.NASA, T
Funds to be used for
the development of a
'digitized library'
system for the
Internet
By AMY KLEIN
For the Daily
In the past three months, the Uni-
versity has received more than $12.8
million in grants to develop and test a
multimedia digital library.
In September, the School of Infor-
mation and Library Studies was
awarded a four-year, $4 million grant
by the National Science Foundation,
the Advanced Research Projects
Agency and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration to create
and evaluate a digital library concen-
North
resists
questions
about Iraq
The Washington Post
RICHMOND-Republican Sen-
ate candidate Oliver L. North backed
*off yesterday from his assertion that
the Clinton administration has so
weakened the U.S. military that it
could not stop an Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait. But North continued ham-
mering the Democratic president, dis-
missing him as "not my commander
in chief."
"We know that the U.S. can, on
any given day, beat Saddam Hussein.
That's not the issue," North said dur-
*ing a news conference here. "The
issue is, should this administration
have made the kinds of cuts they have
made and should they be allowed to
carry them out over the course of the
remainder of this term?"
When a reporter asked North
whether he had been disrespectful
in calling the president "a bonehead"
last week, North said, "Bill Clinton
s not my commander in chief."
North did not elaborate on the
comment after he first made it in
Norfolk, during one of his three
campaign stops across the state to-
day with Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).
But at the second stop here, the
former marine lieutenant colonel
said, "I'm not in the military any-
more. He's not your commander in
chief either."
4 hiGramm interjected, "In fact, if
you are a citizen, (the president) is
under your command."
North's Democratic rival, Sen.
Charles S. Robb, called North's re-
marks about a weakened U.S. mili-
tary "a deliberate undermining of
our armed forces. ... It's reckless
and irresponsible in the extreme."
Robb, speaking at his own news
ponference at the state Capitol, said
the idea of a weakened military was
"dangerous to suggest to someone
like Saddam Hussein, who might be
inclined to believe this particular
Senate challenger because of his
relationship with some of the other
terrorists in the Middle East."
As a White House aide in the
Reagan administration, North or-
chestrated the sale of arms to Iran in
exchange for the release of U.S. hos-
tages.
He then diverted profits from that
and weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras.
North said his comments about
the diminished capacity of America's
armed forces, made after an appear-
ance with his opponents Sunday at
the Jewish Community Center of
Northern Virginia, had been taken
jut of context.
"I did not say that," he said. "As
usual, they didn't get it right."
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 11, 1994 -3
at'1 Science Foundation give grants to 'U'
trating on the earth and space sci-
ences.
Commercial sponsors including
IBM, Apple Computer and
Encyclopaedia Britannica have do-
nated an additional $4.5 million in
money, technology and information
to the project.
The digital library will be avail-
able through the Internet and research
will focus on building a user-friendly
system. Interviews will be conducted
to establish the needs of users and
programs will be created to train and
assist new users.
The objective behind a digital li-
brary is to provide users with the
ability to research an entire report
from a computer terminal. The main
advantage is the ability to scan through
many different articles and references,
said Daniel Atkinsdean of the School
of Information and Library Studies.
"In the long term, we're looking to
improve the quality and nature of the
interfaces for the students. Things
like MIRLYN are outdated. In the
future, programs will be more intui-
tive," Atkins said.
Two other related projects have
also received funding. The Mellon
Foundation gave the University
$700,000 for the Journal Storage
Project, to create a digital access to a
collection of history and economic
journals.
The first year, the program will
provide access tojournals in five other
college libraries.
A $4.3 million grant from the W.J.
Kellogg Foundation will help the
University implement a professional
program to educate librarians. Addi-
tional courses in the curriculum of the
School of Information and Library
Studies and summer workshops will
help train future librarians.
At the University, joint projects
with the librarians will ensure they
have the knowledge necessary to help
students.
"We're planning on empowering
the librarians so that they can provide
modem expertise. We should see a
change real soon," Atkins said.
The digitized information will in-
clude text, numerical data, visual im-
ages and symbols, sounds and spoken
words, and video clips.
