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Interactive Scientific Publishing (ISP) has been developed by the Optical Society of America with support from the National Library of Medicine at NIH. It allows authors to publish papers which are linked to the referenced 2D and 3D original image datasets that can then be viewed and analyzed interactively by the reader. ISP provides the software for authors to organize and publish source data while offering readers the viewing and analysis tools. The ultimate goal of ISP is to improve learning and understanding of the information being presented. The results reported here are intermediate in reaching the ultimate goals. Goals: Implement and evaluate online user access to interactive datasets that complement online scientific papers. Methods: Software development; website evaluation, including web log data monitoring, online user survey. Results: An expert group of respondents found the interactive data component to have positive impacts on understanding and discovery. However a significant minority reported that the software interface, instructions, and/or download presented a barrier to effective use of the interactive data functionality. Conclusions: This exploratory study indicates that interactive datasets offer potential benefits as a complement to published papers, but that further software improvements and more in-depth evaluation are needed to best discern future directions. DOI 10.3233/ISU-2010-0612

The application of Internet technologies to online transactions has lead to the amazing growth of Internet-based electronic markets (e-markets). This paper describes an Internet-based directory service for e-markets that aims to facilitate online buyers by making the process of finding an e-market easier and less time-consuming. This service, termed e-Market Metadata (eMaM) directory service, is based on a metadata repository of e-markets' descriptions. These descriptions store a number of e-market characteristics according to the 'Dublin Core for E-Markets' (DC-EM) metadata model which has been developed for this propose, in particular, this paper introduces metadata models and describes the DC-EM metadata model. Then, it presents the specification and implementation of the eMaM service using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). Finally, a pilot usage of the implemented eMaM service that examines 120 B2B, B2C, and C2C e-markets for various business sectors is discussed. Keywords: Internet, directory service, e-markets, UML, metadata

This paper provides an overview of the continuing evolution of scholarly publishing, leveraged in the last decades by the tremendous potential of Internet technology. It introduces 'self-archiving', the broad term often applied to the electronic publishing of author-supplied documents on the World Wide Web without commercial publisher mediation, and examines its impact on scholarly communication along with the Open Access Movement. The intensity of self-archiving and its pivotal role in scholarly communication is put into perspective through reference to some self-archiving initiatives set in motion in several countries. Finally, the paper concludes by outlining the challenges for information managers in developing the full potential of Open Access.

Censorship is an issue which has been present throughout recorded history. From the beginning, it has been used by individuals and groups to prevent and control the creation, access and dissemination of ideas and information. It has taken many different forms and occurred for many different reasons. The relationship between librarians and censorship is, and has been, a troubled one. The difficulty lies in the conflict of between the obligation the librarian has to serve his or her community, users and governing bodies for which they work for and are funded by. Religion, politics and sex cause particular problems. This paper attempts to examine what the role of the librarian is in facilitating access to controversial information. It reports the results of research involving the questioning of key figures in the Michael Moore 'Stupid White Men' case study and the following organisations and people: ALA, CILIP, Judith Krug of the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and Corey Mwamaba (librarian, Derby Library). The paper concludes that there is an intellectual freedom ideal in the library profession. This ideal is difficult to implement in a public library, but is still a worthy ideal and one which forms the core of the role of a librarian.

