Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:41, 17 August 2011

Revision as of 10:41, 9 November 2011

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[[Image:Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System Logo.png|right|‎]]

The '''Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System''' (SPIRES) was originally developed at the [[Stanford Linear Accelerator Center]] (SLAC) in 1969, from a design based on a 1967 information study of physicists at SLAC. The system was designed as a [[physics]] [[database management system]] (DBMS) to deal with high-energy-physics preprints<ref>[http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library/uspires/ The UNIX-SPIRES Collaboration at SLAC.]</ref>. Written in [[PL/1I]], SPIRES ran on an [[IBM mainframe]].

In the early 1970s, an evaluation of this system resulted in the decision to implement a new system for use by faculty, staff and students at [[Stanford University]]. SPIRES was renamed the '''Stanford Public Information Retrieval System'''. The new development took place under a National Science Foundation grant headed by Edwin B. Parker, principal investigator. SPIRES joined forces with the BALLOTS project to create a bibliographic citation retrieval system and quickly evolved into a generalized information retrieval and data base management system that could meet the needs of a large and diverse computing community.

SPIRES was rewritten in [[PL360]], a block structured programming language designed explicitly for [[IBM/360]]-compatible hardware. The primary authors were: Thomas H. Martin, Dick Guertin and Bill Kiefer. John Schroeder was the manager of the SPIRES project during this early phase of development.

Eventually, BALLOTS split off from SPIRES and the [[Research Libraries Group]] adopted SPIRES as its data base engine while providing a graphical interface to its clients. ''Socrates'' was a library circulation management system rooted in SPIRES.