Analyzes demographic and financial trends affecting future student financial aid needs and considers some possible solutions, including expanding definitions of merit awards to include nondirect inducements for top high school students, prepaid tuition plans sponsored by the federal government, and using information technology to store and…

Includes the following reports: "'LJ' (Library Journal) News Report: Libraries Success at Funding Books and Bytes"; "'SLJ' (School Library Journal) News Report: We're in the Money!"; and "'PW' (Publishers Weekly) News Reports". (AEF)

Discusses making community networking a reality for all citizens, noting ways to reduce the digital divide that segments computer use along socioeconomic lines. Lists 4 insights that may help in the design and implementation of community services devoted to computer access and training. Notes a website on community networking, and recent…

Discusses issues associated with the virtual office. Summarizes advantages and disadvantages from employees' and employers' perspectives. Uses the behavior engineering model (Thomas Gilbert, 1996) as a framework to analyze different factors related to performance, and suggests the application of other concepts from human performance technology and…

Researchers from the University of Washington, Microsoft Research, Boeing, and Risoe National Laboratory in Denmark have embarked on a project to explore the manifestations of Collaborative Information Retrieval (CIR) in work settings and to propose technological innovations and organizational changes that can support, facilitate, and improve CIR.…

Explores the natural integration between service learning and the use of information technology. Several examples are discussed from a community college in Hawai'i, where adult English-as-Second-Language students engaged in technology-related service learning projects such as teaching Internet skills to children and producing Web pages for…

Describes a workshop program developed at the California State University Sacramento to familiarize faculty with the library's electronic resources. The broad subject areas targeted were business, humanities, social sciences, and science and technology. Training covered the online catalog, article indexes, and databases. Evaluations of the…

Suggests that one of the best ways to get word-of-mouth marketing of library technology is to provide "usable" products and services. Provides an international standards definition on usability and notes that understanding usability combines an understanding of user needs/wants with an understanding of goals, functions, and limitations…

Examines present trends as well as the past history of information technology as it affects libraries. Topics include library vision and the need for a redefinition of their role as information middlemen between vendors and consumers; effects of the World Wide Web; and electronic information. (LRW)

The University of Virginia's Computing Survival Skills program, begun in 1997, addresses the ongoing technology training needs of departmental staff. An overview is provided of the program's first year, including background, content, materials, certification, benefits, results, success, and future plans. Tips for designing a training program are…

Discusses the educational uses of Electronic Data Exchange and a decision-support system. Describes purpose and products of partnership between Association of School Business Officials, International (www.asbointl.org/) and National Forum on Educational Statistics (www.nces.ed.gov/forum/). (PKP)

Examines assumptions underpinning studies of gender and technology in education in Denmark, Australia, and England, briefly including Canada and the Netherlands. Discusses how gender and heterosexuality often become conflated in studies of gender and technology relations in the classroom. Explains that girls'"incompetence" in technology…

This case study evaluated restructuring by a faculty team of a large-enrollment computer fluency course at the University of Buffalo. It found that using existing online materials (acting as "early followers" rather than "early adopters") gave students multiple ways to learn and kept costs down. (EV)

Highlights the problems related to the development of professionals in the field of educational technology and defines a series of new professional roles, skills, and competencies needed to respond to the job market demands. Presents a model for professionals involved in the development of network-based courses. (Author/LRW)

Yearbook Australia 2003 reports that in August 2001 there were 9596 schools in Australia (2003:305). It can be claimed with confidence that each of these has a library and that a member or members of the school staff have specific responsibility for its operation. That this is so is primarily an achievement of the Library Association of Australia…