Researchers do research in order to make an impact--so that their findings will have maximal effect on the present and future course of learned inquiry. The measure of that impact is the degree to which their work is seen, read, used, built-upon, cited, and applied by their fellow-researchers. It is palpable evidence of this research impact that also brings researchers their material rewards: salary, promotion, tenure, research grants, prestige, prizes. Note very especially that no rewards are sought or received by researchers from toll-revenues for access to their research output. It accordingly follows that all access reduction that occurs because of access tolls translates directly into impact reduction for researchers. From this it follows that to maximize the potential impact of their work, researchers must maximize its potential access. This can be, and is being done, by two complementary means: By publishing it in open access journals (when those exist in their research area) (BOAI Strategy 2) or by self-archiving in open-access eprint archives (BOAI Strategy 1) the work that they publish in toll-access peer-reviewed journals. The maximization of research impact is in the interest not only of researchers and research progress, but of their institutions and their research grant funders, hence also of tax-paying citizens. In the Gutenberg age, open access to the peer-reviewed research corpus was not a possibility, because of the unavoidable true costs of on-paper publication. In the on-line age, all costs other than that of implementing peer review (at most $500 per paper) are no longer necessary. (Toll-access revenues per published paper from the few institutions that can afford access to the journal in which it appeared average $2000.) While there is still a market, toll-based journals can and will continue to exist, but they must co-exist with open-access to the entire research corpus, provided by author/institution self-archiving of all peer-reviewed research output. A little reflection will confirm that there is only one way to resolve the PostGutenberg conflict of interest between what is best for toll-revenue streams and what is best for research providers, now that open access has been demonstrated to be not only possible, but feasible, virtually overnight, through self-archiving. Hence, as of now, researchers have only themselves to blame, historically, for any further impact-loss because of needless access-loss.

Following a brief presentation of the database activities of the Cellule MathDoc (CMD), the paper focuses on the NUMDAM project lead by CMD on behalf of the CNRS. The purpose of the project is the retro-digitization of mathematical materials back to the 19th Century in order to contribute to the preservation of the world's cultural heritage in mathematics and improve mathematicians' access to the literature. The basic elements underlying NUMDAM are non-proprietary standards, such as XML and Unicode, a highly structured hyperlink model and collaboration with the various players in the scientific publishing community. A preliminary version of the NUMDAM site, conforming to the basic tenets of an OAI environment, was opened at the end of 2002. This paper also covers the major issues of metadata, intellectual property rights, copyright, and economic models. Examples of NUMDAM-related projects are given. In conclusion, some good practices on the part of researchers are discussed.

Since 1995, JSTOR has been converting the backfiles of important scholarly journals, in a multitude of academic disciplines, from their paper origins to a digital archive. As a not-for-profit organization, JSTOR's mission is to create a shared and trusted archive of important journal literature, regardless of whether that literature is pulp-based or 'born digital'. As we now begin to take on the varied challenges involved in receiving, enabling for display, and archiving content published electronically, we will draw from the extensive experience base we have developed from our seven years of work in creating and maintaining a substantial electronic database. While not all of JSTOR's experience in the retrospective conversion of paper journals is directly applicable to the digital world, we do believe it is reasonable to say that what we have learned to this point can be a useful guide in (1) asking the fight questions and (2) challenging certain assumptions.

There is an increasing attention being paid to the problem of long-term digital preservation, and in particular that associated with 'born digital' material. This paper was prepared in order to better understand the challenges, identify topics that need to be treated at a policy level, and prepare for a possible action package on the issue. The paper can be seen as a background document to a series of expert meeting that will be held during the year 2002, as such it is not written in a formal style, nor is it intended to have a persistent impact on the subject. The reader is encouraged to contact the author to obtain up-to-date information on the topic. The overall topic of long-term preservation is a challenge in itself, however it has also been identified in an ongoing initiative sponsored by the European Commission concerning digitisation policies and programmes (see the Lund Conclusions, http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka3/digicult/en/eeurope.html).

