The Digital Talking Books Program was developed between the 1990s and the 2000s to replace the Analog Cassette format, which had been developed during the 1960s to allow people with disabilities to access reading material. The Digital Talking Books Program was built around flash memory technology. The reasons for which the National Library Service…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief description of the digital preservation programme at the National Library of New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach: Following a description of the legislative and strategic context for digital preservation in New Zealand, details are provided of the system for the National Digital…

On June 15-16, 2010, California State Librarian Stacey A. Aldrich, initiated a strategic planning summit in Sacramento, California. The purpose of the summit was to build the future pathways for the California State Library (CSL)--one of California's oldest cultural institutions. This was accomplished by developing a CSL strategic plan (values,…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the experiences of the National Library of Wales in implementing an integrated information management system. Design/methodology/approach: Discusses the stages involved in the procurement process, data migration and general system implementation. Findings: Emphasises the need for a well-prepared yet flexible…

The application of Planning Programming Budgeting Systems (PPBS) techniques to decision making and resource allocation practices has been utilized by Federal civilian agencies under Presidential directive since 1965. The application of PPBS by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare is discussed and experimentation by the State Department…

In an effort to underscore the importance of the book and written word, Public Law 95-129 was signed by President Carter in 1977 establishing the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. This pamphlet reports on the progress made in the first year of planning during four meetings directed at potential activities, the international flow of…

Discusses the National Science Foundation (NSF)/United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) Research in Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI). Highlights include benefits of digital libraries; the Federal High Performance Computing and Communications Program (HPCC); and program…

Discusses the establishment of a digital National Library of Energy Science and Technology, a key initiative that the Department of Energy is pursuing to make its program and research and development information accessible to the public. Describes the program objectives, features of the National Library, potential performance measures, benefits,…

The Islamic Republic of Iran's parliament, the Majlis, passed in 1990 a law setting out the functions of its national library. In 2005, the inauguration of the first stage of the new national library building was celebrated as a major national cultural and architectural achievement. This article looks at the origins and evolution of the National…

The need to develop new OPACs that meet the needs of users better is becoming well acknowledged. How libraries can transform their OPACs to modern web friendly formats is not yet clear. This paper describes the State Library of Tasmania's experience in developing a new OPAC by exporting bibliographic data to a software package outside the ILMS.…