Examines what occurred when the mental models of library media specialists teaching electronic information literacy database access interconnected in the complex changing environment of a lesson. Discusses changes to the mental models the library media specialists held with respect to the electronic database, role of the library media specialist,…

Examines mobile agent coordination and presents TuCSoN, a coordination model for Internet applications based on mobile information agents that uses a tuple centre, a tuple space enhanced with the capability of programming its behavior in response to communication events. Discusses the effectiveness of the TuCSoN model in the contexts of Internet…

Relates various types of educational spending to mean mathematics achievement and its social distribution among students using a nationally representative database of 7,217 12th graders. Spending on instruction and capital expenditures was related to differences in achievement between socioeconomic status groups, with lower spending associated…

Examines Web sites that provide bibliographic information useful to librarians as well as to end users, some for free and some that charge fees. Highlights include the possibility of canceling database subscriptions; information quality on free Web databases; retrieval-based comparisons between free and fee-based databases; and document delivery…

Provides an overview of information retrieval from mainframe systems to Web search engines; discusses collaborative filtering, data extraction, data visualization, agent technology, pattern recognition, classification and clustering, and virtual communities. Argues that rather than huge data-storage centers and proprietary software, we need…

This study conducted at the State University of New York at Albany compares methods of providing access to diverse points of view as represented by journals indexed in "Alternative Press Index." Examines local subscriptions, resource-sharing consortia that include expedited interlibrary loan systems, and four electronic full-text…

Describes the creation of Web-based multipurpose multimedia databases concerned with the Supreme Court and other historically and politically significant institutions, events, and actors. Addresses four evaluation questions on whether the database will help less-skilled students; help bright students and scholars improve their understanding and…

This study explored the feasibility of scanning the OCLC Online Union Catalog (OLUC) to create subject heading validation files. Concluded that automatically generated subject heading files were practical and that such files could be used to verify subject heading strings constructed by catalogers, update subject headings in catalog maintenance,…

Discusses a study conducted by W. G. Bowen and D. Bok that develops hard empirical evidence about the benefits of using race-sensitive admissions to selective higher education. The database on which this study rests includes more than 80,000 undergraduates from 28 selective institutions. (SLD)

Marking the 25th anniversary (August 26, 1996) of WorldCat (the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Online Union Catalog) OCLC and the U.S. regional networks sponsored an essay contest for librarians and library users to write essays describing their impressions of the OCLC Online Union Catalog. Four prize-winning essays from Michigan, Kentucky,…

Examines the Korean National Open University's (KNOU) four recent technology initiatives for distance education, including an online database and multimedia digital library, an integrated Web-based student support system, a videoconferencing network, and Web-based course. Suggests that it is instructional design, not technology, which is at the…

Describes workshops based on active learning that were developed collaboratively between a librarian and an economics faculty member to teach students how to locate appropriate academic sources on the World Wide Web and in library databases, how to create effective search strategies, and how to use retrieval features in InfoTrac. (LRW)

Considers what computers contribute to the work of historians, and of history teachers, that is specific to the nature of computers and cannot be accomplished by other tools available to historians today. Suggests that simulation games and databases be used to reduce the historian's unspoken biases when examining the conditions of historical…

Discusses online access to the "New York Times." Topics include full-text electronic versions, online newspapers, archival coverage, searching the archives, physical layout, electronic variations from the printed editions, electronic home delivery, and future possibilities. (LRW)

To increase availability of specialized databases and information services to national institutions, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) developed a CD-ROM prototype and mailed it to 267 sites in 80 countries. A follow-up questionnaire determined individual sites' CD-ROM holdings, other media offerings,…