D-Lib Magazine
July/August 1999

Volume 5 Number 7/8

ISSN 1082-9873

Clips & Pointers

The Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance

Contributed by:
Phyllis Mirsky, ([email protected])
Interim University Librarian,
R. Bruce Miller, ([email protected])
Associate University Librarian, User Support Services, and
Karl Lo, ([email protected])
Director, International Relations and Pacific Studies Library
University of California, San Diego

The Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance (http://www.prdla.org), a consortium of thirteen prestigious academic libraries, was created in October 1997, and consists of the following members:

  • Academia Sinica, Taipei
  • Australian National University Library, Canberra
  • El Colegio de Mexico Library, Mexico City
  • Keio University Library, Tokyo
  • National University of Singapore Library
  • Peking University Library, Beijing
  • Seoul National University Library
  • University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver
  • University of California, Berkeley Library
  • University of California, San Diego Libraries
  • University of Hong Kong Libraries
  • University of Washington Libraries, Seattle
  • Zhongshan University Library, Guangzhou

The goal of the Alliance is to facilitate access to scholarly research materials, primarily by using digital technology to share and deliver information resources in a timely and effective manner. Administrative bureaucracy has been minimized, pilot projects with rapid results are preferred over "grand schemes", and cooperative ventures among subsets of the membership are encouraged. Successful pilot projects will quickly deliver needed information resources to scholars and, at the same time, will provide the foundations and test beds for the development of even more substantial resources. Funding for Alliance activities has been through a combination of grants from the Henry R. Luce Foundation, the National Security Education Program, fundraising from individual donors and resources from the participating members.

The Pacific Rim Digital Library

The Pacific Rim digital library will directly serve Alliance students and faculty through the creation of a virtual "library" on the Internet that will include catalogs for Alliance libraries, an information desk, guides to information resources, and exhibits. Digitized books, journals, maps, manuscripts, and other materials will be available online and, whenever possible, electronic document delivery and interlibrary loan will provide access to materials that are not available online. A conservative estimate concludes that there are more than 50 million volumes among the combined holdings of the Alliance libraries.

The Alliance has initiated a variety of actions and projects to begin creating this Pacific Rim digital library. Building upon expertise and resources within the Alliance, the following technical projects have been identified as initial building blocks:

  • creation of the Pacific Explorations Archive
  • development of a multilingual gateway to library resources
  • extension of the Chinese Serials Database

Pacific Explorations Archive

The first large scale digitization project by the Alliance is the creation of the Pacific Explorations Archive. Drawing from their collections, each of the Alliance libraries is creating digital versions of critically important materials related to the exploration of the Pacific Ocean. By capitalizing on the linking capabilities inherent in the internet, this online research collection will be enriched with information resources from non-Alliance members. The Archive will stand alone as a major research resource about the exploration of the Pacific Rim, but, perhaps, has even greater value as a testbed for developing tools to create, manage, deliver, and archive digital library resources. With strong technical support and guidance from the Digital Library Federation and the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Alliance will use the Archive to develop a model for cooperative digitization programs.

Multilingual Gateway

Technical planning is underway to develop a multilingual computer gateway service among the catalogs and information resources of the Alliance members. The concept is to allow a researcher to use the local catalog interface and the local natural language to query a remote catalog or online information resource that might use a different interface or a different language. For example, a user in Mexico, using the proposed gateway service, could use Spanish and the local, familiar catalog interface to frame the query, and the gateway computer would automatically invoke the English instructions and search keys expected by the UCSD catalog. This multilingual gateway will offer the opportunity to vary this scenario in order to accommodate Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish speakers within all the Alliance universities. Current plans are to use the International Standard Protocol for Information Retrieval to ensure compatibility among systems (ANSI/NISO Z39.50 and ISO 23950).

Chinese Serials Database

Further development and expansion of the Chinese Serials Database, a pilot project begun in 1995 between the Australian National University Library and the National Library of China, will be undertaken taking into account other current efforts by libraries in China to improve access to Chinese language journals. This is an excellent model for developing similar national information facilities and holdings.

Conclusion

The traditional role of the library to acquire, organize, and deliver information is an enduring one. However, rapid changes in both the quantity and the formats of information resources have combined with budgetary limitations to undermine the viability of the classic library founded on large, comprehensive collections.The Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance seeks to overcome associated political, language, geographic, and technical obstacles through a variety of practical projects and agreements.

 

EQUINOX: Library Performance Measurement and Quality Management System

Contributed by:
Monica Brinkley
Research Officer
Dublin City University Library

Libraries are increasingly aware of the need to develop and utilise methods of measuring the performance of library services within a framework of quality management. Extensive work has been carried out on performance measurement of traditional library services, and indeed the international standard ISO 11620 offers libraries a range of indicators of library performance and benchmarking. However, libraries are becoming increasingly hybrid, that is, providing access to information in electronic as well as traditional print formats. There is therefore an urgent need for the work on library performance measurement to be expanded, to include the development of performance measures within the networked, electronic environment.

