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Restricted Technical Report RP/1977-78/4.13.8 ARAB REPUBLIC
OF EGYPT Assistance to M e m b e r States in the development of information systems and services
A Teledocumentation System for the National Information and Documentation Centre
G.F. Romerio
ARCHIVE PCI
Serial No . F M R / P G 1 / 7 7 / 1 6 2
II [I 1
J
Paris, 1977
ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
A TELEDOCUMENTATION SYSTEM FOR THE NATIONAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
G.F. Romerio
Report prepared for the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)
U N E S C O
Technical Report RP/1977-78/4.13.3 FHR/PGl/77/162(Römerio) 50 .September 1377
© Unesco 1377 Printed in France
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POREWORD
The content of this technical report is the result of a UNESCO/UNISIST consultative mission undertaken in Cairo at the request of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, from 3 to JO April 1977.
During the mission, the consultant was attached to the National Information and Documentation Centre (NIDOC) of Cairo, which comes under the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Ministry of Scientific Research.
At the request of the ARE Government, two main problems were to be examined:
(a) the design of a national information system, which could be developed into a regional advanced teledocumentation system, serving the Middle East region;
(b) the analysis of NIDOC library management procedures and in particular the lending system and the performance of the exchange of. publications unit;
During a meeting organized at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology Headquarters, Dr. Abd El-Monaim Abou El-Azm, President of the Aeademy, and Dr. Ahmad Gad, Director of NIDOC, pointed out the requirement for an overall plan of action for the future development of NIDOC activities.
Contacts with the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology in the Arab States (ROSTAS) and with the US-AID Organization convinced the consultant of the practical feasibility of an Egyptian advanced information system.
The consultant visited the Egyptian National Library, the Science Library of the Cairo University; attended, together with a NIDOC staff member, a conference on the introduction of the Arabic language in computer science (Professor Ahmed Lakhdar-Ghazal), and gave four lectures at NIDOC on information storage and retrieval techniques.
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ABSTRACT
The National Information and Documentation Centre (NIDOC) of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Cairo, and in particular its Scientific and Technical Library, containing about 27,000 books, 5*000 periodicals and 350 secondary publications, is described.
A reshaping of the NIDOC structure is proposed, together with suggestions for the creation of an Information Storage and Retrieval (ISR) Department, responsible for all documentary analysis and search activities as well as for the technical operations of the Centre.
Following the policy of the Unesco General Information Programme, and within the framework of the MACR0NËT principle discussed by the UNISIST working group on technology of systems interconnection, NIDOC has been advised to install an interactive VDU computer terminal, connected to the ESRIN/SDS data bases of the European Space Agency via a permanent telephone line. This centre can make available, by means of on-line searches, about 7.5 million document references.
Recommendations have been put forward concerning the following topics: a new library management system, the necessity for a microfiche bank at the NIDOC library and adoption of the international ASV-CODAR system for data processing activities in the Arabic language.
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CONTENTS
NIDOC Page
1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The NIDOC Library Coverage 2 1.3 Document Access 4 1.4 Reprography 5 1.5 Bibliographic Service 6 1.6 Publications ß NIDOC Implementation
2.1 Proposed Structure 7 2.2 The ISR Department 8 2.3 The Library System 13 2.4 Reprography and Printing l6 2.5 Publications l8 2.6 Financial Estimates 18
NIDOC Proposed Teledooumentation System
3.1 The UNESCO/UNISIST Programme 20 3.2 The ESRIN/SDS RECON System 21 3.3 A RECON Terminal at NIDOC 24 3.4 NIDOC as Regional Teledooumentation Node 25
CONCLUSIONS
4.1 Estimation of Cost 31 4.2 Summary of Recommendations 32 4.3 The National Information System -. 33 4.4 International Co-operation 34
BIBLIOGRAPHY 35
1. NIDOC
1.1 Introduction
The Ministry of Scientific Research was created in Egypt in 1962 with the aim of supporting the policy of planned development established by the Egyptian Government in 1952.
In 1968, by Presidential Decree No. 498, the function of this Ministry was redefined within the framework of the State development plan. Article II of this decree (see UAR Ministry of Scientific Research - Institutional Structure - NIDOC, Cairo 1970) establishes the building up of the National Information and Documentation Centre (NIDOC) and defines its objectives.
The major tasks of the Centre are described as follows:
(a) development of a National Reference Library of Science and Technology (objective No. 1) containing the maximum amount of world literature and a complete-file of abstracting journals (objective No. 2);
(b) promotion and support directed towards the establishment of scientific and specialized libraries in the country and co-ordination of existing library services (objectives 1, 3* 4);
(c) supply of bibliographic services on request (objective 5);
(d) study of the use of the Arabic language in science and technology in order to make available advanced Arabic terminology for translation and for the preparation of an Encyclopaedia of Science in Arabic (objectives 6, 7, 8);
(e) publication of scientific and technical periodicals (objective 9);
(f) establishment of a document reproduction unit (microfilms, microfiches, etc objective 10);
(g) development and application of methods, equipment and techniques which will facilitate the communication and utilization of recorded knowledge (objective ll) and development of new information services by existing scientific and industrial organizations (objective 12);
(h) provision of advice and guidance to existing services in order to ensure economy of effort (objective 13)* and planning of training courses in information science and documentation (objective 14).
Points (a) and (b) have been dealt with through the creation of the NIDOC Scientific and Technical Library.
Point (e) is partly covered by the current activity of the Centre and by the plans for introducing printing facilities at NIDOC which should also be able to deal with the exigencies of the Arabic language (see point (d)). The establishment of a new document reproduction unit(f), which is under study with the collaboration of the United States of America, is a good occasion for designing a modern integrated printing-reprographic service.
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Finally, the plan for a national information system, which is the major objective of the present consultative mission, will permit the achievement of objectives c, g and h.
It is felt that the establishment of an advanced information retrieval unit at NIDOC, connected to an international network of information transfer, will allow the Centre to supply the best bibliographic service to the country. This unit established with international aid, could be transformed into a national node which could become the centre of a regional network for scientific and technical information transfer.
1.2 The NIDOC Library Coverage
The NIDOC library has two separate sections (see Unesco Report 1227-/BMS-RD/DBA by V. Laiko), books and periodicals.
The corpus of the library contains the following publications:
(a) Reference and abstract journals
They cover:
Library sciences Mathematics Physics-Mechanics
Chemistry
Geology
Botany - Zoology - Applied sciences
Medical science
Engineering and technology
Agriculture
The fields of maximum coverage are medical sciences and chemistry. The overall coverage of the secondary publications collection can be considered very good.
