Focusing on the conference theme "Living Together: People, Libraries, Information," the opening speech of the 54th International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) General Conference was presented by association president Hans-Peter Geh. This paper reflects on: (1) the significance of holding the conference in Australia; (2) the role of…

This paper discusses bibliographic control of knowledge resources on the World Wide Web. The first section sets the context of the inquiry. The second section covers the following topics related to metadata: (1) definitions of metadata, including metadata as tags and as descriptors; (2) metadata on the Web, including general metadata systems,…

This paper looks at three avenues of exploration related to bibliographic records that the World Wide Web environment invites--sorting out the level of control for Web material, reevaluating aspects of descriptive content requirements for these materials, and experimenting with new format structures. Part I discusses extending MARC for Web…

The goal of this paper is to explore a number of examples of the censorship of women's healthcare issues and to investigate issues and questions related to those examples. The paper looks primarily at censorship in the United States; however, the problems and issues discussed are international in scope, and some international examples are…

The phrase, "digital divide," has been applied to the gap that exists in most countries between those with ready access to the tools of information and communication technologies and the knowledge that they provide access to, and those without such access or skills. This gap may be because of socio-economic, geographical, educational,…

The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) sponsored the symposium "Scholarship and Libraries in Transition: A Dialogue about the Impacts of Mass Digitization Projects" in March 2006 at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. The symposium was organized with a keynote and several other individual presentations, as well…

This paper examines the potential of the library catalog to serve as a portal to the Internet. The first section provides an overview of the development of the catalog, including the emergence of the union catalog, standardization of cataloging practice, MARC format, and the insufficiency of resources to catalog all the titles acquired by…

This paper discusses copyright issues, focusing on changes due to digital technology. Highlights include: problems for copyright posed by digital technologies, i.e., the identification of copyright works and owners, and the enforcement of copyright rights; electronic monitoring of copyright uses to provide rights owners with data on usage; the…

Includes nine papers that were presented at the White House Conference on School Libraries in 2002. Highlights include the importance of books and access to information in today's society; the role of school librarians; the importance of school libraries; how to change perceptions of school libraries; and how school libraries can improve student…

This paper discusses the preservation of digital resources in research libraries. The first section addresses the preservation imperative, including the challenges of quantity, stability of media, economics, and the contingent value of artifacts. The second section describes the artifact in question (i.e., an information resource in which the…

This paper discusses the role of the Parliamentary Library in Russia. The first section provides historical background. The second section addresses two prerequisites of the Parliamentary Library, i.e., the official documents collections and the rule of public law. The third section describes implementing public access to government information…

This paper discusses mobile libraries in Thailand. Topics addressed include: (1) justification for the mobile library project; (2) the different types of mobile library services (i.e., mobile train, bus, and boat libraries), including the objectives of each type of library; (3) how the mobile services were formed; (4) the uniqueness of mobile…

This paper discusses the role of libraries in the preservation of World Wide Web publications. Topics addressed include: (1) the scope of Web preservation, including examples of projects that illustrate comprehensive and selective approaches; (2) the responsibility of Web preservation, including placing the responsibility on publishers and other…

This paper offers a framework for thinking about the "library" in the year 2001 and predicts that, although the development of new technologies will impact libraries, it will not reduce them to the status of museum artifacts. Three questions are identified as critical areas for delegates to the 1990 New York State Governor's Conference…

This paper examines the processes of interaction and exchange that are involved in the creation and circulation of literary and scholarly works, texts that contribute to the Australian information commons. For this purpose, the paper refers to specific aspects of the scholarly work cycle of the Australian historian, Henry Reynolds, and comments on…