The research project EQUINOX: Library Performance Measurement and Quality Management System, funded by the European Commission, aims to address this need. A major strand of work within the project aims to develop international agreement on standard performance measures for the electronic library environment, building on existing agreements for traditional library services. An initial set of fourteen key performance indicators for the electronic library has been defined by the project team and can be seen at http://equinox.dcu.ie/reports/pilist.html. We welcome any feedback and comments on these indicators. This feedback will be fed into the development of the final set of indicators, and will help ensure that this set is based on international agreement.

A second major aim of the EQUINOX project is to develop and test an integrated quality management and performance measurement software tool for managers of �hybrid� libraries. With the increasing use of electronic resources and services in libraries, the EQUINOX tool will help libraries to understand and better manage their traditional workflows and organisation of tasks, and the ways they interact with their users, their staff, other departments and services in their organisation, and their suppliers. This system is currently under development.

The system is designed to be open and generic. It is not constrained to one Quality Management Framework, and will be of use to the managers of libraries conforming to ISO9000 as well as those using a home-grown quality framework. Most importantly the system is designed to be open and flexible, allowing for the inevitable changes that will occur within hybrid libraries over the coming years. On completion, large-scale trials of the EQUINOX tool will be carried out in various types of libraries throughout Europe (public, academic and special).

The EQUINOX project builds on the recommendations and findings of earlier EC projects including EQLIPSE, MINSTREL, DECIMAL and DECIDE, and on the CAMILE Concerted Action. The project team consists of seven partners:

  • Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (Coordinating Partner)
  • National Microelectronics Applications Centre Ltd., Ireland
  • Fretwell Downing Informatics Ltd., UK
  • Dublin City University Library, Ireland
  • Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster, Germany
  • Universita Oberta de Catalunya, Spain
  • Stockholm University Library, Sweden

The duration of the EQUINOX research project is 24 months from November 1998. Reports of progress will be published during this time in the library literature and through the project web site at http://equinox.dcu.ie.

The project team invites comments, feedback and queries at any stage, through the project web site or by contacting:

Zoë Clarke, CERLIM
Manchester Metropolitan University
Geoffrey Manton Building
Rosamond St. West,
Off Oxford Rd.
Manchester
M15 6LL
U.K.
Tel: +44-161-2476142
Fax: +44-161-2476351
Email: [email protected]

 

JISC Requests for Proposals

Contributed by:
Chris Rusbridge
Joint Information Systems Committee

Pilot project for supply of electronic documents, complementing "inter-library loan"

On July 12, 1999, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) released requests for proposals for a pilot project and its evaluation. The main request for proposals describes a pilot project for delivery of articles in the electronic environment, under conditions similar to "inter-library loan", as agreed in outline in discussions between representatives of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Publishers Association (PA). The second request for proposals is for the independent evaluation of the pilot project.

JISC has agreed to part-fund this pilot, which would run for 24 months. It is clear that the funds available are insufficient to fully fund the project, but JISC hopes that the potential for continuing and growing business after the pilot will make this an attractive proposition. Publishers who agree to participate in the pilot may also be making a substantial investment, in both costs and staffing, to ensure an appropriate interface with their own systems. This is an exciting opportunity to develop and pilot systems and services which will be of real and continuing benefit to students, academics and publishers alike. Funds available are 69,000 pounds including VAT for the main procurement and 20,000 pounds including VAT for the evaluation. The Requests for Proposals (RfPs) close on 6 September, 1999. The RfPs are available online at < http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub99/jp-edd-mainrfp.html > for the main tender, and < http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub99/jp-edd-evalrfp.html > for the accompanying evaluation tender.

General enquiries about this request for proposals should be addressed to:

Mr. Chris Rusbridge
Programme Director, Electronic Libraries Programme
or Ms. Elizabeth Graham
eLib Development Coordinator eLib Programme Office, University of Warwick Library, Coventry CV4 7AL
Phone: +44 01203 528137, Fax: +44 01203 524981
Email: email [email protected]

 

Government Recordkeeping Metadata Standard Issued in Australia

Contributed by:
Adrian Cunningham
Director, Recordkeeping and Descriptive Standards
National Archives of Australia

The National Archives of Australia has issued a standard that describes the metadatata that should be captured in recordkeeping systems used by Australian Federal Government agencies.

Compliance with the Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies will help government agencies to identify, authenticate, describe and manage their electronic records in a systematic and consistent way to meet business, accountability, accessibility and archival requirements. The standard is designed to be used as a reference tool by corporate managers, IT personnel and software vendors involved in the design, selection and implementation of electronic recordkeeping and related information management systems. It defines a basic set of 20 metadata elements (eight of which constitute a core set of mandatory metadata) and 65 sub-elements that may be incorporated within such systems, and explains how they should be applied.

