Beginning this annual report is a letter to OCLC members from OCLC President and Chief Executive Jay Jordan. The report contains the following sections: (1) program and financial highlights; (2) the year in review, including membership events, online services, strategic alliances, Forest Press, preservation resources, research, and the OCLC…

This paper discusses valuing information and its supporting technologies in the global environment. Different value propositions are explored from a financial, social, cultural, political, economic, corporate, and personal values perspective. Various means of measuring the relevancy of these value propositions to the individual, organization or…

The great research collections of the United States have resulted, in part, from a long and productive collaboration among scholars, librarians, and archivists. This booklet focuses on the documentation of, access to, and preservation of dance heritage. It discusses the cultural and intellectual value of dance and articulates what elements of…

The profound changes of the 21st century are transforming America into what must become a learning society. Never before have museums, libraries and the whole of the non-formal sector of educational institutions faced such challenges and opportunities. The demand is great for fresh and innovative thinking to construct a bold, new learning network…

Interviews with 20 adult returning students investigated their library needs. Seventeen female and three male undergraduates aged 23 years and older at colleges in three cities in North Carolina participated. Many adult students have needs that differ from those of traditional undergraduates, especially in dealing with technology. The time…

This study used data originally gathered about student satisfaction through a survey in fall 1999 at Nova Southeastern University, Florida to determine whether there were differences in the perspectives of students aged 25 years or younger and those aged 26 years and older. At Nova Southeastern, more than 80% of all fall 1999 students were 26 or…

As use of the Internet grows as a research tool, patrons have become increasingly less dependent on librarians and other expert intermediaries. Examining the quality of on-line searches, this paper argues that researchers and other Internet users do not look for and hence do not find the best resources. For two days in early November 1998, all…

This book provides information to help teachers, librarians, and parents establish a book club for the Prekindergarten through eighth-grade school community. The first chapter discusses book club planning, publicity, preparations, process, and acquisition of books. The following 13 chapters suggest books for a variety of subject areas, including…

This paper describes an evaluation of the Kea automatic keyphrase extraction algorithm. Tools that automatically identify keyphrases are desirable because document keyphrases have numerous applications in digital library systems, but are costly and time consuming to manually assign. Keyphrase extraction algorithms are usually evaluated by…

Law is grounded in the past, in the decisions and reasoning of generations of lawyers, judges, juries, and professors. Ready access to this history is vital to solid legal research, and yet, until 2000, much of it was buried in vast collections of aging paper journals. HeinOnline is a new online archive of law journals. Development of HeinOnline…

As more information resources become accessible using computers, the digital interfaces to those resources need to be appropriate for all people. However, when it comes to digital libraries, the interfaces have typically been designed for older children or adults. The researchers have begun to develop a digital library interface that is…

In the past 5 years, each state in the Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina) developed virtual libraries that provide citizens access to licensed databases. This guide describes each state's offerings including the methods of access, resources, and…

This book is designed to help college students develop information and research skills. Twenty-one chapters cover the following topics: (1) "Information Content, Information Packages"; (2) "Reference Works: Finding Facts Fast"; (3) "Directories"; (4) "Biographical Dictionaries"; (5) "Encyclopedias"; (6) "Dictionaries, Thesauruses, and Other Word…

"Artists in Canada" is a bilingual union list of documentation files on Canadian artists held by the National Gallery of Canada Library and by 22 libraries and art galleries across the country. More than 42,700 artists are represented in "Artists in Canada," with biographical information, as well as locations for files.…

Although research indicates that adults with low literacy skills need 100 to 150 hours of instruction to advance one grade level, adults in literacy programs participate in instruction for an average of only 70 hours per year. The Wallace Foundation launched the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) initiative in 1996 to help library-based…