This paper outlines experiences at the University of Queensland Library (UQL) in meeting the challenge of creating an appropriate library and information service to support effective learning. The changing customer base and the changing environments of higher education and libraries are described. Four strategies for extending the role of the…

This submission represents the views of a newly formed organisation known as Public Libraries Australia. Formed to aggregate the political, service and infrastructure capacity of Australia's 1510 (ABS June 2000) public libraries, Public Libraries Australia will support and represent public libraries on a national basis. Networked across Australia…

Libraries have long been pivotal community institutions--public spaces where people can come together to learn, reflect, and interact. Today, information is rapidly spreading beyond books and journals to digital government archives, business databases, electronic sound and image collections, and the flow of electronic impulses over computer…

Libraries offer a variety of services and play an assortment of roles. While few people disagree that libraries have been valuable institutions in the past, many wonder how necessary they will be in the future. Shrinking budgets make it harder for libraries to contradict these perceptions. This report examines the social and economic impact that…

The author argues that traditional library cataloging (MARC) and the online public access catalog (OPAC) are in collision with the world of the Internet because items in electronic formats undergo MARC cataloging only on a very selective basis. Also the library profession initially isolated itself from World Wide Web development by predicting no…

The digitization of library materials has had a tremendous impact on libraries. By using the Internet, readers can access digital library materials from any place in the world. The BMCC Library started several programs to provide more digital materials to its patrons in the forms of electronic books, periodicals, full-text materials, and webpage…

This article reports the results of a quantitative and thematic content analysis of the organization of information literature in the "Library Quarterly" ("LQ") between its inception in 1931 and 2004. The majority of articles in this category were published in the first half of "LQ's" run. Prominent themes have included cataloging codes and the…

This report provides an overview of knowledge organization systems (KOSs) and includes pertinent examples of their application to digital materials, offering extensive practical information for institutions embarking on digital library initiatives. The first section of the report defines the general characteristics of KOSs, with emphasis on their…

Discussion of the future of library collection development and the need for planning focuses on the technique of scenario planning and discusses the results of scenario planning at the University of NebraskaLincoln that examined collection development and digital information. (LRW)

This paper discusses changes in information services at university libraries in Israel, focusing on the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Highlights include: combining the 20 departmental libraries at the Technion into one library system; efforts to build the status of the central library as the libraries' leader; the integrated library…

Discusses the development of electronic libraries at Cornell University's (New York) Mann Library and elsewhere and presents an overview of changes in services and staff responsibilities needed to address user needs. Sidebar articles discuss Internet access to government information; changing staff roles; geographic information systems; the Mann…

This book addresses many of the practical issues involved in developing the virtual library. Seven presentations from the Eighth Annual Computers in Libraries Conference are included in this book in augmented form. The papers are supplemented by "The Evolving Virtual Library: An Overview" (Laverna M. Saunders and Maurice Mitchell), a…

Explores issues related to the selection and purchase of digital content in academic libraries, including commercially-produced databases, electronic journals, and books and other electronic resources that are purchased from vendors; and in-house digitization projects. Considers the degree to which standard collection management principles apply.…

Discussion of Internet resources in library collections focuses on factors to consider in selecting Internet resources and cataloging them. Highlights include price; cancellation of comparable resources in other formats; appropriateness of an electronic resource; stability of vendors; duplication; licensing; and cataloging treatment. (LRW)

This report examines the experiences and contributions of the archival community--practicing archivists, manuscript curators, archival academics, and policy makers who work to define and promote the social utility of records and to identify, preserve, and provide access to documentary heritage regardless of format. The report addresses how the…