Because of the cost and complexity of building bespoke telecom service management systems, telecommunications management developers are moving toward the use of off-the-shelf componetware to satisfy their management requirements. However, a crucial problem with such an approach is the ability to integrate components to realise integrated management solutions. A second trend is that increasingly telecommunication management operators are becoming 'business process driven.' This can be evidenced by the increased activity in business process based solutions and customer facing processes, e.g. TMF's Telecommunications Operations Map. The central idea being that management systems must become more 'service' oriented, i.e., must be integrated across traditional management functional areas to support the business objectives, e.g., service fulfillment, service assurance, service accounting rather than just implement stand alone applications. This paper surveys the different approaches for representing the knowledge contained in business processes and evaluates the strengths/weaknesses in the various approaches. Then the paper proposes the innovative design of a component based Workflow Management system which enables not only the evolution/change of business processes but facilitates the ease of introduction of different knowledge representation techniques to support the automated enactment of business processes in a distributed (CORBA based) environment. Finally the paper evaluates the applicability of workflow based telecoms management solutions based on its usage in telecom information service trials.

Resolution of issues concerning electronic archives plays an important role in the transformation of paper informations to electronic journals. Issues concerning technical proficiency, permanence, location and trusteeship are the things that need to be resolved by the library community and publishers. In the face of information transition from paper to electronic journals, identification of the need to create electronic archives and to facilitate its creation are important aspects for the library community and publishers to resolve.

Enlightened agribusiness strategic vision and effectiveness can be achieved when electronic commerce related concepts, guidelines and tools are suitably applied as directed by a thorough and systematic approach. The main objective of this paper is to propose a generic architecture for analyzing and modeling Virtual Agricultural Market (VAM) systems. The VAM architecture provides a framework to offer a set of generic functionalities, in a stakeholder-independent, service-independent and interoperable way. It is built upon the requirements of openness, modularity, scalability and reusability. Furthermore, it caters to business, computational and technology issues for the trading, importation and exportation of perishable agricultural products in local, regional, national or European Union agricultural market level. An evaluation approach, based on a number of factors is suggested for the vigorous implementation and use of the Internet-based VAM system. The VAM system can help the European agricultural market sector win the challenge against competitors in terms of business transaction efficiency, cost reduction and improved customer services., Enlightened agribusiness strategic vision and effectiveness can be achieved when electronic commerce related concepts, guidelines and tools are suitably applied as directed by a thorough and systematic approach. The main objective of this paper is to propose a generic architecture for analyzing and modeling Virtual Agricultural Market (VAM) systems. The VAM architecture provides a framework to offer a set of generic functionalities, in a stakeholder-independent, service-independent and interoperable way. It is built upon the requirements of openness, modularity, scalability and reusability. Furthermore, it caters to business, computational and technology issues for the trading, importation and exportation of perishable agricultural products in local, regional, national or European Union agricultural market level. An evaluation approach, based on a number of factors is suggested for the vigorous implementation and use of the Internet-based VAM system. The VAM system can help the European agricultural market sector win the challenge against competitors in terms of business transaction efficiency, cost reduction and improved customer services.

Rural areas in India are characterized by limited land availability, low literacy, inadequate health, sanitary and drinking water facilities. In spite of over five decades of independence, the rural scenario has not changed much and 75% of rural people are either manual laborers, or artisans. In view of a variety of structural disadvantages, i.e., illiteracy, malnutrition, and the social complications of caste in Indian society, there is a need to redesign the traditional public library and its services to deal with the information needs of rural areas. In this connection, the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) conducted a variety of studies and has come up with an action research project aimed at establishing Public Information Centers (PIC's). The objective of these centers will be to provide information on rural development programmes, agricultural extension, and utilities as well as social development information, e.g., health, education, finance, legal. This paper discusses the issues involved as well as the location of PIC's, databases, training, service and the sustenance of PIC's., Rural areas in India are characterized by limited land availability, low literacy, inadequate health, sanitary and drinking water facilities. In spite of over five decades of independence, the rural scenario has not changed much and 75% of rural people are either manual laborers, or artisans. In view of a variety of structural disadvantages, i.e., illiteracy, malnutrition, and the social complications of caste in Indian society, there is a need to redesign the traditional public library and its services to deal with the information needs of rural areas. In this connection, the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) conducted a variety of studies and has come up with an action research project aimed at establishing Public Information Centers (PIC's). The objective of these centers will be to provide information on rural development programmes, agricultural extension, and utilities as well as social development information, e.g., health, education, finance, legal. This paper discusses the issues involved as well as the location of PIC's, databases, training, service and the sustenance of PIC's.

