339 lines
19 KiB
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339 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
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_Current Cites_
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Volume 9, no. 7
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July 1998
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The Library
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University of California, Berkeley
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Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
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ISSN: 1060-2356
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http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1998/cc98.9.7.html
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Contributors:
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Kirk Hastings, Terry Huwe,
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Margaret Phillips, Richard Rinehart, Roy Tennant
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Jim Ronningen, Lisa Yesson
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_________________________________________________________________
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Editor's Note:
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This summer we are celebrating the 8th anniversary of Current Cites by
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introducing a new service and a new look. With the addition of the
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"Article Search" service to the newly-redesigned Current Cites Web
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site, you can now search the full-text of more than 225 of the best
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information technology articles published since January 1995. Avery
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special thanks to Eric Lease Morgan (SunSITE Digital Librarian from
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North Carolina State University) and Current Cites Web master Roy
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Tennant for developing this latest enhancement.
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The new Web site redesign highlights the three ways in which Current
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Cites citations can be used:
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1. Monthly Publication: sign up to receive each issue of 10-20
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citations as it is published, or browse past issues in either text
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or HTML;
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2. Bibliography On-Demand: search the Current Cites database of more
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than 760 citations and have the results displayed on your screen
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as a bibliography on your topic, sorted with the most recent
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citations first. You can even provide your own title for the
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results; and,
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3. Article Search: search the full-text of more than 225
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freely-accessible articles on the Web that have been cited in
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Current Cites since January 1995.
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These services are available at:
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http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/
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_________________________________________________________________
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DIGITAL LIBRARIES
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Heckart, Ronald J. "Machine Help and Human Help in the Emerging
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Digital Library" College & Research Libraries 59(3) (May 1998):
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250-259. -- In this thought-provoking and well-researched article,
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Heckart explores the de facto transition from human help to machine
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help (for additional reinforcement on this point, see Anne Lipow's
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piece "Thinking Out Loud: Who Will Give Reference Service in the
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Digital Environment?" cited in this issue of Current Cites). He
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begins by citing trends that appear to lead us toward such a future,
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then imagines a scenario in which a fictional student in the 2010-2015
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timeframe performs various tasks within a university environment
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reliant upon machine help. He ends with a discussion of implications
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for the profession and three policy alternatives. Heckart wisely
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steers well clear of engaging in a philosophical debate over whether
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the rise of machine help is good thing or an evil one, which allows
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him (and us) to focus on the reality that faces us. -- RT
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Kenney, Anne R. and Oya Y. Rieger. Using Kodak Photo CD Technology for
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Preservation and Access: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and
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Curators. Department of Preservation and Conservation, Cornell
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University Library: New York, 1998
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(http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/kodak/cover.htm). -- One
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of the biggest problems facing many digital library projects is the
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lack of authoritative information on various technologies -- primarily
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information that can support decisionmaking in regard to their
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effectiveness for different tasks. With this report, Kenney and Rieger
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provide the kind of nitty-gritty technical information for the Kodak
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Photo CD technology that digital librarians need to make good
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decisions. This is not the first time that the Cornell University
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Library has provided essential technical information for digital
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library developers (see "Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives,"
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http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/dila.htm), and I hope that
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it isn't the last. This paper is characteristically thorough,
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well-researched and documented, and flawlessly presented in Adobe
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Acrobat format. It is chock-full of good advice, tables, diagrams,
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examples, and Web addresses for further information. This is an
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essential reference document for anyone working with Kodak Photo CDs.
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-- RT
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Kuny, Terry and Gary Cleveland. "The Digital Library: Myths and
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Challenges" IFLA Journal 24(2) (1998):107-114. -- This article begins
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with the straightforward statement that the piece "is a provocation."
