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OMNI (OUTREACH MONTANA: NETWORKED INFORMATION)

Montana State University - Billings (MSU-Billings) 
Library was awarded a combination grant by the U.S. 
Department of Education to initiate a cooperative 
automated library network for five academic 
libraries in southeastern Montana: a state 
community college, two tribal colleges on Indian 
reservations, a liberal arts college in Billings. 
The state community college is Dawson Community 
College in Glendive. The tribal colleges are Dull 
Knife Memorial College in Lame Deer, administered 
by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Little Big Horn 
College in Crow Agency, administered by the Crow 
Tribe. The liberal arts college is a private four-
year school, Rocky Mountain College. Montana State 
University - Billings is the third largest unit of 
the Montana University System. (Montana State 
University - Northern in Havre was the first 
institution to join the consortium, having acquired 
funding from a private source.)

MSU-Billings Library has in place an integrated 
library system which is the host for the networked 
libraries.  That system currently resides on a 
fiber optic campus-wide network which links to the 
university system's high-speed data network 
(Montana University System Educational Network, 
MUSENET).  Shared T1 telecommunications link system 
hardware in each library to the host computer which 
enables all participants to use the integrated 
DYNIX system, and allows the smaller libraries 
access to the Internet. DYNIX software: online 
circulation, reserve room, cataloging, 
acquisitions, serials, community resources, 
dialpac, gateways, and Vista (online periodical 
databases) are currently the modules in use by MSU-
Billings and are available to the consortium.  

The consortium has a single, interactive, updated 
catalog for all collections, accessible to all 
students, faculty, and communities. All libraries 
are contributing directly into the combined 
catalog.

The objectives of the project relate to the use of 
technology and networking to encourage resource-
sharing among the libraries of institutions of 
higher education. This project with its particular 
emphasis on small, geographically isolated colleges 
serving rural areas and Native American populations 
of a state in urgent need of more networking and 
improved telecommunications for higher education 
illustrates Technology is an "enabler". Incredible 
technological changes allow participants to 
transform and improve library services, 
information, education, and even basic 
communication in formats and at speeds previously 
unimagined.

The success of the project is linked to the 
effectiveness of the telecommunication 
infrastructure. The libraries require consistent, 
reliable, responsive connectivity. The MSU-Billings 
technical staff devoted a great deal of research 
and innovative thought into the design and 
implementation of the state's first Wide Area 
Network (WAN) based on one of the newest 
telecommunication technologies available in 
Montana, Frame Relay.

Frame Relay is a networking approach designed to 
link LANs at high speeds. The decision to use Frame 
Relay rather than dedicated leased lines, involved 
considering several factors: transmission costs, 
equipment costs, performance and management. A 
survey of recent literature verified our findings; 
that Frame Relay is a more cost effective 
alternative than leased lines.

The negotiations for telecommunication services 
were completed on June 16, 1995 when the last order 
for one PVC for Lame Deer, MT through Range 
Telephone Company was placed. Finalizing the 
contractual agreements for each of the OMNI sites 
proved to be considerably more involved and time-
intensive than was first anticipated due to 
legislation, politics, rivalries, lack of 
competition, and unfamiliarity with the technology.
           
The OMNI consortium unites public, private, and 
tribal interests and educational dollars in the 
pursuit of two immediate goals: to provide access 
to materials otherwise unattainable by students and 
faculty isolated from information and one another 
by hundreds of miles of vast plains; and to better 
use regional resources for their collective 
benefits.

 Commitment to the Project is very strong among the 
institutions. Librarians, faculty and 
administration in each college are firmly committed 
to the idea that strong telecommunications and 
effective use of computer networks are absolutely 
essential to the future of higher education in 
Montana. From the smallest tribal college to the 
largest university in the state, there is agreement 
that education must use new technologies to 
survive, and to prepare students for the rapidly 
changing workplace. Administration has been most 
supportive of library automation at MSU-Billings, 
and that enthusiasm has helped to build the 
commitment of the other colleges. 

Strengthening of academic programs will result from 
improved access to library materials. Some of the 
OMNI libraries are quite new, and small enough to 
lack some core materials readily available in the 
larger collections. The larger libraries have 
suffered during budget cuts and have gaps in their 
holdings, which must then be supplemented with 
outside resources. Access to a much broader range 
of journal titles will help student research, while 
the increased numbers of indexes available through 
online indexes on the system will help both 
students and faculty. Instructional support for 
academic programs will help to strengthen 
curricula, as well as assist individual faculty in 
improving course content. Library instruction for 
students in each institution will be much more 
extensive, as use of the network will lead students 
to the use of outside resources in a 
straightforward and interesting way. Academic 
programs which are being offered between OMNI 
institutions, such as those currently being shared 
by Rocky Mountain College and Little Big Horn 
College will benefit from equal access to materials 
for all students. Outreach programs such as MSU-
Billings' Bilingual Program with Native American 
groups will also benefit from access to the system 
from remote sites as well as the enhanced 
collection of Native American materials.

Academic resource-sharing will certainly increase 
on a local level. Not only will direct online 
access mean that students of OMNI libraries have 
fast and efficient access to all materials in the 
shared catalog, but dial access to the database 
through each of the member sites will mean that 
students at local high schools, community members, 
teachers, businesses, health care providers and 
other will have similar access. The whole of 
southeastern Montana, and indeed the state, plus 
other rural areas such as northern Wyoming and 
western North Dakota, equally isolated from major 
libraries, will be likely to use dial access to the 
system. Regionally, this small network should be 
the catalyst for a state network to serve the whole 
of Montana. 

While a statewide library network conveying the 
concept of interconnectedness among libraries, 
library systems, and library services to benefit 
the residents of Montana is highly ideal the 
unavailability of state funds and a depressed 
economy make this unlikely in the immediate future. 
However, the OMNI network is a model for the entire 
state to follow. A state network is possible but 
will be built piece by piece, not all at one time.

Technology-Sharing will be most evident in the 
Northwest and Northern Rockies region, where 
libraries share the problems of isolation, great 
distances from large cities and small population 
levels. We anticipate that this network will be a 
model for other rural areas, and a way to link 
small colleges with scant resources to larger 
institutions in their region.  

This project implemented the first state-of-the-art 
network in the state, joining a community college, 
two tribal colleges and a private four-year college 
with two state universities. Individually, the 
schools all suffer from lack of funds, people and 
dwindling resources. Collectively, the schools pool 
their strong tradition of individual and 
personalized services to students and faculty with 
a determination to improve access to a broader 
range of resources. This is the essence of OMNI-- 
Outreach Montana: Networked Information.