WorldWideScience.org (WWS) is a global science gateway developed by the US Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) in partnership with federated search vendor Deep Web Technologies. WWS provides a simultaneous live search of 69 databases from government and government-sanctioned organizations from 66 participating nations. The WWS portal plays a leading role in bringing together the world's scientists to accelerate the discoveries needed to solve the planet's most pressing problems. In this paper we present a brief history of the development of WWS and discuss how a new technology, multilingual federated search, greatly increases WWS' ability to facilitate the advancement of science. Keywords: Surface web, deep web, federated search, distributed search, multilingual, machine translation, international collaboration DOI 10.3233/ISU-2010-0617

Endoscopic treatment of lower airway pathologies requires accurate quantification of airway dimensions. We demonstrate file application of a real-time endoscopic optical coherence tomography system that can image lower airway anatomy and quantify airway lumen dimensions intra-operatively. Results demonstrate the ability to acquire 3D scans of airway anatomy and include comparison against a pre-operative X-ray CT. The paper also illustrates the capability of the system to assess the real-time dynamic changes within the airway that occur during respiration. [c]2008 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (170.2150) Endoscopic imaging; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging. Datasets associated with this article are available at http://hdl.handle.net/10376/1062.

The scientific and information communities have largely mastered the presentation of, and linkages between, textbased electronic information by assigning persistent identifiers to give scientific literature unique identities and accessibility. Knowledge, as published through scientific literature, is often the last step in a process originating from scientific research data. Today scientists are using simulation, observational, and experimentation techniques that yield massive quantifies of research data. These data are analyzed, synthesized, interpreted, and the outcome of this process is generally published as a scientific article. Access to the original data as the foundation of knowledge has become an important issue throughout the world and different projects have started to find solutions. Global collaboration and scientific advances could be accelerated through broader access to scientific research data. In other words, data access could be revolutionized through the same technologies used to make textual literature accessible. The most obvious opportunity to broaden visibility of and access to research data is to integrate its access into the medium where it is most often cited: electronic textual information. Besides this opportunity, it is important, irrespective of where they are cited, for research data to have an internet identity. Since 2005, the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) has offered a successful Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration service for persistent identification of research data. In this white paper we discuss the possibilities to open this registration to a global consortium of information institutes and libraries. DOI 10.3233/ISU-2009-0595

The availability of systems capable to perform accurate and large-scale analysis and indexing of scientific content has a profound effect on the scientific publishing sector. Many scenarios about the extension of existing products or the definition of new ones that would have otherwise resulted in significant or even prohibitive costs, now become feasible. The present paper introduces several case studies of the application of methods of Text Mining in the scientific publishing sector and outlines the motivation and additional benefits that arise from such approaches. Keywords: Text Mining, information extraction, automatic indexing DOI 10.3233/ISU-2008-0563

Libraries are the gatekeepers of extremely rich information collections, both in physical and electronic form. In contrast to the richness of these collections stands the inadequateness of the interfaces with which users are to access them. Where other areas, most notably the internet, have shown a spur of urgency and innovation in the area of information retrieval, the library world has until recently lacked the tools to really open up the collections. This paper describes how AquaBrowser, which to date has helped hundreds of libraries worldwide take center stage as the information provider in the community, puts libraries in the lead again in the area of information retrieval and discovery. AquaBrowser is a search and information discovery tool that offers exploratory search in the library's collections using a combination of general purpose freetext information retrieval techniques, visual associative search, and faceted category navigation in an attractive, stimulating interface. AquaBrowser is developed by Medialab Solutions from The Netherlands [1] and is in use at over 200 libraries worldwide, over 100 of which are based in the United States.

