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Resources Available Through the Internet

The Internet is a distributed network of interconnected computers that transmit data using established protocols. (That's quite a mouthful, but follow along and it will all make sense). By "distributed" we mean that the Internet is not located in one place, the computers that are connected to the Internet are distributed throughout the world. These computers are connected to each other by data lines and they can send information to each other because they all use the same protocol software.

The Internet is an example of a client/server model of computing.

1. Server computers contain the information that client computers access
2. Server computers run special software that organizes and manages the information
3. Client computers are used by individuals to access the information

History

The computer network that we know today as the Internet was actually created in the 1960's. In the mid-1960's the U.S. Department of Defense created a computer network which allowed U.S. military installations to communicate with each other around the world. The system was the foundation of the Internet and it was known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). An important aspect of ARPANET was that it allowed computers using different operating systems to communicate with each other.

In the 1970's the government encouraged research universities to get involved in ARPANET. In addition to using ARPANET universities created another network called CSNET. The TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) was developed. TCP/IP manages the flow of information from one computer to another and it also allows computers of different types to communicate with each other. E-mail and Telnet software was also developed during the 1970's.

In the 1980's the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded five supercomputer centers at major universities to develop the NSFNET. These supercomputer centers became the backbone of the current Internet. ARPANET, CSNET and NSFNET merged in the 1980's and became the Internet which uses the TCP/IP protocol to send information across the network.

In the 1990's Gopher and the World Wide Web were created. Both Gopher and the World Wide Web made the Internet easier to use by the average person. In 1993 the first graphical Web browser software was designed at the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urban. Graphical Web browsers allow a Web page designer to combine text, graphics, sound, and video together on a Web page. The graphical Web browser is the software that brought the Internet to the attention of the average person. The two major Web browsers produced today are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Protocols

Protocols are software that manage and transport data across computer networks. Internet protocols transfer the data from the server computer to the client computer and vice versa. Protocols transfer the data by breaking it down into small units called packets. A packet is similar to an envelope in that it wraps the data and contains the destination and return addresses of the computers that are communicating to each other. The protocol also tells the computers what type of data is contained in the packet.

The protocol that ties the Internet together is known as the TCP/IP protocol. TCP/IP manages all the traffic on the Internet, making sure that all the data ends up in the correct place. In conjunction with TCP/IP, additional protocols are used on the various Internet subsystems. An example of a sub-protocol is HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) which is used to send and receive data on the World Wide Web. You will notice that "http" appears at the beginning of every Web page address.

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web was created in 1991 in Switzerland and is a sub-network of the Internet. People interact with the World Wide Web through software known as a Web browser. The first Web browser to take full advantage of all the World Wide Web's capabilities was created in 1993 at the University of Illinois and was named Mosaic. A number of other Web browsers have been created in addition to Mosaic. Netscape Navigator, one of the most popular Web browsers, was created by Marc Andreseen, one of the original graduate computer science students who worked on Mosaic. Today Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the major Web browser competitor to Netscape Navigator. Netscape Navigator was created in 1994, Microsoft Internet Explorer was created in 1995.

On the Web you will find web sites and web pages. A web site is a collection of individual web pages organized into a meaningful whole. For example, the Minneapolis Community & Technical College web site is composed of the individual web pages produced by the college. All of the individual college web pages are located under the top level college domain address <http://www.minneapolis.edu/>. The library's home page is located at <http://www.minneapolis.edu/Library/index.html>. The "/Library/" part of the web address indicates that this is a folder located on the college's web server. All of the individual library web pages are located within the "Library" folder on the college's web site. If you look up at the location line on your web browser you will see that the web page you are now reading is located at <http://www.minneapolis.edu/Library/tutorials/infolit/tablesversion/lessons
/lesson4/electronic2.htm>. This is a very long address, but it is quite simple to read once you understand how the web works. The <http://www.minneapolis.edu> part is the top level domain address of the college web site. The rest of the address, up until "electronic2.htm," consists of subfolders organized in a hierarchical arrangement on the college web server. So "Library" is the first subfolder, "tutorials" is a subfolder under "Library," infolit" is a subfolder under "tutorials," etc. Each subfolder may contain other subfolders as well as individual web pages. The "electronic2.htm" is the name of the web page that you are currently reading, which is located in the "lesson4" folder. If you think about where you are in the MCTC Library Information Literacy Tutorial right now, the address makes sense. You are currently reading Lesson 4 of the Tutorial which is part of the MCTC Library web site, which is part of the even larger College web site.

