The rapid evolution of the Internet, technological innovation and increased flow of information (information overload) has modernized academic libraries and it is difficult to keep up with the virtual delivery of scholarly information. It is to be relevant within this digital economy ecosystem, improvement as change is vital. The purpose of this…

This study analyzed digital item metadata and keywords from Internet search engines to learn what metadata elements actually facilitate discovery of digital collections through Internet keyword searching and how significantly each metadata element affects the discovery of items in a digital repository. The study found that keywords from Internet…

Today's electronic information landscape is growing exponentially with no signs of slowing. This poses a significant challenge for academic libraries. Librarians must continually learn and adapt to harness this explosion of resources. To fulfill their claim as the leaders in the information field they must be effective in providing access and…

This dissertation analyzes the legal, social, technological, and cultural environment that gave rise to Google's library partnership program in order to propose an institutional corrective to Google's project to digitize cultural heritage. Interview research done with those actively involved with Google's project revealed the need for a history of…

A curious amount of unease surrounds Google's initiative to scan thousands of books in major research libraries and make them available online. Google's initiative will not make books obsolete; it will make the information in them more widely available. Search engines are the new subject indexes to virtually infinite amounts of information on the…

The evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web continually exceeds expectations with the "swift pace" of technological innovations. Information is added, and just as quickly becomes outdated at a rapid pace. Researchers have found that Digital materials can provide access to primary source materials and connect the researcher to institutions…

As individuals become more and more comfortable mediating all kinds of situations online and through various technologies, their virtual selves increasingly overlap their "real" lives. Posting a "happy birthday!" message on Facebook is as automatic as dropping a card in the mail. E-mailing relevant links to co-workers happens as naturally as…

Tables are ubiquitous with a history that pre-dates that of sentential text. Authors often report a summary of their most important findings using tabular structure in documents. For example, scientists widely use tables to present the latest experimental results or statistical data in a condensed fashion. Along with the explosive development of…

This article presents a Technology Forum that focuses on online archives and their role in academe. The forum brought together Daniel Greenstein, associate vice provost for scholarly information and university librarian at the California Digital Library of the University of California; Adam Smith, group business-product manager for the Google Book…

This article discusses the potential of Google Scholar as an alternative or complement to the Web of Science and Scopus for measuring the impact of journal articles in education. Three handbooks on research in science education, language education, and educational technology were used to identify a sample of 112 accomplished scholars. Google…

Mass digitization of the bound volumes that we generally call "books" has begun, and, thanks to the interest in Google and all that it does, it is getting widespread media attention. The Open Content Alliance (OCA), a library initiative formed after Google announced its library book digitization project, has brought library digitization projects…

Today's school libraries must meet student needs as both a physical and virtual space. Existing both offline and online, they must offer around-the-clock access as well as instruction and guidance that support the face-to-face interactions of students with librarians and classroom teachers. Although students are often technologically proficient,…

Explores the academic environment of a total information system for school libraries based on the idea of a digital intranet. Discusses safety; customization; the core library collection; curriculum-specific collections; access to short-term resources; Internet access; personalized features; search engines; equity issues; and staffing. (LRW)

This study reports on exploratory research that investigated biology teachers' perceptions of their online information seeking practices and how these practices influenced their instructional planning activities. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the results of an online survey and ten in-depth interviews measuring use of specific online…

Five of the world's largest libraries have joined Google in a herculean effort to digitize millions of books and make every sentence searchable. The project involves libraries at Harvard and Stanford Universities, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the University of Oxford, in England, as well as the New York Public Library. It could…