European
Business Schools Librarians' Group
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European
Business Schools Librarians' Group
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Recollections from the Beginnings of Scimp Service and DatabaseBy Henri Broms, former Director, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration Library. May, 2000 Scimp was begun in the beginning of the 1970’s as a service where the members of economic libraries in Western Europe were exchanging economic article information on paper slips. This slip changing method was begun by Ken Vernon (London), David Dews (Manchester) and John Fletcher and perhaps Geneviève Cuisset (France) somewhere in 1972 but in 1976 already some 5-6 libraries in England and France were taking part in it. The idea had as its base John Fletcher’s article in a Library Journal, where John had studied which top twenty journals got quoted most. Kenneth Vernon who was the Secretary of the annual meeting of the European Business School Librarians suggested that the new Nordic members would take part in Scimp. I and other Nordics came in the group when Scimp was still in a slip form. In the Rotterdam meeting (1974), Mr Braun presented the idea that it should be done with a computer. Bram Oort was then standing at Mr Braun’s side as a very young boy, as I remember. David Dews was also speaking in favour of this computerising idea. In Rotterdam, a few hours later, it was my turn to speak and I talked quite shortly about Helsinki School of Economics and the computer system we had for storing and retrieving articles from Finnish economic magazines. I had lunch with David Dews, who was the most advanced computer library expert in the group. In those days, he used to program himself the library catalogue with Cobol - today Cobol experts are rare and very sought for. David had his library catalogue programmed and working, but because of the University regulations he could not give online service to outsiders. Besides, he was doing all the programming himself (this was the fantastic part of it!) and had not really time for it. David was one of the early pioneers, who was doing all by himself, writing in Assembler and Cobol, juggling and making shortcuts with hardware, making do with whatever was at hand. David asked a few things about our journals database Finp in Helsinki. It was an online searchable collection then of about 1500 articles only. The retrieval function was working, but primitively, on the base programs of HP computer. Earlier in Helsinki I had got a great supporter of online external services from Heikki Huttunen, the computer chief. He was new as a chief , and wanted to give most of his resources to the library. He was not in the Rotterdam meeting and not in the Rome meeting (1976) either, but after that Huttunen was as a computer expert on almost every meeting, and his enthusiasm was significant to Scimp. I told to David Dews in Rotterdam that Heikki Huttunen was willing to buy a communication processor to his computer for us (nobody else in Helsinki school could use it for anything). That was a very expensive acquisition and it was lacking in Manchester Business School, where DD was. We had had our Nordic economic librarians meeting perhaps the same year in 1975. Odd Rogne (Bergen) said in his dinner speech (in Copenhagen) that David Dews and Ken were, beside being real gentlemen, fine professionals too and we could really learn a lot from them in EBSLG, so it would be good for us Nordic to be in Scimp. Everybody agreed of course. After coming back from Rotterdam I spoke with Kyllikki Ruokonen who was the second in my library and with Heikki Huttunen. They were both eager to start action. To get a model for our service we had decided with David Dews in our correspondence that during the Rome meeting (1976) we would go to see a big European on-line service provider, European Space Agency (ESA). We took a train with DD from the Rome Stazione Centrale to Frascati, outside Rome. The train went through a charming landscape passing Monte Albano, perhaps even Villa d’Este, and in ESA with David we saw things that were like a computer librarians dream. In those early days ESA gave in its online service a staggering number of some 35 databases!. How many does it have today ? Perhaps 1000? This Rome meeting was memorable, because when we all EBSLG members gathered to Trastevere to have a final dinner, the French Jacqueline’s bag was stolen by a motorbike hooligan and Jacqueline thrown to the pavement. In the beginning Ken Vernon was looking at the computerisation talk with some suspicion (he said something like: “In these things, you know, there is a lot of hoax”). But David had convinced him, and because he (Ken) loved Scimp like his own baby, he understood it was necessary for the development. Slowly those three librarians, Ken, David and John decided that they might take Helsinki’s offer to do it freely – Finp