Successfully providing access to special collections of digital geospatial data in academic libraries relies upon complete and accurate metadata. Creating and maintaining metadata using specialized standards is a formidable challenge for libraries. The Ontario Council of University Libraries' Scholars GeoPortal project, which created a shared…

This column contains information on how students in graduate library and information science programs participate in a forum to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to state their visions for the profession, or to tell of research that is…

In 2011 the University of Wollongong Library undertook a significant review of its Resource Sharing services. This was prompted by constraints in the systems supporting this service, changes to the Library's key suppliers, Infotrieve Australia and the British Library Document Supply Service, and the need to deliver effective library services…

Small and midsize institutions have proven the success of a blended library/IT organization, a hybrid model in which both librarians and IT professionals report to the same senior leader. What hasn't been proven is how well such a blend works for larger universities. There the challenge has become part of the larger institutional budget debate:…

Since SC LENDS started operating in June 2009, more public libraries have come on board. All of this on the back end connects to a Mozilla-based staff client that has distributions for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, using SSL encryption to keep communications secure and private between remote libraries and the servers hosted at a high-end…

The author has been extremely fortunate over the last few years to have had the opportunity to travel to many different parts of the world and speak and work with librarians in many countries and to have the chance to see first-hand some incredible libraries that demonstrate creative approaches to library services, innovative uses of technology,…

While the traditional uses of InterLibrary Loan (ILL) can be cumbersome, much of the work is now done electronically. Google and WorldCat can tell patrons which libraries in their areas owns the the titles they want, but they cannot always tell patrons whether there is a copy on the shelf available for loan. Several ILS vendors and OCLC are…

For most people on campuses, September means revising syllabi, enjoying football, or avoiding the person you broke up with last spring. For college librarians, it marks the beginning of "renewal season." It is time for the tedious work of placing orders and negotiating licenses for next year's journals. However, relief may be on the horizon.…

Thirty years ago most resource sharing took place between libraries, with a few formal organizations (library consortia) providing logistical support. Today there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of organizations around the world facilitating resource sharing. Automation has greatly accelerated the growth of resource sharing. As access to…

Discusses the use of local area networks (LANs) in libraries and offers suggestions for less expensive versions through resource sharing. Varying disk sizes are discussed, file sharing is described, printer sharing is explained, and combined hardware and software packages for connecting two to four computers are described. (20 references) (LRW)

Focuses on designing a library network to maximize security. Discusses UNIX and file servers; connectivity to campus, corporate networks and the Internet; separation of staff from public servers; controlling traffic; the threat of network sniffers; hubs that eliminate eavesdropping; dividing the network into subnets; Switched Ethernet;…

Innovations from Google[TM] and Amazon[R] are clear wake-up calls that as a profession and an industry things need to be done differently. Automation vendors and librarians must work together to ensure that the profession is positioned to take advantage of changing culture and technology to assume a rightful place at the table where rich and…

In recent years, many higher education institutions, from liberal arts colleges to major research universities, have integrated their information technology (IT) and library organizations. Still more institutions are actively exploring the possibility of doing so. Their reasons for combining the separate organizations range from positioning the…

In 1990, the Louisiana Board of Regents commissioned a task force on libraries to develop a plan for greater cooperation and resource sharing among the state's academic libraries. The mission was hampered by the sparsity of automated facilities and the failure to secure state funding for public library automation, but by 1992 the task force had…

Describes the creation of the California Digital Library (CDL) by the University of California (UC), as well as planning for the Science, Technology and Industry Collection. The initial focus of the CDL is to provide students and faculty with access to digital information, relieve pressures on print collections, and develop mechanisms to foster…