Describes customer call centers that provide customer service and support in business and considers how their routines could be adapted to library operations. Topics include centralized staff; interactive voice response; automated call distribution; question analysis; sophisticated software; training and monitoring; telephone reference; and…

Discusses the availability and quality of commercial reference services available on the World Wide Web such as Ask Jeeves and the decline in library reference service statistics. Describes a project in California to help libraries develop live, real-time reference services over the Web by adapting Web contact center software. (LRW)

Describes a project that was intended to aid students researching "The Grapes of Wrath" and that resulted in a program that uses the Apple Macintosh computer with HyperCard and a videodisk to put users in touch with the sights, sounds, issues, and events of the United States in the 1930s. (three references) (CLB)

Considers issues involving deregulation and freedom of speech on the Internet versus government regulation and licensing. Discusses a case in Texas that challenged a software program offering legal advice; and a federal regulatory agency's attempt to regulate the opinions and content of newsletters, Web site publishers, and related software. (LRW)

Considers issues relating to children's access to information on the Internet in public libraries. Topics include censorship versus selection; First Amendment rights; the American Library Association's challenge to the Communications Decency Act; filtering software; and the role of the public library. (LRW)

Discusses the Open Source Software method of software development and its relationship to control over information content. Topics include digital library resources; reference services; preservation; the legal and economic status of information; technical standards; access to digital data; control of information use; and copyright and patent laws.…

Describes the development of the WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers) protocol, a system that allows users access to personal, corporate, and commercial electronic information from one interface. The availability of WAIS on the Internet and the reactions of users are addressed. Several problems are considered, including funding, hardware…

Describes various projects being undertaken by academic libraries to provide information in digital form. Highlights include the Library of Congress's program; access via the Internet; software programs; cooperative library projects; possibilities of financial support from the private sector; technical problems; and copyright issues. (LRW)

To prevent vastly different Internet access policies from creating uneven service for patrons from community to community, the author argues that librarians, as the logical champions, must define "universal service." Offers hardware, software, Internet functions, training, and service as some of the elements of access that should be…

Describes the potential library uses of technology that link video cameras, video recorders, and microcomputers. The equipment is explained, including color video printers; costs are examined; and library uses are discussed, including the provision of access to material that cannot be photocopied, archival storage, and photo enhancement. (LRW)

Discussion of electronic versions of maps focuses on TIGER files (i.e., electronic maps distributed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census) and their manipulation using geographic information system (GIS) technology. Topics addressed include applications of GIS software, projects to improve access to TIGER files, and the role of GIS in libraries. (MES)

Questions the need for collaborative digital reference services among libraries. Discusses the lack of use among networks that have been developed, probably due to easy access to online resources; economic assumptions; setting standards for reference practice; automatic routing software; copyrights; and patron satisfaction. (LRW)

Describes the networking of CD-ROM drives in libraries to accommodate users' simultaneous access to the same CD-ROM. Highlights include costs; vendors who supply local area network hardware and software; licensing practices; and a sidebar that describes the use of CD-ROM networks at Vanderbilt University and the University of Kansas. (LRW)

Describes the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) efforts in China, Germany, Canada, Scotland, Jamaica and Brazil. Discusses FirstSearch, an end-user reference service, and WorldCat, a bibliographic database. Highlights international projects developing increased OCLC online availability, database loading software, CD-ROM cataloging,…