Issues, rights, change, privacy, economics.

On April 6, 1998, the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a one-day workshop on ways to improve systems of managing access to digital information. The workshop was convened to provide input from research libraries with a focus on requirements for access management systems that can be designed and deployed in today's technical, legal, and economic environment. Participants identified these five key properties for the design and adoption of systems that enable access for users while respecting the rights and interests of authors and publishers: (1) simplicity; (2) privacy; (3) good faith; (4) trusted intermediaries; and (5) reasonable terms. Participants also recommended research and project evaluation in two key areas: system usability and economic models. Although the conclusions reached at this workshop relate specifically to the problems of managing access to the cultural record in digital form for research and teaching purposes, they apply to other realms as well, including business, medicine, insurance, credit card transactions, and logfiles from Web browsers, all of which involve more sensitive information. This report describes the opening statements and invited presentations of the workshop, and summarizes the workshop discussions under three thematic headings: technical assumptions, issues affecting user acceptance, and points that address specific questions posed. Unanticipated issues that do not fit these categories are also described. Appendices list participants, suggested readings, and definitions, and provide an update on related legislative activity. (AEF)

"This book is an in-depth collection aimed at developers and scholars of research articles from the expanding field of digital libraries"--Provided by publisher.

Low cost Internet technology has transformed library services by allowing libraries to play a creative and dynamic role in the delivery of information to their users. This book helps managers, systems personnel, and graduate students understand the challenges of providing digital library services with a number disparate content providers and software systems. It also helps readers understand what libraries must do to deliver a user experience customized to the needs of individual institutions. Familiarizes readers with general and library specific technologies required to provide digital library services Helps readers better understand trade offs between in-house and vendor solutions Provides library decision makers with technology staffing guidance

Digital Libraries: Policy, Planning and Practice brings together a wealth of international experience in the planning and implementation of digital and hybrid library projects, providing a stimulating and informative handbook and reference for library staff and information managers. It consists of chapters contributed by leading specialists from Europe, North America, South Africa and the Middle East, who offer their insight into the decision-making processes that have shaped a variety of different digitization programmes. Beginning with introductory overviews of the digital library context, the US Digital Library Program and the UK e-lib and hybrid library programmes, Digital Libraries then divides into two main sections on policy and planning, and implementation and practice. The first explores concerns such as financial and resource planning, digitized compared to born-digital content and related service issues, open access to scholarly research archives, policies for and against preservation and their justification, and evaluating electronic information services. The second section is based on case studies on major European and North American digital library projects, including the Glasgow Digital Library, UCEEL (University of Central England Electronic Library), the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (discussed in the context of five international projects), the Indiana University music Variations and Variations2 Project, and the beginnings of the Library of Congress digital program and its integration into core library services. The concluding chapter discusses the way forward for digital libraries in the context of experiences at Tilburg University library, and possible enabling or limiting factors in the future. The result of drawing together these varied and illuminating experiences is a book that offers useful information and comparisons for all digital library project staff, institutional administrators, educators and developers of learning technology. It also provides useful pointers for researchers and project staff involved in archive and museum projects, as well as introducing students to the key ingredients of successful digital libraries.

Collecting several key documents and policy statements, this supplement to the ninth edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual traces a history of ALA’s commitment to fighting censorship. An introductory essay by Judith Krug and Candace Morgan, updated by OIF Director Barbara Jones, sketches out an overview of ALA policy on intellectual freedom. An important resource, this volume includes documents which discuss such foundational issues as The Library Bill of RightsProtecting the freedom to readALA’s Code of EthicsHow to respond to challenges and concerns about library resourcesMinors and internet activityMeeting rooms, bulletin boards, and exhibitsCopyrightPrivacy, including the retention of library usage records

ECDL2000, the Fourth European Conference on Research and Advanced Te- nology for Digital Libraries, is being held this year in Lisbon, Portugal, following previous events in Pisa (1997), Heraklion (1998), and Paris (1999). One major goal of the ECDL conference series has been to draw information professionals, stakeholders, and user communities from both the research world and from - dustry into a discussion of the alternative technologies, policies, and scenarios for global digital libraries. The success of previous conferences makes them a hard act to follow. The eld of digital libraries draws on a truly diverse set of scienti c and technical disciplines. In the past three years, moreover, global cooperation on research and development has emerged as an urgent priority, particularly in the new European Framework Programme and in the Digital Library Initiative in the United States. Because of this diversity, the eld is perhaps still struggling for an identity. But this struggle for identity is itself a source of energy and creativity. P- ticipants in this eld feel themselves to be part of a special community, with special people. Each of us may claim expertise on a narrow issue, with speci c projects, but the choices we make and the methods we use in local solutions can have unforeseen impacts within a growing universe of interconnected resources.