.x *******************************************************************************