Download E2-23-03-02

MAKING INFORMATION AVAILABLE
Paul Nieuwenhuysen
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium
Keywords: information, libraries, information centers, information units, documentation, collection
development, classification, thesaurus systems, databases, CD-ROM, Internet, World-Wide Web
Contents
1.
Introduction
2.
Relations with Other Articles of this Encyclopedia
3.
Variations on the Theme of “Information Centers”
4.
Activities of Information Centers: an Overview
5.
Access to the Services Provided by Information Centers
6.
Collection Development in Information Centers
7.
Assessing the Impact of Scientific Journals
8.
Organizing Access to Information in Information Centers
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Organizing Access to Hard Copy Documents in Information Centers
8.3. Organizing Access to Computer-Based Information in Information Centers
8.4. Integrating Access to all Types of Information in Information Centers
9.
Applying Information and Communication Technology
9.1. General Considerations
9.2. Using General Office Application Software
9.3. Using an Integrated Online Library Management System
9.4. Methods to Make Databases Accessible Through the Internet
9.5. Web Site Development
9.6. Digital, Virtual, Electronic Libraries
10.
Educating Users in Finding and Managing Information
11.
Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations in Information centers
12.
Cooperation, Networking, and Interaction among Information Centers
13.
Future Trends in Libraries and Information Centers
14.
Information Sources about Library and Information Science
1
15.
Making Information Available in the Domain of “Water”
Summary
This article presents an overview of activities that are carried out in libraries and information centers to
make information available to readers and users of information sources. The previous article by the same
author discusses how to find information and that forms a good basis for this one that is focusing less on
information users but more on information professionals.
Typical activities in libraries and information centers include collection development, cataloguing
information sources, organizing information sources for more efficient access by using classification and
thesaurus systems, providing reference services, interlibrary co-operation including interlibrary lending,
orientating and educating users and potential users in the field of information access, and marketing
information products and services. Besides those typical activities, we see also more general activities like
creating documents, managing personnel, communicating with higher management, and continuing
professional development.
Due to the rapid evolution and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in
general, libraries and information centers are more and more involved in applying ICT to make their
activities more efficient. For instance, they create databases, make information available through the
Internet, create web sites, retrieve information through the Internet, and provide access to Internet
workstations. The distinction between managing data and information is not sharp. Nevertheless, here we
do not focus on numerical data (like for instance hydrometrical data in hydrology), but on information
stored in documents.
1.
Introduction
Acquiring, transferring, using and exploiting scientific and technical data, information, documents, and
knowledge is vital for progress in economy, science, and society in general. After the article on finding
information, this article presents an overview of activities that are carried out in libraries, information and
documentation centers by information professionals, to make information available to readers, users of
information sources. Ideally these information professionals should combine skills and knowledge related
to “information” and information and communication technology, with expertise in the topic, the subject
domain of the “contents” of the particular information sources.
2.
Relations with Other Articles of this Encyclopedia
The author of this article has also written the preceding article on "Finding information", so that there are
relations between both articles. The preceding article focuses on the users of information and tries to
guide these users and potential users to an efficient usage of information sources. This article on providing
information focuses more on how information professionals can assist users of information by guiding
these to information and by providing access to information. The article on finding information comes first,
because the contents should be mastered by anyone, not only by information professionals or providers of
access to information, but also by users of information. This article on providing access to information
builds on the preceding one and goes further by discussing aspects that should be mastered ideally by
information professionals, but not necessarily by all users of information.
3.
2
Variations on the Theme of "Information Centers"
Many kinds of organizations focus on providing access to information. For instance, there are organizations
that are named
--libraries,
--archives,
--information centers / units / services / departments,
--documentation centers / units / services / departments.
The distinction among these is not sharp.
They can operate centralized or decentralized and on a local, national, regional or international scale.
4.
Activities of Information Centers: an Overview
Here an overview is presented first; afterwards, some of the topics receive more attention.
