How should scarce resources available to produce metadata be deployed to support discovery in different contexts? How might metadata harvesting be exploited to support new interfaces and enhanced navigation among related resources in digital libraries? This article starts a conversation between metadata providers and service builders by describing…

Proposes a model of browsing-based conceptual information retrieval employing two different types of dictionaries, a global dictionary and a local dictionary. The documents are ranked by the conceptual closeness to a query, and are arranged in the form of a user's personal digital library. (Author/MES)

Describes how, at several new college libraries, the online resources come first, to the distress of some librarians and faculty members. (EV)

These four articles discuss the role of metadata registries for the Semantic Web; the development of a community digital library called the Digital Library for Earth System Education using meta-design; digital preservation and levels of service for digital repositories; and digitizing cultural materials and indigenous cultural and intellectual…

Describes the social construction of technology (SCOT) framework which encourages a focus on the multiple perspectives inherent in the development and evaluation of digital libraries. Relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, and closure are used to examine an evaluation case study of the "Making of America" (MOA) digital library…

Discusses digital libraries, interoperability, and interfaces to access them, and proposes one universal protocol for communication for simple archives based on the hypertext transfer protocol (http). Describes the creation of a special class of digital objects called buckets, archives based on a NASA collection, and a set of digital library…

Discusses relevance in distributed information retrieval and presents a method for solving the collection-fusion problem in hypermedia digital libraries. Describes links between hypermedia documents that reside in distributed hypermedia collections that can supply information to allow effective collection fusion, and considers results of…

Investigates the need for mechanisms for charging by digital libraries and other providers of online content, in particular for micropayments, i.e., charging for small amounts. The SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and SET (Secure Electronic Transactions) protocols for charge card payments and the MiniPay micropayment mechanism for charging small amounts…

Describes Project DL whose goal was to provide a Web site where diverse information sources on digital libraries are available. Discusses the Web site design at the University of Missouri-Columbia that includes three sections: digital library collections, digital library resources, and digital library Web sites. (Author/LRW)

Includes four articles that discuss a distributed architecture for managing metadata that promotes interoperability between digital libraries; the use of electronic print (e-print) by physicists; the development of digital libraries; and a collaborative project between two library consortia in Ohio to provide digital versions of Sanborn Fire…

Describes the history and major features of XML and TEI, discusses their potential utility for the creation of digital libraries, and focuses on XML's application in the humanities, particularly theater and drama studies. Highlights include HTML and hyperlinks; the impact of XML on text encoding and document access; and XML and academic…

Discusses how the library vendor's role is expanding to encompass a more active coaching component in a digitized environment. Topics include centrality of the reader; professional expectations for librarians; and coaching in the areas of bibliography information, licensing, networking, product/service awareness, and industry/market advice. (LRW)

Discusses how technology is defining the future role of library instruction. The present model is built on negative assumptions that the library is deficient; this article proposes a new model based on a paradigm shift in the electronic library and on a positive belief system that focuses on user independence. Contains 53 references. (LRW)

Includes four articles that discuss the use of digital objects to represent value in a network environment; digital library initiatives at the central public funding organization for academic research in Germany; an application of the Digital Object Identifier System; and the Web site of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. (LRW)

The author of this column describes several instances in which secure data on computers were compromised. In each of these instances, a different route was involved in gaining access to the secure data--one by office-based theft, one by hacking, and one by burglary. Is is proposed that the most difficult factor to guarantee in the protection of…