Recordkeeping systems are metadata systems

The Recordkeeping Metadata Standard has been developed with the aim of promoting best practices and interoperability in modern electronic recordkeeping. It has been developed with reference to existing standards such as Australian Standard on Records Management, AS 4390 (now being converted into an ISO standard) and through consultation with records management software vendors, government agency staff and other experts in the field. The standard was also developed in tandem with a Monash University-led recordkeeping metadata research project in which the National Archives of Australia was an active industry participant. The final report of the Monash recordkeeping metadata project will be made available later in 1999.

Part One of the standard explains the purpose and importance of standardised recordkeeping metadata and details the scope, intended application and features of the standard. Part Two of the standard provides full details on the 20 elements and 65 sub-elements, defining them in relation to their purpose and rationale. For each element and sub-element the standard provides an indication of applicability, obligation, conditions of use, assigned values and approved schemes. Where useful, elements and sub-elements are illustrated with examples.

In adopting the standard, government agencies can expect advantages such as:

  • Assistance in the design of recordkeeping systems by identifying what metadata their systems should capture

  • A supportive framework for the adoption of best practice strategies

  • Facilitating interoperability in shared network environments

  • Heightened awareness for the corporate sector by providing vendors with definitive requirements in the development of recordkeeping software applications

  • Enhanced long-term access to meaningful and authentic electronic records

Features

The 20 metadata elements described in the standard cover those aspects of a record considered important to its authenticity and long-term management such as registration, terms and conditions of use, structure, context, content and use history.

The Standard is:

flexible in its application and therefore, does not prescribe when or how metadata should be applied to records, as these processes are dependent on an agency�s particular business and recordkeeping requirements;

repeatable in that elements and sub-elements can be applied to a record more than once;

extensible to allow for the addition of new elements to suit individual agency requirements;

interoperable as the adoption of the common metadata elements by public sector agencies will facilitate migration or transfer of records across business domains and/or software and hardware platforms;

compatible with other metadata frameworks such as the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) and Dublin Core metadata standards for online resource discovery, thus allowing the same data elements to be utilised for both resource discovery and recordkeeping purposes. This is considered important because many of the documents that governments make available over the Internet are in, or have had their origins in, recordkeeping systems. With the adoption of this recordkeeping metadata standard, the Australian government has a single interlocking regime of harmonious metadata standards.

Further information

The Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies can be found at: < http://www.naa.gov.au/govserv/techpub/rkms/intro.htm >.

Information on the Monash University-led recordkeeping metadata research project can be found at: < http://www.sims.monash.edu.au/rcrg/ >.

Information on the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) metadata standard can be found at: < http://www.naa.gov.au/govserv/agls/ >.

Inquiries can be made to: Adrian Cunningham, Email: [email protected]

 

The Inventory of Canadian Digital Initiatives

Contributed by:
Ralph W. Manning
National Library of Canada

The National Library of Canada is pleased to announce the Inventory of Canadian Digital Initiatives, an automated web-accessible database designed to store descriptions of Canadian digital information resources created for the Web, including general digital collections, resources centred around a particular theme, reference sources and databases. The Inventory was developed by the National Library and launched in June 1999. Its intention is to make information about Canadian digital projects centrally available in order to help avoid duplication and to foster resource and information sharing.

The Inventory can be accessed from the National Library�s homepage, or directly at: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/initiatives/index.html. It allows full text searching by keyword as well as the ability to limit searches by specific elements such as language, project status and province. Browsable access is also provided to a number of key elements including project name, institution and subject.

The Inventory is dependent on submissions by institutions and individuals; there is very little moderation of submissions, although all will be verified for suitability before being posted to the database. All institutions, or individuals, are encouraged to submit entries about digital information projects being undertaken in Canada, or about Canada, that they are currently creating, planning or have completed. Entries can be submitted in English, French, or in both languages. Although the primary focus of the Inventory is on digital projects of libraries, other organizations are encouraged to contribute. This Inventory complements other sources of Canadian information, both digital and otherwise, provided by the National Library.

For more information, contact National Libary of Canada at: [email protected]

 

Dublin Core Directorate Announces Revised Element Definitions

Contributed by:
Stuart Weibel, Senior Research Scientist
OCLC Office of Research

The Dublin Core Directorate is pleased to announce that a set of revised element definitions (Dublin Core Elements, Version 1.1) has been completed and is available for public review and comment as a Proposed Recommendation of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. < http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1 >.

This revision process is an important component of the Dublin Core workplan that emerged from the Sixth Dublin Core Workshop in November of 1998. The goal of the process was to review and modify Dublin Core element definitions to improve their clarity and to express them in a standard format for data dictionaries (the ISO/IEC 11179 standard) to facilitate interoperability and mapping to other element sets.

Special thanks are due to Renato Iannella and Paul Miller (editors of the revisions), the chairs of DC element-specific Working Groups (who managed the revision reviews for each of the elements), and the members of the Working Groups, who committed their time and judgement to the task.