Since the journals are classified by fields of interest, the multi-subject publications are split into several sections (ex. Science Abstract, section A., section B) each one being classified and stored on separate shelves. The total number of these "sections" is 352. Since an exact calculation of the number of secondary documents (references and abstracts) contained in the collection was impossible during the short time of the mission, we tried to estimate this figure.
The number of abstracts per section and per year varies between 2,000 and 20,000 units. The period of time covered is also variable, between 2 and 30 years (exceptionally).
We assumed that the average number of secondary documents per section and per year were 10,000 units,for a coverage period of 5 years, giving a total number of 50,000 document units per section.
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Taking into account the number of sections (352) we can estimate at about 18 million units the reference data base of secondary documents available to the NIDOC library users.
(b) Periodicals
The NIDOC library has a collection of about 5*000 periodical titles with a periodicity ranging from 1 to 52 (weekly) issues per year, a large proportion of them being monthly periodicals (12 issues per year).
Here again the exact calculation of the total number of document units received by the NIDOC library and published in periodicals is not possible. We undertook an estimation by assuming an average periodicity of 7 issues per year.
In this hypothesis 5*000 periodicals will produce 35*000 issues per year. This has been verified with the people in charge of the subscription and of the publications exchange, who confirm receiving an average of about 100 periodicals per day.
If we assume at this point that each issue contains an average of 10 document units, and that the average background time covered is also 5 years, we can estimate at about 1,750,000 units (5 x 35*000 x lo) the probable number of documents available in original copy in the collection of periodicals of the NIDOC library.
(c) Directory
The NIDOC library has (another estimation) about 150 dictionaries, directories and books of reference.
(d) Books
The total collection of books contains about 27,000 units, classified by means of the CDU classification method.
In conclusion we can say that the probable number of original papers in the NIDOC library is as follows:
documents issued in periodical publications 1,750,000 documents issued as books 27,000 directory publications 150
TOTAL 1,777*150
Taking into account the limits of validity of our estimations, we can say that the total number of documents available at NIDOC in original form is about 1.8 million.
On the other hand, the secondary data base (document references or abstracts) has been estimated to be some l8 million units, ten times the actual contents of the library.
However, overlapping between the various reference files could reduce drastically the number of "individual" documents cited by the reference data base by a half or even two-thirds.
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1.3 Document access
A study was made on how the users have access to the document collection of the library.
All the publications (books or periodicals) are classified on the shelves by means of two digit codes obtained by the two main classes of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC).
If, for example, 53 corresponds to PHYSICS AND MECHANICS, the various abstract journals of this particular field (the same is done for books and other periodicals) are classified with the same code followed by a sequential figure, i.e.
53/1 - Science Abstract - Section A. Physics
53/2 - Solid State Abstract
53/3 - Rheology Abstract
This system is very useful and simple for classifying publications in the library shelves but it may create serious problems for the user as soon as he requires the retrieval of a specific piece of information.
(a) Bibliographical search
The user is usually a researcher belonging to one of the departments of the Academy, although outside users may also be allowed access to the library.
He is able to consult the reference and abstract journals in the periodicals section of the library. A number of desks are available to readers, allowing them to consult the secondary publications at the same time.
It has been observed that a simple bibliographical search can require between one day and one week's full-time work by the user in this section of the library.
A very specific search (or even a broad but exhaustive one) would require a very long time, taking into account the dimension of the reference data base (352 sections containing several millions of secondary document units). It has been calculated that a good medium-size bibliographical survey made manually in a library of this kind requires an effort of not less than 0.75 man-months.
The installation at NIDOC of an advanced information retrieval system should therefore be of top priority in order to ensure better use of the information resources of the Centre.
(b) Primary document access
With the information obtained either by a bibliographical search, or even by other means, the user can have direct access to the library catalogues.
Three catalogues are available:
PTC - Periodical titles catalogue, containing in alphabetical order all the 5*000 titles of periodicals available in the library.
BAC - The authors' catalogue, giving references for the 27,000 books.
BDC - The books dictionary catalogue, in which the access points are: subject, titles and (again) author's name.
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A discounting card file for periodicals is also available. It gives, in the form of a CARDEX file, information concerning the issues actually received by the library and therefore the missing periodical numbers. If the user cannot find in the library catalogues (PTC, BAC, BDC) any reference to the publication he needs, the two following possibilities exist:
The missing publication is a periodical: in this case the user can search in a Union Catalogue for periodicals (UCD), which will tell him in which other libraries in Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, etc ) he can find what he needs.
The missing publication is a book: in this case no standard procedure is foreseen.
If the user finds in the catalogues the publication he is looking for, he can:
consult the'publication in the library;
demand a photocopy of the document he is interested in;
borrow the publication if it is a book (no lending system is foreseen for periodicals).
As a whole, the subject coverage of the NIDOC library can be considered as good, not only for the needs of the country but also taking into account the needs of the Middle East region.
Perhaps some better subject coverage could be achieved in the economics and social sciences fields. A particular problem is the large space required by the collection of periodicals. We shall examine later the possibility of using microcopy (microfilms, microfiches) to solve the problem of space at least for some back issues or special publications. The library lending system will also be examined in detail.
1.4 Reprography
The reprographic section is going to be completely restructured, with international or bilateral help and a strong participation by the US-AID Organization. The section has at its disposal the following material, at various operational stages (installed, to be installed etc....):
One MONOPHOTO photosetting system (packed, to be installed)
Three microfilm cameras:
KODAŒRAPH 35 - 16 mm (new one, still packed)
KODAK, model D, portable (installed, old model)
East Germany MICROFIIJYI, 35 mm (not in good condition)
Two contact microfilm printing machines, 35 - 16 mm:
one machine for 30 m film only, East Germany
one KODAK, up to 300 m film (old model)
One processing machine for microfilm developing, 35 mm (packed, new)
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Five microfilm image-enlargers:
KODAK, for line work (not half-tones) 35 - 16 mm
East Germany enlarger (not half-tones), 35 - 16 mm
AGFA enlarger, 35 mm and 6 x 6 cm with two heads, one for line work, 8 colours
OMEGA enlarger, 35 mm, 6 x 6 cm and 9 x 12 cm (old model)
DURST enlarger, 35 mm and 13 x 18 cm (old model)
One AGFA cut film printer
One DELUX washer for prints paper
Two dryers
Two XEROX photocopy machines (one hired by Unesco)
Two master copy makers for offset reproduction:
One MULTILITH (very old)
One ZETAPUNCTION (double size)
No microfiche activity is carried on by the section, even if this is foreseen in NIDOC plans for future development of this unit.
1.5 Bibliographic service
At present there is no permanent bibliographic search service at NIDOC, even though a continuous bibliographic search activity is carried on personally by the library users in its reference section.
