Report of the SEL High Tech Subcommittee

Ken Cherrington, John Heimaster (chair)
David Mays, and Tom Merrick
August 3, 1997

1 Background

With ever more materials appearing in electronic formats and with the development of digital libraries, the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) must expand its role of housing and delivering print materials to include the delivery of materials in digital formats. These materials include both electronic versions of traditional indices and journals, and new multimedia materials quite unlike printed books. These materials offer new opportunities; the electronic version of a reference work, for example, can be searched in more sophisticated ways than its printed counterpart. SEL needs to select and install these materials, educate its patrons to use them, and provide access through computers in the Library and in the patrons' homes and offices.

Today, University Libraries provides the electronic journals of Academic Press, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Physics, and the Institute of Physics. During 1998, the nearly 1,200 journals published by Elsevier will be available at OSU in digital form, with more to follow. The electronic versions of many of the indices in SEL are more heavily used than their print counterparts, and the electronic versions of such reference works as Beilstein are much more convenient to use than the printed sets. SEL needs the new electronic materials, appropriate computer and communications facilities, and adequate staff support to thrive in this new environment.

When the Library was planned in the late 1980s, many of these trends were clear, but it was difficult to select products in a rapidly-changing market. Most choices were deliberately postponed, with general provisions made in the Library design for future electronic services:

• Care was taken with wiring, cooling, and power throughout the Library. Data cables were run in cable trays and large conduits to allow inexpensive replacement to meet changing needs.
• A large room on the third floor (room 390) was built as a ``high-tech'' area to house electronic materials and services. This room was provided with extra power, indirect lighting to reduce screen glare. and a computer room floor (``raised floor'') to conceal cabling.
• About \$800k of movable equipment funds, from State capital appropriations and OSU funds, were set aside to equip the library with workstations, database servers, communications equipment, etc. No specific plans or equipment lists were made, with both customers' needs and available products changing rapidly.

Since the completion of the Library, various ad hoc groups have been designated by the Science and Engineering Library Committee to recommend appropriate use of the high-tech area and the movable equipment funds. Each group concluded that

"The limiting factor in establishing the computational capabilities of the SEL is the staff required to support the functionality of the hardware and software." High Tech Subcommittee, August 10, 1992

         State capital funds
$372,359.28

         OSU funds
          $105,756.74

         Total
              $478,116.02
 

To meet the coming deadline, the present High Tech Subcommittee was appointed in March 1997 by John Wilkins, Chair of the SEL Committee. It is charged to develop a plan to meet SEL customers' needs for electronic access to journals and databases, and for associated training, with the available funds and staff.

Any plan to use the (expiring) Ohio capital funds must meet the State's requirements for capital equipment purchases:

• Any equipment purchased must have a lifetime of at least five years.
• ``Office machines'' may not be purchased, except for student use.
• No item can cost less than \$100.
• State funds must be released by the State Controlling Board. To obtain this release by mid-1998, a final plan, with confirmed pricing, must be submitted to them by December 1997.

2 Results and Recommendations

In its investigations, the subcommittee found:

• There are clear needs for more and better facilities to support electronic information services. Useful new materials are appearing constantly, and old services (especially journals) are shifting to electronic format.
• Most SEL customers contacted by the subcommittee prefer access from home and office computers, rather than access in the Library. Many will require audio and video delivery, as well as text and images.
• Customers expect these services to be as available, reliable, and easy-to-use as the current paper-based services. This will require customer and staff training, and an on-going effort to counter technical obsolescence of information storage devices, data formats, and retrieval software.
• Capital funds meet very few of the costs of electronic information services. The continuing costs for subscriptions, support staff, equipment replacement, upgrades, and software overwhelm the capital costs. Each of these continuing costs is rising, while the initial cost of computer equipment is falling. One important recent change must be emphasized: {\it PCs are no longer capital equipment}. Their lifetime support cost far exceeds their initial purchase price, and their productive lifetime is substantially less than five years.
• Some industry trends will decrease support costs: Macintosh systems and Unix workstations have not become major players, so support efforts may be concentrated on PCs; ``network computers'' and ``NetPCs'' are attractive alternatives to PCs within the Library, with much cheaper support; high-speed networking within the Library, and from Library to campus, has become much cheaper in recent years.

These observations suggest a future dominated by server computers with large databases and high-speed network connections, delivering results to primarily to remote customers. Use within the Library will continue, and expand modestly, but outside use will dominate. Rooms filled with PCs are a temporary phase in the evolution of libraries, expensive to support and ultimately unnecessary.