Thanks are also due to the Dublin Core Advisory Committees for reviewing the work, debating it, and serving as community sentinels to assure that the changes do not violate the underlying consensus about element semantics that has emerged over the previous 4 years.

Following a period of public review, these modified definitions will replace those of RFC 2413 < http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2413.txt > as the official Dublin Core Element definitions. These definitions will also serve as the base document that will be submitted for standardization by CEN, the European standards organization, and NISO, the North American standards organization.

The deadline for public comments is July 31, 1999, after which the Dublin Core Advisory Committee will, in conjunction with the editors, issue the final version as a Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Recommendation.

In Print

  • Distributed Geolibraries: Spatial Information Resources: Summary of a Workshop. Panel on Distributed Geolibraries, National Research Council, 1999.

    In June 1998, a Workshop was convened by the Mapping Science Committee, a committee under the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the National Research Council, to address:

    • Development of a vision for geospatial data dissemination and access in 2010

    • Comparison of current efforts in digital library research, clearinghouse development, and other data distribution and search activities

    • Suggestion of short-term and long-term research and development needed to achieve the vision

    • Identification of the policy and institutional issues, particularly for convergence of efforts to realize the vision

    Distributed Geolibraries: Spatial Information Resources is the report that resulted from the Workshop. The authoring panel included:

    • Michael F. Goodchild (Chair), University of California, Santa Barbara

    • Prudence S. Adler, Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C.

    • Barbara P. Buttenfield, University of Colorado, Boulder

    • Robert E. Kahn, Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, Virginia

    • Annette J. Krygiel, National Defense University, Ft. Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.

    • Harlan J. Onsrud, University of Maine, Orono

    The following is an excerpt from the Executive Summary of the report:

    "A distributed geolibrary is a vision for the future. It would permit users to quickly and easily obtain all existing information available about a place that is relevant to a defined need. It is modeled on the operations of a traditional library, updated to a digital networked world, and focused on something that has never been possible in the traditional library: the supply of information in response to a geographically defined need. It would integrate the resources of the Internet and the World Wide Web into a simple mechanism for searching and retrieving information relevant to a wide range of problems, including natural disasters, emergencies, community planning, and environmental quality."

    "...[This] report is a vision for distributed geolibraries, not a blueprint. Developing a distributed geolibrary involves a series of technical challenges as well as institutional and social issues, which are addressed relative to the vision."

    An online version of the report, in its entirety, may be found at < http://www.nap.edu/html/geolibraries/ > where it is expected to be available through the end of 2000. The report is also available in print format for purchase from the National Academy Press. The price of the book is $30.50 ($24.40 if purchased online), and full ordering instructions may be found at < http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9460.html>: 

  • Preserving the Whole: A Two-Track Approach to Rescuing Social Science Data and Metadata, (June 1999) by Ann Green JoAnn Dionne and Martin Dennis.

    In previous issues of D-Lib Magazine, we have pointed to books, reports, and other publications that focused on digital preservation. Preserving the Whole is a detailed case study of migration as a strategy for digital preservation. Migration involves copying information from one medium to another, but with changes to the internal file structures that allow the information to be read on computer platforms, operating systems and software that were not in existence when the information was created. The authors once worked together as managers of the Social Science Data Archives at Yale University, and their report is based on practical, real-world experience.

    Preserving the Whole was published by the Council on Library and Information Resources, and is the second publication of a series from the Digital Library Federation. In the preface to the report, Donald J. Waters, former director of Digital Library Federation, states, "beyond its contributions to our understanding of migration as a particular strategy for the long-term maintenance of digital information, Preserving the Whole also provides more general lessons."

    The report may be viewed online at <http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub83/pub83.pdf>. It may also be ordered from the Council on Library and Information Resources in print format for $15.00. Orders should be sent to:

    The Digital Library Federation
    Council on Library and Information Resources
    1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Sutie 500
    Washington, DC 20036

  • iMP: The Magazine on Information Impacts, June 1999 issue.

    The focus of the June 1999 issue is "Do Computers Count in the Classroom?". The issue features stories and editorials on the theme of Information Technology and education, several of which have digital library connections, particularly the following three:

    • "Stretching the Zero Sum Paradigm with a National Digital Library for Science Education" by Frank Wattenberg

    • "Education at a Distance: How Demography and Technology Are Creating a Worldwide Learning Revolution in Higher Education" by Claudine SchWeber

    • "Broadband Networking and the Future of Graduate Education" by Clifford Lynch.

    iMP is edited by Dr. Amy Friedlander and published by the Center for Information Strategy and Policy (CISP) of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Published in the public interest, it is available full text and free of charge. Subscription information may be found at the magazine web site at < http://www.cisp.org/ >.

  • Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, July 8, 1999, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce, with an Introduction by Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, Administrator, NTIA.

