The New York State Newspaper Project identifies, describes, preserves, and makes available to researchers the significant newspapers in all communities in New York State since the first publication in 1725. This article describes the development of a Web site for publicity and to increase access to researchers and historians. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the ways in which public libraries are using Web technology and describes a study that assessed public library accessibility via the Web based on a random sample. Highlights include public library structures; hosts of public library Web sites; size and design of Web sites; and size of the population served. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of Web accessibility by people with disabilities focuses on a study of Web sites of library schools and academic libraries. Highlights include legal mandate for accessible Web design; the Bobby accessibility validator; and results that show low accessibility of library school Web sites and relatively high accessibility of library sites.…

Provides preliminary information about patterns of access and use of Questia, a commercial online collection of 35,000 electronic scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences. Analyzes search logs and page view logs to determine characteristics of the search queries and browsing within titles. (Author/LRW)

Examines the accessibility of six categories of Web sites using the evaluation software Bobby. Discusses universal access for users with disabilities; application of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998; government sites versus commercial sites; and Web site design. (Author/LRW)

Details the public policy framework that establishes the legal foundation for requiring access to Web-based information resources for people with disabilities. Highlights include fair use doctrine in regards to disability access to digital information; American with Disabilities Act; and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. (Author/LRW)

Discusses Web design accessibility from the perspective of a librarian who is legally blind. Explains problems encountered with the growing use of graphics as opposed to text-based sites and suggests steps that librarians can take to help make the Web more accessible. (LRW)

Examines 11 electronic research journals for accessibility to users with visual or mobility impairments and suggests that librarians need to consider accessibility issues. Discusses the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act (1998); usability and universal design; accessibility errors; following links; browser compatibility;…

Provides an overview of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Interactive Multimedia Cartography Project to create an interactive videodisc that would illustrate the topic of mapping and provide access to examples of cartography from the American Geographical Society Collection. (JLB)

Describes the Questia subscription-based online academic digital books library. Highlights include weaknesses of the collection; what college students want from a library; importance of marketing; competition for traditional academic libraries that may help improve library services; and the ability of Questia to overcome barriers and…

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting program presents a method by which metadata regarding archives and manuscripts can be shared and made more interoperable with metadata from other sources. Outlines a method for exposing hierarchical metadata from encoded archival description (EAD) files and assesses some…

Examined the accessibility of two Web-based abstracting and indexing services by blind users using screen-reading programs based on guidelines from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines by the WWW Consortium. Suggests Web developers need to conduct usability testing and librarians need to be aware of accessibility…

An online system designed to help global environmental research, the electronic research system called Eco-Link draws data from various electronic sources including online catalogs and databases, CD-ROMs, electronic news sources, and electronic data subscription services to produce briefing booklets on environmental issues. It can be accessed by…

Raison d'Etre, a hypermedia design history application, provides access to a database of video clips containing perspectives of design team members during the course of a project. Describes the user needs analysis; methods of collecting information and organizing the database; and the implications for design education, research, and practice. (AEF)

Fax-on-demand is a response application that allows callers to use touchtone telephones to access databases and other information. The information is then delivered to the caller's fax machine. Ten sidebars describe a variety of specific services. (11 references) (DB)