"The great thing about this is that
you can be reading a speech given by
Dr. Martin Luther King, and if you
click on the text you can actually hear
him say, 'I have a dream,' said
Randall L. Frank, director of infor-
mation technology for the Computer
Aided Engineering Network.
Over the next five years, students
will begin to feel the effects of digiti-
zation.
"Instead of putting things on re-
serve or buying all those coursepacks,
students can just call those things up
on the computer. It'll be much sim-
pler," Atkins said.
Asjournals and references are digi-
tized, the future libraries will be
smaller.
"We're beginning to talk about a
library without walls. The printed page
is no longer the real thing. Almost
everything now is produced on word
processors. The digital form is now
the real representation," Frank said.
Grants to SILS
The following is a list of
financial contributors to the
School of Information and
Library Studies:
National Science Foundation,
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and the
Advanced Research Projects
Agency: $4 million.
IBM, Apple Computer, and
Encyclopaedia Britannica:
$4.5 million
W.J. Kellogg Foundation: $4.3
million
Mellon Foundation: $700,000
A CLASS ACT
Community ready
to 'come out' today
By ROBIN BARRY "Sometimes you want to go into
Daily Staff Reporter hiding because you don't know how
While there are no campus events they will react," he said.
scheduled today for National Coming Judy Levy, a Law student agreed.
Out Day, lesbian, gay and bisexual She cited issues of homophobia-like
people on campus will celebrate their violence in the neighborhood, job
identities nonetheless. discrimination, and tension in rela-
"Coming out" has important im- tionships with family and friends.
plications for heterosexuals and ho- Levy said most of her family was
mosexuals alike, said Ronni Sanlo, open and accepting but she has nev-
director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual ertheless faced some frightening
Programs Office (LGBPO). forms of homophobia. "I was at a gay
"If we are invisible and secretive pride rally in Ann Arbor and a man
then stereotypes are allowed to pre- shouting anti-gay things left and re-
vail," she said. "This way, if we are turned later with a gun threatening to
visible and open the stereotypes will shoot people," she said. "He was dis-
go away and others will see who we armed by police."
really are, and we're wonderful." Katz said "coming out" helps fight
Sanlo said LGBPO wanted to host a homophobia. "If you're open about
rally but time constraints forced them who you are, it's like you give permis-
to change their plans. sion to the people around you to accept
Instead, they bought a half-page it as a part of you," he said. "If you're
advertisement running in today'sMichi- scared, then others feel scared."
gan Daily. The ad contains roughly 90 Bob Haven of University Produc-
names. LGBPO is also celebrating tions said he will celebrate by doing
"coming out" over the rest of the week, what he does everyday. "By being who
culminating in the Community Cel- we are we show the rest of the world
ebration at the Union on Friday. that we arereal people," he said. "We're
University staff member Andrew here, we'vealwaysbeenhere,andwe're
Katz said "coming out" means deal- not going to go away, we're real people
ing mostly with friends and family. just like anybody else."
MICHAEL FITZHUGH/Daily
Musical theatre sophomores Shirley Serotsky (right) and Danielle Schoenberger (left) try to bring Jordan Rohler
(center) to a standing position during an exercise yesterday in their "Movement for the Actor" class.
Wolpe leaves debate with an issue -aid to private institutions
LANSING (AP) - Gov. John
Engler might have handed Democrat
Howard Wolpe an issue for the clos-
ing weeks of the campaign by refus-
ing to rule out giving tax dollars to
religious schools, analysts said yes-
terday.
Engler twice during Sunday
night's gubernatorial debate refused
to say he opposed amending
Michigan's constitution to permit aid
to parochial schools.
"Howard Wolpe at least ended up
with an issue to carry for a while,"
said Craig Ruff, president of Lan-
sing-based Public Sector Consultants-
Inc.
"The fear that sometime in the
next four years an attempt may be
made to amend the constitution is one
that Howard Wolpe can use. It gives
him something to talk about and cer-
tainly was a plus for him."
The governor said he wouldn't
lead an effort to amend the constitu-
tion to permit aid to parochial schools.
But he said he would not rule out
supporting such an idea until he had
examined the specific proposal.