    This is the third report in the "Falling Through the Net" series on the telecommunications and information technology gap in America. It will be presented to the (U.S.) Senate Science and Technology Caucus in Room 385, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., on Friday, July 16, 1999, at 10:00 A.M. by the Secretary of Commerce William M. Daily and NTIA Assistant Secretary Larry Irving.

    This report uses December 1998 U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau data to provide an updated view of the disparities in access to information between economic, cultural and racial groups in the United States. Although more Americans are connected to the Internet than ever before, there is still a "digital divide between the information rich (such as Whites, Asians/Pacific Islanders, those with higher incomes, those more educated, and dual-parent households) and the information poor (such as those who are younger, those with lower incomes and education levels, certain minorities, and those in rural areas or central cities)."

    The report concludes that, until every home can afford access to information resources, public policies and private initiatives will be needed to expand affordable access to those resources. Schools, libraries, and other public access points will play an important role as they are particularly well used by those groups who lack access at home or at work. Lower prices for phone service and information services will also be a key component in narrowing the "digital divide."

    The report is available online at < http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html >.

  • A Netful of Jewels: New Museums in the Learning Age, Suzanne Keene, Bruce Royan and David Anderson, eds., National Museum Directors' Conference,  ISBN-0953604705.

    This report from the National Museum Directors' Conference attempts "to build in ideas about the social and participative nature of museums online to complement the important dimension of access to collections-related information" and outlines a vision, agenda, and funding requirements for the development of museums online in the UK.

    The report may be seen now online in PDF format at < http://www.vam.ac.uk/index1.html > followed by a click on "The Netful of Jewels" from the index, and later it will be available in a more final form at www.mda.org.uk.

  • The June 1999 issue of RLG DigiNews, Volume 3, Issue 3 is now available.

    RLG DigiNews is a bi-monthly, electronic publication which focuses on digital initiatives and digital preservation concerns. In addition to several interesting regular features, articles in this issue include:

    • The Cedars Project: Implementing a Model for Distributed Digital Archives
      by Kelly Russell and Derek Sergeant

    • Tools and Techniques in Evaluating Digital Imaging Projects
      by Robert Rieger and Geri Gay

  • The June 1999 issue of Preservation & Access International Newsletter is now available.

    The purpose of the Preservation and Access International Newsletter is to inform readers about preservation and access initatives worldwide and to provide a basis for the direct exchange of ideas and information. It is a publication of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

    Contents of the June 1999 issue include:

    • CLIR Board Approves New Agenda
    • Don Waters to Join Mellon Foundation
    • Preservation at the National and University Library of Slovenia
    • Repositioning Libraries in the Digital Age
    • News from the ECPA
    • Librarians and Scholars Meet to Discuss Modern Greek Materials
    • Forthcoming Publications from CLIR
    • Print and On-Line Resources

Point to Point

  • Copyright FAQ, The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) and the Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI).

    This list of copyright questions and answers are the result of the collaboration of AHDS and TASI. While they have tried to ensure the accuracy of the answers to questions listed in the FAQ, the site does carry a disclaimer as well as the admonition to seek legal advice for specific important issues.

    In addition to the Q&A section, Copyright FAQ provides links to other useful reference works, organisations and web sites throughout the world where one may find information about rights issues.

Deadline Reminders

Goings On

  • Touch the Past, Visualize the Future Ottawa ICA 1999: 19th International Cartographic Conference, 14 - 21 August 1999, Ottawa, Canada.

    The conference organizers state, "As we approach the next millennium, assisted visualization of computer-generated images will create the virtual reality of travel in all modes of transportation. Civilian and military planners will utilize simulated terrain modeling for all forms of forecasting global economic and environmental concerns. Maps are taking on the form of on-line realtime satellite images broadcasting to, and portraying every corner of the globe." This week long conference will be composed of workshops, technical tours, poster sessions, exhibitions and 256 papers presented in 64 sessions. A few of the themes for sessions follow:

    • Digital Map Design
    • Information Highway: Web Applications
    • Virtual Reality
    • National and International Mapping Initiatives
    • Spatial Techniques and Analysis
    • Dynamic Maps
    • Visualization and Animation: Applications
    • Knowledge Discovey
    • Archives and Database Management
    • Internet and Interactive Atlases
    • Electronic and Analytical Atlases
    • Data Acquisition in the Electronic Age
    • Digital Urban Atlases

    Please see the conference web site for further information including registration instructions. The web site is at < http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ica1999/icafme.html >.

  • Libraries without Walls 3 - The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users, 10 - 14 September 1999, Molyvos, Levos, Greece.

    This is the third international conference organized by the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM) dealing with the provision of library services to distant users.