The publishing industry is being affected both by new technological developments and by more challenging customer demands. This paper contrasts forward-planning work undertaken by Martin Marlow three years ago with what is actually happening now. Similar changes are on the agenda, but they have been ramped up both in degree and urgency. Access and content are becoming equally important. Publishing paradigms for the 'new sciences' will demand increased sophistication of customer service and search and analysis tools. Publishing will undergo a metamorphosis influenced both by changing user demands and changes in 'the Web' itself. Marlow summarises his findings by reasserting the importance of the five M model: information needs to be 'malleable, multiple-platformed, manageable, mixable, and massive'.

This paper focuses on a next generation collaborative infrastructure. New developments in the computer science field, including semantic web, peer-to-peer, or natural language processing, will lead to new forms of collaboration and 'social semantic information spaces'. These will have great impact on scientific communication.

In addition to knowledge, the flow of information or efficient organisational communication is an essential condition for the successfulness of every organisation. Although the ideal vertical and horizontal communication is difficult to achieve, training-informational centres and special libraries should also strive to achieve this goal. Advantages of available communication technology, especially the Intranet, should be taken for this purpose as much as possible. The control of the field of management or knowledge transfer is a complex problem, which is practically unmanageable without the tool for knowledge dissemination. This is the reason why portals are used more and more. It is common to them that these are starting pages, where basic information is gathered in a condensed form: portals are starting points for more detailed information. They function on the basis of the technology supported by browsers. The topic of this paper is the development of an organisation in the process of learning especially the need analysis of an organisation and setting up of a training portal as a tool fol lntranet training, submission and flow of information. Keywords: Intranet, organisational communication, training, training portal, library

The internet encompasses a large number of documents to which search engines try to provide access. Even for many narrow topics and potential information needs there are often many web pages online. The user of a web search engine would prefer the best pages to be returned. Web search engines and information retrieval research have responded to this need and developed systems for quality assessment. This paper gives an overview on common algorithms used for this task and discusses new research directions which try to improve the results of quality assessment.

The rapid growth in the creation and dissemination of electronic information has emphasized the digital environment's speed and ease of dissemination often with little regard for its long-term preservation and access. But, electronic information is fragile in ways that traditional paper-based information is not. Many projects, worldwide, have contributed to the growing collection of best practices and standards in areas such as metadata creation and format standards. These best practices are increasingly reflected in system software that can be tailored to local needs. However, these systems are still in development and for local implementations more than one approach may be needed. These systems provide an indication of the trends and issues remaining in the area of digital preservation and permanent access to electronic information resources.

As the life cycle of information products has become increasingly digital from 'cradle to grave', the nature of electronic information management has dramatically changed. These changes have brought new strategies and methods as well as new issues and challenges. At the bottom line the services are increasingly delivered to a desktop from distributed publishers or information providers. Information organizations act either as primary information providers or as brokers between the user and the primary service provider. This paper covers developments in the factors and strategies affecting collection management and access. It discusses major trends in electronic user services including electronic information delivery, information discovery and electronic reference. Finally, it addresses the challenges in user and personnel education in response to this electronic environment and an increasingly information literate user population.

The paper examines the idea of copyright and how it functions for both digital and non-digital publications. Various different interpretations of copyright and its application are discussed. Ideas such as databases, fair use and exceptions are explored in their relationship to technological measures used to control the use of copyright material. Examples from the CITED, COPYSMART, IMPRIMATUR, and COPICAT projects of the European Union are described briefly. The impact of the latest EU directive on copyright and the information society is explained and the need for co-operative planning and implementation of technical measures throughout the information industry is emphasised.

The number and types of information sources accessible through the Internet are ever increasing. Billions of documents including text, pictures, sound, and video are readily available for both scholarly and every-day uses. Even libraries and information centers with sizable budgets are having difficulties in coping with this increase. More developed tools and methods are needed to find, filter, organize and summarize electronic information sources. This paper is an overview of a wide variety of electronic information management issues ranging from infrastructure to the integration of information technology and content, from personalization of information services to 'disintermediation'. It discusses the issues of description, organization, collection management, preservation and archiving of electronic information.

