Bobst Library Services Bobst Library Services[Ed: Links to web pages and/or e-mail addresses which have become inactive since the publication of this article have been enclosed in curly brackets { }. Replacement links have been provided where possible.]
Traditionally, libraries collect materials and create catalogs to help their users find those materials. In some institutions with a highly focused subject area, the library goes one step further and provides in-depth indexing of seemingly ephemeral materials like newspaper articles, conference reports and documents. For the past twelve years, the Jack Brause Library at NYU's Real Estate Institute has identified and classified periodical literature from the world of real estate and related fields, including appraisal, investment, architecture and city planning. The REI database represents the complete evolution of a reference tool from index cards to an in-house computerized system, to its current home on the World Wide Web, at {www.nyu.edu/library/rei/brsea.htm} Ed: Now available through NYU BobCat.
Many libraries used computers in-house to perform a variety of functions long before any of us had even heard of the Internet. Early on, special libraries began using computers to create specialized databases like REI, but for the most part these systems could only be consulted on-site. That wasn't much of a constraint in the past, because almost nothing was available remotely and users expected to have to make a trip to the library to use the traditional, mostly paper-based materials.
With the advent of networked information systems, however, libraries are now in a unique position to share all of these little research gems easily and relatively inexpensively. Many libraries' collections have indexed some or all of their materials into highly specialized "home-grown" databases. The appearance of these databases on the Internet has extended their usefulness to far beyond the bounds of their sponsoring institutions.
One of the great myths surrounding the Internet is that everything out there is accessible to virtually everyone. As we all know, there are really two basic types of resources on the Internet: the free and the fee-based, which increasingly include some of the really valuable resources. Generally, commercially-produced databases are available only by subscription, because their producers are, after all, in a business for profit.
Many of the databases produced by libraries, museums and other not-for-profit institutions have, happily, made their public appearance on the Internet free of charge. In 1997, the REI database went public via telnet and the Web. Like The Jack Brause Library itself, the database remains open to the public. REI is available on BobCat (the text-only version), and BobCatPlus, the web-based catalog. The latter format uses the Z39.50 protocol, which allows the database to be searched with the same familiar interface used for other BobCatPlus databases.
The REI database is created by the staff of the Jack Brause Library, who update it daily by scanning the library's collection of over 140 real estate periodicals, including The New York Times Real Estate section. The index provides information on the New York/Metro area and national commercial and residential markets; state and federal real estate legislation and tax changes; finance and investment methodologies; architectural trends; legal matters relating to real estate, et cetera. As this article goes to press, the database provides access to over 62,000 citations. Give it a try for all of your real estate research needs! ![[ C ]](../icons/CSmSum98.gif){kind=icon}
Have you noticed fewer lines forming at the computer terminals in Bobst's reference centers on the first, sixth and ninth floors? That's because some of the most heavily-used databases are now available to the NYU community on the Web.
Check out the Library's database page at {www.nyu.edu/library/bobst} Replacement URL: http://library.nyu.edu/. Then, select "articles via databases" to see some recent additions to the Library's remote offerings, including:
Posted May 18, 1998. Last reviewed December 5, 2005.
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