Excessive college course withdrawals are costly to the student and the institution in terms of time to degree completion, available classroom space, and other resources. Although generally well quantified, detailed analysis of the reasons given by students for course withdrawal is less common. To address this, a text mining analysis was performed…

Discusses the need for the library profession to learn not only how to identify information needs, but also to create new services and delivery patterns around them. The existing literature on information needs and information seeking behavior is briefly reviewed, and a research agenda for the 1990s is summarized. (51 references) (Author/CLB)

Examines issues relating to information technology that will affect the future of school librarians. Topics discussed include teaching versus learning; the need for new sets of skills; becoming systems analysts; matching technology with users' information needs; management information systems; and shifting models regarding the role of school…

Systemic efforts to implement data-based decision making at the school and classroom level face several challenges. First, most data available within district information systems are limited to what has been deemed important for the operational needs of schools and the district. Second, educational organizations have little experience integrating…

Describes a model for thinking about information professionals working in information technology (IT). This Information Resources Model describes the roles of information professionals and how these roles relate to users of information resources. (SLD)

Defines information tectonics as the organizing of information in structures and good information tectonics as being adapted to the needs of the user. Topics discussed include the influence of electronic information technology and electronic databases; hypertext; hierarchical information structures; cross-graining, e.g., the Dewey Decimal system;…

The model for hypermedia applications called Labyrinth allows: (1) the design of platform-independent hypermedia applications; (2) the categorization, generalization and abstraction of sparse unstructured heterogeneous information in multiple and interconnected levels; (3) the creation of personal views in multiuser hyperdocuments for both groups…

Discusses the need for strategic planning in libraries for the use of information technology that will add value to the library and better serve the users. Explains a model for developing information technology strategic plans that includes vision statements, goals and strategies, and an implementation timeline. (LRW)

Examines factors influencing access to and use of the Internet: technical characteristics of information technologies, user preferences for information resources, institutional arrangements controlling provider/user relationships, and psychological factors affecting information processing. Suggests individual internet users support policies that…

Discusses recent books and articles on the minimalist model of education, children as users of information systems, the new information superhighway in relation to schools, the future of reading and computers, and children's use of online information resources. (EAM)

Discusses operational, organizational, and technological developments that are transforming the workplace; describes the concept of knowledge worker and the information utility model; considers how these factors provide opportunities for library administrators and other information resource management professionals to improve user services; and…

A comprehensive model of information seeking which contained antecedents, information carrier factors, and information-seeking actions was developed and tested. Results of the tests suggest that the most important variables were those related to an individual's existing information base. (80 references) (AEF)

Concepts from Strategic Alignment, a technology-management theory, are used to discuss the Information Commons as a new service-delivery model in academic libraries. The Information Commons, as a conceptual, physical, and instructional space, involves an organizational realignment from print to the digital environment. (Author)

Examines how to determine the best model of reference service. Highlights include: libraries and community; components of reference service; inherent values of reference service; conflicting values and models of service; technology and change; new models and old values; and the "right" model of reference service. (AEF)

Discusses results of a grant-funded project, "Leading Young Women to the Sciences and Technology," that led to the creation of the Gender-Based Web Site Evaluation Model for selecting Web sites of high interest to young women. The model includes eight evaluation criteria related to gender. The revised model and a list of questions to…