Contents of LIBRI: international journal of libraries and information
services, 53 (2) June 2003

Libraries and Distance Education: a German View - RAFAEL BALL

On our way to an information-based society, the volume of data, of
information and of knowledge will become ever greater. At the same time
a technology is developing which, on the one hand, facilitates data
processing but, on the other hand, requires competent handling and
efficient management of information and knowledge. The existence of
digital, multimedia information resources also support distance
education and decentralized learning in our society. The library as a
physical location for knowledge and wisdom is becoming increasing
replaced by a library of electronic information, multimedia teaching and
learning. As a consequence, clients and users must acquire sufficient
information literacy and at the same time libraries must become actively
involved and provide an appropriate range of services for distance
learning. This article reviews the position of libraries and continuing
distance education programs especially in Germany. Finally it provides a
vision of a successful integration of distance education and library
information environment as a qualitatively new form of learning and
teaching.

Using Distance Education to Internationalize Library and Information
Science Scholarship - CHARLES T. TOWNLEY, QIAN GENG, JING ZHANG

Library and information science educators have long sought to
internationalize scholarship to enrich the quality of educational
programs and professional practice. But many obstacles restrict the size
and growth of traditional international education efforts, particularly
in developing countries. This article presents a case study that uses
emerging distance education techniques to deliver a graduate course on
knowledge management in The Peoples' Republic of China and the United
States. Sponsored by the U. S. Fulbright program, this demonstration
project blends learning technologies, using Web-based WebCT software,
videoconferencing, personal contacts and readings to create an
international, virtual learning space. The article describes how faculty
and students achieved the three course goals: (1) learning to learn
internationally, (2) bilateral communication and (3) knowledge
management. Findings and recommendations support the following
conclusions: using active learning pedagogies that engage the students
in the learning process; applying multiple technologies that can be
supported internationally; maximizing the use of two-way, asynchronous
and synchronous communication to encourage individual and group
learning; and focusing on broad, interdisciplinary content to facilitate
participation in international learning environments. 

Nationwide Library Consortia Life Cycle - PNINA SHACHAF

Library consortia development processes were examined from an ecological
approach, combining historical perspective, dynamic developmental
approach, and social structure, stressing the issues of permeable
boundaries in library consortia and the manifestation of
inter-organization relationships. A comparative analysis of several
nationwide consortia (from Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Italy,
Micronesia, Spain and the U.K.) using six criteria enables delineation
of a developmental pattern. Additional support for the model is based on
a study of U.S. state-wide consortia conducted by Potter in 1997. A
four-stage life cycle sequence is outlined: embryonic, early
development, development, and maturation. In addition, the ecological
approach stresses founding and disbanding processes, suggesting
disbanding as a fifth stage. The contribution of this paper to
developmental theories at other levels of analysis (individual, group,
organization) is in proposal of an inter-organizational life cycle
model.

Cooperation in Context: Library Developments in Central and Eastern
Europe - NADIA CAIDI

Major research and academic libraries in four Central and Eastern
European countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) have
undergone significant changes since their socio-political
transformations that began in the early 1990s. In-depth interviews with
forty-nine (49) key library policymakers were conducted in 1999. The
data suggests that cooperation and resource sharing are at the heart of
the institutional changes taking place in the libraries in the four
countries. Commonalities and differences between and among the countries
were identified along four dimensions: centralisation vs.
decentralisation, individual vs. collective goals, product vs. process
orientation, and global vs. local considerations. A typology of
cooperation models ('artificial,' 'contested,' 'directed,' and
'voluntary' cooperation) was devised that reflects the changing nature
and visions of cooperation as reported by the respondents interviewed.
The results raise questions about the exogenous vs. endogenous forces
that contribute to the adoption of new attitudes and values toward
cooperation and resource sharing.

Design and Development of an Academic Portal - HEILA PIENAAR

A Web portal can be defined as a Web site for a specific audience that
aggregates an array of content and provides a variety of services
including search engines, directories, news, e-mail and chat rooms. This
article investigates the factors that must be considered during the
design and development of an academic portal. Personal interviews were
conducted with academics in order to identify the content, functions,
appearance and value of an academic portal. A working academic portal,
the Infoportal, was developed to support academics' task performance. 

The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea - WONTAE CHOI

As information technologies have developed, the digital library is
making the library undergo a changing paradigm of its role to create,
organize, and distribute information resources. Digital libraries have
created and promoted innovative information services with digitization
of resources. The development of digital libraries has been attracting
the attention of many countries and South Korea is no exception. This
article provides an overview of recent developments in digital libraries
in South Korea. To build the digital library, various innovative
projects are currently in progress involving a range of different
libraries and institutions. This article also discusses information
policies, standards, and technical issues in South Korea in recent
years. Until now, the various projects involving digital collections and
digital libraries in South Korea have been carried out with very little
coordination. If a more coordinated and coherent approach to building
digital libraries is to succeed in South Korea, all libraries and
institutions will need to work closely together to establish the
appropriate framework for cooperation.

Durning-Lawrence Online: Benefits of a Retrospective Catalogue
Conversion Project - K. E. ATTAR

The University of London Library has recently undertaken a project to
catalogue one of its special collections online, that of Sir Edwin
Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914), a protagonist of the Baconian theory in
the controversy over the authorship of the works attributed to
Shakespeare. The collection is especially rich in editions of Bacon's
works and other Baconiana and in seventeenth-century English drama, with
other strengths being emblem books and early editions of the works of
Daniel Defoe. This article places the retrospective cataloguing project
in the context of the international drive for retrospective conversion
of antiquarian material and of the Library's mission to support research
within the federal University of London and the region and
internationally. It describes the method used for cataloguing, focuses
on the benefits of the project both academically for researchers and
administratively. In addition to the commonly acknowledged benefits of
multiple access points in online catalogue records and speed and
precision of searching from anywhere in the world, others include the
opportunity as part of the project to conduct a preservation survey with
little extra cost of time or handling, the establishing of the rarity of
particular items and classes of items in the collection, and the insight
into the collector provided especially by provenance notes in the
catalogue records, enabling scholars to learn a considerable amount
about Durning-Lawrence and his collecting patterns from direct
electronic access. The value of projects conducted along similar lines
may easily be inferred.

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