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Reference and Information Services
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บทความพิเศษประจำสัปดาห์

BRS: gone but not forgotten.

Author: Bambrick, Jane.
Source: Online (Weston, Conn.) v. 19 (July/Aug. 1995) p. 74-5 ISSN: 0146-5422
Number: BBPI95050811
Copyright: The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited.

As I prepared to sell my mother's house last year, I sifted through a lifetime of happy memories. This year I had similar feelings about our library's experience with BRS. I logged on to BRS and discovered the news that the purchase of BRS by CD PLUS was complete and that our old friend would be gone. Being a "saver," there was much to go through in my office after I learned of BRS' demise. I found chapter guides for defunct databases, every BRS Bulletin since the beginning, binders with the proceedings of the annual user meetings, search manuals, command lists, etc.

To most online searchers, these stacks of documentation would be discarded without a thought, but in the annals of BRS I saw the reflection of my love affair with online searching. Many memories crossed my mind, and yes, they were happy ones!

THERE AT THE BEGINNINGIn 1978, four of us from William Paterson College traveled to the University of Pennsylvania for our introduction to BRS. We were apprehensive about stepping into this new sphere of electronic information, and listened attentively as the representative began the session. There were no transparencies, slick training guides or computer graphics as we expect in workshops today. We left with less than a dozen handouts, and conducted our first searches with sweaty palms--and a wing and a prayer. Nevertheless, we were determined, and eventually mastered the techniques of database searching and passed them on to a long line of new staff members. As BRS became more sophisticated, so did we!

We selected BRS as our online service in 1978 instead of the industry leader, DIALOG. The main reason was because then MEDLINE was on BRS exclusively, and its overall charges were within the range of the budget of a small academic library. We conducted 19 searches that fall and 82 the next spring at an average cost of $17.14. In the next decade, use skyrocketed with totals of 224 in 1986/87 and 310 in 1987/88 at average costs of $33.17 and $35.10 respectively.

We contracted with DIALOG in 1982 to obtain databases not on BRS, such as Historical Abstracts and others in the humanities and social sciences. Nevertheless, BRS remained our primary online service, and our most frequently used databases were ERIC, Psychological Abstracts, MEDLINE, Dissertations Abstracts and Exceptional Children. In the fall of 1988, we introduced the SilverPlatter CD-ROMs of ERIC and Psychological Abstracts, and MEDLINE soon followed. Thus began the decline of our online usage.

BRS had only 12 databases when we discovered it, but eventually it became a formidable competitor to DIALOG. The competition was exciting as each tried to outdo the other with software enhancements and database acquisitions. My old file contained chapter guides to BRS exclusives such as SPIF, SPIN, TERM and RICE--acronyms that make sense only to those of us "in the know!".

USER MEETINGS AND A PERSONAL TOUCHI remember the informative and festive annual user meetings. The Halloween party with BRS representatives in costume at Quincy Market in Boston and the reception at the Computer Museum were particularly memorable. Other meetings in Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta and Chicago conjure up pleasant thoughts as well. I will never forget the kindness and service of the BRS customer service representatives, which I consider unparalleled by other systems, even today. Their patience, knowledge and courtesy were forthcoming in every phone call. The accounting department was unusually patient as it awaited our payments, often delayed because of state bureaucracy.

Although many of us thought BRS would triumph by merging with SDC, the partnership did not save the organization. The short-lived names of Maxwell Online and InfoPro Technologies never really became synonymous with BRS to long-time users. Fortunately, the famous "dot-dot" commands live on with CD PLUS, but some search operators have changed.

For old time's sake, I researched the coverage of BRS in the professional media using LISA on BRS before the CD PLUS sale (Figure 1). The history of BRS in professional journals is reflected by the number of postings from 1978 to August 1994. BRS was most frequently mentioned in the research literature in 1984, with a high of 42 postings. Postings mentioning BRS declined to only 11 in 1993, and none in the first eight months of 1994. I remember conducting literature reviews on BRS, about BRS, to prepare reports and studies for work such as cost studies on BRS versus DIALOG, and for training new searchers, software enhancements, etc. (And we remember publishing those reports and studies! --NG).

LOOKING BACKWhen I went to the National Online Meeting in May 1993, as usual I stopped by the BRS booth, then named InfoPro Technologies. I spoke to the representative and mentioned that I had been a BRS user since 1978. The young man looked at me incredulously. He was probably in high school or even elementary school when I logged on to do my first ERIC search. He turned around, reached under the counter and presented me with a leather case for my business cards as if to say, "Thank you for your long-time use." I thanked him and walked away.

On the way home, I thought about the past 15 years. I had grown professionally and learned many things and, of course, the world of information had changed. Again last year, I stopped by the BRS booth and talked with the CD PLUS representative, a young, knowledgeable, enthusiastic salesperson who explained the many advantages of the CD PLUS takeover. I listened and agreed with many of his points.

Time changes many things. I guess I will never think of BRS as having been outdated. BRS was born, flourished and faded away. In our library, SilverPlatter CD-ROMs have triumphed over CD PLUS and DIALOG. To most, BRS will be or has already been forgotten, but not by this searcher, because that's where my online career began.

Added material.

Communications to the author should be addressed to Jane Bambrick, Reference Librarian/Computer Reference Service Coordinator, Sarah Byrd Askew Library, William Paterson College of New Jersey, Wayne, New Jersey 07470; 201/595-2290; Internet--bambrick_j@wpc.wilpaterson.edu.

FIGURE 1 BRS In The Professional Literature, 1974-1994 This figure shows the number of records mentioning BRS as found on LISA, searched on BRS in August 1994.

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