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Kuny and Cleveland's purpose is to provide a "corrective" to the
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digital library hype most often seen in the popular press. And if one
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considers the antidote to hype as being anti-hype, then they have met
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their goal. Although the bulk of the article is reasonable, they are
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prone to overstatement ("copyright could become an insurmountable
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barrier to the development of digital collections") and setting up
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straw men (who within earshot of the IFLA Journal really believes such
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myths as "the Internet is the digital library" and "digital libraries
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will be cheaper than print libraries"?). But among such excesses can
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be found some down-to-earth assertions that are well worth heeding.
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And after the dust from the hype and the anti-hype has settled, we
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will hopefully be left in the middle, where we belong. If you find
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yourself without the time or inclination to finish the article, don't
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miss the conclusion, in which they focus on the human part of the
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equation. -- RT
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ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
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Barker, Phillip. "The Future of Books in an Electronic Era" The
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Electronic Library 16(3) (June 1998): 191-198. -- At the risk of
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spoiling the ending -- yes, books will still be around. While the
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question may be getting somewhat tiresome, Barker's analysis is
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thoughtful and somewhat "novel." He looks at the emergence and
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evolution of books in terms of systems theory. He describes the book
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as an example of a "designed physical system" that supports human
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communication and cognition. Barker systematically assesses how the
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two basic physical processes involved in using books (writing and
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reading) are affected by the different publication media.
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Acknowledging the benefits of electronic media (e.g., accessibility,
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minimal storage requirements, superior search and retrieval
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capabilities, ability to accomodate richer media forms and
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flexibility), he recommends a "comprehensive media strategy" that
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utilizes each storage and publication mechanism to best advantage. His
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analysis is more compelling than his case study, but the best part may
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be that there's still hope for books. -- LY
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Failing, Patricia. "Scholars Face Hefty Fees and Elaborate Contracts
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When They Use Digital Images" The Chronicle of Higher Education XLIV
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(38): B4-5. -- This article takes a look at the area of image
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licensing in the digital era. Focusing on museums and other "owners"
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of digital images, image re-licensors (such as Corbis), and image
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users such as scholars and teachers, this article makes the case for
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fair use in education while attempting to provide an overview of the
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current state of affairs. The article oversimplifies some aspects,
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such as casting museums as "owners" and scholars & universities as
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"users" - in actuality each can play either role. Still, the article's
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basic messages are all points well-taken: this is an important area to
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address; the education community as a whole (including museums,
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universities, and scholars) need to seriously evaluate our educational
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vs. profit goals when we digitize images; and scholars need to heed
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government activity as much as commercial activity. -- RR
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Hapgood, Fred. "Advanced Publications" Wired 6.08 (August 1998): 60.
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-- Frustrated because you can't find that out of print book? Pushed
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the limits of Web publishing, ready for hardback? Take heart - this
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month's Wired highlights a powerful new publishing service, Xlibris
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(www.xlibris.com) -- on-demand, one-to-one book publishing. Authors
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pay a one-time fee of $450 and retain all rights. Xlibris sells,
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prints and ships professional-quality hardcovers (for $25 with about
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$4 to the author in royalties) in runs as small as one. Their
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electronic inventory and on-demand publication is designed to assure
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authors that their book stays in print. -- LY
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Hightower, Christy, Jennifer Reiswig, and Susan S. Berteaux.
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"Introducing Database Advisor: A New Service That Will Make Your
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Research Easier" C&RL News 59(6) (June 1998): 409-412. -- This article
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describes an innovative service that advises users on which
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bibliographic databases may be most useful to their query. Using
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primarily DIALOG's DialIndex service, Database Advisor queries a
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selection of databases using the user's search terms, and returns the
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number of items that would be found in each database for that query.
