DIALOGFair

BCR DIALOGFair Big Success

By James Speed Hensinger

More than 50 people from BCR member libraries took advantage of the opportunity April 30 to gather at BCR's Aurora, Colorado, offices to learn more about Knight-Ridder Information's (KRI) DIALOG and KRI's new products and services. The free BCR-sponsored DIALOGFair attracted librarians from throughout the state.

Ethel Salonen, Roz Greene and Hilary Fox came from KRI to answer questions, present an overview of DIALOG products and services and introduce and demonstrate KRI's newest products:

KR@Site -- now being beta tested, which provides Internet access to KR OnDisc databases.
DIALOG Web -- dialogweb.krinfo.com; provides Internet access to DIALOG databases.
DataStar Web -- www.dsweb.krinfo.ch; provides Internet access to DataStar databases.
DIALOG Select -- provides a web interface, designed especially for the end-user searching, to DIALOG Web and DataStar Web.
DIALOG@CARL -- designed specifically for academic and public libraries.

The day's highlight was the free DIALOG refresher course offered in the afternoon, along with hands-on practice for those who attended. Information about UnCover document delivery and customized web gateways was also presented.

"We are striving to provide you with a fully integrated solution for all of your information needs," said Ethel Salonen, KRI's director of academic sales, emphasizing that numerous choices are available to DIALOG users. The traditional access methods to DIALOG databases (DIALOG Link) will continue to be available. "As an information professional, I pick whichever access method I can use best at the time," Salonen said.