EDITORIAL p.171
The Open Source Movement and Libraries
DAN MARMION
Editor's note: The full text of this editorial is available at www.lita.org/ital/2004_editorial.html.
FEATURE ARTICLES
Library Web Proxy Use Survey Results (p.172-178)
PETER E. MURRAY
Libraries face many policy and technological difficulties in providing remote access to databases, making effective use of Internet bandwidth, controlling where patrons browse on public computers, and gathering statistics on usage. Some libraries have chosen to employ proxy Web servers to solve these problems. This paper outlines the use of proxy Web servers by libraries to address these areas and documents survey results on their use in libraries.
Editor's note: This article is winner of the first annual LITA/Endeavor Student Writing Award. The full text is available at www.lita.org/ital/2004_murray.html.
Peter E. Murray (peter@pandc.org) is a graduate student in the MLS program, Simmons College, Boston.
eThemes: An Internet Instructional Resource Service (p. 179-184)
FENG-KWEI WANG AND JOHN WEDMAN
Many studies indicate that computer technology has the potential of changing teachers' pedagogical practices. This paper describes a major initiative to support teachers in integrating Internet resources into the instructional process while shifting their instruction to a more constructivist approach. Referred to as eThemes, this service accepts requests from teachers, finds Web sites that meet the requirements specified in the requests, and creates an archive of quality Internet resources for easy access and searching. It minimizes teachers' resource-seeking time and maximizes their resource-using time in their instruction to enhance teaching practice and student performance.
Editor's note: The full text of this article is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2004_wang.html.
Feng-Kwei Wang (wangfeng@missouri.edu) is Assistant Professor and John Wedman (wedmanj@missouri.edu) is Director of the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri-Columbia.
A Personalized Information Environment for Digital Libraries (p.185-197)
CHAMPA JAYAWARDANA, K. PRIYANTHA HEWAGAMAGE, AND MASAHITO HIRAKAWA
A digital library provides one of the most important information environments in which to retrieve and refer to appropriate information directly online. Different library users will have different personal requirements and interests in the use of library materials. Hence, personalization is an essential service that should be provided to users to allow them to create their own personalized information environments. Two stages, material personalization and collection personalization, are discussed. In material personalization, library users can create customized views, called personal documents, in the form of virtual documents. In collection personalization, these personal documents are used to generate the profiles that describe the user's working context and interests. The main purpose is to provide a personalized view in the usage as well as the organization of digital library materials. In this paper, we describe three skills, active reading, personalized retrieval, and personalized filtering, which are considered essential to construct a personalized information environment in the digital library.
Champa Jayawardana (champa@isl.hiroshima-u.ac.jp) is a Ph.D. Candidate, K. Priyantha Hewagamage (hewa@isl.hiroshima-u.ac.jp) is the Research Fellow, and Masahito Hirakawa (hirakawa@isl.hiroshima-u-ac.jp) is the Director of the Information Systems Lab, Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University.
COMMUNICATIONS
Weaving Multimedia into the Collection: One Library's Journey (p. 198-201)
GAIL GOLDERMAN
For well over fifteen years, Schaffer Library at Union College in Schenectady, New York, has experimented with a variety of methods to best manage acquiring and granting access to multimedia material. This article conveys the journey one library has taken in order to evolve to the present system of full integration of nonprint processing with print processing within the cataloging department. This has included reorganizations of the cataloging department, creation of detailed documentation, maintenance of a regularly updated Web site for immediate access to relevant links and procedures, and most significantly, providing staff members with essential skills and equipment to better enable them to have a working familiarity with contemporary information formats and standards.
Gail Golderman (goldermg@union.edu) is Electronic Media Librarian, Schaffer Library, Union College, Schenectady, New York.
Creating an Instant Messaging Reference System (p. 202-212)
JODY CONDIT FAGAN AND MICHELE CALLOWAY
Libraries are expanding digital reference services to include chat and instant messaging. Various companies have developed systems for purchase that meet this need without requiring users to download new software or learn a new skill. These systems share many features in common, including transcript storage, sending URLs, and pushing Web pages. Several librarians at an Association of Research Libraries academic library wished to test instant messaging reference with the ability to control and experiment with different implementations of these features. This article describes the features of instant messaging reference systems and the in-house development of a system that incorporates them.
Editor's note: The full text of this communication is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2004_fagan.html.
Jody Condit Fagan (jfagan@lib.siu.edu) is a Social Sciences Librarian, and Michele Calloway (mcallowa@lib.siu.edu) is an Undergraduate Librarian, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
TUTORIAL
The Service of Server-Side Includes (p. 213-218)
MICHELLE MACH
The use of server-side includes (SSI) simplifies Web site maintenance by generating Web pages on-the-fly, rather than creating static HTML pages. This article provides examples and instructions for common uses of SSIs, including displaying environmental variables, inserting file information, and using the advanced capabilities of extended SSI (XSSI). Potential concerns including security, WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editors, filename extensions, and server load are discussed, as are the advantages and disadvantages of SSI over more well-known tools like CGI, JavaScript, or Active Server Pages (ASP).
Editor's note: The full text of this tutorial is available at www.lita.org/ital/2004_mach.html.
Michelle Mach (mmach@manta. colostate.edu) is an Assistant Professor and Web Librarian, Colorado State University Libraries, Fort Collins.
BOOK REVIEW
Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on the Internet / by Jessica Litman.
Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2001. 208p. $25 (ISBN 1-573-92889-5).
Editor's note: The full text of this review is available at www.lita.org/ital/2004_books.html.
Reviewed by Karen Coyle.
INDEX TO VOLUME 20 (2001) - p. 224-228
Volume 20 No 4 December 2001