The typical activities of information centers aim at providing access to information. We can distinguish the
following activities:
--Development of a local, physical collection of documents and arranging licenses to access information
online.
--Storage, organization and conservation/preservation of collected hard-copy documents; cataloguing of
documents; classifying documents, adding subject terms to document descriptions, to improve retrieval of
documents from the collection. Managing the circulation of materials. (An online integrated library
management system can be useful here.)
--Providing access to information that is locally stored on hard disks of computers, on CD-ROMs or on DVD.
--Providing computers to access online information sources.
--Setting up a web site on the Internet as a gateway to the available information. Integrating the access to
information sources in various formats, which leads to a hybrid library.
--Providing current awareness services to users.
--Training users and potential users of information sources in finding and managing information.
--Collaboration with related institutes.
Many activities can be seen in many organizations, not only in those focusing on providing access to
information. For instance:
--Space planning
--Managing staff
--Applying common, general, horizontal information and communication technology (ICT)
--Marketing, promotion, public relations
--Maintaining good links with senior, higher management
--Disaster planning
--Continuous professional development.
3
5.
Access to the Services Provided by Information Centers
Information centers can be accessible by the public to varying degrees:
--Is the catalogue accessible locally, on CD-ROM, or through the Internet?
--Are the materials accessible for local consultation?
--Are loans allowed?
--Is interlibrary lending possible?
Great variations exist in the prices that are charged for these services. The accessibility and prices can
depend on the type of users (internal or external users for instance).
6.
Collection Development in Information Centers
We can distinguish two classes of activities in collection development:
--Classical, traditional acquisitions of documents in hard copy or on CD-ROM or DVD for local storage (and
in many cases conservation) and of course for usage.
--Relatively recent activities related to licensing access to information available on CD-ROM or DVD or
online through the Internet.
The trend away from buying information towards licensing to access computer-based information suffers
from a disadvantage: more computer equipment, programs and networks and skilled operators must be
available; on the other hand, we see many advantages such as a decrease in the costs of storing physical
documents, and better accessibility of information, almost continuously and from many places.
7.
Assessing the Impact of Scientific Journals
One component of collection development is providing access to scientific journals. This is an important
activity in scientific information centers. Unfortunately access to journals can take a considerable part of
the budget of an organization. Therefore, selecting or deselecting journals is a task that requires some
decision support. Information managers are interested in assessing the influence, the impact, the
importance, the usefulness, and the prestige of particular scientific journals. Furthermore, assessing the
impact of journals is also useful for the following reasons:
--Scientific authors need to select journals to publish their articles.
--Science and personnel management requires assessment of the influence of a scientific author; indirectly,
they can more easily assess the influence of the journals publishing his/her articles.
Therefore a few methods in this area deserve to be mentioned:
--Relying on the opinion of experts and users;
--Measurement of usage frequency: observations of usage of journals in hard copy, or investigation of
automatically collected usage statistics of electronic versions of journals
--Relying on indicators based on citation analysis, published in Journal Citation Reports, produced by the
Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
The most important of these indicators are the number of received citations during one year, and the
Impact Factor. The Impact Factor by ISI of a journal in a particular year is the number of citations found by
4
ISI in that year to articles published in that journal in the previous 2 years, divided by the number of articles
published in that journal in the same 2 years. In this way the Impact factor gives an idea of the importance
of the average article in a particular journal.
The indicators have been published by ISI in print with the ISI Citation Indexes, on microfiche, on CD-ROM
since 1996, and through the WWW since 1999. They provide, in many cases, a view that is more objective
than the opinion of experts. They are easy and cheap to use, and widely used.
However, some shortcomings of indicators like the Impact Factor should not be neglected:
--The Impact Factor has a bias favoring journals in scientific fields with a short half-life period of citation,
and in which journal articles are often cited in other articles.
--Only for about 4000 journals a value is listed by the ISI, while many others also have non-zero value.
