Discusses cultural wars in academic disciplines and among populations within college and university campuses. Examines multiculturalism and the curriculum, ranging from reform of basic curricular requirements to the persistence of ethnic and gender studies programs, and considers opportunities for effecting change in academic libraries.…

Describes one public school library's struggles and solutions to problems associated with managing its new Windows desktop. To implement goals for organizing the desktop, the library selected the FoolProof desktop security system, utilized networks administration to enforce the school's Acceptable Use Policy, and used Windows 95 System Policies.…

Explores the status of the librarian in the Canadian university. Discusses the lack of peer status; the value of cross-national research; patterns of university restructuring, including libraries and librarians as targets for reductions; and the possibility of establishing Discipline Research Librarians, or Research Bibliographers, to improve…

Despite the spread of distance education, research on its effectiveness is inadequate. The debate on distance education must be based on accurate and adequate information. Studies are needed to assess effectiveness of entire academic programs taught at a distance; on dropout rates; to address different learning styles; to establish a theoretical…

This special section includes papers from the 1997 Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) Systems and Services Section (SASS) preconference, "Write On!" which introduced participants to the tenets of effective writing. Four topics of interest to librarians include: writing a research paper, transforming an oral presentation into…

In cooperation with Texas A&M University's Center for Teaching Excellence, an interactive Library Assignment Workshop was developed to educate teaching faculty on designing effective library related assignments. Feedback from workshop attendees was positive and supported repeating the workshop several times per year, with a focus on new…

Examines changes that have been occurring in library and information science (LIS) programs. Topics include changes in library school names; core competencies; curriculum changes; the KALIPER Project, which is investigating LIS curricular changes; distance learning; degrees; and a ranking of the best LIS programs. (LRW)

Provides basic, descriptive information about informational text experiences offered to children in 20 first-grade classrooms selected from very low and very high socio-economic-status school districts. Finds a scarcity of informational texts in these classroom print environments (particularly the low socio-economic status schools)--there were…

Provides examples of activities to help student learn to critically evaluate information from the World Wide Web based on the Big6 approach to library and information skills instruction. Lists criteria for evaluating Web sites and describes how to relate activities to student projects so relevant Web sites can be used. (LRW)

Includes "e-Skeletons: The Digital Library as a Platform for Studying Anatomical Form and Function"; Canonicalization: Fundamental Tool to Facilitate Preservation and Management of Digital Information"; "The ISI Web of Science - Links and Electronic Journals: How Links Work Today in the "Web of Science," and the…

Presents a selected annotated list of recent publications dealing with technology and learning that will be helpful for school library media centers. Subject categories include research studies; research reviews and bibliographies; and non-research articles and information sources. (LRW)

Discussion of language barriers when using multilingual digital library collections on the Internet focuses on query translation and document translation in a Chinese-English information retrieval system called MTIR. Highlights include a bilingual dictionary; machine transliteration algorithm; design issues for document translation; HTML tags; and…

Describes the Ohioview Research Consortium, composed of university libraries and government agencies, which was formed to promote the low-cost distribution of government civilian satellite data for public use. Discusses the strong leadership role that the university library component has been called upon to play. (LRW)

Discusses how modern library systems can protect collections while not impeding disabled persons' access to facilities. Describes the problem with swinging gates and offers some security alternatives, such as high-tech gateless security, video detection, and voice alarms, that do not impede disabled persons' movements. (RJM)

Discusses the concept of a digital library and the utility of space/time referencing. Describes the unified space/time/keyword/format search and retrieval and indexing system of the ISLA (Information System for Los Angeles) at the University of Southern California. Focuses on the practical application of space/time referencing and methods of…