Asserts that increasing numbers of significant historical archives are being opened. Relates the story of historian Patricia Kennedy Grimsted who spent 30 years identifying the existence and history of national archives in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European nations. Maintains that her efforts have helped historians take advantage of…

Compares students in active comprehension and teacher-posed question groups. Finds no difference between groups in the number of target books borrowed but significant differences in the type of comments students made as well as the length of their responses when they were asked how they liked the special reading class. (SR)

Describes Empire State College, a four-year Arts and Science institution in New York that provides distance education for mainly adult students who need an alternative to traditional higher education. Topics include mentors, student needs, access to libraries, the use of technology, and social services. (LRW)

XML is a newly released subset of SGML that is intended to extend the benefits of that standard to the World Wide Web. Differences between SGML and XML are outlined, potential benefits are discussed, and answers are provided for some frequently asked questions regarding XML. (AEF)

Under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the Federal Communications Commission established a $2.25 billion annual fund to support communications services for needy K-12 schools and libraries. Services eligible for Universal Service support include telephone lines, integrated digital networks, private lines, and Internet access hookups. The…

Reviews and analyzes selected Web sites that use standard library classification schemes or controlled vocabularies to enhance access to Web information sources. Profiles common elements of many sites and the structural and navigational approaches incorporated with select sites. Includes an appendix of sites that use standard classification…

A committee of media specialists, librarians, teachers, parents, and administrators at a Minnesota district devised an information literacy curriculum. They identified current skills and software; learned an information-processing mode; identified curriculum integration areas; brainstormed projects; identified needed resources; and developed…

Discusses the ethical challenges of information technology, particularly electronic indexes and the Internet; considers principles to guide students; and discusses possible librarian responses. Topics include Kant's categorical imperative, ownership, right to privacy, social responsibility, self-respect, plagiarism and copyrights, and three…

Discusses distance-learning-program redesign for Internet delivery and suggests strategies for successful delivery, including hiring faculty specifically for the distance-learning program; orienting first-time students; comprehensive administrative support; adequate faculty training; virtual librarians; communication; and teaching students needed…

Gives examples of the pornography and worse dangers that await young children who go online unsupervised. Describes steps libraries are taking toward Web safety. Discusses how to provide Internet safety at home; types of Internet filters; and corporate Internet control. A sidebar offers a list of rules to follow for online safety. (AEF)

Evaluates "College & Research Libraries" and "Journal of Academic Librarianship" on the basis of types of articles published, structure of articles, types of statistics used, and data-collection methods. Results indicate that surveys are the primary form of data collection and descriptive statistics are used more frequently…

Discusses the results of a study that examined the influences of scholarly requirements, including research and publication, on academic librarians' ability to earn tenure or continuous employment. Reviews previous studies and discusses survey results that indicate a majority of institutions require some scholarship. (Author/LRW)

Examines library home pages of 50 universities and 50 two-year colleges to determine the home pages' purpose as manifested by their content and its placement within the structure of the site. Identifies aspects of the sites that reflect institutional character and a core common content that exists across academic-library Web sites. (Author/LRW)

Explains the use of FLIP it! worksheets that are frameworks for learning activities in school libraries and classrooms that promote innovative thinking. The format includes focus topics; links or likely sources of information; input, or information needed; and payoff, or product format and presentation. (LRW)

Discusses abuse of the Internet as an information source for classroom assignments and emphasizes the need for librarians to teach students and staff to evaluate information sources. Considers content, source, access, and structure, and lists Web sites that have evaluation guidelines as well as examples of bad sites. (LRW)