--Citation data in the ISI database are not completely free of errors.
--The value observed for a journal can fluctuate significantly from year to year.
--The meaning of the Impact Factor is not well understood by many decision makers or policy makers.
8.
8.1.
Organizing Access to Information in Information Centers
Introduction
How to organize access depends of course on the type of information source. So we see:
--Activities concerning collected hard-copy documents;
--Providing access to online computer-based information sources.
Also the information center should try to integrate access to all types of information as far as possible in a
so-called “hybrid library”.
8.2.
Organizing Access to Hard-Copy Documents in Information Centers
Several activities focus on organizing access to hard-copy documents:
--Storage, organization and conservation/preservation of collected hard copy documents.
--Improving the retrieval of documents from the collection: cataloguing of documents according to an
existing standard, classifying documents according to a classification scheme, adding terms that describe
the subject to the description of each document; these terms are ideally selected from a thesaurus.
--Organizing circulation of documents.
An integrated online library management system can be useful for organizing access to available
documents.
8.3.
Organizing Access to Computer-Based Information in Information Centers
Several activities focus on organizing access to computer-based information:
--Making information accessible in the form of databases or web sites or combinations, on hard disks of
5
computers or on CD-ROM disks or on DVD, on stand-alone microcomputers or on a networked computer.
--Providing users and potential users with access to microcomputer workstations, to the local area network
of the organization, and to the Internet with the WWW, so that they can easily identify and use online
accessible, computer-based information sources.
8.4.
Integrating Access to all Types of Information in Information Centers
Users are in general more interested in the contents of the information carriers (documents) than in the
type of information carrier such as hard copy or computer-based. Therefore, an information center should
try to offer access in a way that offers all documents nicely integrated, irrespective of the type of
document / information carrier. In this way the so called “hybrid libraries” are created.
However, access to all types of documents cannot be fully integrated in an ideal way. Some tools can help
to integrate access. For instance:
--An integrated library management system that offers a catalogue that points not only to hard-copy
documents, but also to online accessible information.
--A web site created, offered, and maintained by an information center which can point out how to access
the available hard copy documents and can offer hyperlinks to online accessible documents.
9.
9.1.
Applying Information and Communication Technology
General Considerations
In view of the many applications of information and communication technology in information centers, the
following provides evaluation criteria for selecting computer systems, hard- and software.
General criteria:
--History and quality of the producer and of the dealer?
--Time required for delivery?
--Technical support, help, assistance by phone; by fax; by e-mail, via WWW, via a user group, on site,
during installation, in the future, during the weekend?
--Warranty: how long? In the case of hardware: Repair work and required parts free of charge? On-site or
only carry-in?
General criteria for application software packages:
--Which operating system is required by the application software?
--How good and reliable is the software producer: its history, reputation, future…?
--How good and reliable is the software supplier (distributor, dealer)?
--How many installations and users are there in the country? in the region? in the world?
--To what extent is the software compatible with hardware that is already available (such as computers,
displays, printers…)?
--To what extent does the software require new hardware?
6
--Does the software allow an efficient usage of a mouse?
--Is the software package easy to use? Ergonomic aspects are important, as training of personnel is
expensive and time-consuming.
--Does the program use random access memory and other computer system resources efficiently?
--Are good and up to date manuals for the package available?
--Is an online tutorial (computer-based training) available?
--Does the software provide online help? (in context?)
--Is good training and support available in your area, from the producer directly, or from the distributor, or
from others…? At what price?
--Is communication with other users easily available for discussions and to solve problems? Online?
Through the Internet?
--What is the initial price per user, per site…?
--Are regular and substantial updates available? Online or only offline? At what price?
--Can the user program extensions?
--When some computer system is already used, can existing, available data be exported from that system
and can they be imported to be managed by the new system?
