Presents a planning guide for implementation of online services at a public library, consisting of: (1) identification of public service goals and online reference objectives, (2) needs assessment, (3) manipulating the political environment, (4) project description, (5) time schedule, (6) preliminary budget, and (7) evaluation. (SW)

The findings of a survey of depository librarians' involvement in and training in the use of online database searching, access to online terminals, and acquisition of microformatted government publications online are presented and discussed. Recommendations are made for increasing such involvement, and a 26-item bibliography is included. (CHC)

The Assessing Quality on Digital Reference team conducted two site visits at Florida Libraries in August 2001. The objectives of these visits were to: document how digital reference services are currently being planned for, delivered, and evaluated in libraries; understand how "quality" in digital reference is defined in these…

This study collected Victorian (Australia) public library and public library user Internet connectivity data that: provides a baseline measure of public library Internet connectivity; describes public library type and level of Internet connectivity; details public library branch Internet connectivity; reviews the costs of public library Internet…

The Government Information Locator Service (GILS) is an innovative networked-based approach to assist users in locating government information resources. This document reports the results of an evaluation study begun in September 1996 and completed in June 1997. The goal of the study was to understand how: GILS serves various user groups; GILS…

The purpose of this study was to obtain descriptive information about the nation's public library connectivity, use, and costs related to the Internet. The study gathered data from a national sample of public libraries from the period between May and July 1997. Unlike the 1994 and 1996 students, the 1997 study drew a new library sample that…

This report describes the results of an assessment of Sailor, Maryland's Online Public Information Network, which provides statewide Internet connection to 100% of Maryland public libraries. The concept of a "statewide networked environment" includes information services, products, hardware and software, telecommunications…

Presents an evaluation of the OnLine at PA Libraries (1996-97) Internet-based information services and resources project for Pennsylvania residents. The project provided a statewide demonstration to improve public library services; connect public libraries to the Internet; provide a range of new services and resources to their communities; and…

This book provides an overview and status report on the progress made in developing the National Research and Education Network (NREN) as of early 1991. It reports on a number of investigations that provide a research and policy perspective on the NREN and computer-mediated communication (CMC), and brings together key source documents that have…

This report provides an evaluation of the Online at PA Libraries project which was initiated in the Fall of 1996 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit. The report documents that the following goals were accomplished: (1) provide public access to the Internet through…

As more academic institutions spend larger sums of money to network their campuses and provide network connections to sources outside their campuses, questions emerge concerning the selection and configuration of appropriate network technologies and the appropriate types and levels of services to provide. Increasingly, academic administrators are…

This compendium is a companion document to the Maryland Sailor Online Public Information Network assessment final report, and contains detailed study findings, study data collection activity write-ups, detailed methodologies, data collection tools, and consultant notes on the uses of the study's data collection instruments. The purpose of the…

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities facing libraries as they evolve into the electronic networked environment, and looks at options for libraries in the year 2000 and beyond. The internationally networked environment has fundamentally changed the way in which people acquire and use information resources and services. The paper…