A permanent support to NIDOC customers, and therefore a specialized documentary unit, is required by the decree which set up the Centre. One of the main tasks of NIDOC should in fact be "to supply a bibliographic service on request" as mentioned in paragraph 1.1 (c)
The availability of an interactive information retrieval system would strongly support this activity.
1.6 Publications
NIDOC publishes the following list of periodicals, which contain original contributions from Egyptian researchers:
Frequency (per year)
1 - Egyptian Journal of Animal Production 2 2 - Egyptian Journal of Bilharziasis 2 3 - Egyptian Journal of Botany from vol. 10 3 4 - Egyptian Journal of Chemistry from vol. 14 6 5 - Egyptian Journal of Agronomy 2 6 - Egyptian Journal of Food Science 2 7 - Egyptian Journal of Geology 2 8 - Egyptian Journal of Horticulture 2 9 - Egyptian Journal of Microbiology 2
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Frequency (per year)
10 - Egyptian Journal of Pharmaceutical Science 4 11 - Egyptian Journal of Physics 2 12 - Egyptian Journal of Physiological Science 2 13 - Egyptian Journal of Phytopathology 1 14 - Egyptian Journal of Soil Science 2 15 - Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Soience 2 16 - Arab Science Abstracts 2
Papers must be non-published material and are accepted only after a double referee control (national and international referee).
NIDOC is in contact for publication exchanges with 25 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, France, Hungary., India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,'Turkey, United Kingdom, U.S.A., USSR, West Germany).
A total of some ¿,000 publications are exchanged between NIDOC and other countries.
2. NIDOC IMPLEMENTATION
2.1 Proposed structure
In view of the possible adoption by the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt of a working plan for:
(a) the creation at NIDOC of an advanced information retrieval capability;
(b) the transformation of NIDOC facilities into a regional node of an international information exchange system;
the existing administrative structures should be gradually transformed in order to correspond more closely to the new tasks of the Centre.
The main difference between the proposed and the existing structure is the grouping of all the document analysis and search operations in one new specialized administrative unit.
This unit, which could be brought into being by the creation of an Information Storage and Retrieval Department, should have direct responsibility for the secondary publications collection (reference and abstract publications), which is at present attached to the main library.
A further change would be the creation of a Publications Department, with direct responsibility for an exchange of publications section.
In Figure 1, the proposed organigram shows, besides the Directorate and the Secretariat, the following departments:
ADM - Administration and General Services; ISR - Information Storage and Retrieval; LIB - The Library; RPR - Printing and Reprography; PUB - Publications.
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In the following paragraphs, we shall describe the functions of the technical departments and in chapter J, a detailed description of the proposed NIDOC tele-documentation system will be given.
2.2 The ISR department
The ISR department, in the proposed structure, would have the functions of an information centre, capable of supplying users with required scientific and technical information in the form of document citations or bibliographies.
The department should therefore have responsibilities in the following areas:
scientific and technical documentation analysis (indexing and abstracting); bibliographical searches and document reference retrieval; technical supports indispensable to the information storage and retrieval activities of a national, or regional, centre.
2.2.1 Document analysis
One of the most important factors in the establishment of a national information system is the creation of a document analysis unit, functioning as the input section of the system.
This unit indicated by DANS (document analysis section) in the proposed organigram would be responsible for analysing the scientific and technical literature written in Egypt (or in general of Egyptian interest) by using modern methods of document analysis.
An abstracting activity is already being carried on by NIDOC and an Arab Science Abstract is published biannually. About 500 bilingual (French-English) abstracts, classified by a UDC code and containing also the title in Arabic, are published each year.
It is proposed that NIDOC should adopt the concept co-ordination indexing method for characterizing the contents of the scientific and technical literature analysed, since the UDC method is not sufficient for an efficient information retrieval operation.
The document analysis section of the NIDOC 1RS department should be able to handle at least 5*000 to 6,000 documents per year. Such a unit should have a staff'of about 6 to 10 documentalists/analysts, working full time.
2.2.2 The THESAURUS structure
In a concept co-ordination system, the content of a document is described by association of standardized terms, called descriptors (usually 12-15 per document)
These descriptors belong to a standard-dictionary called THESAURUS (of the system) and containing some semantic relations between them.
For each particular descriptor used in the system, a thesaurus gives complete available information about the semantic environment of the terms, i.e. reference to its broader, specific, and related terms, synonyms and autonyms - (see also the UNISIST guideline for monolingual thesauri).
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In practice, four kinds of relations are normally available in a thesaurus and they will be shown here by using the two symbols '(' and ' <—* '
ST/GT (specific/generic term) - the relation:
VERTEBRATES ( ANIMALS means that the descriptor VERTEBRATES is a specific term of ANIMAIS and therefore that ANIMAIS is a generic term of VERTEBRATES.
RT (related term or "see also") - the relation:
ANIMAL CELLS f » CYTOLOGY means that the two descriptors are related, but that no clear hierarchical relationship exists between them.
USE (exchange relation) - the relation:
DISEASES (ANIMALS) C ANIMAL DISEASES is an indication that the term preceded by the minus (-) sign is forbidden for indexing, and that ANIMAL DISEASES has to be used instead. The opposite relation is called UP (used for).
SEE (see) - the relation:
DIVISION < > SUBDIVISION DIVISION < > DIVISION (MATH) DIVISION < » DIVISION (ARMY) means that the term DIVISION is a forbidden term because it indicates several homonyms, which have to be identified more clearly. The dictionary indicates (SEE) some possible descriptors - (Do.not confuse this relation with RT (see also), which concerns two existing thesaurus descriptors).
Fig. 2 indicates the type of format used in concept co-ordination machine readable records to describe a document.
Fig. J shows two displays of a hierarchical thesaurus.
A thesaurus can be designed for NIDOC, following the operational specifications that Unesco has set up in this field.
The Unesco SPINES Thesaurus (Science Policies Information and Education System) as well as the structure of the MAKNAZ Thesaurus, designed by Unesco for the National Documentation Centre of Morocco (CND) could be taken into consideration.
It is recommended therefore to devise a NIDOC Thesaurus, compatible with the existing international thesauri, but designed to satisfy the exigencies of the 1RS department. This activity should require an amount of work equivalent to 2-J man. year.
2.2.J Documentary Search Section (DSES)
DSES would be responsible for the documentary search activity (questions and answers) and would therefore be the real NIDOC interface with the user.
