An institute on ethnic genealogy for librarians held by Fisk University was designed to prepare librarians to collect, preserve, interpret, and disseminate materials on ethnic genealogy to meet the needs of pluralistic communities, and to create more widespread interest in collecting and preserving materials on ethnic genealogy to support future…

The guide identifies over 75 sources of book reviews in the reference department of McLennan Library at McGill University as of 1977. Describing many standard reference books, the guide was designed to assist students looking for book reviews and to illustrate the variety of sources for reviews in the McLennan Library. Section one, Major Sources…

Discusses the usage of online bibliographic database searching in political science research for undergraduates. Explains several advantages of this research tool. Proves a step-by-step description of how to use this research tool. Gives a specific example of this process and lists a selected directory of database vendors and political science…

Explores successful techniques for integrating the World Wide Web into day-to-day reference library services. Highlights include: determining when to use the Web and when and how to use search tools; the importance of search statement format; training and practicing with the Web; virtual reference and subject specialist pages; and electronic…

Discusses the role of the library in distance education and describes key elements of library services for distance education, including reference services; portfolio of nearby libraries or other resources; document delivery; databases; electronic journals; database of subject specialists; and electronic resources on the Web. (AEF)

Presents a way to model a large class of reference information based on a semantic network technique with embedded argumentation of the information provider. Shows by discussion of several alternatives that the approach is flexible enough to be adapted to different user and system requirements. (Author/AEF)

There are a number of Web-based Internet resources available in the performance arts, created by hobbyists, amateurs, professionals, and corporations for commercial and recreational purposes. Collected here are Internet sites in the areas of music, dance, film/cinema, and theater/drama that are useful when answering typical reference questions in…

Presents American Library Association guidelines for medical, legal, and business responses at general reference desks covering the role of the librarian, including interpretation, advice, confidentiality, and tact; sources, including currency and referrals; telephone or mail reference; and ethics. (MES)

Describes the importance of the Internet as an information resource for science and engineering librarians and outlines a strategy for introducing these resources to library school students enrolled in sci/tech literature and reference classes. Inclusion of Internet-based information can be accomplished by establishing student prerequisites,…

Using a thorough analytical framework, this study characterizes the questioning behavior on a consumer health-related electronic list. Analysis examines the dedication of the list to questioning; pattern of question asking within a message; type of question; length of answer anticipated; subject of question; combination of type of question and…

Describes the development by the Alexandria Digital Library of a gazetteer (dictionary of geographic names) composed of a Gazetteer Content Standard, a Feature Type Thesaurus, and an operational interactive gazetteer service. Illustrates the use of this tool in a georeferenced digital library and relates progress in working with Federal agencies…

Describes the development of the Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) by the Library of Congress and partner libraries that provides professional reference service to users through an international digital network of libraries. Discusses the benefits of searching library collections rather than just Internet sources and considers future…

The "ERIC Review" is published three times a year and announces research results, publications, and new programs relevant to each issue's theme topic. This issue is intended to help teacher educators, administrators, librarians, adult educators, and individual teachers introduce others to education resources on computer networks. There…

Research into both the information needs of engineers engaged in research and development, and the means chosen by engineers to fulfill their information needs are summarized in this condensation of a Master's thesis. Parallel questionnaires were administered in 1981 to 78 engineers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering…

This paper is an explication of the concept of a network of consultants to help people obtain answers to day-to-day questions for which answers are known. Each member of such a network is viewed to have three capabilities: 1)answering questions directly from his own memory, 2)answering questions with the aid of library resources, and 3)referring…