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This provides easy and rapid feedback on the most useful database for
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a topic. The best part is that they are making the source code
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available under the GNU Public License, which makes it freely
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available for educational institutions and others to install and use
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it. This project is just the kind of imaginative marriage of
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technology and public service that we need. -- RT
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Lipow, Anne Grodzins. "Thinking Out Loud: Who Will Give Reference
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Service in the Digital Environment?" Reference & User Services
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Quarterly 37(2) (Winter 1997): 125-129. -- A basic concept that seems
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to escape the notice of most researchers involved with digital library
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projects is service. Specifically, reference service as it is
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practiced in virtually every "real" library. In a library that only
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exists as bits, how do we reintroduce the kind of thoughtful brokering
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provided by library staff? Lipow's "thinking out loud" on this subject
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preceded a Library of Congress Institute "Reference Service in a
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Digital Age" (http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/digiref/), which will spawn
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more articles on this topic in the Fall issue of this same journal.
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For another perspective on this topic, see Ron Heckart's article
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"Machine Help and Human Help in the Emerging Digital Library" cited
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in this issue of Current Cites. -- RT
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Tenopir, Carol and Lisa Ennis. "The Digital Reference World of
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Academic Libraries" Online 22(4) (July 1998)
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(http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL1998/tenopir7.html). -- To track
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the increasing use of digital reference resources in large academic
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libraries, Carol Tenopir and colleagues have surveyed the 110 members
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of the Association of Research Libraries three times, in 1991, 1994
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and 1997. This article summarizes the results of the latest survey.
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Some of the trends they have spotted are: less reliance upon
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intermediary search services and more upon end-user systems; the
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rejection of transaction-based pricing for subscription options; an
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increase in training courses for library users; and the perception
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among library users that digital full-text is always readily available
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(no surprise for those of us who work at reference desks). After
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examining the use of locally-mounted digital resources vs. remote
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ones, the authors conclude that digital reference may become dependent
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upon connecting to information housed elsewhere. Hopefully this
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three-year review will continue -- a Y2K survey could be quite
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interesting. -- JR
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Wilkinson, Sophie L. "Electronic Publishing Takes Journals Into a New
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Realm" Chemical & Engineering News (May 18, 1998)
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(http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/cenear/980518/elec.html). -- For as many
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years as they have been around (this newsletter itself will soon
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celebrate its eighth year), electronic journals are still a medium in
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motion. Different publication models abound, with an equal variety of
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funding models. Although this article is slightly focused on the
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chemical engineering community, it nonetheless touches on a lot of
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issues relating to e-journals of all types. All in all, it is an
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excellent overview of the challenges and opportunities of electronic
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serial publication. -- RT
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
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Woody, Todd. "Higher Earning: The Fight to Control the Academy's
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Intellectual Capital" The Industry Standard (June 29, 1998): 21-22. --
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Billing itself as a newsmagazine of the Internet economy, The Industry
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Standard debuted in April. But you don't have to be a Silicon Valley
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wheeler dealer to find something of interest in this hip,
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highly-readable weekly published by Wired co-founder Jonathan Batelle.
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Recent articles have covered everything from the runaway stocks of
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Internet companies to World Cup soccer culture on the Net to the
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obligatory analysis of the lastest telecommunications merger. Regular
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features in the Standard include Web site reviews, book reviews, a
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weekly Internet economy index, and even a gossip column. In the June
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29 issue of the Standard, reporter Todd Woody examines yet another
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instance of how technology is muddying the waters in the ongoing
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intellectual property debate. In this case, who owns the copyright of
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the course content developed for an online class? Can a university
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fire a professor yet continue to use the syllabus and the online
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course materials that she developed to teach this course? While this
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may not be an issue in the private sector where it is generally
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understood that employers own the products created by their employees,
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for academics to give up ownership of their own creative output
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represents a blow to the guiding principle of academic freedom. -- MP
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NETWORKS & NETWORKING
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Chang, Ching, Sheau-yueh J. Chao, Belinda Chiang. "East Asian Studies:
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Sites to Help Meet the Growing Demand for Information" College &
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Research Libraries News (http://www.ala.org/acrl/resjul98.html) 59
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(7) (July/August 1998): 514-520. -- This month's list of Internet
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resources focuses on eight major countries that make up East Asia:
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China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and
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Tibet. The authors selected cites that are interdisciplinary in nature
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and that are comprehensive. No non-English sites are listed. A
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complete, expanded list is available at
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http://www.ala.org/acrl/c&rlnew2.html. -- MP
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Graham, Peter S. "New Roles for Special Collections on the Network"
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College & Research Libraries 59(3) (May 1998): 232-239. -- In an
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increasingly digitized world, where do special collections fit in?
