As seen in the preceding news item on automation in large libraries, Carlyle Systems Inc. is beginning to have an impact with its TOMUS online system. The system currently supports data base creation and maintenance, and an online catalog. Although there are plans to develop additional capabilities such as circulation, serials control, and acquisitions, the company does not stress these in its marketing literature, preferring to concentrate on those system components it can deliver now.
TOMUS is sold as a turnkey system, in a variety of configurations to suit the needs of libraries of various sizes. The programs are written in C, and the CPU is specially designed for Carlyle. The smallest viable system, capable of supporting five terminals and a data base of some 40,000 full MARC records, costs in the region of $30,000. The largest system sold to date, that configured for the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library, was bid as a 60-terminal system supporting 1.2 million bibliographic records. The price quoted for this system was approximately $300,000. Carlyle appears confident that it can handle much larger systems with hundreds of terminals and millions of records. Annual maintenance charges on Carlyle systems run from 12 to 15 percent of the hardware and software purchase price per annum.
In the 12 months since it began actively marketing TOMUS, Carlyle has made sales to the New York Public Library, the SUNY campuses, Rice University, and the University of Miami in Florida. Several other sales are currently being finalized.
[Contact; Carlyle Systems, Inc., 2930 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA 94702, (415) 843-3538]