    For the 1999 Conference, papers have been submitted around the following themes:

    • Lifelong learning
    • Integrating services to provide the distributed virtual library
    • Regional library provision through networking
    • Social and human issues of distributed library services
    • Supporting open and distance learning
    • Co-operation between libraries of different types
    • Standards issues
    • Delivering library services to the home and workplace
    • Staff training in distributed libraries

    Speakers include:

    • Clare Nankivell (Manager of the Centre for Information Research and Training, University of Central England, Birmingham, UK)

    • Sirje Virkus (Associate Professor, Head of Department of Information Studies, Head of the Chair of Information Science, Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, Estonia)

    • Janet Fletcher (Network Services Librarian, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia)

    • Anne-Marie Schmidt (Course and Development Consultant, Aarhus Municipal Library, Denmark)

    • Lorraine Hall (Assistant Director of Information Services) and Sally Curry (LIS Researcher, University of Sunderland, UK)

    • Adoracio Perez (Library Director) and Marta Enrech (Manager of Documentation Unit, Virtual Library of the Open University of Catalonia, Spain)

    • Madeline McPherson (University Librarian, University of Southern Queensland, Australia and Director USQ European Study Centre, Bretten, Germany)

    • Gill Needham, (Learner Support Co-ordinator, Open University, UK) on behalf of Una O�Sullivan, (Open University, UK)

    • Hanne Marie Kvaerndrup (Library Advisory Officer, Danish National Library Authority, Denmark)

    • Peter Stubley (Librarian at the University of Sheffield Library, UK and Project Director of RIDING)

    • Helen Edwards (Head of Library, London Business School, UK)

    • Anne Morris (Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, UK and Head of eLIb FIDDO Project) and Neil Jacobs (Research Assistant, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, UK and eLib FIDDO Project Manager)

    • Ian Pettman (former Environment SIG Co-ordinator, UNIverse Project, Cumbria, UK) and Katie Birch (Document Delivery Project Officer, University of Leeds, UK)

    • Jan Bronder (Senior Adviser) and Goffe Germeraad (Unit Manager, City Library, Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

    • Rob Davies (Education for Change, London, UK)

    • Judy Watkins (Senior Research Officer, British Library Copyright Office, London, UK) and Richard Ebdon (Research Officer, British Library, Weatherby, UK)

    • Jenny Craven (Research Fellow, CERLIM, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

    • Adalyn Watts (Director of off campus Library Services, University of La Verne, California, USA) and Jolene Mendrinos (Library Director, La Verne College, Athens, Greece)

    • Richard Weyers (Regional Information Co-ordinator - Middle East, British Council, UK)

    • Elizabeth Heaps (University Librarian, University of York, and Chair of SCONUL, UK)

    • Zoe Clarke (Senior Research Fellow, CERLIM Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) and Monica Brinkley (Research Officer, Dublin City University, Ireland)

    Please see the conference web site for complete information at < http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/cerlim/walls/welcome.html >.

  • EGEDE'99: Emerging Global Electronic Distance Education, 9 - 13 August 1999, University of Tampere, Finland.

    The purpose of this conference is to brainstorm the establishment of advanced broadband Internet availability in major global regions of the Pacific/Asia, North and South America, and Europe and Africa. This includes the information infrastructure, contents and the institutionalization of the Global University System, and the financing.

    The conference begins with a Workshop on "Low-cost teleconferencing" on Monday, August 9th. Tuesday is a day of presentations, and that will be followed on Wednesday by additional presentations and brainstorming sessions. General discussions and more opportunities for brainstorming are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The conference will culminate with the formulation of pilot project proposals to be submitted to various financing bodies in Japan, North America, and in Europe.

    The full conference program may be found at < http://hoklpc25.uta.fi/EGEDL/program.htm >.

  • Reference and Information Service Section (RAIS) Conference and Exhibition: 1999 & Beyond -- Partnerships and Paradigms, 6 - 8 September 1999, Sydney, Australia.

    • This conference presents an opportunity for librarians and information professionals to explore reference and service issues for the new millennium. The Conference Programme encompasses issues associated with collaborative partnerships and emerging efforts to cope with rising costs in a reduced funding environment.

    The two keynote speakers are: Jerry Campbell, Chief Information Officer, Information Services Division and Dean of the University Libraries, University of Southern California (his topic is "The Real Y2K Problem: Understanding Libraries in the New Century"); and Neil McLean, University Librarian, Macquarie University Library (his topic is "Collaborating to Compete: the Search for New Alliances").

    Abstracts for over thirty papers to be presented at the conference may be found at < http://www.csu.edu.au/special/raiss99/atozpapers.html >. Registration information may be found at < http://www.csu.edu.au/special/raiss99/brochure/program6.htm > and there are early registration discounts if registration is received before August 9, 1999.

    Please see the conference web site at < http://www.csu.edu.au/special/raiss99/index.html > for complete information, including an online registration form.

  • Building National and Large-scale Internet Information Gateways, a workshop for the National Libraries of Europe, 14 - 15 September 1999, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, The Netherlands.

    • This workshop is for strategic managers from the National libraries of Europe, interested in learning more about developing large-scale subject-based Internet information gateways, and attendence is very limited. Priority will be given to representatives elected by members of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL).

