This paper presents a novel approach to designing an online, open-source course in systems librarianship, an area of librarianship that may be perceived as complex and intimidating because of the technologies involved. The course design focuses on making systems librarianship more approachable for library and information science students who may…

The education sector remains abuzz with cost-cutting expectations despite pressures to increase services. Automation of costly manual tasks could save funds for many of these institutions, specifically in data protection. The IT departments of schools and universities can take advantage of a proven cost-savings opportunity in data protection that…

Recent surveys indicate that many colleges and universities have reached a pivotal moment in assessing the function and future development of their institutional repositories. Other surveys convey that archivists are participating in the development and implementation of institutional repositories at a variety of levels and have contributed to the…

In October 2009, California Digital Library (CDL), where the author serves as manager of strategic and project planning, jumped into the world of social networking by joining Twitter. From Twitter, the CDL staff publish the content of their monthly newsletter, "CDLINFO News," and also additional content created by CDL programs and…

Planning is necessary in selecting the appropriate digital asset management system for your institution. Key issues one should consider in planning: the objects to be stored, where they come from, and how they will be accessed; the end users; and the needed staffing levels for system maintenance. During the development of the system requirements,…

This article attempts to offer an overview of the current changes that are being experienced in the management of audio-visual documentation and those that can be forecast in the future as a result of the migration from analogue to digital information. For this purpose the documentary chain will be used as a basis to analyse individually the tasks…

With the widespread digitization of art, photography, and music, plus the introduction of streaming video, many colleges and universities are realizing that they must develop or purchase systems to preserve their school's digitized objects; that they must create searchable databases so that researchers can find and share copies of digital files;…

Over the past several decades, millions of digital objects of significant scientific, economic, cultural, and historic value have been published and distributed to libraries and archives on removable media. Providing long-term access to these documents, media files, and software executables is an increasingly complex task because of dependencies…

This issue of the higher education information technology magazine, CAUSE/EFFECT, presents in six articles six summaries of the best from this journal since 1978. The articles each summarize the writing done over the years in one of six key areas. The articles are as follows: (1) "Rise of Infrastructure" by Kenneth J. Klingenstein and…

Discusses the organization of information in academic libraries and suggests that librarians' organizational experience could be helpful to other academic information systems. Technological advancements in libraries are explained, standardization is considered, and the need to manage information efficiently among all campus departments is…

Addresses the growth of signatures in document management. Describes the three basic types of electronic signature technology: image signatures, digital signatures, and digitized biometric signatures. Discusses legal and regulatory acceptability and bringing signatures into document management. (AEF)

Examines the different concepts and orientations of the two major approaches to the role of metadata in the digital library (library science-oriented bibliographic control and computer science-oriented data management), and proposes an integrated concept of metadata to facilitate the merging of these two approaches. Discusses ongoing efforts to…

Describes ways in which information handling techniques will eventually be used in public administration, focusing on technologies that automate routine administrative processes and support decision making. The need to develop a long range concept for continued full employment of administrative staff is discussed. (two references) (CLB)

Discusses what Office Information Systems and other Information Technology organizations, in concert with the business organizations they support, must do to exploit the opportunities and support the transition to the next generation enterprise: its business processes, its organizations and architectures, and its strategies. (Author/JOW)

Geographic information system (GIS) technology is a rapidly growing and powerful method for managing and analyzing spatial data and information for libraries. This article introduces GIS basic concepts, reviews GIS usage in libraries, and presents some challenges, strengths, and opportunities for libraries and GIS. Six figures illustrate the…