This study was conducted to determine how preservice media specialists perceive leadership responsibilities and certain tasks associated with the school library media profession. Results indicate that many viewed themselves as support personnel rather than school leaders, thus establishing the need to include leadership development courses in…

Explores a new Web-based curriculum idea of having students write and publish critical "reviews" of scientific resources. Presents content analyses of 41 source documents and 63 critical reviews published by 11th grade students in a project-based science class. Analyzes two aspects of student-written critical evaluation, organization evaluation…

Considers strategies for the implementation of quality improvement in libraries. Highlights include structured quality improvement, especially Total Quality Management; organizational change; customer focus; continuous improvement; data-based decision making; systems thinking; employee involvement in decision making; diffusion of innovation;…

Describes American Memory, a multimedia computer system that incorporates CD-ROM and videodisk to provide access in electronic format to some of the Library of Congress archival materials on American history. Highlights include participating libraries; contents of the collections; searching; evaluation; and examples of the system's use at Barnard…

Describes information technology programs in Maryland, including the Sailor Project, that created a statewide telecommunications network providing Internet access without charge from libraries, homes, offices, schools, and shopping malls; University of Maryland initiatives; distance learning in higher education; and a project that allows worldwide…

Discussion of high school student search strategies on the Internet focuses on electronic pathfinders that can help provide student with alternative resources, identify appropriate subject headings, and target the most appropriate resources. Topics include the change in library materials from print to digital; problem-solving skills; hypertext;…

Suggest ways library education must change in order to prepare its graduates for technology-rich careers. Topics include technology skills and knowledge as core competencies; computer literacy; teaching practical skills as well as theory; field experience, practicums, or internships; and the rate of technological change. (LRW)

Reports on an empirical study of how end-users utilize an online bibliographic information system available on the World Wide Web by analyzing the use of a union catalog of academic libraries in Norway. Discusses how hypertext links affect search behavior and considers individual differences in search behavior and problem solving. Interview…

Discusses Internet plagiarism and includes an outline for a presentation that library media specialists can use with teachers. Highlights include an overview of the problem; helping teachers recognize the signs; pinpointing the source, including the use of search engines and Web sites; and prevention, including more control over the research…

Interviews with 51 librarians and 40 computer-center administrators at smaller colleges found that they face similar challenges in providing services and seeking economies but are uneasy about formal structural changes that bring their operations closer together. Reasons for their concern and implications for college administration are discussed,…

Discusses ways that library media specialists can influence lifelong learning habits by collaborating with teachers on projects and activities that incorporate real-life applications. Based on readings from the whole-language philosophy and school-reform movement, presents examples from a high school; the examples stress authentic learning…

Suggests that it is vital that all library and information science (LIS) students be trained to think and work in a virtual networked environment by taking a class in a Web-based classroom. Discusses components of a virtual classroom and describes a model Web-based class at San Jose State University. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study of graduate students that examined how Web interfaces impact the quality or outcome of online searches, as well as the information seeking behavior of the searcher. Examines how two search interfaces work to noticeably increase or decrease the impact of the emotive aspects of search behavior. (LRW)

Presents personal analysis of information science as a field of scientific inquiry and professional practice that has evolved over the past half-century. Examines origin of information science in respect to problems of the information explosion, social role of field, nature of "information," structure of field in terms of problems addressed,…

Describes the Multiple Intelligence search (used by the author with 6th and 9th graders) based on Ken Macrorie's "I-Search" and Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Describes the process as students conducted a search using library resources and technology; became experts on topics they are passionate about; created a professional…