The EdHub Library is an online teacher professional development platform that serves 250 school districts as part of the Network for Educator Effectiveness in Missouri. It has a collection of more than 300 online activities. This design case describes the efforts of re-developing EdHub due to technical and usability issues of the first generation…

Europeana: Think Culture (http://www.europeana.eu) is a wonderful cultural repository. It includes more than 15 million items (images, text, audio, and video) from 1,500 European institutions. Europeana provides access to an abundance of cultural and heritage information and knowledge. Because Europeana has partnered with and brought together so…

This article describes the Project Lefty, a search system that, at a minimum, adds a layer on top of traditional federated search tools that will make the wait for results more worthwhile for researchers. At best, Project Lefty improves search queries and relevance rankings for web-scale discovery tools to make the results themselves more relevant…

Medical and health sciences libraries have incorporated the elements of evidence-based practice (EBP) into their reference services, instruction, and online resource development for years. While EBP focuses on the use of medical and health sciences literature in the clinical environment (i.e., making decisions about how to treat a particular…

Describes the redesign of the Web site at the virtual library of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Discusses usability problems with the original site, including navigation difficulties; focus groups to determine user needs; usability testing for the new Web site; and the importance of customer input. (LRW)

This article features the New York Public Library's (NYPL) recently opened Digital Gallery. Containing more than 275,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities, the Digital Gallery offers unparalleled access to the past for educators and interested visitors alike. Organization and navigation present a challenge with any…

Describes the Library of Congress's Experimental Search System (ESS), a Web-based online public access catalog that introduced new search methods to replace Boolean searching as well as powerful navigational aids for browsing and cross-linking. Discusses problems, ESS user comments, acceptance by Library of Congress staff, and future…

Discusses the need for digital librarians who will manage and organize digital libraries. Topics include digital information systems; the information superhighway; navigation, browsing, and filtering; multimedia searching and indexing; data mining; information access and retrieval; competencies and skills for a digital librarian; and professional…

As libraries increasingly look to give their collections a strong digital presence, many of the librarians involved come from traditionally technical services oriented areas: catalogers, systems librarians, web developers, and database specialists. Collaboration between representatives of public services, collection development, and technical…

This article describes the development of the "Electronic Journal Finder," a TDNet installation for the University Libraries of Western Michigan University. Topics covered include: rationale for subscription project timeline, content, product customization, set-up, maintenance issues, reporting functions, directing URL links, searching…

Describes the Clearwater (Florida) Public Library Web site which was created as a response to the growing use of the Internet for accessing information. Topics include design considerations; users; text-based navigation links; access speed; ease of use; value-added service; what information and services to include; and future possibilities. (LRW)

Discusses new roles for school librarians as electronic access to information increases, including instructional partners with classroom teachers; information specialists; Internet navigators; evaluators of information found on the Internet; program administrators; staff developers; and parent Internet educators. Lists pertinent Web sites. (LRW)

Provides an overview of the basic components of a digital library. Highlights include library collections; metadata; services, including information seeking and retrieval, reference query fulfillment, and user training; user interaction with digital libraries, including searching, browsing, and navigation; economic support; maintenance;…

Production of the meta-data supporting the Informedia Digital Video Library interface is automated using techniques derived from artificial intelligence research. Speech recognition and natural-language processing, information retrieval, and image analysis are applied to produce an interface that helps users locate information and navigate more…

Libraries subscribe to thousands of electronic journals and they are difficult for end-users to find. Journal and publisher interfaces and functionalities differ considerably. The recent development in e-media calls for central management of the resources. Lund University Libraries' Head Office has developed a service for presentation and…