Higher Education institutions in the United States are considering Open Source software applications such as the Moodle and Sakai course management systems and the Kuali financial system to build integrated learning environments that serve both academic and administrative needs. Open Source is presumed to be more flexible and less costly than…

Digital resources play an increasingly important role in academic libraries, which must demonstrate their value to the institution and their impact on student learning outcomes in new and more compelling ways. This study examines 5 years of vendor-supplied e-resource usage data in conjunction with other library and institution measures. Results…

In this article, the authors compared the MLA International Bibliography database (MLAIB) across five vendor platforms to determine how and why seemingly comparable searches produced varying results. A number of tests were conducted using a variety of fields, terms, and parameters, and examples of results are provided. The authors' findings are…

The "Architecture Studio Archive" pilot sought to form a comprehensive digital archive of the diverse student work conducted in the first year of the Bachelor of Design in Architecture Degree at the University of Sydney. The design studio is the primary vehicle for teaching architectural design. It is a locus for creative activity, with…

Discussion of digital libraries focuses on the need for personalization capabilities so users can create their own personalized information environments. Highlights include material personalization; collection personalization; active reading; personalized retrieving; personalized filtering; and a prototype system. (LRW)

Some people learn better through viewing and listening, and some people simply do not like to read. In this society, there seems to be a move away from text, or, at least text as people have defined in the past. Moreover, mobile devices such as laptops, PDAs, and cell phones make video and audio incredibly easy to imbibe. So how do libraries…

The widespread availability of digital learning resources in a variety of media formats offers the possibility to make a profound difference in education. This potential has not been fully realised for range of interrelated reasons. In this paper we study the key characteristics of learning resources that have proved effective in changing learning…

Purpose: To set up a protocol for electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) submission for the electronic thesis initiative pilot project at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Design/methodology/approach: An electronic thesis and dissertation submission protocol was implemented and tested. To test authoring tools, we had 50 students submit…

In the digital age, libraries are increasingly being augmented or even replaced by information technology (IT), which is often accompanied by implicit assumptions of objectivity and neutrality, yet the field of science and technology studies (STS) has a long history of studying what values are embedded in IT and how they are embedded. This article…

Citing her own difficulties in gaining access to digital repositories that would have made her research on "New Women" much less time-consuming, the author argues here that the digital divide between the ivory-tower haves and have-nots will be a defining one for the current generation of scholars. The inequity in ease of access, she asserts,…

In this article, the author presents an interview with Brewster Kahle, leader of the Open Content Alliance (OCA). OCA book scan program is an alternative to Google's library project that aims to make books accessible online. In this interview, Kahle discusses his views on the challenges of getting books on the Web, on Google's library…

In this time of change in our society, children's needs, preferences, and interactions with the world are changing. These changes have sent education policymakers scrambling to two extremes. The first extreme, a focus on testing and basic skills, seeks to ensure that all children leave school with equal knowledge and preparation for the workplace.…

Purpose: A dynamic approach to making legacy databases, like CDS/ISIS, interoperable with OAI-compliant digital libraries (DLs). Design/methodology/approach: There are many bibliographic databases that are being maintained using legacy database systems. CDS/ISIS is one such legacy database system. It was designed and developed specifically for…

Describes how JSTOR, the non-profit group that creates digital archives of journals, has attracted strong support from librarians and scholars, but that some find it too expensive or the elimination of paper copies potentially risky. (EV)

After decades of costly and time-consuming effort, nearly all libraries have completed the retrospective conversion of their card catalogs to electronic form. However, bibliographic systems still are really not much more than card catalogs on wheels. Enriched content that Amazon.com takes for granted--such as digitized tables of contents, cover…