Original URL: ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/stacks/libres/libres-v4n04-muns-generic

LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal
ISSN 1058-6768             December 31, 1994 Volume 4 Issue 4
Quarterly                                   LIBRE4N4 MUNS
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Generic Network Resource Reviews

by Raleigh C. Muns, MLS

LC MARVEL - Library of Congress Machine Assisted Realization of the
Virtual Electronic Library

Access LC MARVEL by pointing your gopher client software at
Internet address MARVEL.LOC.GOV, or telnet to MARVEL.LOC.GOV and log in as user
MARVEL.

From the beginning I must state that the Library of Congress MACHINE ASSISTED RE
ALIZATION OF THE VIRTUAL ELECTRONIC LIBRARY (LC MARVEL) gopher is one of the mos
t useful and useable Internet resources
extant. I apologize in advance for unintentional sarcasm which may creep
into this review caused by my personal attitudes toward LC's primary
sponsor, the United States Congress.

In summary, LC MARVEL is a gopher site which maintains
information about the Library of Congress itself, as well as pointers to
a huge array of wider Internet resources. The opening menu will allow
searchers to: search by keyword all MARVEL menus via the MARVEL Jughead
software; traverse subject organized hierarchies of menus via its
"Global Electronic Library"; explore state, federal, and international
information resources via the "Government Information" link. LC has
explicitly chosen to focus on using ASCII text files as a lowest common
denominator for presenting information.

Of practical importance is that this site is one of the most
robust I have ever encountered. Ignoring whatever hardware and software
is being used, I have never failed to connect to LC's gopher server. For
those without access to gopher client software, LC does allow
connections via the Internet TELNET command. Since only 15 users
throughout the world are allowed in simultaneously, such access is
practically useless.

Gopher menu option number one, "About LC MARVEL," found on the
opening MARVEL menu, will probably be ignored by most users. It must be
pointed out, however, that this is one of the best organized and
presented behind-the-scenes looks on the networks of a network
information server. Not only can one read about how MARVEL was
developed, how it is being maintained, what's in store for the future,
and who is doing what, one will also be able to look at daily reports of
MARVEL gopher activity. For example, on October 31, 1994, Library of
Congress Internet sites accessed MARVEL 1,365 times. Not even close
behind were the University of Maryland (102 accesses), a United States
Air Force node (96 times), George Washington University (93 times), and
Wright State (92 times). Hourly useage reports for each day are also
available indicating to no one's surprise that 2 pm is the hour in which
MARVEL got used the most (617 accesses on October 31, 1994), and 4 am
was the hour in which MARVEL saw the least activity (61 accesses). It is
not unusual to see gopher and World Wide Web sites making their
activities transparent, but MARVEL's textbook approach makes this a good
site for marketers, developers, students, and the anal retentive to get
a feel for how "it" is done.

Information seekers simply looking for answers should select the
last item on the opening menu, "Search LC MARVEL Menus." By entering
simple keywords, such as "AIDS" or "Congress," MARVEL's extensive, and
extensively maintained, links to other sites and resources will be
immediately arrayed. I find that using MARVEL as a jumping off point for
searching the rest of the Internet has been an extremely productive
technique for harnessing Internet resources. Note that the vast majority
of MARVEL information is actually contained elsewhere. Information about
the Library of Congress itself, including events, services, employee
information (including job openings), copyright resources, etc., appear
to be the bulk of the files actually maintained on LC's machines.
By selecting "Global Electronic Library," MARVEL users will
enter a subject tree similar to many of the best such subject
organization menu structures on the Internet. MARVEL's is comparable to
my other favorites such as the University of Southern California's
"Gopher Jewels," the University of North Carolina's "Library Without
Walls," and the University of California, Santa Cruz's "Infoslug." (See
Table 1 below for access information.) Browsing LC's "Global Electronic
Library" is pleasant, useful, and effectively works with the limitations
of gopher menu hierarchies.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Table 1 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
ACCESS: Gopher Jewels

        Gopher to CWIS.USC.EDU
        choose "Other gophers..." then "Gopher Jewels"

ACCESS: Infoslug

        Gopher to SCILIBX.UCSC.EDU
        choose "The Library"

ACCESS: NCSU's "Library Without Walls"

        Gopher to DEWEY.LIB.NCSU.EDU
        Choose "NCSU's Library Without Walls"
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

By selecting "Government Information," MARVEL users will embark
in an area of gopher space better handled by government information
specialists, specifically, those who commonly work with federal
documents collections. LC has chosen to mirror the provenance-based
Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) scheme used by most depository
libraries. What this means is that information is organized by
disseminating agency, and NOT by subject. Though there is a relationship
in many cases between subject and disseminating agency, it probably
isn't intuitive that a coloring book about dolphins would be produced
by, and thus organized under, its gopher menu tree at the Department of
Justice. In fact, most naive searchers would look for the Department of
Justice under the link for the Judicial Branch of government, instead of
the appropriate Legislative Branch. When in doubt, use LC MARVEL's
"Search LC MARVEL Menus" option and enter the specific department or
agency. Be aware, however, that experts who understand the organization
of government can effectively use the menu structures under "Government
Information" and are likely to uncover resources that the MARVEL Jughead
software will miss.

LC states that the MARVEL gopher's goal "is to serve the staff
of LC, as well as the U.S. Congress and constituents throughout the
world."  By maintaining links to resources held at other institutions,
such as my own University of Missouri-St. Louis "The Library" gopher
site, LC is becoming inextricably connected to outside providers of
information.

North American libraries, as well as others throughout the
world, have become dependent on the kinds of information provided by the
vast resources provided by LC. It seems a healthy development that LC
should continue to become more dependent on the rest of the world. When
an entity, such as LC, maintains a physical archive of United Nations
documents, we must depend on its ability to organize, maintain, and
allow physical access. The organization, the Library of Congress in this
case, is a physical gatekeeper, and possible barrier, to obtaining
information. When LC, via MARVEL, points to a United Nations information
archive maintained by the UN itself, the dependency is reversed. LC in
this case is a facilitator for accessing information. It is LC's
librarian expertise that will be of primary importance as MARVEL, and
future LC information servers, evolve. Rather than maintaining a
monolith's ability to house huge numbers of tomes (too many of which are
deteriorating due to acid content in the paper), LC becomes a competitor
among a growing number of other facilitating agencies, such as the
University of Southern California, North Carolina State, and those
fascinating fighting Banana Slugs at the University of California, Santa
Cruz.