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A - accession number B - bibliographical description C - abstract D - co-ordinated indexing by descriptors
13 6110
USi: O F C L O M I P R A M I N E IN P H O B I C PATIENTS; I' lULIMINARV RESEARCH R E P O R T Carey, M . S. (Reprints: Medical Dent.. Ciba-Gcie). Summit. N e w Jersey). Haut.inson. R , Kornhabcr, A . and wcllish. C". S . C U K R . T m - . R . Ris. C L I N . E X F . 17:107-110 (Jan) 1975 iTng/iiii
Twenty patients with phobic neuroses were treated with clonkipi uiiiim* (1). As:-(.'ssmi'iits of progress were performed weekly using the
Ib.iiillun lXprtssioir Rating Scale and a Phobia Rating Scale. LViuluial responses were achieved in 15 patients using total daily doses of 50 to ¡50 nig 1. Most patients responded well to 1 50 nig 2 times a day. Five patients were discontinued from therapy due to drowsiness, nausea and fatigue in the first 5 days of the study. These toxic effects may have stemmed from using loo high a starting dose for this category of patients. (2 references) H u W M < l ) ' v
Neuroses Phobia Doses Tranquillizers
Therapy Toxicity Clomipramine..-:
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Fig. 2 - Example of a secondary document complete layout (A, B , C from the International Pharmaceutical Abstracts) . Sections A and B are presently being s tandardlzed (UNISIST) .
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Flg. 3. Examples of thesauri layouts
A) alphabetical presentation (SPINES thesaurus, Vol. II, p. 199)
B) logical or semantic layout (EURATOM thesaurus, Electrochemistry^
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CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY VAPORIZATION PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMISTRY HEATING IN SITU COMBUSTION SUBLIMATION
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS AUTOMOTIVE FUELS AVIATION FUELS rUELS JET ENGINE FUELS KEROSINE LIQUID FUELS PETROLEUM
PETROL ENGINES (5121)
CLOTHING PROTECTIVE CLOTHING CLOTHING SAFETY TECHNOLOGY
(A)
CORROSION PROTECTION AuticoTTOtim Passivation
—17
CORROSION Intercrystaliine Corrosion Intergranular Corrosion
Pitting Corrosion Sealing
POLAROCRAPHY Faraday Current llkovic Equation
13 — '
ELECTRODEPOSITION Electroplating
ELECTROCHEMISTRY Nernst Equation
Passivity
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ELECTROLYSIS Faraday Laws
Electropolishing Electrorefining
• 23
(B)
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DSES information sources will be:
(a) Tíhe NIDOC reference and abstract data base, i.e. the collection of secondary periodicals already existing in the NIDOC library (~>18 million references);
(b) The services of an exhaustive interactive mechanized information retrieval system.
It is proposed, where point (b) is concerned, to install a remote interrogation' facility at NIDOC giving DSES access to an existing computerized teledocu-mentation system, containing a large number of data bases already exploited manually by NIDOC. The proposed system, to meet the needs of the Centre, should give on-line access to a corpus of about 10 million document references which increases at a rate of about 1 million references per year.
In this case DSES will have at its disposal a "manual" reference collection and an "electronic memory" reference base, with a certain amount of overlapping between the two sources.
The NIDOC management could decide eventually to cancel some subscriptions to secondary publications already available on the automatized system and to maintain them only for files not covered by the electronic system.
We can foresee that the economy could be of the order of 1/2 to 1/3 ot the present secondary publication subscription cost.
In Chapter 3# we shall describe an international system which is already accessible from North Africa and already covers all Western Europe with a network of 33 high-speed interactive terminals.
We think that DSES will need a team of 3-^ documentalists, on the understanding that the retrieval system will be accessible for routine work also by the staff of the DANS section, and that it will also be open to the public.
2.2.4 The Technical Operations (TOPS)
A technical operation section (TOPS) with 2-3 system engineers trained in information retrieval procedures is highly essential for the development of future plans for a regional network of information transfer, (see Chapter 3). This section will be responsible for telecommunication connections and for all the hardware and software necessary to set up a national dataJsank. TOPS should represent the real 1RS research and development unit and should gradually be transformed into an independent NIDOC department as soon as its activities justify this.
2.3 The library system
The NIDOC library, whose main functions have been described in paragraph 1.2, is one of the departments of the proposed new NIDOC structure.
The contents of the library (about 1.8 million available documents), is one of the most important factors justifying the installation at NIDOC of an information retrieval system.
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However, the possible transformation of NIDOC into a regional centre and the needs of its future national and international users might require the development of a bank of microfiches thus facilitating the exchange of primary documents.
This microfiche collection, which could contain microcopies of national publications, non-periodical documents and collections covering back issues of periodicals, will certainly allow large economies in space and money, both for storage and for dispatching operations.
2.3.I Acquisition and Cataloguing
The activities of this section (ACAS) which could be organized into several services or groups (books, periodicals, cataloguing etc ) represent the library input unit.
This input work is already carried out by the existing library services which handle, as we have seen, a total input of about 100 publications per working day. However, the indexing method used by the NIDOC library does not allow a deep analysis of the contents of these publications.
An advanced indexing method in the cataloguing field is the MARC system (Machine Readable Cataloguing System) as used by the United States Library of Congress.
The use in the NIDOC library of the international publications numbering system, where available, has to be taken into consideration for classification purposes.
The following international codes are attributed to books and periodicals by centres which have adopted the United Nations recommendations:
ISBN - International Standard Books Numbering System. ISBD - International Standard Bibliographic Description System. ISSN - International Standard Serial Numbering System. ISDS - International Serial Data System.
The acquisition and cataloguing section should collect all the existing information in this field (MARC, SUPERMARC, and numbering systems) and establish appropriate collaboration plans with the specialized competent organizations both at national and international level.
It is recommended, however, that for the time being the existing UDC classification method should not be changed.
It is recommended as an urgent task that the cataloguing unit should create (at least for books) a publication identification card, to be physically attached, in a pocket envelope, to each publication. This card will contain the history of the publication (number of times borrowed, names of users, etc ) and will be used in the proposed new lending system (see 2.3.2).
- 15 -
2.3.2 Library management
The proposed new lending system will need the following files:
UP - A user identification card file is created containing all the necessary information to identify the users who borrowed a publication.
BF - A book identification card file, created by the ACAS section, is used for checking the books which are (or are not) in the library.
CR - A chronological file (on a book for example) will indicate the transactions (books borrowed or returned) for each day.
The system will function as follows:
As soon as a user asks to borrow a publication, the person responsible for the system will carry out the following operations:
(a) take out of the publication (book) its identification card (belonging to BF, attached to the books);
(b) find the user identification card in UP or create a new card if the user is coming to the library for the first time;
(c) write the user identification number on the BF card, stamp the date, and ask the user to sign it;
(d) write the book identification number on the user's UF card and stamp the date;
(e) record the transaction on the chronological log book (book number, user number, date borrowed).
