This Texas plan to improve information and referral services in the area of developmental disabilities recommends an approach which focuses on providing improvements incrementally, spacing benefits over time, and periodically reassessing direction, alternatives, and costs/benefits. The plan stresses building a network which provides greater public…

The boundaries between various information, entertainment, and communication fields are shifting. The edges between our library systems and communication networks are becoming increasingly fuzzy. These fuzzy edges affect concepts of education, learning, and knowledge. The existing library paradigm does not easily accommodate the new, fluid and…

The proceedings for the 1990 forum provides both summaries of introductory and special remarks and 10 papers together with the full text of the following papers: (1) "The Changing Information Landscape: Opportunities for Better Management" (Jeff Bingaman); (2) "Managing Scientific and Technical Information in the 1990s" (D.…

Recommendations for starting a process of collaboration between public schools and social service agencies are offered in this digest. The first step, information gathering, is discussed, as well as strategies for carrying out other stages in the process--selecting, approaching, and meeting with participants; problem solving; and maintaining the…

This project located in Glasgow, Scotland, is concerned with the use of distance teaching for a non-formal community education program that is a component of a social change strategy to combat poverty. The study shows that the use of distance learning courses in non-formal community education is successful in attracting, at a reasonable cost per…

Bibliographers and librarians are aware of the new information technologies in information storage and retrieval. CD-ROMs and online database systems are two technologies used daily to assist users in accessing needed information. Although these resources are lacking in the fields of journalism and mass communication, possibilities for…

Over 50 delegates from 32 states and 2 Canadian provinces attended this conference, during which 5 intensive working group sessions discussed, debated, and achieved agreement on a number of relevant issues concerning the role of educational telecomputing in school reform and restructuring. The conference proceedings begins with an overview of the…

Prompted by new funding provided through the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, a study examined the status of program development of tech prep initiatives in the technical institutes and community colleges of the United States. Using mailing lists of members of the American Vocational Association and the American…

Rural Arizona libraries received a severe blow when the Arizona Inter-Library Loan Center closed because of lack of funds. No northeastern Arizona libraries have been invited to join a new Arizona database, which is a spin-off of OCLC, and none of these rural libraries are in OCLC. The libraries will also have to pay long distance and user fees to…

Most institutions of higher education have a mission that specifically addresses three areas: instruction, research, and service. The repertoire of activities and the complexity of the goals of the University Library mirror the goals of the institution, the academic units, and the faculty. The clients of the library are the students, the faculty,…

Issues involved in establishing and supporting distance education in developing countries are explored, focusing on the role of teleconferencing in support of distance learners. One of the distinctive features of an effective distance education system is the quality of its learner support services. The development of an efficient infrastructure…

Housed at Henderson State University, the Arkansas Network of Humanities Academic Alliances is a statewide network of school and college teachers in humanities disciplines who meet regularly to promote ongoing professional development and work toward common goals. The network seeks to strengthen humanities teaching at all educational levels,…

In 1991 the Federal Government initiated the multiagency High Performance Computing and Communications program (HPCC) to further the development of U.S. supercomputer technology and high-speed computer network technology. This overview by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concentrates on obstacles that might prevent the growth of the…

In a workshop held by the National Research Council through their Board on Telecommunications and Computer Applications, the participants determined that the earlier vision of affordable telephone service for all, already fundamentally achieved in the United States, can be extended to a new national policy of affordable information for all. This…

This paper describes a standard cross-platform strategy for providing deaf individuals with access to sounds generated by electronic information systems. The strategy is based on a "ShowSounds" switch built into the basic system architecture. Turning the switch "on" would signal that all information presented auditorially is…