    The workshop aims to encourage collaboration between the National Libraries of Europe in building national and large-scale Internet Information gateways. It will focus on strategic issues and will cover the following:

    • The role of National Libraries in Internet resource discovery

    • The international perspective: current practice in different countries and the potential for collaboration

    • The investments and resources required to build and operate a large-scale Internet information gateway

    • The practical steps required to build and maintain a gateway

    At the DESIRE site, one may find links to the Programme, a list of participating institutions, an on-line booking form, and information about travel and accommodations. The URL for this information is <http://www.desire.org/html/subjectgateways/workshops/workshop1.html>.

  • Third European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, 22 - 24 September 1999, Paris, France.

    This conference is the third of a series and has as its main objective to bring together researchers from multiple disciplines to present their work on enabling technologies for digital libraries. It also seeks to provide an opportunity for scientists to develop a research community in Europe focusing on digital library development.

    There are two invited presentations:

    • Challenges for the Web : Universality and Scalability, Jean-François Abramatic, Chairman of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), and

    • Re-inventing Scholarly Information Dissemination and Use, Robert Wilensky, U. C. Berkeley.

    And there will be three or more papers each in the following sessions:

    • Session 1: Images
    • Session 2: Audio and video in Digital Libraries
    • Session 3: Information retrieval
    • Session 4: User Adaptation
    • Session 5: Knowledge sharing
    • Session 6: Cross language
    • Session 7: Case Studies
    • Session 8: DL for DL
    • Session 9: Information objects - modeling, accessibility and connectedness

    Please see the conference program for listed papers, tutorials and demonstations at < http://www-rocq.inria.fr/EuroDL99/program.html >. The conference web site is to be found at < http://www-rocq.inria.fr/EuroDL99/ >. Please note: discounts for early registration will not be available after July 31, 1999.

  • International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting, 22 - 26 September 1999, Washington, D.C., USA.

    The ICHIM Conference series began in 1991 with biannual meetings which alternate between Europe and North America. This year's meeting is preceded by two days of workshops focused on building technical, social and managerial skills. These pre-conference workshops are in half-day, full-day and two-day formats, and have been designed to provide educational experiences ranging from introductory to advanced, in formats which include hands-on computer training, lectures, seminars and interactive group sessions. Since workshop enrollment is limited and registration is on a "first come, first served" basis, early registration is strongly advised.

    ichim99 itself follows with three days of papers and panels on two parallel session tracks. A full list of scheduled papers may be found at the conference web site at < http://www.archimuse.com/ichim99/ichim99.html >. Below is a sample of some of the papers that will be presented. (Please see the full list, including abstracts, at the conference web site.)

    • Virtual Reality and the Future of Publishing Archaeological Excavations

    • Into the Labyrinth: The Minos Project

    • Informatics Methods

    • Building Bridges: Steps Towards a Seamless Information Environment

    • Between Promise and Reality: Online Education and Museums-A Case Study

    • Portable Computers & Interactive Multimedia

    • Identifying Relevant Content Features in Museum Hypermedia: a User-oriented Approach

    • The Effect of Digital Technology on the Control of and Access to Photographic Collections

    • Emerging Tools & Techniques of Digital Media: History Log and Multiple Futures

    • International Cultural Property Protection and the Web: Implementing the 1970 UNESCO Convention in the U.S.

    • Designing Across Disciplines: Negotiating Collaborator Interests in a Digital Museum Project

    Online registration is available and fees are discounted if registration is completed before July 30. See complete registration details at < https://www2.archimuse.com/ichim99/register/register_ichim99.html >.

  • GL'99 - The Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature, 4 - 5 October 1999, Washington, D.C., USA.

    Sponsors for this conference include:

    • Publisher of Biological Abstracts and Zoological Record (BIOSIS),
    • European Association for Grey Literature Exploitation (EAGLE),
    • International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID),
    • Grey Literature Network Service (GreyNet),
    • International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA),
    • Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST),
    • MCB University Press,
    • National Aeronautics and Space Administation (NASA), and
    • National Library of Education, US Dept. of Education(NLE)

    Papers for the First Session at GL'99 will demonstrate the value of grey literature for researchers, policy makers, and information professionals in diverse disciplines and sectors of the global information community. The Second Session will confront the challenges facing librarians and information technicians in publishing and archiving electronic grey literature for subsequent full-text retrieval and document delivery. The Third Session will address issues of authorship, copyright, and ownership of grey literature. The full program and registration information may be found at the conference web site at < http://www.konbib.nl/infolev/greynet/frame1.htm >.

  • EEI21 - MEMPHIS: The Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century, 7 - 10 October 1999, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

    The University of Memphis is the sponsor of this annual, scholarly symposium which deals with the implications of information technology throughout the world -- issues such as encryption and criminal activity, privacy, and records access.

    A sample of papers for this year's conference follows (please see the EEI web site for the entire listing which includes abstracts).

