Introduces a prototype system for devising and using a metadata vocabulary for data retrieval, based on a project at the United States Department of Agriculture. A unified information-access system called REEIS (Research, Education, Economics, Extension Information System) is being designed to provide a knowledge base of programs, projects, and…

Focuses on information literacy (IL), specifically the design of a college course and its high school version intended to equip students with essential IL skills. Discusses current problems in information seeking that correspond to each of the phases of the information life cycle: asking a question, accessing and retrieving information,…

Discusses the differences between objectified and interpretive approaches to context. Suggests that in information needs and seeking research (INS), the former approach has been more common. One way of understanding INS phenomena is to define them as patterns of behavior; another way is to understand them as phenomena mediated by social and…

Suggests that a faceted thesaurus should be used as the basis for organizing a small-scale institutional Web site. Contends that a faceted approach to knowledge organization can make the process of organization less random and more manageable. Reports on an informal survey of three Web sites, underscoring the problems of organization that can…

Describes the use of Spotfire, a starfield visualization tool, to generate interactive visualizations of log data, ranging from aggregate views of all Web site hits in a time interval to close-ups that approximate the path of a user through a site. Highlights current efforts and provides examples of the visualizations created in Spotfire.…

When the ISI(R) (Institute for Scientific Information (R)) decided to incorporate scholarly, research-oriented Web sites as an expansion of the "Current Contents Connect" (TM) database, the organization faces significant issues relating to establishment of evaluative criteria and the capture of appropriate metadata. This discussion…

Introduces Information Management Assistants (IMAs). Presents work on an architecture for this class of system, and progress in implementing Watson, a prototype of such a system. Watson observes users in word processing and Web browsing applications and uses a simple model of the user's tasks, knowledge of term importance, and an understanding of…

Describes each step of the design sequence for crafting a training resource (state a purpose, identify one or more users, describe content, develop a format, test for relevance) and discusses building a virtual-training forms network. Figures illustrate the instructional-system-development model; training forms, content, and end-users; frequently…

Reviews present and possible future developments in the techniques of electronic document management, the major ones being text retrieval and scanning and OCR (optical character recognition). Also addresses document acquisition, indexing and thesauri, publishing and dissemination standards, impact of the Internet, and the document management…

This eighth part in a series of articles on Web-based reference providers focuses on subscription databases. Topics include training needs; keeping teachers informed about new databases; costs; information retrieval techniques; free information from the Internet versus paying for use; information vendors; and the need for printed reference…

Discusses the approach of using student projects to teach information retrieval. Examines projects completed by students at Mercyhurst College (Erie, Pennsylvania), and includes examples of their work. Discusses problems encountered, weaknesses exposed, and strengths of the project genre overall. Other issues raised include methods for reinforcing…

Describes research that consists of: development of a taxonomy of development of: IR tasks based on real users, a taxonomy of IR strategies that are general across different IR systems, a descriptive model of expert performance, a prescriptive model of effective performance, and design and evaluation of a pedagogical approach to teach the…

Explains some major problems related to the subject indexing process and proposes semiotics as a framework for understanding the interpretive nature of the process. Explores the approach to studies of indexing and library and information science suggested by Fairthorne, Blair, Benediktsson, and others. Offers an explanation of what occurs in the…

This article profiles 20 Web sites that can assist practitioners and researchers in locating statistics and resources on special education demographics. Web sites are divided into the following sections: authoritative reports regarding disabilities, federally funded centers on disability statistics, brief reports, specialized search tools, and…

Developing an awareness of the many aspects of censorship and how it affects their lives is a powerful experience for middle schoolers. Most young people will concede that their values have been shaped mostly by their families. They discover that studying censorship is a tool for forming their own opinions about issues. For library media…