Reference services in public libraries are changing dramatically. The Internet, online databases, and shrinking budgets are all making it necessary for non-traditional reference staff to become familiar with online reference tools. Recognizing the need for cross-training, Chesapeake Public Library (CPL) developed a program called the Database…

Today's academic libraries must demonstrate their value to cost-conscious university administrators. Budget trade-off decisions that involve the library can be difficult for any university administrator to make, and such decisions are complicated by the recent appearance of massive global digital libraries that seem poised to replace the…

In this article, the author, a technology consultant for the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS), shares the story of how the Kansas Library on the Web (KLOW) program was created. KLOW's story begins with the initial startup fund finding and the enthusiasm of the six pilot libraries. The middle of the story has to do with building a flexible,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of The Bridging Worlds Conference which was held in October 2008 in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach: One of the main topics the National Library Board of Singapore, the organising party, wished to address was the roles cultural institutions, such as libraries, may play in…

Activities in 2006 pointed to strategic shifts in library automation. The dynamics of the business environment changed rapidly from a fragmented industry to a highly consolidated one. Though the integrated library system (ILS) continues to represent the largest portion of revenue, products that deal with electronic content and deliver better…

Purpose: This paper seeks to look into Gabriel--the Worldwide web server for those European national libraries represented in the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), providing a single point of access on the internet for the retrieval of information about their functions, services and collections. Above all, it serves as a gateway…

The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) serves a dispersed patron base, and its library has developed, over time, a circulation system for distributing physical research materials to its patrons throughout the United States. This article discusses the development of this system and its associated interface/database management system…

This document reports on Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) subgrant projects in Michigan for fiscal year (FY) 1998. The introductory section includes: a description of AccessMichigan, the umbrella online service that includes a collection of more than 67 commercial databases, the SPAN (Serials, Periodicals and Newspapers) service, and the…

This paper traces the expansion of the Internet into Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) libraries from basic access to the development of World Wide Web (WWW) servers. An analysis of the most representative groups of library WWW-servers arranged by projects, by corporate library network, or by geographical characteristics is…

Corporations employ data mining to analyze operations, find trends in recorded information, and look for new opportunities. Libraries are no different. Librarians manage large stores of data--about collections and usage, for example--and they also want to analyze this data to serve their users better. Analysts use data mining to query a data…

This study examines different applications of Internet (e-mail, Telnet, File Transfer Protocol, Gopher, World Wide Web) in medical library settings, emphasizing reference services. Discusses the role of the Internet in fulfilling National Network of Libraries of Medicine's objectives and analyzes the merits of using the Internet as a reference…

Reports on Bill and Melinda Gates's tour of Alabama, the first state to be wired to the Internet by the nonprofit Gates Library Foundation, and the model for connecting 1000 more libraries this year. Mutual appreciation between Alabama librarians and the Gateses resulted. An interview with Bill Gates focuses on challenges libraries face in…

Because North Carolina's telecommunications services have been unable to provide cost-effective, statewide dial-access service to public libraries, the state library has had to identify a suitable alternative for public library network access. This article outlines the state library's efforts to provide access to the Internet and to electronic…

The papers in this proceedings describe similarities and differences in state libraries and examine the state library role in local, regional, and national network development and in the dissemination of information to various client segments. The papers are: (1) "The Commonalities of State Library Agencies" (Barrat Wilkins); (2)…

This paper discusses public library services to remote communities in Australia, focusing on New South Wales (NSW). The first section presents background on the public library network in NSW, including statistics, descriptors/characteristics of public libraries, and funding to establish public Internet access. The second section addresses regional…