Points of View: Conventional and 'Neo-Conventional' Access and Navigation in Digital Collections. By Gerry McKiernan, Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer, Iowa State University
ABSTRACT. In an effort to assist users in the identification of significant Internet resources, libraries and librarians have begun to apply established library classification and subject schemes as the organizational framework for accessing and navigating these electronic sources. We will profile selected notable applications of national and international library classification schemes for organizing World Wide Web (WWW) resources as well as sites that have applied controlled vocabularies to facilitate access to selected collections of Net resources. With these and similar efforts as a conceptual foundation, we then focus on the potential application of new and emerging technologies to further enhance use of digital collections, notably intelligent software agents, information visualization techniques, auditory displays, and haptic interactive devices. We conclude with a review of significant Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies and computer-based ontologies, and speculate on their potential application for representing, accessing, and navigating digital resources.

Branching Out: Cataloging Skills and Functions in the Digital Age.  By Robin Wendler
ABSTRACT. Metadata is the buzzword of the moment throughout our information-driven society and as librarians, we should be thrilled. After all, we have always created metadata to manage and provide access to our collections. My own definition of metadata in the library context is a broad one: the information needed to identify, locate, manage, and access materials the library wishes to make available to its users. From this perspective cataloging is metadata, although not all metadata is cataloging. Our conventions for cataloging have been developed and refined over decades to best support the mission of the library. However, two technological developments have major implications for the function of cataloging in our institutions: 1) the explosion in electronic publishing, and 2) the conversion of metadata not previously available online into machine-readable form.

USMARC as a Metadata Shell. By Judith Hopkins
ABSTRACT:  This paper introduces the two concepts of Content and Coding which together define Metadata.  The encoding scheme used to hold the data content is referred to a shell.  One such shell is the MARC format.  In this paper I describe the MARC format and its application to Internet resources, primarily through the OCLC-sponsored Intercat Project. 

Online Subject Access. By Sandy Roe, Technical Services Librarian, Dakota State University
ABSTRACT.  Subject access functionality has yet to reach its full potential in our current library online public access catalog (OPAC) environment.  Controlled vocabularies are used, but not fully available to the user.  A summary of earlier research identifying user needs in an online catalog environment and suggested solutions will be presented.  Examples of current technologies which incorporate controlled vocabularies such as thesauri and classifications to facilitate subject access in online environments will be introduced.

Bibliotecas y tecnologías: una propuesta de integración.  By Alvaro Quijano, Solís El Colegio de México, A.C.
ABSTRACT. This article examines some of the ways in which the Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas of El Colegio de México is responding to meet the goals stated in the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México’s 1997-2000 Development Plan.  The Plan aims to prepare students for life-long learning by teaching them reasoning and questioning skills as well as competencies in selecting, organizing and processing information from diverse systems and sources. It notes the need to discover the skill library professionals must have in order to assist patrons effectively to become self-sufficient users of information.  The environment examined is one where most college and university students are products of a very traditional primary and secondary educational system that emphasizes learning through the use of class lectures and assigned textbooks rather than research and self-discovery.
            The author points out the need for library professionals in Mexico’s institutions of higher education to teach students how to learn to access and process information themselves in order to transform this information into knowledge they can use.  Some of the administrative changes made at the Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas to accomplish this are described.  These include:  more participation by library professionals in planning; favoring matrical organization between departments and projects and making decisions in a more collegial fashion; subject specialization by library professionals who select, catalog, classify and give service in a specific area; and incorporation of the user into the evaluation of existing processes and services and the creation of new ones which favor a more efficacious development of their information skills.
            The author concludes by proposing three basic principles to guide the re-engineering process that must be undertaken by academic libraries if they are to survive and seek to shape the future of information technology rather than just responding to the challenges it presents.  These principles are:  the value which accrues to information by transforming it into knowledge can be analyzed systematically; the value which accrues to technology is incremented by the degree to which it is accepted by library professionals and users; and this acceptance is a function of other variables which can be understood and controlled, especially the frequency of use resulting in the development of information skills.  The improvement of information skills of library professionals and users therefore constitutes the principle objective of technological integration.  (Summary by Debora Rougeux.)

JIC Homepage | Tables of Contents| Haworth Document Delivery Service |