Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring 1993)
New Haven, Connecticut
Pages 3-4
Links are those that were in effect at the time of print publication.
Update on Major Scandinavian Electronic Resources
By Charles G. Spetland (MnU)
c-spet@vm1.spcs.umn.edu
Remote access to a number of library catalogs in the Nordic countries has been possible for some time. Many of these OPACs are associated with smaller and younger collections and institutions, primarily dealing with scientific or technical literature. In the recent past however, more resources of interest to scholars, students and librarians in the humanities and social sciences have become available. For all intents and purposes, the latest years of the national bibliographies of all five of the Nordic countries are now available in online form, as are several library utility files of great potential value to selectors, catalogers and reference librarians in North America. Periodical indices, subject bibliographies and archival and special collection inventories for a number of collections are also available.
DENMARK
REX is the Danish online information resource for Det
Kongelige Biblioteket, most of the libraries of Københavns Universitet
and associated institutions, covering collections in the humanities, social
sciences and theology. Generally speak-ing, REX contains records
for books, serial titles and printed music acquired since 1980, corresponding
to the individual cata-logs of the various participating faculties, libraries
and divisions within libraries. One can search the catalog as a whole,
but also any number of individual segments or selected combinations. The
"Danske Samling" contains the printed literature of Denmark in the broadest
sense, including items printed or published in Denmark; items published
abroad but having something to do with Denmark (corresponding in part to
Dania
Polyglotta); items from or about Norway and Iceland and/or written
by Norwegians or Icelanders within the areas of humanities, social sciences
and theology; and items pertaining to Slesvig/Holsten. Other more specialized
segments include: the catalog of the depository collections of intergovernmental
organization publications at Det Kongelige Bibliotek; catalogs of the manuscripts,
theater, music, and law divisions; and KVINFO, the center for cross-disciplinary
women's studies in Copenhagen.
To access REX, Telnet to: rex.bib.dk. At the "connected to dkb" prompt, hit Esc key (or alternatively F5 key). At the "att" prompt, type in 'rex' and Enter. You should now have the welcome screen, prompting you to type in 'kb rex' and Enter to continue. Search protocol is quite sophisticated, with many searchable fields and display options. All prompts, codes, instructions and help screens are in Danish, but an English summary guide is available by typing the command '?guide'. Descriptive and directory information as well as service hours for the many collections covered by REX are also included as menu options.
NORWAY
Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo offers a wide variety of databases through
the university's computing services. The files of primary interest are
those offered as UBO:BOK, including; BOK, 1971 to date (the online
version of Norsk bokfortegnelse, the Norwegian national bibliography);
NOTA, or Norske tidskriftartiklar, selected citations to articles
in approximately 400 Norwegian periodicals, 1980 to date; HIST, Norsk
historisk bibliografi, containing items from both BOK and NOTA; and
SAMBOK, the union catalog of holdings of approximately 300 Norwegian libraries.
Listings of forthcoming and newly published materials are also available. Through a different search system called TRIP, a wide variety of highly specialized databases are offered, including inventories of the theater history collection, rare books, incunabula and printed music scores. Online access to these resources is restricted to registered users, but an account can be arranged at a very reasonable cost. Much of this data has been transferred to CD-ROM format and is available for purchase, also at very reasonable prices. For more information, contact: Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo, Bibliografisk avdeling, Driftskontoret, 0242 OSLO.
BIBSYS, a utilities database shared by the Norwegian National Library and the university and research libraries of Norway, is available in a limited way via the BITNET network. The large union catalog of the holdings of these libraries can be searched, albeit crudely, by sending keywords in the subject field of a BITNET message to the system. Your search results will be returned, in the form of an e-mail message. For more information, send an 'info' command in the subject field of a BITNET message to: genserv@nobibsys.
SWEDEN
LIBRIS, the shared integrated online system based at
Kungliga biblioteket, contains cataloged holdings (incomplete) of approximately
70 Swedish academic research and special libraries. The database is now
the basis of production for Svensk bokförteckning, the national
bibliography, and Svensk tidskriftsförteckning, the bibliography
of Swedish periodicals. The national bibliographies of printed maps,
music and government publications are also derived from this system. Registered
users of participating libraries also enjoy the circulation and interlibrary
loans applications of the system. Remote users must pay a small fee to
acquire a user id and password. Portions of the database are also available
for purchase in CD-ROM format. For more information on the use of LIBRIS,
contact Göran Skogmar at skogmar@libris.kb.se.
FINLAND
FENNICA, the online version of Suomen kirjallisuus
(the Finnish national bibliography) and the catalog of Helsingin Yliopiston,
is available by Telnetting to: hyk.helsinki.fi. At the first prompt,
respond with 'hello yourname,user.clas01' and Enter. At the
next prompt, select '10' for vt100 and Enter. At the 'Anna
kokoelma' prompt, respond with '100' and Enter. Once
you are in, you can change the command language to English or Swedish by
entering '/lang 1' or '/lang 3' respectively.
ICELAND
GEGNIR, the Icelandic database of Landsbókasafn
Íslands (the National Library) and Háskólabókasafn
(the University Library) in Reykjavík can be accessed at: 130.208.165.16.s
Enter 'bokasafn' at the first prompt.
Many of these Nordic databases, as well as a variety of other electronic resources, are available through the web of international networks. NORDUnet is the "umbrella" net for the various Nordic academic networks: DENet(Denmark), FUNET(Finland), ISnet(Iceland), UNINETT (Norway) and SUNET (Sweden). All are readily accessible via the growing array of gateways, perhaps most easily through "Gopherspace."
New Electronic Discussion Group for Nordic Studies
An electronic discussion group for scholars with academic interests
in any aspect of Scandinavian and Nordic studies has been established.
The group is called DISC-NORDIC and will be maintained and archived
at the University of Minnesota. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to:
disc-nordic-request@mail.unet.umn.edu.
In the message, say that you want to subscribe to DISC-NORDIC and supply
your e-mail address. You will receive more information with the confirmation
of your subscription.
Other E-News:
New Discussion Groups
Medieval English Literature................. medevlit@siucvmb.bitnet
.......................................................... medevlit@siucvmb.siu.edu
Chaucer............................................. chaucer@unlinfo.unl.edu
Welsh Language................................. welsh-l@irlearn.bitnet
.......................................................... welsh-l@irlearn.ucd.ie
Early English Drama............................ reed-l@epas.utoronto.ca
New Resource List Available
Veteran WESS'er Erwin K. Welsch (WU) has compiled a list of electronic
sources for Western European history. It has been added to the FTP archive
at Mississippi State (ra.msstate.edu) in the subdirectory docs/history/resources.
For further information contact Erwin Welsch at: EWelsch@WISCMACC.Bitnet
or EWelsch@vms.macc.wisc.edu.
CD-ROM News
The Catalogue Collectif National des publications en série,
Myriade, is available from Chadwyck-Healey, Inc.
The FRANCIS cd-rom now has an American distributor, Engineering
Information, Inc. (800-221-1044).
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