"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") is a quarterly report from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). This issue includes the following articles: (1) Digitization of Special Collections and Archives: Legal and Contractual Issues (Peter B.…

The library, as we once knew it, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian. The future of the school library as a relevant and viable institution is largely dependent on librarians and how quickly they respond to change. They worry about their field and their practice. They worry…

Many students cannot discriminate between posts that are accurate and attributable and those that are undocumented and misleading. This fact leads teachers to limit online research to subscription services like netTrekker or Web directories like Awesome Library. While sites like these certainly play an important role in the classroom, there…

This article discusses 10 "IT myths": (1) Standardizing on a single computing platform reduces costs and enables better support; (2) Requiring students to own a computer (or laptop) will improve the quality of education at an institution; (3) Having a campus subscription to a music download service will reduce the incidence of online copyright…

The day is past when educators can legitimately claim ignorance of digital copyright and fair use laws. The ed tech community has addressed digital copyright and fair use a lot in recent years. There is still, however, the ongoing challenge of keeping up with ever-changing statutes as technology itself matures, not to mention the necessity of…

This resource unit, an addendum to The Exploratory Computer Literacy Curriculum Guide, Grades 9-12, is designed to provide teachers with guidelines and classroom computer activities for integrating the exploratory computer literacy program into the curriculum. An overview of the guide is given in the introduction, which notes that the materials…

Examines how faculty at the Pennsylvania State University use electronic resources in planning for their own and their students' research, individual learning, and classroom activities. Also discusses related issues: electronic collections, copyrights, pricing and licensing, faculty computing skills, and the advantages of electronic resources in a…

This resource unit, an addendum to The Exploratory Computer Literacy Curriculum Guide, Grades 7-8, is designed to provide teachers with guidelines and classroom computer activities for integrating computer literacy into the curriculum. An overview of the guide is given in the introduction, which notes that the materials reflect the…

The processes used by the Defense Language Institute (DLI) Foreign Language Center to develop proficiency-based nonresident courses in Czech, Polish, and Russian for language maintenance is described. Based on needs assessment and analysis of Department of Defense endusers, DLI provided the concept and design for the Proficiency Improvement…

Two major areas of focus emerge from this synthesis of national reports: the question of how to teach students critical and autonomous judgement with regard to the mass media, and how best to use new information and communication technology (NICT) and the media for educational purposes. It is noted that, although there are differences of approach…

The proceedings of the second Preventive Law Institute, which focused on the legal aspects of educational uses of technology, are included in this report. Following the preface, two overviews (Thomas M. Griffin, Fred "Rick" W. Weingarten) provide an introduction to preventive law for educators and explore the nature of information…