Libraries and the US National Research and Education Network

Last updated

Libraries operate as part of the technological infrastructure that supports the National Research and Education Network (NREN), acting as an electronic safety net for the American public to guarantee basic access to electronic information. Public libraries are in particular capable to take on this role, as they already serve such a role in a print-based society. They not only provide electronic information and network connectivity but also provide training and education to the public on how to access and use network information.

Contents

One of the most profound consequences of the NREN for librarians, library users, and the general education and research community is the “virtual library”. [1] Consortia of public libraries use the NREN to connect their online catalogs. This cooperation enables the “universal borrowing card” subsequently allowing library users to move between public libraries as just one.

Extensive lobbying by the American Library Association (ALA) helped to add language referring to libraries to the NREN bill.

The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 57,000 members.

History of NREN

The National Research and Education Program often referred to by the terms “National Information Highway”, “National Information Infrastructure”, Information Superhighway”, “High-Performance and high-speed network”, and “Gigabit test bed”, is a program to support improvements and enhancements to the existing Internet. The National Research and Education Network have been under discussion since 1987 and was proposed in 1969 as an experiment under the sponsorship of the United States Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an agency of the Department of Defense. The NREN was officially established with the passage of the High Performance Computing Act signed into law by President Bush on December 9, 1991.

Internet Global system of connected computer networks

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.

DARPA Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

United States Department of Defense United States federal executive department

The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active-duty service members as of 2016. More employees include over 826,000 National Guard and Reservists from the armed forces, and over 732,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.8 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".

The main purpose and fundamental emphasis is to maintain the United States leading place in high-performance or high-speed computing. The NREN is intended to be a gigabit network that is able to move one billion bits (binary digits) of data per second, or the equivalent of 30,000 pages of text. The intention was to connect a moderate number of diverse and geographically dispersed computers with the intention of acquiring experience in techniques for offering remote login access from one computer to another through a series of intermediate computers. The initial practical application, even though not originally planned, was the electronic mail.
1.Establish a gigabit network for the research and education community and foster its use.
2.Develop advanced networking technologies and accelerate their development.
3.Stimulate the availability, at a reasonable cost, of the required services from the private sector.
4.Catalyze the rapid deployment of a high speed general purpose digital communications infrastructure for the nation.
1.ARPANET
Founded in 1969 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the Department of Defense.
2.MILNET
The military section of the ARPANET, turned into a separate network on 1983.
3.BITNET
An academic network founded in 1980.
4.NSFNET
The National Science Foundation Network, established in 1985, known as the domestic “spinal column” of the Internet and often called the “interim NREN”.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Richard J. Goodram (1990) The Virtual Library: collections on demand (Memex Research Institute White Paper #2). Chico: California State University; p. 1.

Related Research Articles

Packet switching a method of grouping data which is transmitted over a digital network into packets

Packet switching is a method of grouping data that is transmitted over a digital network into packets. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header are used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination where the payload is extracted and used by application software. Packet switching is the primary basis for data communications in computer networks worldwide.

The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States. NSFNET was also the name given to several nationwide backbone computer networks that were constructed to support NSF's networking initiatives from 1985 to 1995. Initially created to link researchers to the nation's NSF-funded supercomputing centers, through further public funding and private industry partnerships it developed into a major part of the Internet backbone.

ARPANET Early packet switching network that was the first to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet-switching network and the first network to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. The ARPANET was initially founded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense.

CARNET is the national research and education network of Croatia. It is funded from the government budget and it operates from offices in Zagreb and five other cities.

David J. Farber American computer scientist

David J. Farber is a professor of computer science, noted for his major contributions to programming languages and computer networking. He is currently the Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of Cyber Civilization Research Center at Keio University in Japan.

Greek Research and Technology Network

The Greek Research and Technology Network or GRNET is the national research and education network of Greece. GRNET S.A. provides Internet connectivity, high-quality e-Infrastructures and advanced services to the Greek Educational, Academic and Research community, aiming at minimizing the digital divide and at ensuring equal participation of its members in the global Society of Knowledge. Additionally, GRNET develops digital applications that ensure resource optimization for the Greek State, modernize public functional structures and procedures, and introduce new models of cooperation between public bodies, research and education communities, citizens and businesses. GRnet's executives have been contributors of or occupied board positions in organisations including GÉANT, TERENA, DANTE,GR-IX, Euro-IX,, RIPE NCC. GRNET provides advanced services to the following sectors: Education, Research, Health, Culture. GRNET supports all Universities, Technological Education Institutes, Research Centers and over 9,500 schools via the Greek School Network a population of more than one million people. Video presentations of some of the services are available in Pyxida.

