This paper presents the results of a usability study conducted to determine the functionality of a desktop, three-dimensional virtual library designed and supported by the Appalachian State University Distance Learning Library Services team. Formative evaluations were performed with representative students utilizing Morae software. Results…

This article presents a Technology Forum that focuses on online archives and their role in academe. The forum brought together Daniel Greenstein, associate vice provost for scholarly information and university librarian at the California Digital Library of the University of California; Adam Smith, group business-product manager for the Google Book…

Twenty scholarly papers and fifteen abstracts comprise the content of the twelfth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship.…

With the resources provided by communication technologies, E-learning has been employed in multiple universities, as well as in wide range of training centers and schools. This book presents a structured collection of chapters, dealing with the subject and stressing the importance of E-learning. It shows the evolution of E-learning, with…

This article discusses the potential of Google Scholar as an alternative or complement to the Web of Science and Scopus for measuring the impact of journal articles in education. Three handbooks on research in science education, language education, and educational technology were used to identify a sample of 112 accomplished scholars. Google…

Digital libraries and collections are a growing facet of today's traditional library. Digital library technologies have become increasingly more sophisticated in the effort to provide more and better access to the collections they contain. The evaluation of the usability of these technologies has not kept pace with technological developments,…

Digital scholarship connects scholarly research to students and the public in nontraditional ways. Authors present research in a digital form, which may include links to primary source material and teaching guides. In this format, design and accessibility are important, and, unfortunately, those quick to dismiss all digital work as teaching or…

Wikipedia is a well-known online encyclopedia, whose content is contributed and edited by volunteers. Its use by students for their research is, to be polite, controversial. Is Wikipedia really evil, or is it a teaching opportunity in disguise, a representation of some deeper cultural change? We present first-hand accounts from two different…

Fieldwork remains the mainstay in the study of geography and in the analysis of the environmental processes. However, an in-depth understanding of the environmental and geographical processes requires extensive as well as intensive fieldwork that involves time and substantial effort, both of which may pose a problem within a given curriculum time.…

While the traditional uses of InterLibrary Loan (ILL) can be cumbersome, much of the work is now done electronically. Google and WorldCat can tell patrons which libraries in their areas owns the the titles they want, but they cannot always tell patrons whether there is a copy on the shelf available for loan. Several ILS vendors and OCLC are…

Many colleges and universities are developing distance education options for their current and future students. Library support is vital to the success of this clientele. Academic libraries that do not have Distance Learning Librarians will have to create these types of positions. This article illustrates the experience of one librarian in…

This article presents the results of a comprehensive survey of integrated library system (ILS) vendors conducted by the author and commissioned by "Computers in Libraries" CIL. The survey was intended to: (1) provide an up-to-date comparison of functionality currently available in ILS products; (2) provide a comparison of support services…

This study investigates the relationships between the use of a zoom tool, the terms they supply to describe the image, and the type of image being viewed. Participants were assigned to two groups, one with access to the tool and one without, and were asked to supply terms to describe forty images, divided into four categories: landscape, portrait,…

Purpose: This article aims to describe the state of the art of bibliographic identifiers used in digital libraries. Design/methodology/approach: A model with seven layers is used to define the scope of the identifiers that exist within the digital library field. Findings: Based on an analysis of the identifiers a conclusion is drawn that many new…

VIVA (the Virtual Library of Virginia) was one of the first subscribers to R. R. Bowker's Ulrich's Serials Analysis System (USAS). Creating a database that combined a union report of current serial subscriptions within most academic libraries in the state with the data elements present in Ulrich's made possible a comprehensive analysis designed…