When the user returns the borrowed publication, the operations will be as follows :
(i) find the UF and BF cards in the appropriate card-files (see a and b);
(ii) stamp the return date on the UF and BF cards and chrono-book CR (see c,d,e);
(iii) put back the book identification card (BF) in the jacket attached' to the book.
A test, simulated in the library, has shown that this new system allows a better control than the existing one, in a shorter time.
Fig. 4 shows the proposed format of the records of the three files.
It should also be pointed out that the new chrono-book CR can give a better control of the book borrowing time and that this control is impossible with the existing system.
- 16 -
2.5.3 The proposed microform library
The need for space is one of the major problems in a scientific and technical library if we want to keep it up to date.
The modern microcopy techniques, however, provide an excellent solution to this problem.
It is recommended, therefore, that a microfiche document bank should be set up covering the maximum number of publications. A good starting point could be an effort to identify the periodicals for which a systematic microfiche file already exists on the market or which can be obtained by NIDOC on an exchange basis.
For example the collection of documents cited in IAA (international Aerospace Abstracts), STAR (Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports), NSA (Nuclear Science Abstracts) and many others are already available as microfiche files.
It is recommended that contacts be made with the United States National Technical Information Services (NTIS), the London National Lending Library and any other similar organization to see how and under which conditions the NIDOC microfiche collection could be built up.
A microform section has therefore to be created in the NIDOC library and a certain number of microfiches reader/printers (for example 6-10) should be put at the user's disposal.
The microform section should be responsible only for the subject coverage of the bank, for user access and all the technical implications; maintenance and repair of the microfiche readers, will be the responsibility of the RPR department.
It is proposed also to co-ordinate the US-AID assistance offered to NIDOC with Unesco expertise for the design and equipment of this unit.
2.4 Reprography and printing
It is recommended that the ARE Government requests a Unesco expert in printing and microcopy techniques in order to advise NIDOC about the reorganization of the reprography and printing section. This section should be structured in two units :
a reprography and microcopy unit, in charge of all the activities concerning microfilm and microfiche creation and reproduction;
a printing laboratory, equipped with a photocomposition machine and standard mechanical composition methods, using both Latin and Arabic characters.
As far as the use of Arabic characters in printing techniques - and, in general, in all the modern means of character composition in Arabic - is concerned, it is recommended that the international ASV-CODAR system (Arab Standard Voyelle -Codage de l'Arabe) should be adopted at NIDOC.
A resolution in favour of this character system, co-presented by 20 Arab countries, including the ARE, was unanimously voted at the nineteenth session of the Unesco General Conference (November 1976). The Unesco Secretariat and ALECSO should be contacted for more details on this subject.
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2.5 Publications
Within the framework of the Publication Department (PUB) it is recommended that an exchange of publications section should be created with a staff of 4 persons, one responsible and J clerical staff.
A new exchange of publication form (EPP) has been suggested by the consultant and a draft layout has been prepared in collaboration with the person in charge of this activity at NIDOC.
The exchange of publications service utilizes the three following files as an administrative control system:
A mail file, containing all the correspondence exchanged with the organizations with which NIDOC is in contact. In this file the completed EPF forms, received as feedback, would also be classified.
An address file containing the full address of all the organizations with which NIDOC is in contact for publications exchange. In each address card, mention should be made of the publication titles actually exchanged (in full or by code numbers). The cards should be classified by country and by organization name.
A CARDEX discount file for controlling issues of publications is currently received by NIDOC.
The consultant, following the request of the ARE Government, has discussed the implementation of the exchange of publications procedures with the people in charge of this activity at NIDOC.
2.6 Financial estimates
The effort of adapting existing NIDOC structures to the proposed one can be roughly estimated by taking into account the required expertise and the new equipment needed by the 1RS, the Library and Reprography and Printing Departments.
Disregarding for the moment the costs of installation of a remote interrogation terminal, and of setting up the NIDOC teledocumentation node (see chapter 4.1), an attempt to estimate the other conversion costs will be made.
We can assume that new expertise and equipment will be required by NIDOC in the following areas;
Estimated Equipment expertise
(a) Document analysis, activity carried out by the DANS section of the 1RS Department. 6 to 10 documentalists to be trained (2.2.1) 12
(b) Thesaurus design and training of a thesaurus specialist at NIDOC (2.2.2) One thesaurus expert 18
(c) Documentary search methods including interactive systems One expert in mechanized documentation 6 (see Chapter (2.2.3, 2.2.4) 4.1)
- 19 -
(d) Library. One expert in library management and microforms (2.3)
(e) Reprography and printing (2.4) As very urgent tasks are to be carried out, an expert in printing and microcopy techniques should be attached to NIDOC
(f) Publications - a librarian
Estimated expertise
6
12
Equipment
a microform library, 6 microfiche readers and 3 reader/printers
structuration and equipment of the RPR Department.
The estimated expertise called for in this hypothesis amounts to about 60 man months, which could be grouped as follows:
one expert in information, storage and retrieval techniques, documentation and thesauri design (a, b, c) j5 years
one expert librarian with perhaps direct experience of managing a publication department (d, f) 1 year
one expert in reprography, microcopy and printing techniques 1 year
Future international assistance could therefore be based on a period of three years for the conversion from the old to the new structure.
The decision of the ARE Government to build a new centre for NIDOC, which could probably be ready at the end of the three years could be considered a very important counterpart to the international effort.
The cost of the new equipment necessary to achieve objectives (d) and (c) cannot be precisely calculated because it depends upon the degree of reliability of the material presently at the Reprography Service (see 1.4).
Some of the machines are not in good condition, others are not yet installed. For some equipment, no maintenance service is available in Egypt.
A careful technical expertise of the existing equipment is therefore essential. We shall take into consideration as basis of discussion the costs of a UNESCO/lMDP project of assistance to a national documentation centre, during which the following units have been completely equipped:
a composition unit with one photocomposition machine (Arabic/Latin characters) and one "multipoint" typewriter;
a classical offset unit with two offset machines;
a paper offset chain;
a typographic system for manual composition (plus Heidelberg machine)
an electronic and classical "stencil" system;
- 20 -
a duplication reprographic (photocopy) laboratory;
a microform laboratory with two machines for microfiche creation, four portable cameras and a microfiche mounting unit;
a microfiche reproduction unit;
a microfiche enlarger reproduction unit.
The cost of equipping such a centre was in the order of $ 250,000.
The NID0C requirements and situation are different but a cost of this order of magnitude could be borne in mind until an expertise has clearly defined the usefulness and extent of utilization of the existing material, in relation to plans for modernization.