    • Ethical Implications of Technology

    • Values for Librarians in the Information Age: An Expanded Examination

    • Deciding Among Competing Ethical Principles in the Library and Information Professions: A Matter of Taste?

    • The Ethics of Hacktivism

    • Filtering v. The First Amendment

    • An Update on the Implementation of the Computer-based Patient Record and the Impact of Privacy Regulations

    • The Librarian in the Clinical Setting

    • Community Informatics

    • Ethical Aspects of Graphical Representation

    The Symposium web site is at < http://www.memphis.edu/ethics21/99eei/ >.

  • Libraries and Networking in Europe '99: An International Seminar and Study Tour, 10 - 13 October 1999, Helsinki, Finland.

    This seminar is aimed at librarians, library directors, decision makers, administrators, and staff from library associations. Themes include: the role of libraries in modern society; efficiency and quality in information services, the 5th EU Frame Program and library networking; virtual library services; and many related themes.

    Registration is requested before August 16, 1999. For full information about this conference, please see the seminar web site at < http://www.kaapeli.fi/~fla/flj/network.htm  >.

Pointers in this Column

65th IFLA Conference, On the Threshold of the 21st Century: Gateways to an Enlightened World, 20 - 28 August 1999, Bangkok, Thailand.

http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/65the.htm

A Netful of Jewels: New Museums in the Learning Age

http://www.vam.ac.uk/index1.html

ACM SIGIR'99 Post-Conference Workshop on Multimedia Indexing and Retrieval, 15 - 19 August 1999, Berkeley, California, USA.

http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/sigir99/

Building National and Large-scale Internet Information Gateways, a workshop for the National Libraries of Europe, 14 - 15 September 1999, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, The Netherlands.

http://www.desire.org/html/subjectgateways/workshops/workshop1.html

Copyright FAQ

http://ahds.ac.uk/bkgd/copyrightfaq.html

Distributed Geolibraries: Spatial Information Resources: Summary of a Workshop

http://www.nap.edu/html/geolibraries/index.html

Dublin Core Elements, Version 1.1

http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1

EEI21 - MEMPHIS: The Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century, 7 - 10 October 1999, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

http://www.memphis.edu/ethics21/99eei/

EGEDE'99: Emerging Global Electronic Distance Education, 9 - 13 August 1999, University of Tampere, Finland.

http://hoklpc25.uta.fi/EGEDL/main.htm

EQUINOX: Library Performance Measurement and Quality Management System.

http://equinox.dcu.ie/

Exploratory Workshop on Music Information Retrieval, An ACM SIGIR'99 Workshop, 19 August 1999, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.

http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~jdownie/cfp99.html

Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html

Fourth ACM Conference on Digital Libraries (DL '99), 11 - 14 August 1999, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.

http://fox.cs.vt.edu/DL99/

GL'99 - The Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature, 4 - 5 October 1999, Washington, D.C., USA.

http://www.konbib.nl/infolev/greynet/frame1.htm

iMP: The Magazine on Information Impacts.

http://www.cisp.org/imp/june_99/06_99contents.htm

International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting, 22 - 26 September 1999, Washington, D.C., USA.

http://www.archimuse.com/ichim99/ichim99.html

JISC Requests for Proposals eLib Programme Office.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub99/jp-edd-evalrfp.html

Libraries and Networking in Europe '99: An International Seminar and Study Tour, 10 - 13 October 1999, Helsinki, Finland.

http://www.kaapeli.fi/~fla/flj/network.htm

Libraries without Walls 3 - The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users, 10 - 14 September 1999, Molyvos, Levos, Greece.

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/cerlim/walls/intro.htm

Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance.

http://www.prdla.org

Preservation & Access International Newsletter, June 1999.

http://www.clir.org/pubs/pain/pain06.html

Preserving the Whole: A Two-Track Approach to Rescuing Social Science Data and Metadata.

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub83/pub83.pdf

Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth Agencies.

http://www.naa.gov.au/govserv/techpub/rkms/intro.htm

Reference and Information Service Section (RAISS) Conference and Exhibition: 1999 & Beyond -- Partnerships and Paradigms, 6 - 8 September 1999, Sydney, Australia.

http://www.csu.edu.au/special/raiss99/index.html

RLG DigiNews, Vol. 3, No. 3, June 1999

http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/

Strait to the future: 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference, 22 - 26 August 1999, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

http://www.alia.org.au/conferences/strait/

The Inventory of Canadian Digital Initiatives.

http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/initiatives/index.html

Third Summer Institute at the University of New Brunswick: Creating Electronic Texts and Images, 15 - 20 August 1999, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

http://www.hil.unb.ca/Texts/SGML_course/Aug99/announce3.html

Touch the Past, Visualize the Future Ottawa ICA 1999: 19th International Cartographic Conference, 14 - 21 August 1999, Ottawa, Canada.

http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ica1999/icafme.html

Copyright (c) 1999 Corporation for National Research Initiatives

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DOI: 10.1045/july99-clips