Discusses trends in distance education in higher education, describes the changing profile in the growth of Web-based delivery of courses, and compares two leading software suppliers for Web-based courseware: WebCT and Blackboard CourseInfo. Considers the transition from face-to-face to online instruction, library instruction, and mid-course…

Reports on the creation of a prototype, Web-based expert system that helps users better navigate library databases at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Discusses concerns that gave rise to the project. Summarizes previous work/research and common approaches in academic libraries today. Describes plans for testing the prototype,…

Presents a three-year case study of the conceptualization, design, funding, construction, and the installation and implementation of instructional systems for an instructional facility built in renovated office space at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. The Digital Learning Center is a 48-seat technology classroom with distance…

Explores the relationship between scholarly communication, an established research area receiving renewed interest, and digital libraries, a relatively new area of research. Stakeholders agree that the relationship structure inherent in scholarship has become unbalanced with the advent of electronic publishing, digital libraries, computer…

Presents 10 tips librarians and media specialists can use in taking a query-based approach to teaching users how to search the Web. Steps for searching include: defining the nature of the quest; choosing the most useful tool; and constructing the proper search statement. A sidebar lists 17 search tools with their URLs. (AEF)

Focuses on resources useful for the evaluation of school library media specialists, including four Web sites from various states and one from the American Association of School Librarians, and a chapter in a print publication. Include areas of competencies, intervention plans, evaluation criteria, sample job descriptions, and evaluation…

Describes Campus Compact, a national coalition of college and university presidents committed to helping students develop values and skills through public service. Reports that students are engaged in improving housing for the homeless, reading/writing tutoring, preserving the environment, mentoring, and alleviating hunger. States that one of the…

The goal of the State Library of Queensland's (Australia) Metadata Project is the deployment of metadata using the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set in State Library Web pages. This is expected to improve resource discovery by Internet users, through providing index information (metadata) in State Library Web pages which is then available to search…

Describes a survey conducted in 1997 in seven school districts in Nassau County (New York) to determine the use of computer technology in elementary school classrooms. Highlights include number of computers per classroom, number of newer computers, Internet access, and future plans. (LRW)

Discusses information and communication technology in South African academic libraries in the context of the post-apartheid period which consists of a technologically sophisticated sector and an underdeveloped Third World Sector. Topics include academic library consortia; connectivity; information literacy; human resource development; and…

Reports the findings of an experiment using a simulated title page, author surnames, and title words, one-third of which were selected by each of the three authors, to determine the frequency of one-screen displays when used to search for known items in an implied Boolean retrieval system. (Author/AEF)

Building or rebuilding a library media center to accommodate new technologies and teaching methods requires careful planning. New national standards for library media programs are useful starting points. Space should be allotted for a circulation area, online catalog/electronic reference area, librarian's office, workroom/storeroom, and class…

Presents the results from a survey to determine different audiences for the H-Net e-mail lists and H-Net website, to describe the character of those audiences, and determine the audiences' expectations. Believes that this survey may have implications for university policies concerning decisions about library collections and classroom instruction.…

Examines users' categorization of documents related to a particular literary work. After finishing the sorting task, participants wrote descriptions of the attributes used to create each group. Content analysis of these descriptions revealed categories of attributes for grouping, many of which exist in bibliographic records and may be used to…

Discusses ways to introduce young adults to materials dealing with the Holocaust and suggests a variety of resources to help young adult librarians. Highlights include meeting the user's needs in terms of level of interest; nonbook media, especially films; Internet sites; reference titles; and museums and other organizations. (LRW)