Forecasts of the future of the public library highlight measures of success (quick information provision); service to remote users; an information infrastructure which includes smaller branch libraries; levels of service based on staff time required; fee-based, interactive research services; a new job title of "information specialist"; and book…

Suggests that if librarians and libraries are to continue to fulfill their true tasks, they need to adapt to changes resulting from new technology and overcome the professional paralysis that has made most major libraries largely unusable. Problems of size, arrangement, and catalogs are identified as contributors to unusable library. (EJS)

Examines 55 articles from 25 popular magazines such as "Better Homes and Gardens,""Business Week,""Popular Mechanics," and "Working Woman" and discusses purpose of the articles, consumer oriented online services, libraries and information centers, databases, and publishers and intermediaries. A list of the…

Examines a multiplicity of issues that must be considered as features are taken from two existing systems--libraries and computing centers--and used in moving toward the integrated information support system of the future. Discussion covers indexing, conversion, access, security, costs, changes in the workplace, and challenges of transition. (EJS)

Discusses ways in which developments in interactive electronic technologies present public sector institutions, particularly academic libraries, with set of choices and dilemmas that will be as crucial in results as difficult in resolution. Inevitability of interactive electronics, interactive television, interactive technologies in library, and…

Reviews development of bibliographic instruction in colleges and examines various components of such instruction (orientation, basic skills, course specialized skills, course-integrated study). Discussion of efforts to study user needs and to present library services as direct answer to these needs notes use of certain marketing techniques.…

Suggests that information librarians should analyze instructors' course descriptions and syllabi, and use that information for creation of library study guides and other service supports--clarification of assignment, collection development, library information guides, anticipatory reference, instruction, course improvement, include guide as part…

Discussion of current and future trends in American education and their implications for school library media programs highlights 10 trends in John Naisbitt's "Megatrends." Gives 12 emerging influences perceived by the author, fads in education, the connection between school libraries and the curriculum, and the role of the school library. (EJS)

Describes the introduction of microcomputers into a junior high school and the responses of students and teachers. (FL)

The following four papers focus on the topic of evaluating Internet information services: "Some Evaluation Criteria To Assess Internet Information Services" (Carmel Galvin); "The Teacher Librarian's Role as Evaluator of Internet Information Services" (Pru Mitchell); "How Students Evaluate Internet Information…

This paper discusses how the authority control performed by libraries can help the World Wide Web and suggests some next steps in making this resource of authority records available and used internationally. Topics addressed include: (1) characteristics of the Web; (2) precision and recall; (3) connecting international authority files, including a…

This paper provides an overview of the forces shaping the future of the knowledge economy and society, including: the speed and type of change that is occurring; the technologies that are propelling it; the technology and information choices that competitors are making; which organizations are in the lead; who has the most to gain and to lose; the…

Recent government initiatives to combat social exclusion within the United Kingdom have served to place librarians and libraries as prominent players in the movement to providing information over a wider social context. For example, The Peoples Network is a government initiative to connect all public libraries to the information superhighway by…

In 1993, the Colorado State Library published "The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement." This follow-up study focuses attention on the library media specialist and the services she or he provides throughout the building, rather than just the library media center as a specific place, and emphasizes the fact that…

The purpose of this study was to find out how school and public libraries were performing as education providers and how well they were responding to the country's urgent demands for school improvement. This general audience report summarizes the results of the assessment of school and public libraries. It discusses staffing and patronage, the use…