The "Forum Guide to Metadata" presents and examines the ways in which metadata can be used by education agencies to improve data quality and promote a better understanding of education data. Supported by metadata-related case studies from state and local education agencies, the guide highlights the uses of metadata from a technical point…

The authors discuss the long-term accumulation of unstandardized and inaccessible content within the Libguides system and the decision-making process to create and implement a set of standards using the migration to the LibGuides2 platform as a vehicle for change. Included in the discussion are strategies for the creation of standards and…

Early education leaders--inside and outside of government--are looking for new ways to improve quality, accountability, and efficiency across many different programs serving young children and their families, and they see investment in data systems as a pivotal part of that effort. However, it can be challenging to develop and implement effective…

Much of what librarians do today requires adeptness in creating and manipulating databases. Many new computers bought by libraries every year come packaged with Microsoft Office and include Microsoft Access. This database program features a seamless interface between Microsoft Office's other programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This book…

A school board member guides a tour of what is available for organizing school executives' schedules. Describes time-planner notebooks, computer software, and various academic and commercial online databases. Sidebars list the programs and products mentioned, discuss online services, and describe using a time-management planner in campaigning for…

Discusses techniques for managing documents in wide area networks, reviews technique limitations, and offers recommendations to database designers. Presented techniques include: increasing bandwidth, reducing data traffic, synchronizing documentation, partial synchronization, audit trials, navigation, and distribution control and security. Two…

The Further Education (FE) sector in the United Kingdom has devoted time, energy, and resources in recent years to the development and improvement of information systems known as management-information systems. This report presents the findings of a research project on the use of management-information systems in student tracking. The project was…

Discusses data warehousing, which provides information more fully responsive to local, state, and federal data needs. Such a system allows educators to generate reports and analyses that supply information, provide accountability, explore relationships among different kinds of data, and inform decision-makers. (Contains one figure and eight…

In the fall of 1993, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Office of Management Services conducted a survey to determine the status of automation activities within preservation departments in member libraries. The survey was sent to 68 ARL libraries that have established preservation departments under the management of a preservation…