Intranets should provide quick and easy access to organizational information. The University of Alabama Libraries' intranet was only partially satisfying this basic expectation. Librarians could use it to find forms, policies, committee assignments, and meeting minutes, but navigating the libraries' intranet was neither quick nor easy, and it was…

Library intranets require flexibility and efficiency and enhance the internal communication and collaborative nature of creating and organizing the institution's information. At the University of Houston Libraries, the focus was on public services, so little attention was given to the intranet--the tool every department relied on for quick access…

Reviews the history of the network that supports the MELVYL online union catalog, describes current technological and policy issues, and discusses the role the network plays in integrating local automation, the union catalog, access to resource databases, and other initiatives. Sidebars by Mark Needleman discuss the TCP/IP protocol suite, internet…

Provides an overview of the Minnesota State University System's Project for Automated Library Systems (MSUS/PALS), a fully integrated library system. Highlights include a historical background; search strategies; the online catalog; MARC editing; circulation; interlibrary loan; inventory; serials control; acquisitions; relationships with vendors;…

This report on options for developing the University of California (UC) MELVYL online library system discusses the system in relationship to the current environment, including national and network information resources, electronic publishing, campus libraries, and changing user expectations; and places the growth of the MELVYL system in the…

Libraries subscribe to thousands of electronic journals and they are difficult for end-users to find. Journal and publisher interfaces and functionalities differ considerably. The recent development in e-media calls for central management of the resources. Lund University Libraries' Head Office has developed a service for presentation and…

Discusses the development of electronic libraries at Cornell University's (New York) Mann Library and elsewhere and presents an overview of changes in services and staff responsibilities needed to address user needs. Sidebar articles discuss Internet access to government information; changing staff roles; geographic information systems; the Mann…

The 16 articles in this theme issue focus on ways in which libraries provide subject access to their collections in a fast-changing technological environment: (1) "Uncovering Information" (Neal K. Kaske and Peter Paulson); (2) "The New York State Library's Evolving Public Access Catalog" (Alexandria Wolff and Jean Hargrave);…

The development of information technologies such as public access catalogs and online databases has greatly enhanced access to information. The lack of automation in the area of document delivery, however, has created a large disparity between the speed with which citations are found and the provision of primary documents. This imbalance can…