Just what is FirstSearch anyway? Simple put, First-Search is a reference service provided by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and developed to be easily used by the end user. So easy in fact, that patrons having no computer experience can simply read the instructions on the screen and complete a successful search. Articles may be viewed online, e-mailed to an Internet address or purchased from a supplier, and books and other materials may be obtained via interlibrary loan.

The Illinois FirstSearch Project got its start after funds were allocated by Secretary of State George Ryan's "Live and Learn" program. After a successful pilot program for Chicago Library system members, the program was extended to all library systems and their members. Each library system submitted to OCLC an address listing of their members, and in order for OCLC to have time to adequately prepare the influx of libraries (which currently is 3,000), the First Search access was implemented in three phases.

Phase one occurred on Oct. 1, 1994 when the Alliance Library System, DuPage Library System, Lewis and Clark Library System, Lincoln Trail Library System and the North Suburban Library System were brought on board. Phase two occurred on Nov. 1,1994 when Heritage Trail Library System, Northern Illinois Library System, River Bend Library System, Rolling Prairie Library System, Shawnee Library System and Suburban Library System joined the project. Phase three occurred on Dec. 1, 1994, which allowed the Chicago Library System to join the project after the completion of their pilot program. The original funding was due to end on June 30, 1995 but has been extended through June 30, 1996.

The "Live and Learn" funding also allowed the systems to provide Internet access to their member libraries. There is no charge to access OCLC's reference services via the Internet, so Illinois librarians quickly learned the phrase "telnet to fscat.oclc.org." The systems supply the Internet connection, and the only cost to the libraries is a modem connection to their library system. For those libraries that have not been able to connect to FirstSearch via the Internet and which are not OCLC members, a dial-access connection can be established, although the cost of a dial-access connection is not covered under the terms of the grant. The library is responsible for a $50 dial-access set-up fee, and the connection to FirstSearch costs $6.90 per hour. The FirstSearch service may also be accessed via the World Wide Web at this address: http://www.ref.oclc.org:2000.

OCLC provided FirstSearch documentation that was mailed directly to the project libraries. These materials included a User Guide, System Guide, reference cards on the databases included in the project, document supplier information and their FirstSearch authorization and password. The mailings were completed so fast however, that many libraries had not yet received word from their systems about the project. This resulted in some confusion as a number of calls were made to the ILLINET/OCLC Services staff asking what the FirstSearch documentation was for. After those calls died down, we received another spate of calls because the authorizations and passwords were contained in a pull-apart envelope that was easily mistaken for junk mail and thrown away, or because the ink used to print the authorizations and passwords smudged easily and were hard to read. As our fax machine, e-mail messaging and telephone work went into overdrive, so did OCLC's, and libraries soon had received their authorizations, passwords and any documentation that had been lost or mistakenly returned to OCLC.

The next step was to demonstrate FirstSearch to the staffs of those 3,000 participating libraries. The ILLINET/OCLC Services staff was busy coordinating workshops and sending their trainers out to conduct workshops on OCLC services, and we were hard pressed to add several more sessions onto an already busy schedule. An outside consultant was contracted with to conduct the demonstrations in October and November of 1994, and ILLINET/OCLC Services provided the necessary equipment and FirstSearch documentation. Interest was high among the participating libraries and library systems found themselves making arrangements with local colleges that had large lecture halls to accommodate everyone. After the ini-

*Lynn Bierma, Network Coordinator, ILLINET/OCLC Services, Illinois State Library.

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tial demonstrations, library system staff stepped in to provide further workshops for new staff and/or new libraries joining their system. The ILLINET/OCLC Services staff continued to support FirstSearch, and a FirstSearch videoconference was offered on May 24, 1995 as part of a series of Illinois State Library video-conferences. The videoconference tape may be obtained via interlibrary loan from the regional library systems, or by contacting the ILLINET/OCLC Services office at 217-524-5586.

As part of the project, participants have access to nine of more than 50 databases available in First-Search: ArticleFirst, ContentsFirst, ERIC, FastDoc, GPO, MEDLINE, PapersFirst, ProceedingsFirst and WorldCat. What follows is a short summary of each database, statistical information about their usage by project participants, discussion of why FirstSearch is popular among library staff and the results of a survey conducted by the Illinois State Library.

ArticleFirst abstracts articles found on the table of contents page of individual issues of more than 13,000 journals and has full-text capability. ContentsFirst contains complete table of contents pages from more than 13,000 journals. ERIC holds more than 850,000 annotated references to nonjoumal materials found in the monthly Resources in Education and to journal articles found in the monthly Current Index to Journals in Education. FastDoc abstracts items found on the table of contents page of journals and provides for easy document ordering by interlibrary loan and special delivery. FastDoc also has ASCII full-text capability GOP Monthly Catalog allows users to access more than 450,000 records for documents on all subjects of interest to the U.S. government and covers all types of U.S. government documents. MEDLINE covers all areas of medicine and corresponds to the print indexes Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature and International Nursing Index and indexes more than 3,500 journals published internationally. PapersFirst contains citations of papers presented at worldwide meetings, conferences, expositions, workshops, congresses and symposia. ProceedingsFirst contains citations of publications from World Wide meetings, conferences, expositions, workshops, congresses and symposia. WorldCat is OCLS's Online Union Catalog, which contains more than 32 million records owned by OCLC member libraries around the world, and contains the holdings of those libraries.

Each project library receives monthly statistics from OCLC indicating their usage of the nine databases they receive as part of the project. I am including statistical comparisons of the usage of each database, and statistical comparisons of institution type, i.e. academic, school, etc. OCLC identifies the FirstSearch authorizations and passwords as either subscription or block searches. Several participating libraries have bought additional searches that are identified as block searches, and these statistics are included, but are separate from the subscription statistics. The statistics cover the period of Oct. 1994 through June 1995 and are provided by OCLC.

