The Remote Access Audio/video Information System

LIBRARIES CENTERS have historically A N D MEDIA been facilities in which recorded information and, more recently, equipment needed to display that information, have been centralized for the convenience of students and other users of such information. During the past decade a subtle but very important shift has taken place in the importance of local access to information. In the library applications of computer technology-in automation, in systems development and in information retrieval-we have seen a decentralization in the accessibility of information, The Medical Audiovisual Center in Atlanta, for example, now provides computer-based remote access to an enormous bank of bibliographic data relating to nonprint material for the health professions. Education, like so many other institutions in our culture, is very easily diverted by novelty. Since 1947, the profession has been preoccupied with the possibilities of television. Perhaps the most conspicuous example of this diversion occurred during the late 1940s and early 1950s when educational radio was almost totally scrapped in favor of television. In spite of the fact that the audio tape recorder was developed and introduced into the United States in 1947, its importance clearly took a back seat to the video image. On April 14, 1952 the Federal Communications Commission issued the now famous sixth report and order allocating 242 television channels for educational use.l This new interest in television caused a dramatic decrease in the applications of audio technology and particularly educational radio broadcasting. The unfortunate effects of this rush into television technology are still being felt. While television facilities, equipment and systems are today very sophisticated indeed, developments in audio technology, until recently, were comparatively primitive.