--Is using an ASP (Application Service Provider) through a network (such as the Internet) considered as an
alternative for in-house implementation and development of computer software? (Examples: computer
networks for libraries; electronic mail through the WWW)
--How well can data be imported from other persons, institutes, computer systems, databases? (Example:
downloading of database records from an available database/catalogue of books, compact disks, films,
videos…)
--How well can data be exported to other persons, institutes, computer systems, databases? (Example:
contributing database records to a union catalogue of journals, books…)
--Is the software compatible with standards used in data input, import from other systems, and export to
other systems? (Examples: in the case of software for a database system, the availability of a thesaurus
module with standard relations among thesaurus terms; book database record formatting according to
Unimarc for export to another database; import and export of HTML or XML files used on a web…)
--Is the software suitable for use in an Internet context? (Examples: create or export files in HTML or XML
format to make them available through the WWW or an intranet; the creation of e-mail messages by the
software to alert users of problems, things to do…)
9.2.
Using General Office Application Software
Information centers can and do apply so-called “horizontal” software packages that can be found in many
places for functions that are carried out in many organizations: word processing, calculations, general
(relational) database management, presentations, use of Internet with email and the WWW, web site
development and maintenance. Integrated office software packages are available at a relatively low price,
as the development costs are shared by many customers. However, using a general, “horizontal” database
management system to develop a more specific “vertical” package may turn out to be costly, due to the
7
high wages of skilled persons that can develop and maintain computer software.
9.3.
Using an Integrated Online Library Management System
In contrast with the more widespread, general, “horizontal” office software packages mentioned above,
many information centers and libraries use also more specific, “vertical” software packages, such as
software to create a catalogue of available documents, or an integrated library management system.
Most of these systems offer modules that are integrated more or less with each other for:
-- acquisitions of non-serial documents,
-- the control of serial publications,
-- catalogue management,
-- searching the catalogue (an OPAC, online public access catalogue),
-- interlibrary lending…
An evaluation or selection procedure can be supported by the many general criteria that are applicable to
the evaluation and selection of most types of application software packages. Furthermore, more specific
criteria for library management systems are also applicable. An important consideration is: What is the
underlying database management system (DBMS) or retrieval system? What are the consequences of this
basic architecture/structure from a business point of view and from a technical point of view?
A program for storage and retrieval of structured text information is developed by UNESCO and is available
free of charge in various versions. It is named CDS/ISIS for the computer operating systems MS-DOS and
Unix, while the more recent version, Winisis, exploits better the operating system Microsoft Windows,
offering a more user-friendly graphical interface. This software package can be used for instance for
catalogue management and for the exchange of databases, but is not a fully integrated library
management system.
9.4.
Methods to Make Databases Accessible through the Internet
A growing number of methods are available to provide (end-) users access to the contents of databases
(catalogues for instance) through the international Internet or through an institutional intranet. Figure 1
illustrates the basic approach and flow of information from the user’s query to results on his computer
display.
Figure 1: Basic approach and flow of information from the user’s query to results on his computer display.
The following are some of the important variations on this theme:
-- The end-user applies a client program that supports the telnet protocol to connect to a telnet server that
provides access to some program on a server computer to retrieve data from the database. An advantage
is that relatively cheap, old client workstations can be used; in other words, more expensive, recent and
powerful workstations are not required. A disadvantage of this approach is that the user interface in telnet
is character-based only, providing not some graphical user interface that most users prefer; furthermore,
not only a telnet server is required but also a database server. Many consider telnet as obsolete, due to the
popularity of the web; telnet access is replaced by access through web browsers. Nevertheless, it is still
applied.
