Discusses the results of two surveys conducted in Canada, one with parents and one with students nine to 17 years old, that investigated students' use of the Internet. Highlights include amount of use; type of use; supervision by parents; perception of information accuracy; and differences between parent perceptions and actual use. (LRW)

Describes a study of undergraduate business students that explored their perceptions of the accuracy, relevance, and currency of information presented on the World Wide Web versus other information sources. Discusses results of statistical analyses and suggests the need to educate Web users on differences between various information sources.…

Reports on an evaluation of the Ariadne project which involved the production of a print and a Web magazine for subject librarians in academic libraries. It was developed to describe and evaluate sources and services available on the Internet for librarians and information professionals in the United Kingdom. (Author/LRW)

A reflection of what was happening in the field of information science, writing in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS) has become specialized to the point of excluding readers outside a narrow circle. A plea is made for JASIS to address a wider audience, because other subject disciplines, as well as industry, could…

Introduces the Monte Carlo method which is shown to represent an attractive alternative to the hypergeometric model for identifying the levels at which random retrieval performance is exceeded in retrieval test collections and for overcoming some of the limitations of the hypergeometric model. Practical matters to consider when employing the Monte…

Analyzes data on 199 boundary-crossing articles published in sociology and political science journals over a 20-year period. Results suggest that disciplinary boundaries are less restrictive than the literature suggests, and that boundary-crossing publications are involved in complex patterns of interdisciplinary information transfer. (AEF)

Describes the development by the Alexandria Digital Library of a gazetteer (dictionary of geographic names) composed of a Gazetteer Content Standard, a Feature Type Thesaurus, and an operational interactive gazetteer service. Illustrates the use of this tool in a georeferenced digital library and relates progress in working with Federal agencies…

The Community Networking Initiative (CNI) seeks to increase participation of low-income, primarily African American, residents in a local community computer network. Examination of information exchange practices of CNI indicated that word-of-mouth exchanges with people in one's close social circle and contacts with community organizations appear…

Describes design considerations of two interrelated programs that together make LEArning Portfolio (LEAP) prototype system for accessing engineering information for engineers. The two programs are: Engineering Information Sources and Access (EISA), implemented as a Web-based self-learning prototype system; and Information Sources that Every…

Presents a metric for comparing the performance of common classes of Internet information retrieval tools, including human indexed catalogs of Web resources and automatically indexed databases of Web pages. The benefit of the proposed metric is that it is relevance-based, and it facilitates the comparison of the performance of different classes of…

Describes common options and features to consider in evaluating which meta search engine will best meet a searcher's needs. Discusses number and names of engines searched; other sources and specialty engines; search queries; other search options; and results options. (AEF)

The intent of this reading list is to identify "must-read" books for professionals aiming to deliver the highest quality service to teenage clients. This second annual update alphabetically lists and describes 12 professional books for public and school librarians and books from other disciplines on teen-related issues. V.O.Y.A.'s (Voice of Youth…

Selection in a consortial setting is a complex, opportunistic, and often political process requiring an uneasy balance of local needs in conjunction with the group agenda. The issues of the selection and implementation of shared and networked resources, carried out in a comparatively public arena, are discussed. (Author)

Contends that the real problem in using the Internet is information evaluation and validation. Identifies three types of websites that cause social studies teachers concern: Hate Sites, Dumb Sites, and Conspiratory Sites. Provides guidelines that students can use when evaluating these types of online information. (CMK)

Examines file sharing within corporations that use wide-area, distributed file systems. Applications and user interactions strongly suggest that the addition of services typically associated with digital libraries (content-based file location, strongly typed objects, representation of complex relationships between documents, and extrinsic…