Covers the five keynote addresses as well as three program presentations delivered at the Spring Internet World (1997) conference in Los Angeles. Highlights exhibited products (offline browsers and tools, push technology and foreign-language applications), online financial services and miscellaneous networks. (AEF)

Examines issues of viability and necessity regarding the Open System Interconnections (OSI) reference service model with a view on future developments. Discusses problems with the standards; conformance testing; OSI bureaucracy; standardized communications; security; the transport level; applications; the stakeholders (communications providers,…

Discussion of access versus ownership for libraries facing rising serials cost. Focuses on a study at Pennsylvania State University that tested the feasibility of using commercial document delivery (CDD) as compensation for discontinued ownership, as a complement to ownership, and as a supplement to ownership. Positive results for CDD were found.…

Reports on the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services meeting regarding library consortia, their functions, and how vendors and consortia work together in providing information services. Consortia provide vendors with an audience of less funded institutions but make licensing contracts difficult. Discusses issues including…

Describes the corporate origins, development, and unique features of three World Wide Web search tools. Open Text released LiveLink Search 64 in April 1996. Harvest indexes fewer sites than many competitors but offers powerful searching options. 2ASK is a service that provides links to over 100 Internet indexing tools and rates Web sites and…

Examines the globalization of information and its implications for locally implemented online library systems. Global factors include worldwide telecommunications networks and the need for standards, and local factors include the importance of databases, multilingual requirements in libraries, and regional networking capabilities. Discusses how…

Pricing strategies for subscriptions and licenses for CD-ROMs are different for single users and networks. The basic components of pricing strategies are charges for subscription, connect line, display/print, telecommunication, session rate, special commands, and special services. Highlights selected supplier pricing strategies for single users…

Discusses unanticipated effects of an electronic performance support system (EPSS) on one organization. Topics include EPSS as an innovation; vendor's familiarity with the organizational environment; choice of database and system interface; participation by user groups; information sources; implementation; and recommendations for future research.…

Discusses electronic learning environments and how to make them more successful in education and training infrastructures. Highlights include a definition of learning objects as chunks of data about education; content and context; publishers and vendors; and onCourse, a project between public television stations to make programs and curriculum…

Presents methods to gain management support for information resource center projects. Topics include: expressing expected results; and understanding the project in terms of business and organizational objectives, competitors' actions, internal needs, external conditions, customer needs, vendor support, and colleagues' experiences. (LRW)

Discusses the implementation of electronic learning systems in organizations, focusing on the role of HPT (human performance technology) professionals in the needs assessment process to assess the readiness of the organization for electronic learning. Topics include human resources; content; information technology; finance; vendors; job aids; and…

Describes the design of Stoney Creek High School in Rochester, Michigan, including the educational context, design goals, and probable use of the designs for two other high schools. Includes information on size, construction costs, architects, contractors, and suppliers. Also includes photographs. (EV)

Provides a checklist of functions and capabilities of online searching systems that attempts to cover all system features, not just searching functions. The checklist is suggested as a tool for checking features of new systems, as a framework for comparing systems, and as a source of suggestions for developing new online systems. (10 references)…

Reviews developments and products in the information industry that are aimed at the end user and identifies impediments to end user searching that may explain why end user access has not supported these products. Suggestions for overcoming these impediments are offered. (eight references) (CLB)

Reviews some of the models used for pricing online information services and discusses some of the implications of these pricing algorithms. Topics discussed include online versus print pricing; charges for the retrieval process; charges for the retrieved information; telecommunications charges; and the pricing policies of Chemical Abstracts…