The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (PMH) is designed to facilitate discovery of the "hidden web" of scholarly information, such as that contained in databases, finding aids, and XML documents. OAI-PMH supports standardized exchange of metadata describing items in disparate collections, of such as those…

Evaluates the effectiveness of using the HTML META tag to improve retrieval of World Wide Web documents through Internet search engines. Analysis of sample searches suggests that the use of the keywords attribute in a META tag substantially improves accessibility whereas use of the description attribute alone does not. (Author/LRW)

This paper describes a proposal for an interoperable metadata model, based on international standards, that has been designed to enable the description, exchange and sharing of multimedia resources both within and between cultural institutions. Domain-specific ontologies have been developed by two different ISO Working Groups to standardize the…

In this interview Professor Stuart Sutton discusses proliferation of metadata schemas as an outgrowth of various discourse communities as they find their niche on the semantic Web. Highlights include interoperability; cataloging tools, including GEMCat; and the role of librarians and information science education in the development of Internet…

Provides an overview of this special issue on organizing resources on the Internet and discusses metadata. Topics include full-text indexing; adding additional data, or metadata; user needs; standard library cataloging; examples of the use of metadata; development of GEM (Gateway to Educational Materials); Dublin Core; and OCLC efforts. (LRW)

The proliferation of Web pages and digitized material mounted on Internet servers has become unmanageable. Librarians and users are concerned that documents and information are being lost in cyberspace as a result of few bibliographic controls and common standards. Librarians in cooperation with software creators and Web page designers are…

This paper discusses the challenges that the digital age poses for recordkeeping and the National Archives of Australia's response to these challenges. The Archive's development of inter-dependent standards, policies, and guidelines for government recordkeeping is summarized. An initiative for developing and promoting resource discovery metadata…

This paper describes a model for managing a dynamic Web site with multiple concurrent versions. The voyage of the Duyfken Replica (i.e., a replica of a 17th century Dutch ship) from Australia to the Netherlands has generated great interest in its associated Web site, and it is now planned to extend the original site to mirror sites in both…

Looks briefly at the history of World Wide Web search engine development and considers the current state of affairs. Reflects on future directions in terms of personalization, summarization, query expansion, coverage, and metadata. (Author/AEF)

Describes EquiX, a search language for XML that combines querying with searching to query the data and the meta-data content of Web pages. Topics include search engines; a data model for XML documents; search query syntax; search query semantics; an algorithm for evaluating a query on a document; and indexing EquiX queries. (LRW)

The 1999 American Society for Information Science (ASIS) conference explored current knowledge creation, acquisition, navigation, correlation, retrieval, management, and dissemination practicalities and potentialities, their implementation and impact, and the theories behind the developments. Speakers reviewed processes, technologies, and tools,…

This paper reviews indexing theory and suggests that information retrieval can be significantly improved by applying basic indexing criteria. Indexing practices are described, including the three main types of indexes: pre-coordinate, post-coordinate, and variants of both. Design features of indexes are summarized, including accuracy, consistency,…

Reviews template mining research and shows how templates are used in World Wide Web search engines and metasearch engines for helping end-users generate natural language search expressions. Potential areas of application of template mining for extraction of information from digital documents are highlighted, and how such applications are used is…

This paper discusses access to information about Southeast Asia on the Internet. The first section summarizes problems with the major Internet search engines and directories. Three broad categories of solutions to improve Internet searching and retrieval are suggested in the second section: (1) efforts to assist end users to use the search engines…

This book examines what has been done in providing subject access to networked resources. The first chapter provides a historical overview of information services, developments in information technology, end users, and the Internet, as well as a discussion of the library response to these developments. The second chapter discusses metadata,…