5. The Proposed NID0C Teledocumentatlon System
J.I The UNESCO/UNISIST Programme
The united Nations Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology to Developing States (1971):
"Developing countries require scientific and technical information systems of their own, suited to the type, capacities and location of the producers and users of such information, and giving emphasis to the type of knowledge most needed for social and economic development.
Such internal systems must be effectively connected with the information networks of the highly developed countries".
The UNISIST Intergovernmental Conference (Unesco, Paris, 1971) recommended to the Director-General of Unesco the launching of the UNISIST programme having as a final goal the creation of a world network of existing and future national and international information systems and servioes.
In 197^ Unesco, within the framework of a UNESCO/UNDP project (MOR/71/538)* advised the government of Morocco to connect, via telephone line for data transmission, its National Documentation Centre in Rabat (CND) to the Information Centre of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Prascati (Rome).
The CND on-line service started at the end of 1975 and it is running successfully. The Conference of Ministers of Arab States responsible for the Application of Science and Technology to Development (CASTARAB, Rabat, August 1976), noted the successful operation of the system and recommended that Arab countries draw upon the Moroccan CND experience. The Conference recommended therefore "To create or strengthen in each Arab country, a National Centre for Scientific Information and Documentation and to develop it into a main centre of a network of specialized information and library services" at national or regional level.
To test the possibility of long-range connections, UNISIST organized the successful connection of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay to the same ESA Information Centre at the ESRIN (European Space Research Institute) in Frascati for a short period in 1976.
- 21 -
In November 1976 the UNISIST Working Group on Technology of System Interconnection met in Paris at Unesco Headquarters.
The main recommendations of the group were to examine the following possibilities and initiate steps towards their implementation, if feasible:
(A) least-cost pilot networks as exemplified in the following alternatives:
a. Dakar - Rabat - Cairo - Nairobi with Uganda - Kenya and Tanzania as additional possibilities;
b. Teheran - Delhi - Singapore;.
c. the extension of the existing Mexican network to other Latin American countries;
(B) the attachment of existing and planned data bases to these pilot networks;
(C) the permanent or intermittent connection of the pilot network to existing general documentation centres in developed countries by means of leased lines or through the switched telex or telephone networks;
(D) the integration of these individual pilot networks into larger networks by interconnection.
In setting up these pilot projects, a world-wide teledocumentation network called MACRONET was recommended as a possibly suitable vehicle (Fig. 4).
In the following chapter we will describe the ESRIN Information Centre of the European Space Agency in Frascati together with the characteristics of the system network, and in chapter J O we shall propose the installation of one interactive video display terminal of the same system at NIDOC.
3.2 The ESRIN SDS/RECON system
The Space Documentation Service (SDS) of the European Space Agency was created by the former European Organization for Space Research (ESRO) for supplying scientific and technical information to European researchers in the aerospace field.
The introduction of the so-called "aerospace-related" fields and the precise demands of users forced SDS to expand the scope of the system.
We can therefore say that today the system data bases cover a large part of the advanced science and technology sectors. These data are available in the form of document references, analysed by co-ordination of descriptors.
The total SDS data base is organized in "files", each one concerning a particular scientific and technical field and each one having its particular thesaurus of descriptors.
- 22 -
Fig. 4. MACRONET concept Dakar (DAK) - Rabat (RBT) - Cairo (CAl) - Nairobi (NAl) network connected to the ESA (European Space Agency) databank inFrascati (Rome). The Rabat - Prascati datalink is already in function.
- 23 -
The files available in the system at this date (April, 1977) are the following:
STAR - Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports IAA - International Aerospace Abstracts CAC - Chemical Abstract Condensates METADEX - The Metals Abstract File COMPENDEX - The Engineering Index File GRA - US Government Research Announcements INSPEC - The British Institution of Electrical Engineers File ENVIR - Environmental Science Abstract NSA - Nuclear Science Abstract ECDB - ESA Electronic Components Databank ISI - Physical Chemical and Engineering Science File PASCAL - The French CNRS File
The total number of document references retrievable on-line is 7.5 million units.
These references are stored in the random access memories of a computer installed at the ESA/ESRIN teledocumentation institute (European Space Research Institute) at Frascati near Rome.
The database is searchable by remote interrogation computer terminals connected via telephone lines and by using an on-line interactive conversational language.
The file selection, the choice of the appropriate terminology, the logical combination of the descriptors and the display of pertinent document references on a television screen is performed in a total elapsed time of about 30 minutes for a comprehensive search.
Each elementary operation is executed by the system with a response time of 5-10 seconds.
The retrieved document reference contains the following information:
the document accession number;
the bibliographic description (title, author, corporate author, editor, periodical name, pages,etc )
the co-ordinated descriptors (5-15 per document)
the abstract (in some cases).
The files are interrogated by co-ordinating descriptors, author names, corporate author names, special codes and (in some cases) by title words.
The central computer system has the following characteristics:
Core memory Random access memory Software
>• 1 Moctet -** 4,000 Moctet RECON (Remote Console)
- 24 -
The computer is interrogated through a telecommunication network about 15,000 km long called ESANET by 32 high speed terminals installed in 10 different countries, including Morocco (non-ESA member country).
A number of low speed terminals also have access to ESANET via the public switched telephone network.
3.3 A Recon terminal at NIDOC
We shall describe here one high speed interactive RECON terminal of the ESRIN/SDS system, as it could be installed at the NIDOC premises under the responsibility of the Documentary Search Section of the proposed 1RS department.
The standard RECON computer terminal is composed of the following equipment:
one CCI 3OI (Computer Communications Inc.) control unit with 1 k octet of local memory;
one CCI 303 keyboard;
one television screen for data display;
one local NCR printer (30 characters/sec);
one RACAI/MILGO 2200/24 MODEM (Modulator/Demodulator) to ensure the data transmission (and reception) on the telephone line at a rate of 2,400 bit/sec.
A data link is needed between NIDOC/Cairo and ESRIN/Frascati. This has to be provided by a 4 wire (two pairs) leased telephone line connecting (point to point) the two Institutes.
It is a normal permanent telephone connection called also a "specialized leased line" and no particular technical problem is involved in setting it up if the lines are available.
Each terminal is sequentially interrogated by the central computer with a polling cycle time of the order of one second. The user has therefore the impression of working alone in the network.
The terminal is operated by means of a very simple language. Six fundamental commands are at the user's disposal in the RECON language:
EXPAND - It gives access to the thesaurus terms which are displayed on the television screen (around a particular term selected by the user). The display shows for each term its frequency of use and the number of specific or related terms (which can also be displayed).
