POMONA, Calif., April 1, 1996 -- Auto-Graphics Inc., a leading supplier of information and database resource systems, today announced an agreement with Pierian Press, a leading commercial database provider. Under the terms of the agreement, Auto-Graphics with its Impact/ACCESS product, will supply library consortia with access to Pierian Press' information databases through the Internet and World Wide Web.
"One of our missions is to facilitate libraries in making their catalogs available online, and we do this with our Impact/ONLINE library automation product," said William Kliss, vice president and general manager of Auto-Graphics' Library Services. "Taking Impact/ONLINE one step further, we add Impact/ACCESS to provide them with access to additional content through commercial databases from providers such as Pierian Press."
Impact/ONLINE allows libraries and consortia to take advantage of the growth of the Internet and the Web by giving them a resource sharing tool that provides access to their union catalogs. Impact/ACCESS makes commercial databases available online to users at any of the libraries within the consortium.
Databases Provide Wealth of Information
Pierian Press offers seven distinct databases spanning a range of interests with two audiences: the general adult public-at-large, and kindergarten through sixth grade students. The general audience databases are developed for use in high school, academic, public and special libraries. Three of the databases are best suited to young children for use at school, the local public library or at home.
"Pierian Press has a proven track record of delivering useful services at attractive prices," said Edward Wall, president of Pierian Press. "Our partnership with Auto-Graphics is consistent with our objectives of extending these services to all libraries at a reasonable cost."
By using Impact/ACCESS to access databases, libraries are able to share the cost of the database service among several libraries, significantly lowering the cost of each individual library.
The information targeted toward the general audience consists of the following databases:
- A Matter of Fact - full-text statistical statements on current social, economic, political, health and environmental public policy issues.
- Consumer's Index - more than 90,000 evaluations, tests, alerts, warnings and recalls of specific products, services and facilities.
- Directory of National Helplines - a specialized directory of social, economic, health and environmental helplines, fax lines, Web sites and other resources.
- Media Review Digest - approximately 100,000 reviews, awards and prizes given to current educational and entertainment media.
- StoryTime - a growing collection of stories, fables and tales that contain morals and values relevant to our times.
- FirstBase - thorough abstracts, rich in substance in an easy-to-read form from the 35 best periodicals for this age group.
- PowerFacts - a subset of the A Matter of Fact database containing approximately 10 percent as many records, which have been re-edited for a younger audience.
Impact/ACCESS allows library consortia to license commercial databases for all of their member libraries. Impact/ACCESS is engineered to provide commercial database providers, like Pierian Press, with built-in security facilities. This ensures that only the licensed number of authorized users will be able to search and retrieve information simultaneously from the commercial database.
Impact/ACCESS is the first database delivery service with a dual focus at the single market segment of the library community. Each database is targeted to a specific audience, rather than using a "general store" approach where much information is not needed or used. Additionally, Impact/ACCESS is an additional software module that extends the capabilities of Auto-Graphics' popular Impact/ONLINE library consortium resource sharing system. Impact/ACCESS utilizes all patron access functions of Impact/ONLINE, including dictionary term search, key word search and patron initiation of ILL requests, which are made available through any standard Web browser.
Users of Impact/ONLINE will use the same familiar Public Access Catalog (PAC) interface for Impact/ACCESS. PAC and Impact/ACCESS together allow the patron to perform the same search on different databases without re-keying the search criteria.
As with all Auto-Graphics' products, Impact/ACCESS builds in ease-of-use features designed to make patrons self-sufficient when accessing information. This includes user-friendly interfaces and context sensitive help messages.
Pierian Press Information
Pierian Press has been serving libraries and library patrons for 27 years as a publisher of databases, reference tools and journals. For more information on the databases contact Pierian Press at 800/678-2435.
Auto-Graphics Company Information
Founded in 1950, Auto-Graphics Inc. (OTC:AUGR) has capitalized on new technology as it becomes available, providing information publishing and database resource sharing systems to the publishing and library communities. Through its two divisions, the Library Services Division and the Publishing Services Division, Auto-Graphics offers a wide range of products and services that are both cost-effective and innovative.
The Library Services Division has been committed to providing libraries and their patrons with user-friendly resource tools for more than 25 years. Always on the leading edge of library automation, Auto-Graphics began by developing printed book catalogs of library inventory. As technology advanced, new products were developed ranging from fiche and film catalogs to, in recent years, CD-ROM catalogs.
Today, the explosive growth of the Internet and World Wide Web have made access to information more readily available, and the libraries across the country are seeking to take advantage of this new resource. Auto-Graphics' Impact/ONLINE product family provides a solution that enables broad, content-rich access to information without overburdening library staff or budgets. Over one million people per day use Auto-Graphics' software to access library information.
Users may see a demonstration of Impact/ONLINE products by accessing Auto-Graphics web site at www.auto-graphics.com.