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After all, a special collection is, by definition a collection of
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artifacts whereas everything on the Net is electronic. Peter Graham
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argues that on the one hand special collection librarians can create
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surrogates of their holdings by digitizing collections. On the other
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hand, the added value of books and other printed documents as physical
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objects means that special collections will continue to play a role in
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academic research. -- MP
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Kambil, Ajit and Mark Ginsburg. "Public Access Web Information
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Systems: Lessons from the Internet EDGAR Project" Communications of
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the ACM 41(7) (July 1998)
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(http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/journals/cacm/1998-41-7/p91-kambil/p
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91-kambil.pdf). -- The July issue of CACM has a section titled "Web
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Information Systems," all of which may be of interest to Web data
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owners, managers and designers. The concept of Web technology as a
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platform for handling information interactions is explored through
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articles on e-commerce, enriched links, database and document
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management, and government information. The EDGAR article examines
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several instructive problems in the presentation of financial data
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from the Securities and Exchange Commission's Electronic Data
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Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system via various Web sites. The
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authors were part of a team which focused on developing methods for
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user access to SEC filings, and they describe the lessons they learned
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in areas like error correction, nomenclature differences, and
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extracting relevant data from a database originally designed with too
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few identifiable data objects. They also discuss other projects in
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which EDGAR data is aggregated with proprietary data by third parties,
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creating value-added Web products. -- JR
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Kapoun, Jim. "Teaching Undergrads Web Evaluation: a Guide for Library
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Instruction" College & Research Libraries News 59(7) (July/August
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1998): 522-523 (http://www.ala.org/acrl/undwebev.html). -- If you
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can't beat 'em, join 'em. Undergraduates are, more and more, relying
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on Web resources for serious research. While librarians can debate
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forever the appropriateness of citing the Web (over print resources)
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for serious research, Jim Kapoun at Southwest State University decided
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that if the Web is going to be students' resource of choice, he might
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as well give them tools that will help them make intelligent choices
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about the sources to cite. His list of criteria is short enough for
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the average undergraduate to digest and, he hopes, is transparent
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enough that using his list of criteria will become second nature. The
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five critera? Accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage.
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-- MP
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Lynch, Clifford, editor. A White Paper on Authentication and Access
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Management Issues in Cross-organizational Use of Networked
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Information Resources Coalition for Networked Information, Revised
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Discussion Draft of April 14, 1998
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(http://www.cni.org/projects/authentication/authentication-wp.html).
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-- Few things put me to sleep as quickly as discussions of user
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authentication. But having made that confession, I must accede that it
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is nonetheless an important topic, and one that will only increase in
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importance as more Internet-based commercial services become
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available. If you or anyone you know is interested in such issues as
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cross-organizational authentication and access management mechanisms,
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privacy, accountability, IP address filtering, proxies, and
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credentials (such as digital certificates), then this is the
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discussion for you. It covers all that ground and more, and comes from
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an authoritative source. Just bear in mind that this is still a
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discussion draft. -- RT
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_________________________________________________________________
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Current Cites 9(7) (July 1998) ISSN: 1060-2356
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Copyright © 1998 by the Library, University of California,
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Berkeley. All rights reserved.
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http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1998/cc98.9.7.html
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Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin
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board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries.
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Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no
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cost. This message must appear on copied material. All commercial use
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requires permission from the editor
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All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not
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necessarily imply endorsement of the product.
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To subscribe to the Current Cites distribution list, send the message
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Editor: Teri Andrews Rinne, trinne@library.berkeley.edu, (510)
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642-8173
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