Librarians are familiar with the single-line form, the consolidated index, which represents a very large portion of a library's print and online collection. Their end users are familiar with the idea of a single search across a comprehensive index that produces a large, relevancy-ranked results list. Even though most patrons would not recognize…

Technology makes it possible to redefine libraries and make them relevant to the public once again. But how good are the digital services offered by public libraries today? The digital services department team of the Pode project at Norway's Oslo Public Library has spent the last 2 years investigating the possibilities available in order to…

Resource Description and Access (RDA) represents both a revised set of cataloging rules and a completely new framework in which to catalog. It aims for backward compatibility with AACR2 at the same time that it seeks to facilitate moving library data to the Semantic Web. Given these competing goals, it's not surprising that RDA's implementation…

The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken…

The rumored death of librarianship caused by the advent of technology has not, and will not, come to pass. In this article, the author describes how technology has exponentially increased the librarian's ability to provide library service at the Calcasieu Parish Public Library, where she serves as head of Collection & Computing Services. The…

Experiences in researching the documentation of the intelligence (codename Ultra) produced by breaking Enigma at Government Code & Cypher School, Bletchley Park, 1939-45, are described. The major problems are identified and shown to lie in the obscurity of the associated processes, disguised as they were within general bureaucratic…

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), an international collaboration aimed at producing a common encoding scheme for complex texts, examines the requirement for generality versus the requirement to handle specialized text types. Discusses how documents and users tax the limits of fixed schemes requiring flexible extensible encoding to support…

Describes the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines' approach to describing hypertext features. Discusses the rationale behind the design of the tagset and the range of features included in the guidelines. Discusses the relation and integration of TEI mark-up and the HyTime standard. (CFR)

Maintains that one recurring theme in the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) project has been the need to represent nonhierarchical information in a natural way. Proposes solutions to a variety of related problems. Contends that the examples presented can serve as a useful background for researchers using the TEI guidelines. (CFR)

The emergence of computer and network technologies has presented the archival profession with daunting challenges as well as inspiring opportunities. Archivists have been actively imagining and realizing the application of advanced technologies to their professional functions and activities. Using advanced technologies, archivists have been…

The Comparative Database System (CDS) provides a means for coding and using data on U.S. and international postsecondary educational activity and behavior. CDS permits education-data users to obtain accurate and reliable comparative data on postsecondary education questions. This document contains a discussion of the development of CDS, a detailed…