An orderly transition to this future is required. Appropriate facilities must be designed and built; old services must continue to be supported, while new services are chosen and installed; staff and customers must be trained. The available capital funds provide a unique opportunity to support the infrastructure needs of this transition, and the available OSU funds can soften its impact on operating budgets. Specifically, we propose:

• Room SEL 390 should be partitioned into three main areas: a server room to house computer and network equipment, an electronic classroom for customers and staff, and a public-access area with workstations and video equipment.
• Three forms of customer training should be provided:
  • On-line courses, taught on machines in the public area or in customer's homes or offices (where copyright rules allow), or from video materials in the public area.
  • Small-group classes taught in the electronic classroom, with hands-on access to the services under study.
  • Large-group classes taught in the SEL lecture area (room 090), the least satisfactory option but necessary in some cases.

  Customer acceptance of new media and services will be greatly increased by systematic training.

• The public facilities should be available throughout normal library hours. This requires attention to security, with video cameras, recorders, and intercoms. This provides an opportunity to reconsider security issues throughout SEL, to provide a library that is both safer and easier to operate.
• The server room, the primary use of capital funds, should be designed to serve the future needs of SEL and to replace the existing inadequate facilities in the Main Library, concentrating the OSU Libraries' electronic services and support staff in SEL. Provision should be made for substantial growth in number and capacity of servers, and available storage. The major components of this room (conditioned power, air conditioning, physical security, fire protection, and network cabling) are true capital items, expensive but long-lived.
• Servers and storage systems should be purchased for the server room, in addition to those moved from the Main Library. Consolidation may be appropriate.
• Excellent networking should be provided, to deliver information from SEL servers to customers throughout the campus, and from servers and the Internet to customers in SEL.
• Modest numbers of high-quality workstations should be provided for both the electronic classroom and the public-access area, with audio, video, scanning, and printing. Quality and durability are more important than sheer numbers. Facilities for customers' laptop computers should also be provided.
• Video projection equipment should be installed in the existing lecture area (room 090 of SEL) for large-group presentations,
• Provision should be made to house the OSU Libraries' computer support staff near the server room, with office space, storage space for equipment and supplies, and work area for equipment repair.

3 Computing infrastructure

3.1 Server room

The server room is an area of about 800 square feet on raised floor, partitioned from room 390 as shown on the attached drawing. This is a conventional computer room, with specialized services and security. The essential requirements are:

• An uninterruptible power system (UPS) with at least 25 kVA capacity (for 15 minutes), with individual cable/breaker sets for underfloor receptacles throughout the room. The UPS should be connected to the existing underfloor ground grid to provide the room's ground reference.
• Dedicated air conditioning to maintain room temperature and humidity in all seasons within 2 degrees F and 2\%, respectively. Dual compressors are necessary, as is a source of filtered ``make-up air''.
• Gas-phase fire protection (using one of the successors to Halon), with a control panel, connection to fire alarms, and interlocks to shut off power and air conditioning.
• Appropriate paths for data cables that allow the server room to be air-tight below the gas discharge vents for the fire system.
• Keycard-controlled access through one primary door, with emergency exit through a second secure door. Alternate entry (below floor and above false ceiling) must be blocked.
• Video surveillance, shared with the classroom and customer area; at least four cameras, multiplexor, and recorder.
• Environmental monitoring to record temperature and humidity, with interlocks to shut off power when an excessive temperature or underfloor flood is detected.

3.2 Server and network equipment

This equipment should consolidate the services now located in the Main Library with those needed by SEL. Existing equipment includes Unix and Novell file servers, a number of small network servers, and several CD-ROM towers.

3.3 Communications services

The existing data communications between SEL and SONNET are quite slow, limited by a technical requirement for all central-campus libraries to share a single Ethernet (10 mb/sec total), for hundreds of computers. Various technical changes will shortly remove this constraint, and allow SEL to obtain much better access to SONNET and the Internet. The centralization of servers at SEL will greatly increase traffic for SEL, calling for a complete re-engineering of SEL's networks and SONNET connection.

The SONNET fibers should be extended from building entrance into the server room. centralizing building communications there. A high-performance switch (Fast Ethernet, at 100 mb/sec) should serve as a building hub, with Fast Ethernet connections to SONNET, to all servers, and to each floor of SEL. Secondary switched on each floor should drive many ordinary Ethernet (10 mb/sec) workstation connections simultaneously, producing significantly improved performance. Additional outlets should be provided for customers' laptop computers. A small UPS will probably be needed in each wiring closet.

7 Electronic classroom

5 Public-Access area

6 Basement lecture room (090 SEL)

7 Security issues

• Security cameras should be installed in the computer room, public area, and probably the electronic classroom, with video recorders. This should probably be combined with a broader design, covering more areas of SEL, and clear signage to discourage criminals and reassure customers.
• An intercom system should be provided in the public area, to summon assistance to deal with computer and video problems. This should probably be combined with a more general intercom, for both emergency use and to summon routine assistance with copiers.
• New policies regarding the shelving and circulation of CDs, video tapes, etc. will be needed. At a minimum, streamlined access to well-organized material will be needed within SEL, and anti-theft precautions must be taken.