Describes a six-month experimental library program carried out in Venezuela that sought to develop a home alternative to regular preschool education by providing parents and other adults in the family with the means of teaching children academic and problem-solving skills required by school. (Author/JD)

Reports on certain social and economic indicators that provide a "modestly comprehensive" view of literacy activities, in order to extract an account of the current state and trend of the value and volume of the nation's literacy. Attempts to get a more basic than usual view of literacy, seeing it primarily as an economic activity. (Author/GT)

DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) is a collection of services, tools, and libraries for building the infrastructure necessary for distributed computing within an enterprise. This articles discusses the Open Software Foundation (OSF); the components of DCE, including the Directory and Security Services, the Distributed Time Service, and the…

Describes some of the major economic issues that confront the future of librarians and scholars in higher education. Highlights include pricing models, economic rules of monopolistic competition, parallels with health care, tenure changes to cut costs, the economic impact of advancing technology, and implications for librarians. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the availability of full-text periodical archives on the World Wide Web. Highlights include digitized photographs and other images, in addition to text, costs, the use of search engines, and a list of Web sites. (LRW)

Outlines changes in infrastructure that may be needed when breaking from traditional instructional methods to distance education methods. Highlights include differences in classroom presentations, including interaction; the role of the instructor and instructional support, including libraries; problems with multi-campus sites; and locus of control…

Examines librarian-teaching faculty enmity in university libraries with an objective of increasing mutual respect and cooperation among the two. Discusses disputes over the term "scholar" and "scholar-librarian"; division between managers and the "scholars" who work with the materials; self-perception and self-worth; and the need to value…

Describes the development of a library Web site at Illinois State University. Examines library and university contexts, philosophy and mission statement, content and form, technical setting, political and professional issues, and lessons learned. Includes Web page content, design, technical, and procedural standards and guidelines. (PEN)

Discusses the benefits of school library security, software security, and computer security systems. Describes specific products for each type of security system. A sidebar lists names and addresses of security manufacturers and distributors. (AEF)

Examines patterns of uncertainty, complexity, and process in the perceptions of information users from different work environments. Zone intervention based on Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development is presented. A study with two early career professionals showed need for a more interactive, collaborative role for the library…

Examines some of the incentives behind cataloging on the Internet. Discusses the Dublin Core metadata elements set which attempts to apply traditional cataloging practices to new technologies. Looks at the practicalities of such a system, including three obvious benefits to mapping Dublin Core elements to MARC fields. (AEF)

Reports on interviews with directors of the seven library schools in Canada that offer graduate education in library and information studies. Topics include developments in distance education, current enrollment, new programs, and the kinds of work library and information science graduates are doing and where. (LRW)

Describes the work of librarians at Illinois State University in teaching faculty about the Internet through a series of librarian-initiated and faculty-initiated projects. Explains how librarians continued their role as information providers, adapting to the situations faced by the faculty, whose information needs did not always match their…

Discusses proceedings of the 1996 ASIS (American Society for Information Science) annual meeting in Baltimore (Maryland), including chaos theory; electronic universities; distance education; intellectual property, including information privacy on the Internet; the need for leadership in libraries and information centers; information warfare and…

Discusses the revised Middle States Commission on Higher Education's standards for accreditation, "Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education," which includes significantly enhanced references to information literacy. Topics include assessment plans and self-study; students' knowledge, skills, and competencies; curriculum and…