A data warehouse platform for automatic post-processing and post-aggregation of online search results and alerts from online vendors was developed, called Web Alerts. Contents from many information providers are being repackaged 'agnostically'. The solution, built on the Lotus Notes & Domino groupware, is automatically receiving, parsing, aggregating and displaying a mix of records from Dialog, DataStar, Factiva, LexisNexis, CSA, STN and other vendors in a common web-based solution. This paper describes the design and architecture of the solution, how records are processed and aggregated, regardless of database or online host, and presented in a uniform format with respect to key fields such as Title, Author, Source, Publication Date, Company Name, etc., and the further interactivity offered in the database once the records are aggregated. The web solution may be used, e.g., in business intelligence applications and in corporate Intranets as a current awareness tool for sharing external as well as internal information, offering categorization of records for different organizational units, and personal customisation by creating subsets of records via a search filter. Other features like adding comments, flags, creating own documents, highlighting of original search words for easy perusal, and linking to web sites and patents, have also been added to the solution.

The publishing industry in general, and the abstracting and indexing (A&I) industry in particular, find themselves in the midst of significant change. There has been an explosion of technology that continues to drive significant growth in directory databases, that in turn has lead to an incredible growth in information discovery, access, and search-and-retrieval systems. Overlay upon this scenario trends in open access publishing and the new information mindsets developing within the user community, and an increasingly complex new information infrastructure emerges. Has this growth and change advanced scientific and scholarly communication? Has the increase in information access and retrieval generated parallel revenue increases within the publishing and A&I communities? And will the free search engines of today be the predominant information sources of the future? This paper examines the trends that have shaped today's information environment and suggests a future success scenario for traditional publishers and A&I services who are willing and able to apply their significant skills and expertise in meeting the needs of the new breed of information seekers.

Branding is seen as one of the canons of the marketing doctrine. Although, there is extensive literature on services that deals measuring or delivering customer satisfaction in library and information settings, but not much of it addresses the issue of branding services. Branding culture has yet to be embedded in information service organizations. Internet is so trendy now a days that a growing number of non-industry players, like banks, insurance companies and trade associations, want to become Internet service providers (ISPs)-sort of. And, they have plenty of reasons to get involved. Developing a deeper relationship with customers is one. Then why information service providing organizations should be lagging behind than their other service counter-parts. But, the branding in library and information context involves a lot of challenging issues, as there are important differences between the execution of product and service brands. These differences revolve partly, at least around the fact that within a service profession the staff's relationships and interactions with customers play a pivotal role in influencing brand quality and brand values. Before going for branding of information products and services, organizations need to know their marketing culture as it assumes a paramount importance in defining consumer satisfaction and developing brand royalty. This brings in forefront the issue of leadership and the awareness of staff about marketing theories and practices as brands just don't reflect the products/services but also creation of images and expectations in the minds of the consumer and most importantly represent the organization's promise to deliver consistently a specific set of benefits and services. Hence, information service organizations need to be very careful in designing their web sites and beware of over promising. The paper attempts to address what relevance does branding have in the marketing of library and information services. It further pinpoints the importance of marketing culture in branding. It also narrates briefly what Finnish library directors think about the role of their library websites.

In many organizations 'strategic planning'' is an annual exercise that results in a document reviewed once and then essentially forgotten. However, strategic planning should be the process of setting priorities and of creating the framework for decision making about where to invest resources, at what level and with what urgency. The process itself should include periodic assessment of the quality of the decisions made and their implementation. Looking back at 25 years of strategic planning with a major STM publisher, this paper provides an informal and highly personal reflection on some of the lessons learned. Emphasis is given to newbusiness ventures and models. It also includes broad recommendations on ways to approach planning and management for future development.