The chart in Figure 1 compares the usage of each of the nine databases by libraries participating in the project. WorldCat, with its holdings information is the most popular, with the remaining eight databases showing less usage. The low usage of PapersFirst and ProceedingsFirst is probably the result of these databases being used for research by special and academic research libraries and do not find a popular audience among public and school library patrons. What is a bit surprising is that ERIC indicates low usage. Considering its educational theme, it was expected to be accessed by a large group of libraries and patrons.

Figure 2 represents a comparison of usage between educational libraries. The academic research and academic libraries appear to far exceed the use of the databases than the school and junior/community/vocational libraries, until you take into account that the academic population is probably larger and that academic institutions are more likely to have multiple computer stations available to both faculty and students. Several school librarians indicated that they are hampered in allowing access to students because there is only one computer in the library located at the librarian's desk (the same situation is found in public libraries as well, where the only computer is at the reference desk and used only by library staff). Unfortunately, schools that have a computer room or have multiple computers situated throughout the school are in the minority.

Figure 3 represents the comparison of usage between public and special libraries. Public library usage certainly exceeds that of special libraries. Special librarians have indicated that although they appreciate FirstSearch, it is not always the first choice reference service because of their access to other more specific databases.

The next set of statistics include block searches. Although these figures represent additional searches purchased by the participating libraries, they indicate usage of the nine databases in the project and were included so that a complete picture of their database activity would be obtained.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 indicate a smaller amount of activity than Figures 1, 2 and 3. Each block of searches purchased allows access to databases not included in the FirstSearchProject. Most library policies regarding

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FirstSearch is that to avoid wasting searches, the nine databases included in the FirstSearch Project should not be used when accessing a purchased authorization.

Previously, I stated that OCLC developed FirstSearch to serve the end-user. However, it also has become very popular with library staff. Acknowledging that the average patron doesn't have time or perhaps the inclination to learn complicated searching techniques, OCLC developed FirstSearch into a menu-driven service. This means that all the instructions to use FirstSearch appear on the screen. The instructions are not complicated and are written so that the actions patrons need to take to get to the next step of their search are clearly understood. The patron isn't the only person in the library enjoyed the ease of which a search can be performed, so is the librarian and the library staff! Sure, some of the steps to perform a search seem a bit frustrating to an experienced searcher, but there are searching shortcuts built into the system. Here's a reference service that does a lot, and doesn't assume a knowledge of sophisticated searching techniques on the part of the user.

You may limit searches by language, date and format, and each database contains a wordlist (thesaurus of terms). Extensive searching labels are found in each database, along with the ability to include plurals and use bound phrases. You also may print or e-mail up to five records a time. OCLC is always looking at ways to enhance their services. Recently, OCLC added a new feature to the FirstSearch interlibrary loan link PRISM ILL. This enhancement is as real time transfer of First-Search Interlibrary Loan records to PRISM ILL. If a library is an OCLC member and a patron completes the online interlibrary loan form for materials, that request, once transmitted, will appear immediately in the library's PRISM ILL Review file. Of course, if a library is not an OCLC member, the interlibrary loan form may be printed off and taken to the ILL department. If interlibrary loan is not an option, you also may obtain documents from a supplier. In that case, the user needs to provide a VISA or MasterCard number or set up an account with the supplier.

The library also may control the use of FirstSearch through the administrative module. This module may be accessed by password only; there is nothing on the action line on the FirstSearch screen to suggest that an administrative module is available. This module was developed strictly for the control of various First-Search functions. A librarian may mask the BYE command so that a patron does not inadvertently log off FirstSearch. You may change the user password and/or the administrative password. You may block and unblock access to databases and set timed resets

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(the Welcome Screen appears if no one is using FirstSearch at the time), or set five-minute timeouts so you don't incur additional telecommunication charges if you are a dial-access user. You may turn the ILL access on or off, set full-text display options and set holdings display levels.

After viewing the database descriptions, many libraries found themselves purchasing subscriptions or buying blocks of searches to databases that are not part of the Illinois FirstSearch Project (they were tempted by two free months of access to all databases, excluding some subscription-only databases. Blocks of searches are good for two years following the month of purchase. The list of databases is quite extensive and includes Periodical Abstracts, ABI/Inform, MLA

Bibliography and Business Dateline. OCLC recently added five new databases to the FirstSearch family:

EBSCO databases and ASCII full-text (Summer/ Fall release)

NetFirst—a database of records on Internet resources (Summer release)

USA/SelectPhone—a database of 80 million white pages (available now)

American Business Information—a database consisting of contacts at 10 million businesses (available now)

RILM Abstracts of Music—a music literature database (Fall release)

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In April 1995 the Illinois State Library conducted a survey of project libraries. Following are the results access and usage of the project databases.

Once the FirstSearchProject was extended through June 1996, we received several phone calls from libraries regarding additional FirstSearch workshops, and many of the telecommunication problems were addressed in the FirstSearch videoconference, resulting in more project libraries gaining access. I believe if the survey were conducted now, the responses would show a decrease in problems and lack of familiarity.

However, the results of the survey do indicate what the most common problems are and what we constantly need to address for libraries to make full use of FirstSearch during the project time frame and beyond.

If you are interested in FirstSearch, you may contact OCLC or the ILLINET/OCLC Services office at the Illinois State Library. If you have access and want to read what others are saying about FirstSearch, access FastDoc or Articlelst and try a subject search on First-Search (su:firstsearch). Go ahead, use the full-text option!

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