Znt. Libr. Rev. (1979) 11, 193-197

Developing World Wide Interaction with Euronet H. C. CAMPBELL

The coming into operation of the European on-line information network (EURONET) in 1979 sponsored by the European Economic Community raises many questions as to how non-European countries’ access to the on-line information and data systems of Europe will be handled in the future.

EURONET is a shared usage data base information retrieval utility with initial capital funding from the European Community governments and private investors. Its communication network has been set up by the Post Office Departments of the nine member states of the European Community. It utilizes modern packet switching technology to establish over public telephone lines quick connections between the user terminal and the service supplier.

Among the more than 100 existing data-bases to be supplied at the start of EURONET have been many produced by regional and inter- national governmental agencies, ILO, FAO, OECD, ESA, etc. There are also many of the well-known U.S.A. data-bases. However, there are over 220 European institutions which produce several hundred data- bases not included in U.S.A. data-bases. These are being developed by a wide range of European producers, and the number of producers is itself increasing rapidly.

TABLE I Growth of data-bases available in Europe over a 2 year Period1

1975 1976 1977

Bibliographic files 335 337 422 Data banks 51 149 268

- All data bases 386 486 690

Originators/Operators 284 365 510

* 1st Vice President, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), c/o Espial Productions Ltd., P. 0. Box 624, Station K, Toronto M4P 2H1, Canada.

1 Recorded by Data-bases in Europe, 3rd Edition, 1977. 0020-7837/79/020193+05 $02.00/O 0 1979 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

194 H. C. CAMPBELL

Institutions in the U.K., Belgium, German Federal Republic, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Denmark have made many of their data bases available to EURONET. Detailed terms are not stated as to what royalties they require, but all billing is being handled in two stages, one to the local PTT and the other to the data supplier. User charges have been announced, and although substantial, are likely to decrease as time goes on. User demand of some 2 350 000 queries on line per year in Europe is expected by 1985. The following is an estimate by country of the expected total traffic in 1980.1

TABLE II

Geographic Distribution of Expected Total Tra#c, 1980

Col.mtry Traffic

(Bits x 10) O/-, of Traffic

Belgium 42 4 Denmark 20 2 France 217 21 Germany 252 24 Ireland 6 0 Italy 143 14 Luxembourg 1 0 Netherlands 62 6 U.K. 304 30

TOTAL 1047 101

As can be seen from the above, the largest users and suppliers are the U.K., Germany and France in that order.

Throughout the 1970s the U.S.A. has been the leading producer and exporter of on-line information services, which are stored in the U.S.A. and made available only by arrangements with the U.S. host. The con- tent ofmany U.S.A. services is provided from European and non-U.S.A. sources, but it is packaged and sold under conditions established by suppliers of that country. Extensive restrictions by copyright and license holders apply to subscribers, and the supplier in some cases can remove access to a particular data base if there are violations of restrictions.2

The Minister of State for Science and Technology of Canada, Hugh Faulkner, speaking in August 1977 expressed concern over both the

1 PA International Management Consultants Ltd., Rerun of the PA Model, Final Re$ort, Commission of the Economic Communities, Nov. 1976, p. 18.

a System Development Corporation, Schedule B, Data BaseR&rictiom, Dec. 1, 1977, Toronto.

EURONET 195

balance of payments problem which Canada experiences as a user of U.S.A. services, as well as the loss of social and political control that results when computer services leave Canada, and all services are imported. The Federal Canadian Computer/Communications secre- tariat has estimated that if the present loss of computer services continues over the next 10 years something like 30 000 jobs will have been lost.

If in the 1980s the main source of world data-bases are from Europe rather than from the U.S.A., and this is likely to be the case, what are the problems that face all countries outside of Europe and the U.S.A. in terms of developing their own national on-line information services?

While over 80% of enquiries in Europe are expected in the first few years to be in the area of science and technology, (see Table 3, below) it is expected that social science and business data and information will, in the long run, at least equal the natural science and technology material. Much of the information now provided dates only from the early 197Os, and there are few comprehensive retrospective data-bases. Much work is being done to develop these, and they will come into existence quickly, where a demand exists.

Data base producers both in the U.S.A. and Europe need cost effective access to a wide international market in order to maintain economic viability, and are already preparing to develop overseas connections.

THE SITUATION IN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE OF EUROPE

At the present time there has been a good deal of concern voiced about the lack of detailed national policies to govern the growth and develop- ment of national information data-base industries. Scandinavian countries and Canada have developed regional and national infor- mation systems and are looking at ways ofjoining EURONET as users and producers. The countries in Eastern Europe have also begun to create publicly available data-bases, and are arranging their own exchanges.

The planning that is going on at present for the evolution of a national on-line information service in many non-European, non-U.S.A. countries is considerable. Many agencies in the public and private sector have been working on this matter, under the general leadership of the key government services, often located at the National Libraries.

The value of direct access to conventionally published European information systems has always been apparent to most countries of the world, and overseas clients make up a large part of the demand for

196 H. C. CAMPBELL

TABLE III Distribution of TraJk by Selected Subjects, 19801

Bits x 10 o/o of Traffic

Science Agriculture Biology Chemistry Medicine Other

Engineering Aeronautics Civil Eng. Electrical Eng. Mechanical Eng. Nuclear Eng. Other

General Science & Technology Environment Law Education Business, Management,

Economics, Accounting Public Administration Patents Other

14 43

125 169 99

30 19

161 76 27 82

112 40

4 7

32 3 4 0 7 0 8 0

1059 Total: 19

1 4

12 17 9

Total: 43

3 2

16 7 3 8

Total : 39 11 4 0 1

European published information. As European publishing swings to on- line production and output for cost considerations, all countries will need well worked out national strategies to arrive at the most effective participation in European and U.S.A. services. In view of this general problem facing many countries, it is not too soon to estimate what the main elements of national concern will be.

Key components for a study of national interaction with EURONET will involve the following:

Analysis of National user nee& This should be built on the various studies that in many cases are

being carried out dealing with use of existing conventional information 1 P.A. International Management Consultants Ltd., idon, p. 19.

EUROi’iET 197

services. Efforts should be made to complement these with an analysis of the expected coverage to be provided by non-U.S.A., non-European on-line suppliers based abroad.

Technical Feasibility A major portion of any study should examine the technical problems

of connecting national users to EURONET. The various long term possibilities, as well as short term ones would be examined, bearing in mind the decreasing costs of overseas communications services.

Priority can be asigned to the various user sectors within a country. First priority for attention will tend to be the needs of government and academic research users, the needs of the local national data-base brokers and suppliers, and then the needs of general users.

Cost efectiveness of linkages with Euronet A decisive analysis should be made of the economic basis on which

decisions could be made as to both long term and short term financial investment and returns that could be expected as a result of the Euro- pean linkage. In order to do this, it is necessary to know the cost of supplying conventional services, including salary and time costs.

Design of the linkage plan This should examine communication links that will be developed in

other fields, and the extent of the network for television, telephone, radio, etc., all of which use the same basic carriers of messages as the computer based information systems.

Work has already begun in a number of countries on all or part of the above problems, and many Asian and African nations are making preparations to carry out such investigations in the 1980s. So quickly do events move with the on-line explosion, however, that many countries are already re-considering decisions made in the 1970s for large library buildings and centralized national services. The impact of decentralized communication access to information from Europe and the U.S.A. is being felt not only around the world, but within each country. This is particularly true of access to data-bases, rather than bibliographical services. The phenomenal rise in the number of machine readable data- bases in the later 1970s is one of the true revolutions in information handling.