Summarizes nine papers commissioned by the Department of Education for "Rethinking the Library in the 1990s." Common themes include user education, technological and social change, public policies, and changing roles for librarians. It is argued that these papers, which address adult services, need to be critiqued in terms of library…

The U.S. Bureau of the Census has published on CD-ROM data for the smallest geographic reporting levels, and depository librarians must decide what level of support they will provide for patrons who want to access the material. Discussion includes preservation and storage of census maps for easy access, and indexing the information contained on…

Describes a cooperative effort among five Bronx libraries, known as the Bronx Library Emergency Consortium, which is designed to enhance emergency recovery procedures in their libraries should a disaster occur. The history and collaborative nature of the consortium are described, and the consortium equipment and supply list for immediate disaster…

Discusses the conversion of fragile library materials to computer storage and retrieval to extend the life of the items and to improve accessibility through the World Wide Web. Highlights include entering the images, including scanning; optical character recognition; full text and manual indexing; and available document- and image-management…

Describes the Historic Pittsburgh project at the University of Pittsburgh, a joint project with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania to produce a digital collection of historical materials available on the Internet. Discusses costs; metadata; digitization and preservation of originals; full-text capabilities; scanning; quality review;…

Predicts the effects of information technology (IT) on libraries of the future. Discusses negative implications for school libraries. Describes four emerging roles for media specialists: (1) showing students and staff how to navigate information networks; (2) teaching users how to evaluate and select information; (3) designing information systems;…

Describes a course that approaches concepts of historic preservation from a humanities, rather than an architectural, perspective. The course begins with a questionnaire about the area that uses ideas from perceptual geography and social psychology. Later readings include novels, poems, essays, and songs. (MJP)

Discusses the cost of access to research information and suggests that lower staff costs in a digital library setting are a key to providing more affordable access. Topics include equivalent library services; quality of service; differences between disciplines; archiving and preservation; citations, hyperlinks, and reference linking; metadata;…

Describes the Selected Archives at Georgia Tech and Emory (SAGE), a local grant-funded project to build virtual library capabilities at both libraries. Discusses the progress made by the libraries in six areas: selecting materials; preserving original data formats; creating digital files; indexing digital files; designing Web-based navigation and…

The second bulletin of the Microfilm Committee of the International Council on Archives begins with a short history of the origins of the committee. A brief discussion of the committee's 1972 Moscow meeting follows, as does the table of contents of a book on microfilming standards which is being developed by the committee to be published by…

This article examines the current phenomenon of blogging from an archival point of view. To better understand the nature of blogs, the author conducted an informal survey of bloggers at Princeton Theological Seminary. The results of this survey show that blogs represent a dynamic but ephemeral new form of electronic record and writing practice.…

This document presents an overview of the Canadian national preservation program. It is divided into three sections: (1) Federal Initiatives, which explores activities at the National Library of Canada, the National Archives of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM), and the Canadian Conservation Institute; (2)…

The Commission on Preservation and Access was established to foster, develop, and support collaboration among libraries and organizations in order to ensure the preservation of the published and documentary records and to provide enhanced access to scholarly information. This annual report describes the following: (1) the organization of the…

Computers, microfilm, cable television, satellite communications, photocopiers and other technical developments brought about general revision to U.S. Copyright Law, which was enacted in 1976 and became effective on January 1, 1978. The 17 articles in this issue of The Bookmark consider how the law has resolved the main problems: (1)…

At the turn of the century, over 200,000 one-room schools existed in the United States. These simple, vernacular buildings represented the nation's commitment to education and were also the center of community life. The country school continues to be a powerful cultural symbol. This book consists of three parts. The first section describes country…