8
-- The end-user applies not an open standard client program, but a proprietary client program that is
specifically developed to retrieve data through the Internet from the database on a server computer. Such
a retrieval client program is developed in most cases by or for the distributor of the database. Advantages
are that the proprietary client program for retrieval is designed specifically for the target databases, so that
it can provide a more suitable user interface than a more general, standard client program; furthermore,
some metadata related to the specific databases on the server can reside on the client together with the
client software, so that the end-user can access these offline, for instance to prepare a search action or to
select a particular database from a set of databases that are accessible. Disadvantages, however, are that
this approach requires installation, maintenance and learning of specific software on each client computer,
which cost time and disk space; furthermore, using a graphical interface as well as metadata on the client
system requires a relatively powerful client workstation. This method is obsolete due to the popularity of
the web approach and is replaced in many cases by access through more “universal”, general web client
programs.
-- The end-user applies a general, “universal” web client program that supports the hypertext transfer
protocol (http) to connect to a web (http) server that provides access to some program on a server
computer to retrieve data from the database. Advantages of this approach are that it requires only
common, well known, “universal” web browser software on the client computers, and that a graphical
interface is possible with a graphical web client program. Disadvantages, however, are that using a
graphical interface in the web client requires a relatively powerful client workstation, and that a web client
provides only a general user interface, so that the database server has to provide additional components
to the user interface for retrieval; furthermore, not only a web server is required but also a database
server. An increasing number of classical, character-based commercial, public access database hosts offer
access in this way. This approach has been very common since the end of the 1990s.
-- The end-user applies directly on the client workstation one of the available client programs that function
according to the open protocol Z39.50, that is developed to retrieve data through the Internet from one
particular Z39.50 compliant database server computer, or even from several Z39.50 compliant database
server computers at the same time. This approach is mainly used in some libraries for access to catalogues
and other databases. An advantage is that more than one database can be accessed at the same time; this
allows timesavings when searching for rare records. Disadvantages, however, are that this approach
requires the installation, maintenance, and learning of Z39.50 client software on the client computers,
which cost time and disk space; furthermore not all databases are accessible using the Z39.50 protocol.
This approach is not common, in spite of the sophistication and the suitability for retrieval purposes.
9.5.
Web Site Development
Information centers can create a web site on the Internet as a gateway to the available information and to
the services offered by the center. Through this web site, the information center can attempt to integrate
access to information sources in various formats accessible through various media. Such a “WWW-based
guide” can be interesting for internal as well as external users of the services offered by the information
center.
9.6.
Digital, Virtual, Electronic Libraries
Access to a growing amount of information is provided by combining:
-- classical, traditional, standardized methods, practices and structures used in physical libraries and
archives,
9
-- computers and computing power that is decreasing in price,
-- the growing communication possibilities of electronic, digital networks like the Internet with the
application WWW that is very popular now.
This leads to a growing number of so-called “digital (or virtual or electronic) libraries”. When building a
digital library it should be kept in mind that it should be accessible easily now and in the future; these
following principles and standards can help.
10. Educating Users in Finding and Managing Information
To make sure that information sources are better appreciated, used, managed and exploited, the users and
potential users should receive training. This activity can be taken care of by schools and universities, or
directly by the information centers or libraries that provide access to information sources.
11. Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations, in Information Centers
Information units should continually assess their products, work and services to ensure that they are
relevant for their users and potential users. Feedback from users should be collected informally as well as
more systematically.
Also, information centers should remind their users as well as their potential users of the products and
services that are available. To achieve this aim, the center can display recently acquired books and other
documents, in the center or during scientific conferences, and it can make available short texts, guides,
lists of recently acquired documents, other announcements, annual reports, articles in the professional
literature, etc, in printed format and/or through a local web site. Seminars for users and potential users
can also be organized with speakers from the center or with information experts from other organizations.
12. Co-operation, Networking and Interaction among Information Centers
No information center can be self-sufficient. Information professionals share a tradition of co-operation
and interaction.
Collaboration among information centers can take many forms. For instance:
-- Developing and maintaining common union catalogues of monographs in the collections, and of serials
available;
-- Avoiding unnecessary overlap in collections;
-- Resource sharing, interlibrary lending, document supply/delivery to external requesting institutes or
persons;
-- Forming a consortium of organizations, in order to obtain lower prices when buying hard-copy
documents or access to online accessible information sources like electronic journals and databases;
-- Developing standards related to information sources and services.
