It looks like the local library system finally ditched their Dialcat installation. For as long as I can remember, the library had maintained a system in which their Dynix-based catalog could be remotely queried by any VT100-compatible terminal emulator. Today, though, I dialed in and found that the number is now out of service, and the library has removed all information concerning the number from their website. Of course, I'm not entirely sure how long the system has been out of commission, since I haven't used it since roughly this time last year.
I suppose I could've seen this coming. Back in 1998, the library adopted a new in-house system to replace their Dynix terminals, based instead on Windows 95 and Netscape 4 running on Gateway 2000 desktops. Before the turn of the millennium, the new HTML-based system was made available online, so that anyone with an Internet connection could access it. Admittedly, the only reason I've held out so long with Dialcat instead of the new iBiblio catalog is for its speed and simplicity. Dialcat's few lines of ASCII actually turns out to be much faster to navigate than the Web-based interface, not to mention I don't need to get out my library card just to use it.
I suppose I have to ask: is anyone aware of direct-dial data services still active in their area, or has the Internet ultimately superseded those?