Discusses the role of intelligent agents in facilitating the seeking and retrieval of information in Web-based library environments. Highlights include an overview of agents; current applications in library domains; an agent-based model for libraries; the design of interface agents; and implications for library policy and digital collections.…

Offers an overview of the authors' experience using several observational methods to better understand one class of users, expert clinicians treating patients in hospital settings. Shows the evolution of understanding of the users and their information-handling tasks based on observations made in the field by a multidisciplinary research team, and…

Discussion of searching for information on the Web focuses on resources that are not always found by traditional Web searches. Describes sources on the hidden Web, including full-text databases, clearinghouses, digital libraries, and learning objects; explains how search engines operate; and suggests that traditional print sources are still…

Describes computer networks that support scholarly research and explains the idea of a colibratory, i.e., a collaborative, distributed, experimental scholarly information network that is analogous to a traditional library. Information resources that could be available are discussed, technological considerations in networking are described, and…

Discussion of the future possibilities of digital library systems highlights digital projects developed at Tilburg University (Netherlands). Topics addressed include online access to databases; electronic document delivery; agreements between libraries and Elsevier Science publishers to provide journal articles; full text document delivery; and…

Introduces five articles on Cornell University's (New York) Mann Library by discussing the ideal research library; traditional and new models of the research library; how Mann Library is evolving to meet user expectations; and staff participation. Sidebar articles cover selected digital library projects, online primary journals, and a project…

Presents the predictions of nine technology experts regarding the future of technology in U.S. schools. Predictions include technology's hold on classroom instruction, its power to eliminate the gap between students with and without disabilities, electronic media replacing physical school libraries, the replacement of textbooks by digital media,…

Describes the libraries at the Lindesmith Center, a drug-policy-reform research institute, and discusses plans for library expansion. The traditional library includes books, government and other organization reports, periodicals, and vertical files; the virtual library contains full text documents that are available on the Lindesmith Web site.…

Discussion of the World Wide Web and the role of academic librarians as online system developers and designers focuses on usability testing. Usability evaluation at OCLC and at the University of Arizona is described, and the integration of the results into their Web and online product designs is discussed. (Author/LRW)

This discussion of library preservation practices for information and cultural materials of value focuses on digital technology. Discusses controlled environments, reformatting, and emergency-preparedness strategies. A sidebar describes the Library of Congress's "American Memory" project to convert information in traditional media to an…

Describes Pen-DOR (Pennsylvania Education Network Digital Object Repository), a digital library designed to provide K-12 educators with access to multimedia resources and tools to create new lesson plans and modify existing ones via the World Wide Web. Discusses design problems of a distributed, object-oriented database architecture and describes…

Considers some of the major technical and organizational issues involved in virtual-catalog production, contrasting them with the traditional union catalog approach exemplified by COPAC, an online public-access catalog composed of academic libraries in the United Kingdom. Suggest a method of integrating these two models of the union catalog.…

Introduces the nine papers in a special issue focusing on progress toward digital libraries. Articles fall into three categories: history and activities about digital libraries (DL); understanding digital library users; and extending and integrating through digital libraries. (AEF)

Discusses the transition that libraries are currently experiencing between physical resources and electronic access. Topics include technology as tools rather than solutions; media and technology; desktop publishing; electronic books; Web commerce; instant books, or books printed on demand; new types of media; and serving the users. (LRW)

States that several states are establishing networks for resource sharing. Florida offers these resources through the Florida Distance Learning Library Initiative, Wisconsin has BadgerLink and WISCAT, TexShare provides library resource sharing in Texas, and Louisiana has LOUIS and LLN. These are some of the states successfully demonstrating…