LIBRARY DATA

Library Data Jump to navigation Jump to search Computer-CT-Liz-Danforth-Traveller-Book-pg-70 19-August-2019b.jpg Library Data is information obtainable from any ship's computer (or starport library) in response to the correct keywords. Only the specific information requested can be accessed by users; most data bases will not reveal additional data or allow indiscriminate browsing through the library records. [1]
A Ship's Computer is a vital information source for Travellers. The computer data entries on a variety of topics are known as Library Data. Description (Specifications) Most interstellar ships match up communications to a main world when jumping into a system and upload library data files in the same manner as earlier civilizations exchanged newspapers, town criers, or other news sources.
Library data files are intentionally designed to be able to be uploaded in a variety of data formats. The files may be transmitted via anything from TL-4 Radio signals, all the way up to TL-15 Tachyon Communicators, improved laser comms, or LIDAR communications devices. Due to the speed of communications being limited to the speed of travel, many versions of a file will often circulated Charted Space. Even information on the same topic, may differ greatly from one end of space to the other. Some library data files haven't been updated in centuries. It isn't unheard of for library data files from the First Imperium to still be in use. Library Update Program The library update program available at any class A or B starport contains a wide variety of information. A shipowner may purchase the program for Cr10,000; local ships carrying passengers for hire will already have it. Any crew person with access to a computer console (and the program) can request information on a specific subject by specifying a keyword or phrase. [2]
Imperial Library Entry on Library Data "Library Data" is a general term used to describe the information available from a typical ship’s computer using its Library Program. In the past, library data had as its source a vast communication network paralleling that of the X-boat system that once operated throughout the united Imperium. An entire series of “hubs” amassed and organized vast quantities of data and send it out to each other. At each hub the entire collection of information could be compiled and redistributed to private customers, including starships, hotels, universities, fixed-location libraries, and hand computer services.
In the Divided Imperium, library data services have diminished much as the X-boat routes have. In various areas, reliable service can still be found-sometimes taken over by a commercial firm, sometimes taken over by a local governmental body. The farther that a message or data must travel, however, the more tenuous is its consistency. And X-boat messages have difficulty travelling across borders or are sometimes lost to marauding pirates. Library data likewise is sporadic and intermittent in its arrival, which causes much of its information to have lost its up to-the-minute flavor.
In addition, the library data “network” (pretending for the moment that the system still exists as intact as it once was) has lost contact with many of its original sources of data researchers, historians, and journalists often fail nowadays to submit timely reports of their discoveries. Embarrassing gaps exist in many library data entries today, and severe over-generalization has resulted in misinformation occasionally being published as apparent fact. [3]