In mid-April, Amazon EC2 services had a small problem. Apparently, a large swath of its cloud computing environment had such substantial trouble that a number of customers had server issues. A number of high-profile sites, including Reddit, Evite, and Foursquare, went down when Amazon experienced issues in their US East 1a region (Justinb 2011).…

This fact sheet about the INTERNET Gopher, an information distribution system combining features of electronic bulletin board services and databases, describes information availability, gateways with other servers, how the system works, and how to access Gopher. Addresses and telephone numbers for additional information or news about Gopher are…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries intend to provide a gateway from the campus-wide telecommunications network into the electronic, printed, and human resources offered by the library systems. The design of such a gateway requires an understanding of both current and potential library users, the needs of those users, their…

Describes the MenUSE (Menu-based User Search Engine) retrieval system for multilingual database searching and reviews the status of other similar projects funded by the European Communities Commission. A Japanese-English version of MenUSE is explained, including its use of HyperCard software. (LRW)

Describes levels of Internet connectivity, physical connections, and connection speeds. Compares options for connecting to the Internet, including terminal accounts, dial-up terminal accounts, direct connections through a local area network, and direct connections using SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) or PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol). (eight…

Describes and evaluates LIBS Internet Access Software (also called Sonoma Software), which offers automatic Telnet connection to remote library catalogs, databases, information services, campuswide information services, and other wide-area information access tools. Instructions for obtaining and installing the software are given, and a comparison…

Describes The Gateway, a computerized library system for undergraduate students that integrates access to multiple sources of information and provides embedded training on their use. A discussion of the general interface design principles is followed by the results of a preliminary evaluative study. Numerous sample screens illustrate the text. (13…