The Web is a confusing place. There are web sites and web pages that are produced by non-profit groups, the government and educators that are available for free, as well as web sites that are produced by businesses that charge users a fee. You can locate these web resources by using a web search engine like Google or Yahoo. These resources are what most people think of when they say they are going to search the Web. However, the above resources comprise only a small percentage of what is available on the Web (only about 20%), and they are not necessarily the best resources for doing college level research. In addition to the free web resources and those which charge individuals a fee, there are resources that you can access only if you are a member of an institution which provides you the proper passwords and access codes. Public and academic libraries are the primary institutions that make these other web resources available.

Libraries purchase access to these web resources from database companies. The resources are very expensive and therefore are marketed only to libraries and large organizations. Because the material provided by these companies has been published elsewhere and is copyrighted, the general public cannot gain access to the resources by using a general web search engine. Such web resources include the following:

Subscription Periodical Databases
These databases consist of the full-text of magazine and journal articles. There are many types of subscription periodical databases ranging from those that index general interest magazines, to those that index only the scholarly research from one particular academic discipline. As a general rule, the more narrow and specific the coverage of a periodical database, the more expensive the cost. The MCTC Library spends about $50,000 every year to access web based periodical databases. This may seem like a lot of money, but it is relatively modest compared to what a research university pays. Many large research universities pay millions of dollars every year to access specialized journal databases. While all of these resources are available through the Web, they are not accessible to the general public. To use these resources you must be associated with a specific library. Since different types of libraries have different missions and receive different amounts of funding, you may find that you have more or less access to these databases at different times in your life. As long as you are in college you will have access to the databases to which your college subscribes. If you leave MCTC and go to a four year college you will find that you have access to more and different periodical databases. This is because a four year college offers advanced level courses that require students to use scholarly journals. Once you finish your studies at a four year college you will no longer have access to their databases. You will then rely on your public library system for access to web based periodical databases. Each public library system receives different amounts of funding and provides different levels of access to web based periodical databases. However, you will find that even the best and biggest public library will not provide access to as many database as are available at a large academic library. So make good use of the resources at your college library while you can, since you will not have the same level of access in the future.

Library Catalogs and Electronic Books
Library catalogs have come a long way from the "old days" when they consisted of cards filed in drawers. Most library catalogs are now available through the Web. In addition, most library catalogs are no longer stand alone entities, but are part of larger library networks. For example, the MCTC Library catalog is part of the PALS library system which is composed of over 80 member libraries. PALS allows you to not only search the MCTC Library for books, and video and audio tapes, but it also allows you to search and request any book located at a PALS member library. You request the book by using the PALS online interlibrary loan system.

In the past all books were produced in print format. This has changed in the last few years. Libraries are now able to purchase and catalog electronic books which users check out just like printed books. At present the MCTC Library has not purchased electronic books for three primary reasons, 1) they cost 150% of the hard cover edition price, so they are expensive and not the best use of our limited book budget, 2) they can only be read on a regular PC computer, which is not a very good way to read 150-300 pages of text, 3) the companies that sell the electronic books are new and we are not sure that they will stay in business.

As technology changes and hand held reading devices improve, you will see more libraries offering users access to electronic versions of books. However, be aware that these electronic books will not be offered free on the Web. If you want to read an electronic book you will have to do what you do now, either go to a bookstore and buy your own personal copy, or go to the library and "check out" a copy. Like the printed book today, libraries will only be able to "check out" the number of copies of an electronic book that they have purchased. So, if someone has beat you to the book you want you will still have to wait until their loan period is up before you can get the book. On the plus side, the library will never lose the electronic book. Once the loan period is up the book will evaporate off the users computer and get "checked back in" to the library catalog and become available for the next user. No lost books, and no overdue notices to send, of such things are a librarian's dreams made.