The Texas Library Connection (TLC) is a state-funded project that began in 1995. TLC is intended to provide a statewide electronic network for school libraries that provides a union database of school library holdings, access to commercial full-text databases, access to MARC cataloging records, and access to interlibrary loan functions. This paper…

Issues in the evaluation of the virtual law library are examined, including technological considerations, finance, and accreditation concerns. Conventional library evaluation and development of standards for virtual libraries are discussed. It is proposed that evaluation focus on information service outputs and access rather than library…

Describes libraries' use of the Internet to provide information on their local collections and explains how to provide searchable indexes through the use of WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) software. Highlights include Waisindex; file formats; Waissearch; and accessing WAIS indexes via a gopher, WAIS, or WWW (World Wide Web) server. (LRW)

A distributed union catalog is a network of bibliographic systems that cooperate to enable their users to discover sites that hold copies of known items. Some participating systems will be traditional union catalogs, others will be single sites with comprehensive collections, and others will be local or regional resource sharing systems. A…

The virtual Canadian union catalog (vCuc) project is a project among Canadian libraries to use Z39.50 (an information protocol standard) for searching distributed individual library catalogs and union catalogs. This paper summarizes the major technical, vendor, bibliographic data, and administrative issues that must be resolved before the…

Explains the University of Georgia's project to scan rare maps and make the digitized images available on the Internet via World Wide Web. Topics discussed include microfilming procedures; equipment used to convert film images to digital images; the use of CD-ROM; and retention and access policies. (LRW)

The 21-member Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information was formed in December 1994 and spent a year studying what is needed to make digital libraries stable, accessible, and valid. Their final report is divided into the following sections: (1) "Introduction," which examines the fragility of cultural memory in a digital age and the…

A project demonstrated the feasibility of accessing library information (online public access catalogs, commercial online databases, Internet) from a distance using handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with cellular communication capability. The study is described, and other uses of wireless communications in libraries and…

The emerging technology of the World Wide Web is a natural source of acquisitions for archivists. This paper discusses two areas of digital communications: a university archivist's role in the support and management of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) home page, and the uses other archives and special collection departments at selected…

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)

The continuing problem of the high cost of accessing scientific, technical, and medical (STM) literature haunts both developed and developing economies. Maintaining access to significant research and scholarship at a time when both the volume and price of information have increased nearly three-fold in the last decade requires fresh strategies and…

This document presents an analytical bibliography of literature on the library of the future that was published between the years 1983 and 1994. This project had four objectives: (1) to identify and retrieve published literature on the library of the future; (2) to formulate document surrogates for this literature and add them to a computerized…

Two focus groups were held (fall 1996 semester) with selected faculty from the University of North Texas (UNT), College of Arts and Sciences to explore faculty perceptions of the Libraries' value to teaching and research and to learn more about what would allow faculty to make greater use of the UNT Libraries. The following major themes emerged…

This report on a machine-readable data files workshop highlights unresolved issues related to innovative approaches to collecting, describing, and providing service for computer files in research libraries. The remarks of four of the workshop speakers are presented. Margaret Johnson of the University of Minnesota gives a comprehensive review of…

A survey was conducted (spring 1997 semester) with the faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Texas (UNT) as a follow up to a focus group study conducted during the fall 1996 semester. Results from the survey echo results of the focus groups. Both studies indicate faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences are…