Offers suggestions for librarians with minimal knowledge of library system applications faced with the task of writing technical specifications for various phases of online catalog procurement and implementation. The discussion covers the preparation of technical specifications and the formulation of requirements to be included in a library's…

Provides background on the holdings, services, and layout of the mediatheque (multimedia library) at the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie (originally the Museum of Science, Technology, and Industry) in Paris. The library's online public access catalog and use of the catalog by children and the visually handicapped are described. (four…

Compares database characteristics, access, display, editing, new records, hard copy products, hardware, and price of CD-ROM catalog production products from seven vendors: Gaylord Information Systems; General Research Corporation; The Library Corporation; OCLC; Solinet; Utlas; and the Western Library Network. (MES)

Describes a project at the Princeton University libraries that converted the pre-1981 public card catalog, using digital imaging and optical character recognition technology, to fully tagged and indexed records of text in MARC format that are available on an online database and will be added to the online catalog. (LRW)

Provides an overview of the INTERNET and INTERNET services of interest to libraries, including electronic mail, bulletin boards, electronic publishing, online public access catalogs and databases, and downloaded texts and software. (16 references) (MES)

Presents the reflections of a designer of visual interfaces for online public access catalogs regarding the importance of a historical perspective for design practices. Topics discussed include cognitive psychology research; conventions for organizing information; and the ongoing process of changes in media. (LRW)

Outlines a process for downloading MARC format bibliographic data into a form readable for an Apple Macintosh computer running HyperCard software. Loading procedures for two data sources--an OCLC format tape and records from UCLA's ORION public access catalog--are discussed, and the use of a minicomputer system is considered. (eight references)…

Describes a staff training program for the use of the online catalog at Southern Illinois University. Planning the training program is discussed; objectives are explained; training methods and materials are described; and results of an evaluation of the training program are reported. (seven references) (LRW)

Presents the evolution of subject access to works about individual corporate bodies in Anglo-American subject cataloging practice. Comparison is made to works of individual biography, the lack of comparable subject access is explored, and recommendations are made to restore parity by using syndetic reference structure through automated maintenance…

Discusses debates that still continue over the value of card catalogs versus online catalogs and other library technology. Highlights include user opinions and needs, libraries being ahead of users in the use of technology, the information age, the value of cataloging, full-text searching, meaning extraction, dataspaces, and the Internet. (LRW)

Grounded on object filtering, automatic indexing, and co-occurrence analysis, an experiment was performed using a parallel supercomputer to analyze over 400,000 abstracts in an INSPEC computer engineering collection. A user evaluation revealed that system-generated thesauri were better than the human-generated INSPEC subject thesaurus in concept…

In the early 1990s, Northern Michigan University started distributing laptop computers to its faculty and students. Soon, a taste for technology developed and the university community craved more. Having tempted their taste buds, they quickly found that patrons were no longer satisfied with traveling to the library and asked that they bring…

Fullerton, California--College students use technology constantly. They text-message friends, compile playlists for their iPods, and are whizzes at updating their MySpace profiles. But when it comes to one kind of work they are required to do in college--namely, academic research--they can be inept. Too often, college officials say, students rely…

The book has made the transition to the digital age; that much is certain. However, the jury is still out on what form or forms the book of the future will take and how libraries will adapt. This article is a look at the impact of digital books on public library acquisitions, including available formats, purchasing considerations, functional…

Describes a study at City College Library which examined the proportion of name headings that could be validated against the Library of Congress Name Authority File in automated authority control. The implications for the use of automated authority control as a means of integrating current and retrospective headings are discussed. (Author/CLB)