Defines metadata, noting that standard bibliographic information, summaries, indexing terms, and abstracts are all surrogates for original material, hence metadata. Discusses the need for metadata; creating metadata; search engines and how metadata affects searching; abstracts; and future possibilities. (AEF)

Lists 34 resources related to alternative education, including parent organizations, graduate programs, Web sites, clearinghouses, journals, advocacy groups, publishers, newsletters, and national organizations. Listings include contact information and a brief description. (LP)

Discusses a new vision of scientific publishing that is emerging in the Physics community; it is based on three fundamental elements: (1) a preprint server, (2) an electronic peer-reviewed, edited journal, and (3) an electronic archive of past published papers. Relates problems with libraries and the American Physical Society as electronic…

Discusses the need for adult learners in online environments to be able to critically evaluate Internet resources. Highlights include differences and similarities between Internet resources and library information sources, adapting traditional evaluation techniques to Internet information resources, printing documents found online, and determining…

In this study, it is indicated that there is a statistically significant semantic relationship between highly cited publications and their citing publications in comparison to highly cited publications with no citing relationship, within the same topic literature. Visualizing this set of data, however, shows that citation-based data represents…

Examines situations/purposes users have for searching the Web and perceptions of the textual features that assist users in characterizing documents/text retrieval in actual Web searches. The study employs a bottom-up approach to derive a set of genres built around actual use of the Web. After employing content-analytic techniques to derive a…

The Nonprofit Program Classification System being developed by the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) provides a way to enrich the information available on nonprofits and utilize the newly available NCCS/PRI National Nonprofit Organization database from the IRS Forms 990 filed annually by charities. It provides a method to organize…

This article offers a multidimensional framework that broadens current approaches to "best practices" inquiry to include (1) the perspectives of both the consumers of services and professional practitioners and (2) a value-based critique. The predominant empirical approach to best practices inquiry is a necessary, but not sufficient, component of…

The purposes of this article are to underscore the importance of using research-based practices to support the needs of all learners in general education settings and to provide teachers with strategies for obtaining research-based practices. Students with diverse learning needs require that teachers utilize more effective and efficient practices…

There has been a call for approaches that connect science learning with literacy, yet the use of, and research on, children's literature information books in science instruction has been quite limited. Because the discipline of science involves distinctive generic linguistic registers, what information books should be integrated in science…

A survey of a group of distance graduate students showed their strong preference for easy and fast information retrieval and a significant association between motivation for using information and field of study. Motivation and field of study also explained differences in primary information source selection and use of home institution libraries.

One size does not fit all. For anyone who has ever tried to make something fit (especially when it won't), it's best to realize that the word "all" does not really mean "everyone." The same thing is true for subscription databases. While it might seem that all students in grades K-12 can benefit from the use of the database contents, in reality,…

This article deals with the Virtual Learning System (VLS) (http://eservices.nysed.gov/vls/) which has been developed by New York State's State Education Department. This article describes VLS and discusses advantages to teachers, students, parents and the general public. VLS is designed to encourage use of the Internet as a teaching tool and to…

The pervasive nature of the Internet, both in society and in America's schools, leads teacher educators to wonder how this dynamic tool is being utilized in the classroom and, especially, if it is benefiting students' understanding. This study analyzed 127 Web sites self-reported by in-service teachers as excellent for teaching. From these data, a…

This resource list was developed as part of the Emerging Scholars in K-12 Service-Learning Research Seminar, held at the University of Maryland on June 14-16, 2007 and hosted by The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), University of Maryland; the Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University;…