Outlines the advantages of digital documents for scholars and offers considerations for designing systems for storing and retrieving digital information products. Discusses conventional and electronic storage and retrieval; network costs; digital storage; search strategies; acquisition prices; and digital initiatives. (AEF)

Describes the value of defunct newspaper morgues, with a focus on the E. H. Butler Library at Buffalo State University (New York), and provides the historical background of two Buffalo newspapers. Discusses challenges facing the special collections librarian: storage facilities, requests for information by patrons from all over the world,…

Discusses issues related to electronic publishing. Topics include writing; reading; production, distribution, and commerce; copyright and ownership of intellectual property; archival storage; technical obsolescence; control of content; equality of access; and cultural changes. (Author/LRW)

Presents an overview of concerns and problems with digital archiving, with a focus on preservation of government information. Addresses standards and costs. Discusses the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and the digital preservation strategies of migration, emulation, and encapsulation. An appendix reviews some of the…

The commoditization of low-cost hardware has enabled even modest-sized laboratories and research projects to own their own "supercomputers." The authors argue that this local solution undermines rather than amplifies the research potential of scholars. CIOs, provosts, and research technologists should consider carefully an overall…

A discussion piece to assist the U.S. Bureau of the Census in planning for the effective use and dissemination of future census data and products in the Government Printing Office's Depository Library Program (DLP), this report identifies key issues that may affect the role of the DLP in providing the public with access to Census Bureau data. The…

This report describes and illustrates the Northwest Regional Laboratory's (NWREL) Database and School Profiling project. Uses and implications for future data assembly and database design activities are explained. Analysis of the database has impacted evaluation and policymaking activities regarding at-risk youth, rural education, early childhood…

Describes the National Agricultural Library's microcomputer-based expert system, which is designed to help users obtain answers to simple reference questions. Building of the system and its linking to external programs and systems are explained, and building of a total information system is proposed. Samples of the program are provided. (CDD)

Discusses challenges to recordkeeping in a networked environment and describes emerging models. Suggests these principles that inform recordkeeping policies for National Information Infrastructure (NII) applications: move recordkeeping issues onto the agendas for planning and system design; understand recordkeeping requirements before systems are…

Argues that without reform and adaptation to contemporary technology, paper libraries will become little more than book museums. Outlines four major problems with contemporary library practice. Discusses benefits of database-management systems for organization of libraries' paper resources. Lists requirements libraries should demand of any new…

This paper seeks to provide an intellectual rationale for maintaining the centrality of preservation concepts and ethics in an increasingly digital information environment; in other words, while some long-held principles of preservation management may no longer apply, many others are still viable in high-tech situations. Libraries are rearranging…

Noting that there has been a dramatic increase in the use of videotape in recent years, this paper explores videotape's potential as an archival medium. It is suggested that the nation's current videotape holdings should be surveyed to better define the relative importance of the records already documented, to identify records not previously known…

Based on a study of the need for, and alternatives to, significant expansion of space for state college and university libraries, this report discusses the resultant recommendations, which address both the long term and the immediate space needs of the state's academic libraries. Following a description of the role of academic libraries and a…

The results of an examination of computer data formatting and data analysis strategies from two diverse second language projects and their implications for establishing standards are outlined in the form of suggested formatting conventions and analysis procedures. The formatting suggestions address the issues of distinguishing line types,…

An experiment investigated whether the format in which information is stored affects the outcomes of ready reference transactions in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Results indicate that bibliographic questions are more efficiently answered online, while factual questions are more efficiently answered with print sources. Results of the study are…