Energy Sciences Network organization

The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is a high-speed computer network serving United States Department of Energy (DOE) scientists and their collaborators worldwide. It is managed by staff at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Prime College

Prime College is an information technology, management, and science college in Nayabazar (Khusibu) Kathmandu, Nepal, established in 2001. The college offers courses for BBA, BIM, BBS B.Sc (CSIT) and CCNA.

CESNET Czech company

CESNET is developer and operator of national e-infrastructure for science, research, development and education in Czech Republic. The CESNET association was founded in 1996 by Czech public universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. An important part of CESNET's activities is research of advanced network technologies and applications from hybrid networking, programmable hardware, metacomputing to middleware and video transmissions. CESNET fulfils the role of NREN within the Czech Republic and represents it in international organisations such as the GÉANT Association, EGI and GLIF. CESNET is involved in the implementation of the European backbone network project called GÉANT. Within the Czech Republic CESNET fulfils the role of a coordinator of large infrastructures involved in the field of information technology.

High Performance Computing Act of 1991

The High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA) is an Act of Congress promulgated in the 102nd United States Congress as on December 9, 1991. Often referred to as the Gore Bill, it was created and introduced by then Senator Al Gore, and led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure and the funding of the National Research and Education Network (NREN).

CANARIE company

CANARIE manages and develops components of digital research infrastructure for Canada's research, education and innovation communities. The organisation receives the majority of its funding from the Government of Canada. It operates the national backbone network of Canada's National Research and Education Network (NREN), supports the development of research software tools; provides cloud resources for startups and small businesses; provides access and identity management services; and supports the development of policies, infrastructure and tools for research data management.

Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network organization

The Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN), now known simply as the REANNZ Network, is a high-capacity, ultra high-speed national research and education network (NREN) connecting New Zealand's tertiary institutions, research organisations, libraries, schools and museums, and the rest of the world. REANNZ , a Crown-owned not-for-profit company, owns and operates KAREN.

University Computing Centre

The University Computing Centre in Zagreb has a long tradition in the area of information and communication technologies. It was founded in 1971 within the University of Zagreb, the only Croatian university at the time, with the purpose to enhance the implementation of information technologies in the academic community as well as in Croatia in general.

Al Gore and information technology

Al Gore is a former US Senator who served as the Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 1980s and 1990s, he promoted legislation that funded an expansion of the ARPANET, allowing greater public access, and helping to develop the Internet.

Stephen Wolff is one of the many fathers of the Internet. He is mainly credited with turning the Internet from a government project into something that proved to have scholarly and commercial interest for the rest of the world. Dr. Wolff realized before most the potential in the Internet and began selling the idea that the Internet could have a profound effect on both the commercial and academic world.

The Academic Scientific Research Computer Network of Armenia (ASNET-AM) is the national research and education network (NREN) of Armenia. ASNET-AM was created in 1994. The structure and policy of ASNET-AM operation was developed and realized by the Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development US federal research and development program

The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program consists of a group of U.S. federal agencies to research and develop information technology (IT) capabilities to empower Federal missions; support U.S. science, engineering, and technology leadership; and bolster U.S. economic competitiveness.

RENAM

The Research and Educational Networking Association of Moldova (RENAM) is the national research and education networking organisation (NREN) of Moldova. RENAM was incorporated in June 1999 as an association under Moldovan law. It is a member of TERENA.

AMRES organization

AMRES is the National Research and Education Networking organisation (NREN) in Serbia. After it was founded on 22 April 2010 as an institution by the Serbian government, AMRES took over the responsibility for the academic network and the associated services from the Computer Centre of the University of Belgrade. AMRES represents Serbia in international forums such as TERENA, but the University of Belgrade is still the organisation representing Serbia in the project that provides the funding for the European backbone network GÉANT.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.