SELECT - It allows the user to choose the pertinent terminology in the thesaurus, i.e., to translate his concepts as expressed in the question into the system language. Sequential flag number is attributed by the system to each selection. Example: (SELECT ^ ) First user's question: f^ REACTORS System answer: 1 REACTORS 2700 (i.e., set nr. 1, Reactors, 2700 documents).
- 25 -
COMBINE - It is the real translation of the search strategy. The logical combination of sets created by a "select" operation or by other previous combine formulations is executed by the system. Example: (COMBINE ̂ $) 23rd user question: $ 1 AND (2 OR 3) NOT 4 System answer: e.g., 23: l*(2+3) - 4, 58 (i.e., set nr. 23, formulation, 58 documents).
LIMIT - It limits document sets by year, by type and by accession number range.
KEEP - It allows the user to transfer some document references in a particular set (nr. 99)«
DISPLAY - It displays sequentially the document references of a certain set (beginning with the most recent document).
At the end of a search, the contents of any set can be printed either locally (at 30 characters per second) on the local printer, or at Frascati on a high speed line printer (1,200 lines per minute). In the latter case; the printout is sent to the user by mail.
The costs involved in a connection of this kind between Cairo and Frascati should be calculated as follows (rental costs and royalties);
(a) local hardware including MODEM, keyboard, control unit screen and local printer (+ maintenance) 13,000 $/y.
(b) Cairo - Frascati line (estimated) 50,000 fi/y.
(e) Royalties to the file producers and system access will depend on the files that have been interrogated (chemical abstract, INSPEC.) and are at a very variable rate, let's say on average 40 $/connect hour. For, say, 1,000 connect hour per year 40,000 $/y.
TOTAL 103,000 4/y--f
The cost of 103,000 $/y. is of the same order of magnitude of that one paid by the Moroccan CND but a more detailed calculation has to be made, in particular as far as the line costs are concerned.
3.4 NIDOC as a regional teledocumentation node
The MACRONET concept, suggested by the UNISIST Working Group on systems interconnection, consists in the design of a world-wide teledocumentation network for the developing countries connected to exhaustive databanks available in the industrialized world.
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C N T - concentrator C P T - computer, with local storage/retrieval capability
E N T - E S A N E T extension T E L - dial-up access F E P - front-end processor TER - video display terminal L P R - line printer X - multiplexer
T C M - T Y M C O M Interface to the T Y M N E T network
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Flg. 6. Example of Rabat (Madrid) - Frascatl - Cairo network in the M A C R O N E T concept. Frascatl and Madrid at level 2 ; Rabat and Cairo at level I (no local storage capability).
- 28 -
The network modes have to be set up at the simplest level of sophistication and should be gradually built up from this level (level zero: only interactive terminals connected) to the following two phases:
Level 1: local, high speed, line-printing capability and access from dial-up public switched telephone network.
Level 2: same as level 1, plus local information storage and retrieval capability.
As the central databank we are here considering ESRIN for the reasons mentioned before, even if other centres could also be taken into consideration.
It is useful to mention, however, that in Madrid a Spanish consortium is designing a centre similar to ESRIN and complementary to it. The total number of references stored in the two twin centres of Madrid and Frascati should give a data,' base of about 24 million units. The compatibility of the two centres is studied in such a way that a user will never know where the information he gets on his terminal is coming from.
We shall try to estimate the costs of setting up a network mode (type MACRONET) at NIDOC and its gradual upgrading from level 0 to level 2.
3.4.1 NIDOC Node at level zero
Given the availability of lines between Cairo and Rome, a permanent connection could be established in 1978.
but: Complete retrieval facilities are available at NIDOC on the ESRIN data ;foase,
no local high speed printing capability (only a local output 30 chai/sec. teletype)
no dial-up access and
no local storage facilities.
The costs of this connection have already been calculated:
(a) Running costs for the NIDOC node (rent of the line) 50,000 $/y.
(b) Running costs per high speed (2400 bit/sec) VDU terminal for 1000 connect-hours per year 53*000 $/y.
terminal
A network of high speed video display (VDU) terminals will cost about 50,000 $/y. plus 53*000 $/y. per terminal.
It is proposed that a test of the connection should be called for at the end of 1977.
29 -
3-4.2 NIDOC Node at level one
The network node is supplied with a local high speed on-line printing capability, parallel to the RECON system, but:
no local storage capability.
The costs can be estimated as follows:
(a) Costs concerning the NIDOC node
(a.l) Hardware purchase costs
Remote printing controller 49,000 $ 49,000 $
Concentration with 8 ports of dial-up access from the public switched network 28,000 (A) 52,000 (B)
TOTAL 77,000 $ 81,000 $
Solution B allows a 1200 bit/sec dial-up access and the concentration can be upgraded to a packet-switching network controller.
(a.2) Running costs at the node
line ,. 50,000 $/y.
upgrading line speed 12,000 $/y.
TOTAL 62,000 $/y.
The line speed upgrading will give three channels on the same line by time division multiplexing (TIM).
(b) Running costs per terminal (two alternatives)
(b.l) High speed 2400 bit/sec VDU terminal (1,000 connect hours per year) 53*000 $/y. terminal
(b.2) Low speed 200-300 bit/sec teletype terminals (250 average connect hours per year) 13,000 $/y. terminal
This configuration (see Pig. 7) will allow the design- of a national information system with some (2-10) high speed terminals and a number of low speed teletypes connectable through the switched telephone network (with a maximum of 8 working at the same time). This schema could be decided in 1979«
3.4.3 NIDOC node at level 2
Prom the preceding configuration it is possible to design a packet switching network that utilizes the X25 protocol recommended in the EURONET project of the Commission of the European Communities.
In particular the concentrator can be modified and become a front end processor (FEP), to which a local computer with storage and retrieval capabilities can be
- 30 -
Fig. 7 - Possible upgrading of the NIDOC node.
2400 bit/sec < T W -
level zero -a- y
video display terminal and local teleprinter
7200 bltf/sec
level one
dial-up access for low speed portable teletype terminals
video display terminal and local teleprinter
medium speed line printer
9600 bit/sec
COMPUTER
level two
high speed line printer
video display terminal and local teleprinter
dial-up access for low speed portable teletype terminals
- 31 -
connected. The cost of this phase depends on several factors and has to be carefully calculated.
The project of the Government of Spain, now in the construction phase could give some clear indications, so that a project for a similar exercise at NIDOC could be ready for 1980.
It goes without saying that the achievement in the next 5 years of an objective such as an autonomous information storage and retrieval facility in Cairo, connected and compatible with an international system, would be of extreme importance for Egypt.
The concept of such a system, using the most advanced available technology in the information field, is also of primary interest for all the countries of the ~ Middle East and East African regions.
k. CONCLUSIONS
4.1 Estimate of costs
The costs of adapting the present NIDOC infrastructure to the new needs as proposed in Chapter 2 cannot be precisely calculated because they depend on several factors and various possible decisions.