Information centers and of course their staff members can work together in professional organizations
related to information. Those organizations can be generally oriented with an international, regional, or
national membership, or they can be more subject-oriented.
Examples of international organizations are:
10
-- IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: http://www.ifla.org/
-- SLA, the Special Libraries Association: http://www.sla.org/
-IATUL,
the
International
http://educate.lib.chalmers.se/IATUL/
Association
of
Technological
University
Libraries:
13. Future Trends in Libraries and Information Centers
The evolution shows more application of information technology, a growing impact of online access
information sources, a growing together in many organizations of the library and the computer center (in
some cases the computer center takes over the library, creating an information center), information
delivery directly from producer to end-user without involvement of a library as intermediary, and the
disappearance of the library as a place.
14. Information Sources about Library and Information Science
Like in any subject domain, information can be found in books, journals, abstracts, Internet-based sites and
documents, online interest groups, etc.
A dictionary focusing on library and information science is accessible online and free of charge through
http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/odlis.html
Abstracts of publications in library and information science are produced in printed format, on CD-ROM,
and online accessible, but not free of charge, by several competitors such as Library and Information
Science Abstracts (LISA) and Information Science Abstracts (ISA).
Several sites in the WWW on library and information science are accessible free of charge. Some examples
are:
--The full text of some
http://dois.mimas.ac.uk/
computer-based
journals
in
information
science
is
searchable:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~emorgan/morganagus/index.html
http://www.bubl.ac.uk/journals/
--Information about information technology used
http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding/ltg.html
by
and
in
libraries
is
available
from
--Vertical portals (“vortals”) for librarians and information professionals offer access to professional
information, free of charge: general, for all domains of information: http://libraryhq.com/,
http://www.librariansyellowpages.com/
offers
a
buyer’s
guide
for
librarians,
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/ offers links to WWW sites of national libraries, government
information services, library associations and on-line resources, with special emphasis placed on activities
in UNESCO's fields of competence namely education, sciences, culture, communication and information,
and special sections regularly feature news and articles of interest to librarians and highlight the activities
of a selected library and/or collection.
An overview of library-related computer-based discussion groups has been made available at
http://www.wrlc.org/liblists/
15. Making Information Available in the Domain of "Water"
11
The methods applied in an information center in the domain or “water” are not significantly different from
those used in other scientific information centers. Nevertheless, besides the more general other parts of
this article, we focus here briefly on making information available that is related to water.
Some thesauri include water as an important component, so that they can be used in subject descriptions
in information centers that focus mainly on water. Examples are the thesaurus systems that are used in
building the Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), the bibliographic database Aqualine, and the
bibliographic databases of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau (CAB).
A WWW site that provides many links
http://www.wco.com/~rteeter/waterlib.html
to
water-related
information
is
for
instance
Some organizations and associations stimulate co-operation of information centers that focus on waterrelated subjects:
-- Information professionals have established organizations like IAMSLIC, the International Association of
Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers: http://siolibrary.ucsd.edu/IAMSLIC/, and
EURASLIC, the European Association of Aquatic Sciences Libraries and Information Centers:
http://atlantis.fl.ncmr.gr/euraslic.htm
--The UNESCO-IOC recognizes that information is a valuable resource and therefore promotes and
improves international co-operation. This has resulted, for instance, in International Oceanographic Data
and Information Exchange (IODE).
Glossary
CD-ROM: Compact disk – Read-only memory
ftp:
file transfer protocol
HTML:
hypertext mark-up language
http:
hypertext transfer protocol
ICT:
information and communication technology
URL:
universal resource locator
WWW: World-Wide Web
XML:
extended mark-up language
Bibliography
Arms W.Y. (2000). Automated digital libraries: How effectively can computers be used for the skilled tasks of
professional
librarianship?
