Enhanced access to Network research publications will be an essential stimulus to synthesis and cross-site studies as the LTER Network enters its second decade of research
The LTER bibliographic database now includes 8,759 citations from 19 site bibliographies
The LTER All-Site Bibliography (LTER-Biblio), now in its second phase of development, has been designed to provide easy access to bibliographic records formerly available only at individual sites. Phase I of this tool, unveiled at the 1993 All Scientists Meeting, was assembled by Harvey Chinn (University of California, Davis), with the assistance of the LTER data managers under a National Science Foundation-supported Network Office subcontract to LTER Research Coordinator Caroline Bledsoe.
Features
LTER-Biblio is located on the LTER Information System, LTERnet.edu, and is available in three forms: as a gopher-searchable bibliography, as a Pro-Cite (commercial software) database, and as a set of text (ASCII) files. LTER-Biblio includes 8,759 citations from 19 individual site bibliographies, is searchable on-line with every word indexed, and currently contains abstracts for two sites and key word lists and pre-LTER citations for some sites.
On-Line Access
LTER-Biblio may be accessed via the LTERNet gopher using a public domain client program called Mosaic. (Alternatively, gopher may be accessed directly using telnet to log in to LTERnet.edu as user gopher) Mosaic is available for X Windows, Macintosh, and MS Windows platforms. (See the item “Obtaining Mosaic” in the Bibliography Menu for further information.)
Gopher, an interactive network navigation tool with a simple menu-driven interface, hides complex computer networking details and simplifies search and retrieval procedures. (The following instructions are for X Windows and assume familiarity with windows-based programs.)
- With Mosaic running, select the
button. - When the Open Document dialog appears, enter gopher://lternet.edu/ and select the
button. The gopher root menu will appear in the Document View window: 
(The remaining illustrations show only the central display area.)
- Select LTER Bibliography catalog and the Bibliography Menu appears.
- Select the menu item Search the LTER Bibliography to reach the gopher search window. As a sample search for matching citations, enter one or more words, such as fire.
A list of authors with partial titles appears:
- Select a title to view the full citation:
- To save citations to your computer, select the
button. - To return to the selected list of citations, select the
button.
Lessons Learned During Phase 1
The LTER-Biblio project has already resulted in several site bibliography improvements. Some sites have been spurred to add pre—LTER references. Konza Prairie, following Coweeta’s example, is adding abstracts. The project has also promoted the valuable inclusion of the bibliography for a site no longer in the Network.
Some software choices, which have worked well at the site level, cause problems at the network level. A total of 16 different computer programs have been used to maintain site bibliographies -- the principal difference among these is how finely citations are subdivided into discrete fields, such as author, date, title, or journal. Subdivisions range from one field per citation for word processing programs to five or six for general-purpose database systems to 10 to 30 for bibliographic software. To account for these differences, Harvey Chinn has devised a set of filters, or programs, to rearrange the information into a common format. As the LTER Network increases the use of computer-networked resources, individual sites will need to coordinate software selections and design compatible applications to facilitate the widest information exchange.
Future Plans -- Phase 2
Modifications of the current searching process will allow users to conduct Boolean searches using logical expressions. Although LTER-Biblio is currently on LTERNet, future plans call for its development into a distributed database to facilitate periodic on-line updates by the sites. Other enhancements Harvey Chill will begin work on in 1994 include the addition of more abstracts (as site finances permit), and possible hypertext linkages between LTERBiblio and other LTER databases, such as the Personnel Directory and the Core Dataset Catalog.
For more information or a copy of the LTER survey results. Caroline Bledsoe, Land, Air and Water Resources, Hoag/and Hall, University of Calfornia-Davis, CA 95616-8627, 916-752-0388, cBledsoe@LTERnet.edu, or Harvey Chinn, harvey@LTERnet.edu.