One of the most important points that has to be mentioned, in this context, is the decision of the ARE Government to build a new NIDOC centre.
Apart from this expenditure, which is a great contribution to the new NIDOC infrastructures, we have tried to estimate the additional costs probably involved in such an operation.
By comparison with Unesco experience of the actual costs of setting up a national documentation centre in a developing country, equipped with advanced information storage and retrieval units as well as with a modern reprographic and printing department, we could assume as a working hypothesis, a budget of the following order (chapter 2.6):
Expertise and training for the creation or reorganization of the ISR and RPR departments (Fig. 1) 300,000 $
Equipment necessary for the RPR department (microcopy, reprography and printing) and for the MLIS section of the library 250,000 $
This amount of money could be spread over a three-year development plan.
As far as the interactive system is concerned, we shall repeat here the costs estimated in Chapter 3 £°r "the various levels of sophistication of the NIDOC node.
Fixed costs Running costs US $ US $/year .
NIDOC node at level zero: 1 terminal - 103,000
NIDOC node at level one + 1 terminal 77,000* 113,000
not considering the cost of a line printer.
- 32 -
Fixed costs Running oosts US $ US $/year
idem, per additional VDU high speed terminal
idem, per additional low speed teletype dial-up terminal
NIDOC node at level two computer
Front-end processor + 1 terminal
idem, per additional VDU high speed terminal
idem, per additional low speed teletype dial-up terminal
53,000
-
N.A.
81,000
-
—
13,000
N.A.
134,000
53,ooo
13,000
4.2 Summary of reccomendations
The following recommendations are submitted to the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
A. Adapt the present NIDOC administrative structure to the new needs and, in particular, create an Information Storage and Retrieval Department (1RS, 2.1) 1977-1978
B. Within the framework of the 1RS department, create a Document Analysis Section in charge of indexing/ abstracting procedures (2.2.1) and provide the necessary staff training 1978-1980
C. Set up a NIDOC scientific and technical thesaurus using existing standardized thesauri and following Unesco specifications (2.2.2). , 1978-1980
D. Create a Technical Operations Section in the ISR department (2.2.4) and train the necessary staff 1978-1979
E. Adopt a new lending system at the NIDOC library (2.3.2) and train the library staff in the use of the MARC-type cataloguing system 1977-1978
F. Set up, with international or bilateral assistance, a microform library (microfiches, 2.3.3) 1978-1980
G. Renew or readapt the existing reprography and printing equipment (2.4) 1978-1981
H. Adopt the international ASV-CODAR system for handling Arabic languages in scientific and technical fields (2.4) 1978
I. Create, with existing staff, an exchange of publication section in the Publications Department (2.5) 1978
- 33 -
J. The organization of a demonstration at NIDOC of an interactive video display terminal. Ask for a Prascati-Cairo 4 wire telephone line for data transmission (3-3) 1977
K. If test operation (j) gives positive results, study a permanent connection to ESRIN in 1978 and «n upgrading to level 1 in 1979 1978-1979
L. Study the feasibility of bringing up the NIDOC node to level 2 at the end of 198O I98O-I98I
4.3 The National Information System
The Egyptian National Information System will put the knowhow and facilities concentrated in NIDOC. at the disposal of the maximum number of users in the country.
A strong collaboration has to be established with the Egyptian Research Centres and Libraries and with the Egyptian Patent Office.
As far as the proposed automated information retrieval system is concerned, we can give here an example of setting up a national network in four phases.
PHASES COSTS $ ACCESS TIME
YEAR 1 (I978) NIDOC at level zero
(no printing capability at NIDOC and no national dial-up access - one VDU terminal at NIDOC 103,000 103,000 1,000 H
YEAR 2 (1979)
YEAR 3 (I980)
YEAR 4 (I98I)
NIDOC at level one - printing and dial-up access - one VDU terminal at NIDOC (+ line speed upgrading)
- two low speed dial-up terminals
NIDOC level one - printing/dial-up - one VDU at NIDOC - two VDU at Alexandria and Assiut
. - national line - four low speed dial-up ter.
Same as year 3
TOTAL
77*000*
113,000
26,000 216,000
113*00Q
106,000 15,000 52,000 286,000
286,000
891,000
1,500 H
4,000 H
4,000 H
10,500 H
* not considering the cost of a line printer
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These figures are only approximate estimates, but we can say that with a budget of about 900,000 US $ for four years, an Egyptian information retrieval network can be implemented giving a minimum of 10,500 hours of access time on a data base of about 7.5 million references (+ 1 million/year).
The decentralized output by remote interrogation terminals, will allow Egyptian researchers to set up retrospective or SDI profiles personally.*
4.4 International co-operation
The proposed National Information System would be created in an international co-operative environment, following the recommendations of the UNESCO/UNISIST programme for a world-wide scientific and technical information system.
We are convinced that such a project, which will give an opportunity of further networks extensions to Middle East and East Africa, will probably cathalize bilateral (US-AID) and international (UNDP) assistance and could draw the interest of other Arab countries to the design of an inter-Arab teledocumenta-tion network.
* At a rate of two questions for connect-hour, a total of 21,000 questions can be run (10,500 x 2) during the four-year period, at a cost of about $ 42.5 per profile.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
IAIKO, V A mechanized Information Retrieval System for the Documentation Centre in Cairo. Unesco Report - 1227/BMS - RD/DBA - May 1969
World Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology to Development. New York - United Nations 1971
UNISIST guidelines for the development of monolingual thesauri Unesco Report - SC/WS/555* September 1973
ISO/2709 bibliographic information interchange format for magnetic tape recording. 1973 •
UNISIST guideline for machine readable bibliographic description
ROMERIO, O.P. A teledocumentation network for Europe. EUROSPECTRA. Commission of the European Communities. Vol. XII, No. 1, p. 12-25, March 1973.
ANDERSON, D. Universal bibliographic control Unesco Report. COM/75/WS/15
Centre National de Documentation du Maroc. Resultats et recommondations du projet. Rapport final. Unesco Report PMR/CC/DBA/76/233 (UNDP) - 1976 .
Final Report of the First Meeting of the UNISIST Working Group on Technology of Systems Interconnection. Unesco Report - November 1976
Conference of the Ministers of Arab States responsible for the Application of Science and Technology to Development. (Rabat, 16-25 August 1976) Final Report - Unesco, Paris
SAMARASINGHE L.E., ROMERIO, G.F. Development of National Scientific and Technological Information System within the framework of UNISIST. International Forum on Information and Documentation, 1977