[online]
D-Lib
Magazine,
July/August
2000.
Available
from:
http://www5.cnri.reston.va.us/dlib/july00/arms/ [A provocative article available online free of charge about the trend
that relatively cheap computers can increasingly provide services similar to those carried out traditionally by relatively
expensive, trained, expert librarians and information professionals.]
Brown S., Downey B., and Race P. (1997). 184 pp. 500 tips for academic librarians. London : Library Association,. [A
practical book full of tips for librarians.]
12
Cline McKay S. (1999). Accessing electronic journals. Database, April/May 1999, pp. 16-23. [A description of the state
of the art in the field of electronic journals.]
Information processing. in Encyclopaedia Britannica, available online from http://www.britannica.com/ [cited 2000] [A
good overview that is available free of charge.]
Kenney A.R. and Rieger O.Y. Using Kodak Photo CD technology for preservation and access: a guide for librarians,
archivists,
and
curators.
[online]
Cornell
University.
Available
from:
http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/kodak/cover.htm. [Available free of charge.]
Kreizman Karen (1999). Establishing an information center: a practical guide. London : Bowker-Saur. [Includes a few
good chapters that are relevant in this context: Chapter 4: Building a collection. Chapter 7: Marketing the information
center. Chapter 8: Working with information technology (IT). Chapter 10: Acquiring and managing staff.]
Lynch P.J. and Horton S. (1999). Web style guide: basic design principles for creating web sites. 164 pp. New Haven and
London : Yale University Press. [A no-nonsense book with good advice on how to create a web site. The text is
independent of a particular type or brand of software, so that it is not immediately obsolete. In contrast with many
books on this subject, it does not offer many spectacular screenshots and examples, but focuses on really sound and
basic advice in the form of well structured texts.]
Manifold A. (2000). A principled approach to selecting an automated library system. Library Hi Tech, Vol. 18, No. 2,
2000, pp. 119-129. [A non-technical article about how to select software to automate a library.]
McCray A.T, and Gallagher M.E. (2001) Principles for digital library development. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44,
No. 5, pp. 49-54. [Good advice for developers who want to make information sources available through computers
and networks.]
Price S.P. Morris A. and Davies J.E. (1996). An overview of electronic document request and delivery research. The
Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 435-448.
and Price S.P., Morris A., and Davies J.E. (1996) An overview of commercial electronic document delivery suppliers and
services. The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 523-542.
[Two articles that form together a good overview of the state of the art in the area of document supply.]
Tenopir C. and Barry J. (1999). Database marketplace 99. Library Journal, May 15, 1999, pp. 40-48. [A good overview
article of the online documentary information market, published annually in the last few years in Library Journal.]
Varley, Allen. (1991) Marine Information Center Development: an introductory manual. IOC Manuals & Guides, No. 23.
Paris : Unesco-IOC. [A guide about managing information centers that is rather unique as it focuses on marine
information.]
Biographical Sketch
13
Paul Nieuwenhuysen received the degrees of Licentiaat in Physics in 1974, Doctor in Science in 1979, the Belgian postdoctoral degree of Geaggregeerde voor het Hoger Onderwijs in 1983, and the inter-university postgraduate degree in
Documentation and library science in 1986.
Since 1983, Paul Nieuwenhuysen has been a full-time member of the academic staff at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
nowadays as professor. He is head of the information and documentation department, and science and technology
librarian, both in the framework of the University Library, as well as teaching courses on information retrieval.
At the inter-university postgraduate program in Information and Library Science of the Universitaire Instelling
Antwerpen, he is guest professor responsible for courses on information technology and on the information market.
He has organized international training courses on management of information in science and technology. In the
domain of information science, he is a member of several societies and of the editorial board of four journals, and he
has worked for various international agencies (including Unesco-PGI, Unesco-IHP, Unesco-IOC, Unesco-MAB, and
UNDP).
14