And he volunteered that he op-
posed the restriction when it was added
to the constitution in the 1970s.
Ed Sarpolus, partner in the Lan-
sing polling company of EPICMRA,
said Engler probably had an eye on
conservatives within his own party
when he left the door open to paro-
chial aid. "If he has any premonition
of national politics, he cannot rule out
'The fear that sometime in the next four years an
attempt may be made to amend the constitution
is one that Howard Wolpe can use. It gives him
something to talk about and certainly was a plus
for him.'
-SCraig Ruff
president, Public Sector Consultants Inc.
parochiaid," Sarpolus said.
Polls show the idea is unpopular
with the general public, he said. An
EPICMRA poll found 58 percent of
Michigan residents opposed state aid
to the Noah Webster Academy, a net-
work of homeschoolers with ties to
fundamentalists and a curriculum that
includes creationism.
Wolpe and running mate Debbie
Stabenow began attacking Engler on
Noah Webster last week. Stabenow
kept it up yesterday with appearances
in Flint.
Engler re-election campaign
spokesman Bryan Flood said the
governor's only agenda is improving
public schools.
"Howard Wolpe is a desperate
candidate. He's going to pounce on
anything the governor says. Any
fuzziness he finds out there, he'll try
to turn into some kind of scare tactic,"
Flood said.
Sarpolus said viewers of the de-
bate, hosted by WJBK-TV of
Southfield, got a peek at vintage
Engler when he broke the rules.
Ground rules for Sunday night's
debate called for one candidate to
respond to a question and the other to
have a short rebuttal.
But after Wolpe used his rebuttal to
ding Engler as a hypocrite for having
once favored legalizing marijuana and
prostitution, the governor got in an ex-
tra zing by bringing up Wolpe's eight
bounced checks at the House bank.
"That's typical Engler," Sarpolus
said. "John Engler knows when he
needs to throw apunch. He's going to
throw it no matter what the rules are.
That was the true John Engler, the
true street fighter that he is."
Sarpolus said it was reminiscent
of Engler's performance in debates
with former Gov. James Blanchard
four years ago. In one debate, Engler
violated the no-props rules set up in
advance and brought a nickel to sym-
Engler Wolpe
bolize what he said was Blanchard's
meager property tax relief plan.
In other post-debate nitpicking:
U Republicans took issue with
Wolpe's claim that more people are
on welfare than when the governor
took office. Wolpe claims Michigan
averaged 654,000 recipients each
month in 1990, but 687,000 in 1993.
The Engler administration says the
August 1994numberis648,000. Wolpe
says that'snot comparable since it's not
the average for the entire year.
* Wolpe's claim that Engler had
endorsed a ban on assault weapons in
his State of the State message this
year apparently was wrong. A copy of
the speech did not contain such a
proposal. The closest Engler came
was repeating his call for immediate
expulsion of students caught with guns
in school. Wolpe claimed the gover-
nor, who opposes a ban on assault
weapons, had changed his position on
the issue, but yesterday the campaign
admitted Wolpe was wrong.
Group Meetings
U Thai Students Association
Planning Meeting, Michigan
Union, Michigan Room, 6p.m.,
663-7299,
Q U-M Gospel Chorale Rehears-
als, School of Music, Room
2038,7:30-9:30p.m., 764-1705
U Amnesty International Meet-
3304, 4 p.m., 764-5355
U Sadie Rivas, speaks about the
impact of "Structural Adjust-
ment" on the Nicaraguan people,
First Baptist Church, 512 E. Hu-
ron St., 7:30 p.m., 663-1870
J Wallenberg Lecture Speaker
Miep Gies, Rackham Audito-
rium. 7:30 n.m.
gan League, Henderson Room,
5-7 p.m., Career Pathways in
Biology, CP&P, 6:30-8 p.m..
764-7460
Student services
0 76-GUIDE,peer counseling line,
call 76-GUIDE, 7 p.m.-8 a.m.
D Campus Information Center,
Michigan Union 763-INFO:
STUDY A BROAD FAIR
Tuesday, October 11,1994
from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
in the Michigan Union Ballroom
Come find out about spending a year, a semester, or a summer abroad on a