Marion in the satellite age

Abstract

It is 9 am as Marion the Librarian opens the door of the public library for another day at the hub of local interactive communications, information and education. She walks past the electronic book security system and into the darkened circulation area. Marion sees the blinking dials and hears the steady whirrs of the main computer that organizes, processes and communicates so much information each day. She checks the entire system: the OCLC terminals, the public access catalog terminal, the automated circulation system and its cable tv interface, the database access terminals and finally the terminal on her director's desk. Marion collects the printouts which were delivered via satellite last night—Mr. Clark's database search on nuclear power; a magazine article for Johnny's report on the Olympics; an updated index of new print and non‐print materials available for sharing from the state library; and the schedule for today's satellite video feeds. “Mr. Clark's boss will be pleased to get a twenty‐four hour turnaround on his information request,” she thinks to herself, “while I'm happy to have so much work accomplished overnight.” Marion walks over to the AV area to survey the preparations for a busy day: the studio is set to broadcast children's story hour to the local elementary schools via LTFS; the videotapes for today's cable access programming on the library channel are ready to be transmitted to the cable headend for cable‐casting; the conference room is ready for the dietitians coming to this afternoon's continuing education satellite video‐teleconference; and the videotape recorder is set with a blank tape to record today's subscription satellite video feeds from the National Satellite Library network.