Analyzes James Finn's contributions to the development of the process view of educational technology in light of his desire to upgrade the status of the audiovisual education movement to a professional field of study. Discusses the concepts of automation versus technology. (Author/LRW)

Discusses object-centered knowledge representation and information retrieval. Highlights include semantic networks; frames; predicative (declarative) and associative knowledge; cluster analysis; creation of subconcepts and superconcepts; automatic classification; hierarchies and pseudohierarchies; graph theory; term classification; clustering of…

Discussion of the use of information retrieval techniques for automatic generation of semantic hypertext links focuses on automatic text summarization. Topics include World Wide Web links, text segmentation, and evaluation of text summarization by comparing automatically generated abstracts with manually prepared abstracts. (Author/LRW)

Describes a prototype system for software documentation management called SLEUTH (Software Literacy Enhancing Usefulness to Humans) being developed at the University of Virginia. Highlights include information retrieval techniques, hypertext links that are installed automatically, a WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine, user…

Describes a survey conducted at Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College that investigated students' experience with and reactions to a new electronic reserve system (ERS). Results document active use, a preference for ERS over traditional reserves, and enthusiasm with enhanced access, especially for off-campus students. (Author/LRW)

Describes the origins of hypertext and reviews the history of the concept of nonsequential access to information that led to hypertext. Technological developments that have been combined with hypertext are discussed, including workstations, video and laser disk technology, and microcomputers; and library applications of hypertext and hypermedia…

Results of a study to examine the degree to which accounting aptitudes and selected Structure-of-Intellect (SI) abilities were predictive of student achievement for deaf accounting and office technologies students in a college accounting course. The SI Operations Sequence and Remembered Relations Tests and the American Institute of Certified…

Suggests questions that should be asked by those considering the purchase of a library system and identifies sources of information on library systems. Lists of questions that can be asked of online vendors and users to evaluate any system are provided. (12 references) (CLB)

Describes a U.S. Department of Education program that provides information technology funding to libraries and information centers. The discussion covers grant categories, award criteria, first round results, and application details. A list of approved proposals in the categories of networking equipment, joint-use, services to institutions, and…

Examines the environmental context that is shaping academic libraries and computing centers and their interdependence. The strengths of a partnership of these two information service organizations are discussed, and potential areas of tension between them are considered. Resulting changes in the nature of information work are suggested. (16…

Discusses six aspects of compact disc (CD-ROM) publishing: (1) development costs; (2) design considerations; (3) marketing; (4) software design; (5) hardware; and (6) the library market. (MES)

Discussion of the library, its information providing function, and the systems librarian examines: (1) the impact of information technology on libraries; (2) library organization charts; and (3) position advertisements--who are systems librarians, what do they do, and what should they do? (seven references) (MES)

Discusses issues relating to recent introductions of CD-ROM technologies in libraries and considerations that have motivated libraries to choose networking CD-ROMs over the standalone approach. Factors discussed include cost effectiveness, the flexibility of the networking approach, and performance considerations. A glossary of terms is provided.…

Provides an introduction to expert systems and offers guidelines for their use in library applications. Areas discussed include appropriate domains for expert systems in libraries, a brief description of how such systems work, and criteria for selection. Sources of sample programs and tutorials are identified. (three references) (CLB)

Discusses the application of new generation, external broadband telecommunications networks to academic library reference services. Several of the prominent networks are described, a selected bibliography of 20 recent publications is provided, and addresses for obtaining further information are listed. (CLB)