Discussion of the use of computer networks in academic libraries focuses on a technical-services perspective in the United Kingdom. Topics include access to electronic resources; standards; change management; the changing nature of the library catalog; redefining the local catalog; cataloging versus indexing; the Z39.50 information retrieval…

Explores the cases of two states, Louisiana and Ohio, which found budget problems to be the occasion for concerted statewide efforts to improve academic library services. Both states ultimately established statewide multipurpose resource-sharing academic library consortia, supported by electronic library networks, as the solutions to their very…

Examines how application of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and information technology can be used to overcome "grammar deficit" seen in many British undergraduate German students. A combination of explicit, implicit, and exploratory grammar teaching approaches uses diverse resources, including word processing packages,…

Outlines five projects currently funded by the United Kingdom's Electronic Libraries Program (eLib): HyLiFe (Hybrid Library of the Future), MALIBU (MAnaging the hybrid Library for the Benefit of Users), HeadLine (Hybrid Electronic Access and Delivery in the Library Networked Environment), ATHENS (authentication scheme), and BUILDER (Birmingham…

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 has made child safety an explicit focus in child welfare. The authors describe an automated critical incident reporting program designed for use in foster care and family-support programs. The program, which is based in Lotus Notes and uses e-mail to route incident reports from direct service staff to…

eBooks are textual documents that have been converted and "published" in an electronic format and are displayed on eBook readers, devices, or computers using eBook software programs. This new form of book is a relatively recent addition to book styles and offers students, teachers, and schools an additional tool for the teaching of reading and the…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This April 16, 2004 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Shimmering with Stories" (Biemiller, Lawrence); (2) "Cultures…

This article addresses how community-university digital media literacy projects are redefining literacy, literate practices, and institutions. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which emphasizes the organizing process itself, I analyze the shifting definitions of literacy within one particular university-community collaboration. My analysis…

Government grant-funding agencies have spawned an explosion of images from historical collections on the Internet. They have encouraged collaborative projects in which institutions share resources for capital-intensive digitization projects. These Web "exhibits" are neither publications nor exhibits in the traditional sense, most often without…

Online education, supported by online resources such as e-mail, chat rooms, and Web-based instruction, is a rapidly growing area of tertiary/higher education that has been facilitated by increased usage of home computers and advances in the development of user-friendly interfaces. A range of positive outcomes has accompanied the growth of online…

This paper reports on the learning experiences of a small group (n = 13) of teaching assistants who volunteered to participate in a pilot online Foundation Degree module. As part of the evaluation methodology, participating students were randomly assigned into two groups, with each group having clearly defined but different types of tutorial…

A bibliometric approach is used not only to sketch out the development of CALL during the last 25 years, but also to assess the contribution of educational technology to 21st century foreign-language teaching and learning. This study is based on the six instalments of the author's International (and multilingual) Bibliography of Computer Assisted…

Concept maps are widely used in education, and have been acclaimed for their excellent results. For efficiently using concept maps in education, computer-based concept mapping systems have been developed. However these computer-based concept mapping systems are limited in their assessment algorithms. The assessment takes only concept nodes as the…

This paper describes the components of a successful, online, introductory statistics course and shares students' comments and evaluations of each component. Past studies have shown that quality interaction with the professor is lacking in many online courses. While students want a course that is well organized and easy to follow, they also want to…

This paper is a consideration of the issues associated with the infrastructural aspects, pedagogic considerations and the need to associate the usefulness of technology to enhance the learning experience. This technological path will potentially enhance the learning process, not replace the lecturer or tutor. For lecturers and students, the…