Reports on Bill and Melinda Gates's tour of Alabama, the first state to be wired to the Internet by the nonprofit Gates Library Foundation, and the model for connecting 1000 more libraries this year. Mutual appreciation between Alabama librarians and the Gateses resulted. An interview with Bill Gates focuses on challenges libraries face in…

By the year 2000, Connecticut libraries in general will be organized as they now are, serve most of the needs that they currently do, continue to focus on books as their primary stock-in-trade, and look and function very much as they do today. By 2000, however, their basic services will be augmented and strengthened by the use of information…

Discusses the goals of library networks in terms of sharing scarce resources and improving user access to information, and advocates cooperative library planning to enhance these goals, including interlibrary activities and multitype library systems. (CLB)

Based in part on the work of three task forces, this report presents recommendations from the Phase II Statewide Automation Committee appointed in June 1987 to develop specific steps to implement the 20 recommendations in the library automation plan issued in May 1987, "Libraries and Technology: A Strategic Plan for the Use of Advanced…

This study developed a preliminary model of the stages of school system participation in library networks and identified the major activities for each stage. Constructed from a study of the literature on innovation adoption and diffusion, observation, and informal interviews, the model is composed of four primary aspects: technological support,…

Discussion of ways in which school libraries will benefit from their inclusion in library networks highlights collection management, full access to information, and participation of library media specialists in policy decisions. (CLB)

Surveys the need for an Indian library and information system using Unesco and UNISIST publications as a framework. Highlights include identification of problems through a pre-planning survey, and a proposal that a national committee be set up to be responsible for policy decision making and to coordinate implementation of developmental plans.…

This discussion of effective communication for leaders in the field of librarianship begins by providing a historical overview which highlights the librarian's influential role from the earliest days of recorded language; the evolution and modification of words in individual languages from crude forms to their electronic storage and transmission;…

Discusses areas in which school libraries and staff will benefit from their inclusion in a statewide network of libraries. (CLB)

Traces history of pilot projects (including state aid) and describes new projects, both pilot projects that were continued and new projects mandated by 1984 legislation. New projects are compared to permanent systems in terms of interlibrary loans, union catalogs, delivery systems, collection standards, and other areas. (CLB)

This report, which considers the role of networking activities associated with the technical telecommunication links that bind libraries, services, and patrons together, begins with a historical review of libraries and automation-based systems over the last 19 years. The importance of the development and implementation of standards in interactive…

This publication contains the list of recommendations made by the Library of Michigan Board of Trustees Task Force on Library Interdependency and Funding and approved by the Board at their meeting on March 7, 1989. These recommendations will be incorporated into the 1989-1992 Long-Range Plan to begin the process of implementation for as many of…

Discusses the potential receptivity to information technology found in the Caribbean and describes the establishment of regional information networks for the exchange of scientific and technical information. The role of the librarian is explored, and an outline for an assessment of the continuing education needs in information technology is…