In this article, the authors share how they turned themselves from hesitant library blog readers into dedicated bloggers. The authors share how they started their blog named infodoodads and why they started writing it. The authors also share how blogging with partners is a great way to maintain a frequent posting schedule and to keep the content…

In these days of distance learners, virtual libraries, and electronic information, no library can be without some way of providing remote access to affiliated users, whether they are distance students, online students, or local students and faculty members working from home. Libraries subscribe to any number of electronic resources and journals,…

Library blogs exchange information and ideas on everything from the everyday, such as library services, to the profound, such as values held by librarians (high-quality reliable resources, academic freedom, open access, and so on). According to medical librarians who maintain library blogs, a typical month includes two to four contributors writing…

Digital repository is one sector of digital content creation that receives less mainstream attention. Unlike blogs with accretions of documents and commentary or websites with masses of ephemeral pages that come and go, digital repositories have a more plodding pace of development. They conform to demanding standards for metadata and information…

The Information Group at Millipore has been successfully using a digital rights management tool to secure the email distribution of archived laboratory notebooks. Millipore is a life science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Consisting of four full-time…

The debate on the efficacy of electronic books involves issues of fair use, digital rights management, preservation, and perpetual ownership. Nevertheless, our intense focus on these areas has distracted us from one of the most important aspects of content pluralism? namely, e-book relationships to book distributors. This article discusses E-books…

Librarians and archivists find themselves facing the prospect of digitization. Everyone is doing it, everyone needs it. Discussions rage nationally and internationally concerning what to digitize and the best means to present and retain digital objects. Digitization is the act of making something digital, expressing a physical object "in numerical…

In 2004, Georgia State University (GSU) Library's Southern Labor Archives, located in Atlanta, began working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) to plan for the digitization of the union's 105-year-old journal. With generous financial support from IAM, the authors, who are GSU staff members, began…

Describes Gopher, a distributed document delivery service for electronic publishing across a computer network that allows a user to access data using a client-server communications model. The use of Gopher in campuswide information systems is described, and its use in libraries with electronic journals and multimedia documents is discussed. (three…

Describes the use of file transfer protocol (FTP) on the INTERNET computer network and considers its use as an electronic publishing system. The differing electronic formats of text files are discussed; the preparation and access of documents are described; and problems are addressed, including a lack of consistency. (LRW)

Since its humble beginning, Digital Past, a centralized local history digitization initiative at the North Suburban Library System (NSLS), a multitype consortium in Wheeling, Illinois, has now grown into a large centralized collaboration that consists of 32 libraries and a museum as its primary contributors. With Digital Past, there are various…

Presents basic design tenets for electronic library guides and the concerns these guides present for internal policymaking. The goal is to help library staffs produce electronic guides that will be effectively utilized by a variety of patrons without creating an added burden for the library. (Author/LRW)

Discusses "technolust" (i.e., obsession with computer technology) in librarians. Topics addressed include library automation, the concept of the virtual library, and recruitment of readers as the primary role of the public library. It is predicted that books and libraries will continue to be a vital part of the community. (EA)

Summarizes issues discussed at an institute held at Cornell University on the impact of electronic publishing on library collection development. Topics discussed include libraries of the future; the National Research and Education Network (NREN); a definition of an electronic library; scholarly communication; implications of national networks; and…

Discusses issues related to the idea of a virtual library, or electronic library, in an academic setting. Topics discussed include access to academic libraries via personal computers; online catalogs; wide area networks, such as Internet, and their impact on library and computer center services; administrative issues; human and technological…