Describes the Kentuckiana Metroversity Linking project, a consortium of academic and public libraries using the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol to provide service to Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. Topics addressed include the Z39.50 standard, the consultant's role, addressing technical issues, Internet vs. dial-in access,…

Presents results of a study of seven World Wide Web-based "What's New" announcement services to determine their relevance for academic library Webmasters, concluding that the use of such services for locating appropriate new Internet resources is problematic. A list of 15 recommended Web-based sources of new sites for library home pages…

Reports on the work of Carol Kuhlthau, who has conducted extensive studies of information processes and skills instruction. Topics include the relevance of information and its utilization; critical thinking by the students; information-seeking and problem-solving; and a process approach to information problem-solving. (LRW)

Reports on Web keyword searching, metadata, Dublin Core, Extensible Markup Language (XML), metasearch engines (metasearch engines search several Web indexes and/or directories and/or Usenet and/or specific Web sites), and the Year 2000 (Y2K) dilemma, all topics discussed at the second annual Internet Librarian Conference sponsored by Information…

Describes the IT Observatory, a service of the Macau Productivity and Technology center (CPTTM) that provides information on demand using information technology. The CPTTM is a nonprofit organization funded by the Macau government and private businesses to enhance the productivity of Macau businesses by introducing new technologies and new…

Coordinated index concepts are compound-index concepts that express a relationship between concepts that function as simple subject descriptors. The Condorcet Query Engine, a prototype query engine that can be run over the World Wide Web, demonstrates the feasibility of a query engine that can handle both simple and coordinated index concepts,…

Describes the mental coding processes involved in the flow of information when the user is interacting with an enabling information-retrieval (IR) system, or a system designed to stimulate the user's grasping towards a higher understanding of the information need/problem/task that brought the user to the system. (Author/AEF)

Discusses the role of the school librarian in teaching technology use to students and teachers. Topics include introducing the Internet to teachers; locating information on the Web; evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing information; applying information skills; and Internet implementation issues. (LRW)

Introduces an evaluative framework for metasearch engine performance and illustrates its use in two experiments. Results are used to characterize some properties of leading search engines (as of 1998). Significant interactions were observed between search engine and two other factors: time of day and Web domain. (Author/AEF)

Reports on a conference workshop that addressed Visual Information Retrieval Interfaces (VIRIs). Topics include evaluation methods; task dimension for evaluating VIRIs; efforts to fund European development of VIRIs; metrics, including cosine vector; navigation among documents; and interactions with users. (LRW)

Discusses the need to provide academic library clients more efficient and effective access to Internet information resources that have value for higher education. Examines local systems that Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic libraries have developed over the last several years in response to this need. (Contains 13 references.)…

Discusses information retrieval systems and the need to have them adapt to user needs, integrate information in any format, reveal patterns and trends in information, and answer questions. Topics include statistics and probability; natural language processing; intelligent agents; concept mapping; machine-aided indexing; text mining; filtering;…

Describes advantages and disadvantages of time-line interviewing and inductive content analysis for studying information users' cognitive behaviors. Uses examples from a study of users' criteria for their relevance judgments in a multimedia information environment and discusses reliability, validity, and future directions. (Author/LRW)

Examines the potential of the World Wide Web as an information and bibliographic source for scientists. Analyzes through content analysis the Web pages retrieved by the major search engines on a particular date as a result of a query regarding informetrics, and compares results to data retrieved from commercial databases. (Author/LRW)

Investigates one component of a Web site--the index structure, comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of 20 subjects who used one index and three experimental variants to complete five tasks. Findings indicate that a hypertext index with multiple access points for each concept, all linked to the same resource, led to greater effectiveness and…