This study addressed the status quo of instructional software produced by national Saudi Arabian software companies as well as the utilization of commercially produced software at selected 1-12 private schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Descriptive data from a survey of general managers of four major software producers are reported, as well as from…

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) organized an invitational conference in May 2003 to examine the key factors shaping the information environment in which libraries operate and how these factors will affect stewardship of the cultural and intellectual resources vital to education and research. Scholars, library directors,…

Audio and video tape cassettes pose some special problems for the librarian. A better understanding of what these products can -- and cannot -- do will help the librarian make optimum use of the new formats. (Author/NH)

Examined the effect of level of nonverbal behavior and mode of presentation (audio, audiovisual, visual, and printed transcript) on ratings given to a confederate "job interviewee." The results showed significant main effects and an interaction between level and mode. A poor visual presentation results in the lowest interviewer ratings. (Author)

Notes that students at Dr. N. H. Jones Elementary School in Ocala, Florida use capture freeze-frame (still) photographs from videotapes and import them into computer documents. Outlines equipment needed and procedures for importing video stills for Macintosh users and PC users. (AEF)

Reviews the so-called "library crisis" and literature on the determinants of journal prices. Discusses the impact of the recent merger activity among journal publishers and notes the possibility that electronic publications may slow down the increase in journal prices. Discusses the question of why substantial improvements in computer technology…

Discusses the current status of 4 developments that will determine the emergence of generally available multimedia information services: high-bandwidth networks; inexpensive user appliances capable of handling multimedia; adoption of standards for representation, compression, packaging, and transmission; and development of a corpus of multimedia…

Describes some of the items produced by and about the United Nations in a number of subject areas. Includes teacher's kits, posters, flags, books, booklets, data base information, and videotape recordings. Provides information of interest for teachers concerning each item and some designations of age appropriateness. Gives addresses for obtaining…

Briefly reviews education for map librarianship and identifies map collections available to schools of library education. The discussion covers concepts critical to library work with maps and suggestions for including those concepts in various curricula. (seven references) (Author/CLB)

Defines virtual documents and categorizes them, roughly, on how they are created, such as using templates, from computations, as composites, and as metadata. Describes the following information retrieval problems with virtual documents: search, revisiting, authentication, reference, version control, and annotation. (AEF)

Discusses results of a survey of factors influencing database use in public libraries. Highlights the importance of content; ease of use; and importance of instruction. Tabulates importance indications for number and location of workstations, library hours, availability of remote login, usefulness and quality of content, lack of other databases,…

Market-based and press-freedom variables were tested as predictors of "interactive" online journalism at the Web companions of 17 English-language Asian newspapers. A multidimensional conception of interactivity was used in the analysis. Findings suggest that market-based variables predict only certain facets of an online newspaper's…

Describes how multimedia products start as ideas and go through the stages of design, production, manufacturing, and marketing. Highlights include corporate consolidation, market distribution in 1997, encyclopedias and the growing Internet trend, direct marketers and sales, CD-ROM and DVD (digital video disk), costs, and future directions. (AEF)

Geographic information system (GIS) technology is a rapidly growing and powerful method for managing and analyzing spatial data and information for libraries. This article introduces GIS basic concepts, reviews GIS usage in libraries, and presents some challenges, strengths, and opportunities for libraries and GIS. Six figures illustrate the…

Discusses the concept of a digital library and the utility of space/time referencing. Describes the unified space/time/keyword/format search and retrieval and indexing system of the ISLA (Information System for Los Angeles) at the University of Southern California. Focuses on the practical application of space/time referencing and methods of…