Search

Discusses accountability concerns in higher education regarding the value of information technology expenditures and applications and suggests the importance of institutional information technology plans. Topics include academic libraries and information technology plans; plan structures; writing a plan; and recommended sections to include in an information technology plan. (LRW)

Discusses factors that scholars, teachers, and students need to understand in order to take advantage of electronic and online availability of government information and data, including technical issues and right to access. (EV)

Discusses yearly information technology costs for academic libraries. Topics include transformation and modernization activities that affect prices and budgeting; a cost model for information technologies; life cycle costs, including initial costs and recurring costs; cost benchmarks; and examples of pressures concerning cost accountability. (LRW)

Presents a rationale for the use of outcomes assessment and identifies three competing assessment perspectives that examine quality: looking at users from the perspective of the academic library; looking at libraries from the users' perspectives; and libraries in the life of the institution. Discusses information literacy, and differentiating between outputs and outcomes. (Author/LRW)

Reviews the "Access America" report which was published in 1997 as a follow up to the National Performance Review, an assessment of federal government operations and procedures. Discusses future goals of the use of electronic services and information technology to improve government operations, systems integration, cost reduction, improved quality of service, and decentralization. (LRW)

Discusses government directives linking availability and dissemination of information resources and improved public access with results (strategic planning, goals/objectives, performance indicators, customer service, standards/plans) and other issues (funding and performance-based budgets, government and deficit reduction, and government effectiveness and responsiveness) meriting consideration by the Government Printing Office and depository libraries. (PEN)

Libraries assume a significant financial obligation in the provision of government publications and products. The Government Printing Office (GPO) service roles, service pledges, and depository library service roles are discussed. The GPO's Superintendent of Documents (SUDOCS), an electronic depository program, will place a significant financial obligation on member libraries. (AEF)

This discussion of information policy focuses on library services for distance education. Topics include the logistics and management of providing library services off-site and/or responding to student requests; and meeting the needs of distance education students for information and library instruction, both students from the member institution and from other institutions. (LRW)

The trend in the 1980s to provide an increasingly larger amounts of government information in electronic formats has led to concerns regarding the inclusion of electronic items in the depository library program (DLP). Inclusion of electronic formats in the DLP provides increased public access but also poses technical problems for the depository libraries. (99 references) (LAE)

Analyzes aspects of proposed federal legislation which is attempting to reform portions of Title 44, "United States Code". Senate bill S.2288 charges the Government Printing Office (GPO) with responsibility for government printing, procurement, and dissemination. Includes a definition of government publication, GPO's depository-library program, permanent public access, and electronic information. (LRW)

Details the design, financial support, organizational structure, and evolution of a program to facilitate the automation of small public libraries in Massachusetts and to promote resource sharing among those libraries. A sidebar by Governor Dukakis expresses his views on the role and importance of libraries. (MES)

Focuses on several issues faced by academic library administrators when managing technology. Evaluation of the application of technology in libraries; Role of technology in learning and teaching; Requirements for administrators when applying technology in academic libraries.

Examines the consequences of the changing economics of information and technology on the free flow of information for creators, distributors and users. Characteristics of information; Role of copyright; Implications of technology; Effect on libraries.

Focuses on information technology budgets and costs. Cost infrastructure of information technologies; Cost model for information technologies; Cost issue considerations.

Focuses on the information technology plan of higher education institution. Details of information technology plan and its application in academic libraries; Methods employed to create strategic-type plans; Sections recommended to be included in an information technology plan.

Discusses the role of management information systems (MIS) in managerial planning and decision making. Definition of MIS; Types of information systems; Reason for establishing the financial module of MIS.

Discusses the issues concerning the introduction and management of the interdependent laptop computers and wireless networking services provided by the Mildred F. Sawyer Library at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Identification of the need and the implementation of laptops and wireless network; Managerial and technical issues concerning laptops and the wireless network.

Discusses an investment made by a liberal arts institution in Boston, Massachusetts on interactive online instruction for library research. Problems solved by online instruction; Conclusion.

