Provides a brief description of Usenet, the computer network, and discusses how it may be applied in library settings. How to become a Usenet user, when to choose Usenet instead of a listserv group, and its use as a discussion and reference tool are covered. Six examples of Usenet communications are included. (nine references) (KRN)

Proposes a solution to the problem of preventive microcomputer maintenance in libraries. The strategy involves a batch program, small paper form, simple WordPerfect macro, and on-diskette log form which saves time, quickly generates standard reports, increases efficiency, eliminates most paperwork, and offers the flexibility for modification and…

Discusses the history of the reference reform movement that began with an article that described what was wrong with reference. Highlights include the use of technology; remote access; tiered service; appointment-based reference service; alternative staffing patterns; and providing adequate resources to enhance reference service. (LRW)

Discusses Web site design and provides a listing of Web sites for library automation vendors and other related resources. Each listing consists of the site's name, a brief summary of its resources, the URL, and a picture of the opening page of the site. (LRW)

Over 500 libraries have employed OCLC's iCAS and its successor Automated Collection Assessment and Analysis Services (ACAS) as bibliometric tools to evaluate monograph collections. This examination of ACAS reveals both its methodological limitations and its feasibility as an indicator of collecting patterns. The results can be used to maximize the…

Library Web teams invest significant time and energy trying to create usable Web sites. Despite the ongoing efforts to make them more friendly, studies have shown that visitors have difficulty using library sites to locate journal articles. This article discusses how library web developers have tackled the particular problem of helping Web site…

In the 21st century, the school library is the hub on which the wheels of classroom programs turn, providing the human, physical, print, pictorial, electronic and digital resources necessary for curriculum delivery. A school library web site that supports the needs of the school community through information and links to appropriate resources…

Libraries must increasingly accommodate bibliographic records encoded with a variety of standards and emerging standards, including Dublin Core, MODS, and VRA Core. The problem is that many libraries still rely solely on MARC and AACR2. The best-trained professionals to lead librarians through the metadata maze are catalogers. Catalogers…

An online community is a group of people who connect with one another over time and through space using the Internet as their primary medium. Online communities also act, albeit through text. They organize political action, introduce to-be spouses, and create new products and tools. This article discusses how one librarian used online communities…

When Valerie Allen decided she did not want to be a Montessori teacher any longer, she began work on her MLIS. Immediately she learned concepts she could apply to her new job as information specialist for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN. While the LIS…

When Mary Ellen Icaza became Electronic Services Librarian at Montgomery County Public Libraries, she noticed that the readers' services information on the library web site was invisible, even to librarians. "And if staff can't find it," she says, "customers can't." She set out to help people find that material-and to turn a…

Every dollar counts in today's school libraries, where a resource is evaluated not just by the cost, but also by how many students will utilize it. A recent survey shows that many school librarians rely on their state to help provide (and pay for) databases that their students can access from the school media center or at their public library.…

Jacksonville State University's (JSU) Houston Cole (HCL) Library has always provided access to required course readings through a reserve circulation system. Prior to 2002, this services was "print based," requiring students to photocopy materials held physically at the reserve desk in the library. In 2002, the library integrated the…

This report of a conference convened by the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) Subcommittee on Education provides brief summaries of four panel discussions conducted by 15 federal librarians who had assembled automation systems for their agencies' libraries and information centers. The first panel, consisting of Dean Hough,…

This paper describes an automated card catalog system, developed for the Dartmouth Regional Library in Nova Scotia, which uses records of selected fixed-length fields; it is proposed as a prototype for a system meeting the needs of a public library system with a collection size of about 100,000 items. The costs of operating a catalog system based…