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The semantic Web is an exciting prospect, but not yet a reality, for researchers who are faced with an ever‐increasing range of material – some freely available and some accessible to them only by virtue of their affiliation. This paper introduces the concept of the semantic Web and indicates how, if realized, the semantic Web could be of great benefit to researchers. Some parallel activities now under way are aimed at providing practical solutions to scholars today through the use of agent technology built into library portals; the paper explains, in particular, how one system, MetaLib – the library portal solution from Ex Libris – addresses these issues.

Reports on the ground‐breaking work by Herbert Van de Sompel while associated with Ghent University, Belgium, and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has led to the creation of an open linking framework for scholarly research. The open linking framework proposed by Van de Sompel puts libraries firmly in control, allowing them to determine the scope of their institution’s interlinked research environment both in terms of extent and range of link services offered to their users. It places librarians in the “trail‐blazers” profession, predicted by Vannevar Bush in 1945: they enthuse in the task of establishing useful links between resources. The creation of such an open linking environment requires the collaboration of all the stakeholders in the information industry; and underlying the success of this is an emerging standard, the OpenURL, now on a fast track path to acceptance by NISO. Van de Sompel’s research work led to the development of the SFX server technology, which was demonstrated in operation at both the Ghent University and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Ex Libris subsequently purchased the SFX server technology from Ghent University in early 2000.

With the increase in the use of electronic information services in libraries, and in particular with the dramatic increase in the use of electronic journals, there is an urgent need by libraries for solutions that link the disparate information resources in a meaningful way for the end user and that optimize the use of these resources. Such linking solutions are now available for libraries, supported and assisted by the emergence of new standards such as the OpenURL and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Linking solutions built around these standards include SFX and CrossRef. Demonstrates how these different solutions, and the underlying standards, interact to meet library needs.

Aims to provide highlights from the American Library Association (ALA) 2005 Midwinter meeting.

Provides a brief report of the meeting held in Boston, MA. in January 2005.

Outlines how the Public Library Association (PLA) debuted blogging at this meeting and provides a summary of the ever popular ALA Technology Showcase – the highlights of which included shared networks, library data mining and audio archives. Concludes with highlights from various Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) meetings and discussions and a detailed report on the Standards Interest Group.

A report of interest to library and information management professionals.