Focuses on the withdrawal of the Law Library at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts from the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Options considered in making the decision to withdraw from the FDLP; Procedure for withdrawing from the program; Replacement of depository materials and services; Lessons from withdrawing from the FDLP.

Identifies and discusses some of the outcomes of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in its three years of implementation in the United States. Purpose of the Telecom Act; Impact on cable television rates and in-state long distance-rates; Effect on schools and libraries.

Discusses legal policy and technological challenges to the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) printing system. Review on a reform bill designed to address the problems; Aspects of government information policy and practice; Discussion on electronic information; Developments prompting congressional reconsideration of arrangements for producing and disseminating government information.

Discusses the implications of accountability to depository library programs in the United States. Expectations and concerns of documents librarians; Provision and archiving of electronic information resources; Broader participation of the US Government Printing Office and its depository library program in accountability; Types of performance indicators.

Examines intellectual participation in the context of the information superhighway and its implications for library administration. Challenges of the development of the information superhighway for librarians; Intellectual access issues involved in the use of the information superhighway; Discussion on social pluralism.

Focuses on the depository library program between the United States Government Printing Office and its member libraries. Number of libraries involved in the program; Roles of a depository library; Disadvantages of being a depository library.

Highlights the challenges that face academic libraries and their management regarding the concept of distance education. Lack of additional funds; Strict adherence to licensing agreements; 1997 draft of guidelines of library services expected of the provider library.

Explores the different aspects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its impact to academic libraries. Objectives of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Effect of the continuing cycles of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to academic libraries; Benefit that academic libraries will get from the enactment and implementation of the Telecommunications Act.

Discusses the correlation between information technology and the federal information policy. Reasons why information policy is important in shaping the evolution of societies; Complexity of information policy development; Need for insuring the public's right to transportation.

Focuses on the evolution of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). Predecessors include the network for the Advanced Research and Projects Agency, the Internet and the 1991 High Performance Computer Act (HPCC); Concern over HPCC's focus on supercomputing; Establishment of the NII Advisory Council through an Executive Order; Proliferation of NII stakeholders with similar and competing agenda.

Reprints the speech of Bell Atlantic Chairman Ray Smith regarding the implications of advances in technology to information policy in the United States. Influence of technological advances to consumer demand; Availability of the technology to offer caller identification telephone services before policies were forged.

Discusses the significance for libraries of privacy concerns involved with geographic information system (GIS) technology. Argues that librarians need to be aware of federal and state efforts to address privacy issues and monitor developments in government information policy. (AEF)

Proposes a cyclical systems model to review the application of technology to the assessment process of academic libraries. Emphasis of the accountability trend in higher education; Definition of system model components; Technologies available for the input phase of the system model; Examples of operational throughputs; Options on outputs and outcomes concerning operational and educational quality assessment.

Explores library consortia in the United States with particular focus on academic libraries. Information on the book `Guidelines for Library Cooperation: Development of Academic Library Consortia,' by Ruth J. Patrick; Economics of consortia; Types of consortia.

Analyzes the aspects a United States bill providing for reform and legislative oversight on government publications. Provisions under the bill; Definition of government publication; Explanation on permanent public access.

Discusses the technical, policy, monetary and human support challenges facing both the individual and the organization in the integration and use of networked federal information. Evolution of federal policy regarding the distribution of information; Technical directions; Production and dissemination; Implications for research and educational institutions.

Focuses on the Next Generation Internet (NGI) proposal by the administration of Bill Clinton, President of the United States, which would advance the status of the present Internet and university research capabilities. Amount of funding provided by Congress for fiscal year 1998 for NGI; Information on the Bill Clinton administration's endorsement of federal efforts to support computer and telecommunications applications and education; Description of NGI.

Discusses issues pertaining to plans to convert the depository library program administered by the Government Printing Office (GPO) into an electronic depository program. Downsizing of library workforce; Fiscal stringencies; Government Printing Reform Act of 1996.