input method and retrieval for the group was about what they a wanted. DD understood that it was the communication processor that would be all important thing that would give a possibility to serve the group. A communication processor might cost almost the price of a computer, and such resources where not given to librarians. Another important – informal - meeting for Scimp was in 1977. When I was in London 1977 writing a book, Ken Vernon contacted me in London and said that now really we (David Dews , John Fletcher, Ken and me) should have a meeting and decide how and what to do with computerised Scimp. We three had a meeting in the beautiful building of LBS on Regent Park, everybody remembers the Baker Street Tube Station. We sat there one whole afternoon with Ken Vernon, David Dews and I. DD and John Fletcher drew up plans, I made during that meeting a couple of phone calls to Helsinki to computer chief Huttunen. Ken, David, and John, we finally decided to start and use Helsnki’s input for Scimp. It was also asked from me to make ready as quickly as possible a search program for the group. I promised to do it rather lightly after a phone call to Huttunen - yes, if David helped why not! A small trifle was started! About the same kind of “trifle” as promising doing a Windows in a few months! Search software were later in the 80’s controlled by government committees, but we did it in a more easy going way, not understanding it should be “controlled”. Ken Vernon worked on the valuable EBSLG Thesaurus, which our computer used as one basis of the searches, the other being of course our inverted file. The first online search was demonstrated in Paris in 1978. But Helsinki computer established the first really working online contacts with David Dews in Manchester, with Ken in London and to a Library in Paris, which was next to Roland Garros. In Scimp meetings of the EBSLG it was decided how the printed version was going to be produced, and the tape was then produced in Helsinki and the leaflet in Manchester. Ken gave the ideas of what should be in it, and how it should look like. Not much later David said that he from some reason could not do anymore the printed, and could we not do it in Helsinki?. Rather early on Bram, I don’t remember which year, became the officer to co-ordinate the important collection of data from various schools and sent them to Helsinki to be computed. He was our “Chief whip”, who saw to it that the journals were scanned. Right from the beginning there was an executive committee which also kept an eye on Scimp, how it developed. The administrative questions became too big in the end. These questions of cohesion of the Nordics and the EBSLG became a difficult part of the work, and here Arne Mölgaard Frandsen’s jovial personality kept well the Scandinavian and EBSLG groups in unison. There was lots of need of this ability which is perhaps called empathy. By 1980 both the printed and online Scimp were puffing ahead busily. Scimp tapes were given to London and Manchester in the rhythm we could produce them (producing a tape was an extra task). Also the whole input and search system program was given and installed in the London Business School computer for free. Perhaps a few words should be said of the economic side of Scimp, too. The whole computerisation of Scimp online was done with so small money that it is now too ridiculous to mention it – compared with those gigantic governmental plans to computerise the library systems of whole countries –which in the end only produced a same kind of input and search system as Scimp was, and really nothing more. David Dews said in an EBSLG meeting that it was a “bloody miracle” to get so many people to work together. Participating libraries worked the entries free of charge. To the participating libraries the working of the computer system cost nothing. However, they paid something for the online and the printed version, but not really covering the costs. I was working years later in Saudi Arabia, working on the same kind of a “Arabian Scimp” ( although in different field), and then I was really able to see the costs which were perhaps a tenfold of what we saw in Scimp. In every way all the schools participating, were giving free work and time. Bram’s job was not remunerated in any way, and it was the same all over. DD was not paid extra, Ken was not paid extra for his Thesaurus or his Secretariat. Substantial in all phases was the trust that we all had on one another. Like this it continued the whole of 70’s and 80’s. I can see that now there is everywhere in university life a detailed accounting. The question is: Could one by that method set up an EBSLG or a Scimp again? I doubt. I think a great service was created, and with the good will of many people from so many countries. It was the most resilient and good willing international work that I met during my career. |
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