A written language and a transportable recording medium were key elements in the advancement of humankind. Five thousand years ago the Sumerians, using their cuneiform system of writing, recorded business transactions as well as epic poetry on clay tablets. For the thousand of years that have followed we have improved upon our methods of communication with others and upon how we prepare, organize, store, and share our collective knowledge. Now the Internet and the World Wide Web application operating together are causing a fundamental change in the way we have done things for millennia. We are engulfed by this new environment that is. from an historical perspective, merely in its infancy. This paper presents twelve premises regarding the digital environment that are not only reminders of major changes that are occurring, but that also serve as 'bumper stickers' for others to consider as they examine this new environment.

This paper describes the Centre for Direct Scientific Communication (CCSD) of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and focuses more on the 'container' rather that on the 'content'. Dedicated to open access and the archiving of scientific publications, the centre has a threefold mission: creation of full-text international databases, self-archiving by scientists, long-term preservation. To achieve this mission, the centre relies on two servers, HAL for articles and TEL for theses, and on its mirror sites for ArXiv and PhysNet. The underlying technology used is the Eprint technology adapted to French. The centre also relies strongly on its collaboration with ArXiv at Cornell, CERN in Geneva and INIST and the MathDoc network in France.

The Open Access movement has been with us in various disguises for the last decade or so. Initially driven by the idealistic notion that technology would free us from the Faustian grip of the academic (paper) publishers by offering a cheap and superior alternative, it is now slowly realized that the 'old' system is remarkably more robust than originally thought and that publishers do offer (some) added value after all. Fuelled by the 'serials crisis', for which, conveniently, the (commercial) publishers are blamed, it has managed to make converts in the library world as a liberating solution to their budgeting problems and those who caused them. The reality is, however, that the movement has failed to bring about its utopia and the most promising prospects are currently experimenting with business models that show some fundamentally flaws, both from a financial and from an author incentive point of view. The speaker will argue that the access situation has improved dramatically over the past 7 years and that there is little evidence that the current players (authors, readers/users, librarians, publishers, etc.) are dissatisfied to such an extent that the Open Access revolution will fill the deeply felt need it claims to do.

With the spreading of Internet and wide use of computer, electronic publishing is becoming an indispensable measure to gain knowledge and skills. Meanwhile, copyright is facing much more infringement than ever in this electronic environment. So, it is a key factor to effectively protect copyright of electronic publishing to foster the new publication fields. The paper analyzes the importance of copyright, main causes for copyright infringement in electronic publishing, gives out our viewpoints on the definition and application of fair use of a copyrighted work and thinking of some means to combat breach of copyright.

Database technology advancements have provided many opportunities for libraries. These advancements can bring the world closer together through information accessibility. Digital library projects have been established worldwide to, ultimately, fulfil the needs of end users through more efficiency and convenience. Resource sharing will continue to be the trend for libraries. Changes often create issues which need to be addressed. In this paper, issues relating to database technology and digital libraries are reviewed. Some of major challenges in digital libraries and managerial issues are identified as well. Keywords: Digital library, database technology, data quality, interoperability, metadata, user interface, query processing

Authoritative sources concerned with computer-aided learning, resource-based learning and on-line learning and teaching are generally agreed that, in addition to subject matter expertise and technical support, the quality of the learning materials and the learning experiences of students are critically dependent on the application of pedagogically sound theories of learning and teaching and principles of course design. The University of the Highlands and Islands Project (UHIMI) is developing 'on-line learning' on a large scale. These developments have been accompanied by a comprehensive programme of staff development. A major emphasis of the programme is concerned with ensuring that course developers and tutors are pedagogically aware. This paper reviews (i) what is meant by 'on-line learning' in the UHIMI context (ii) the theories of learning and teaching and principles of course design that inform the staff development programme and (iii) a review of progress to date. Keywords: On-line learning, pedagogy, course design, conversation theory, learning community