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The eventual adaptation of archives to new technological possibilities could begin with the creation of digital versions of archival finding aids, which would allow the international diffusion of descriptive information. The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), document type definition (DTD) for archival description known as encoded archival description (EAD) is an appropriate tool for this purpose. Presents a methodological strategy that begins with an analysis of EAD and the informational object to be marked up, allowing the semiautomatic creation of a digital version.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the international strengthening of copyright law in developing countries and the active involvement of the international library community in the movement against it.

The paper describes the overprotection of intellectual property rights through international and bilateral treaties, the reaction against such through the proposal of a WIPO development agenda, and the contribution of the international library organizations to the debates and discussions in the WIPO arena.

The initiative for a development agenda for WIPO has proven much more successful than many had imagined, even its promoters. The most relevant proposals made by the international library community were included in the final list of approved recommendations.

The paper raises awareness of the relationship between copyright and access to knowledge and, in consequence, the need for library organizations to exert influence in such legislation.

To deal with the new circumstances arising in the digital environment, with its particular conditions for the access, distribution and use of intellectual works, three distinct approaches exist: legal (copyright laws are modified to adapt them to the new context), technological (systems designed to control access and use of works), and contractual (through licenses to regulate the conditions of use of the works). The joint use of technological measures and licenses, together with the laws that protect both, are seriously endangering the effectiveness of the limitations to copyright set forth by law to benefit libraries, their users and citizens in general. This represents a strong privatisation of access to information. Using as a point of reference the laws of countries that are on the front lines of this terrain – the USA, the European Union and Australia – some problems created by the new forms of protection of intellectual works are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of knowledge, among university professors, about copyright problems related to e‐learning activities.

An online questionnaire was used to survey professors teaching subjects online.

There is a considerable lack of knowledge on the part of professors regarding copyright issues, both in general terms and in specific matters related to digital learning. Strong discrepancies are found between the text of the law and the notion actually held by professors as to how legislators have formulated the law.

This information may be useful for professors themselves as well as for persons managing the e‐learning platforms of universities. It demonstrates that the law was reformed without any discussion with those actually engaged in online teaching.

The requisite of creativity set down by copyright laws does not fit well into the context of digital databases. The risk of being unprotected increases in the case of factual compilations, as simple facts or data are not copyrightable, meaning that their contents can easily be copied and/or used by others without infringing copyright. After more than a decade of intense debate about the need to give or not give additional protection to non‐original databases, and about the most appropriate model to follow, international consensus is still far away. This paper analyses the situation at the present point of the long, heated process of harmonising the legal protection of databases. The European directive is first examined, as well as attempts to extrapolate it to other countries. Then the paper looks at some proposals from the USA, and finally at the treaties and projects of an international nature.

The problems that the great developments in digital information and the Internet are creating for copyright may be partly solved through new legislation as well as through the implementation of technological systems (generically known as ECMS) that help protect it. These two approaches – legal and technological – interact, as the new copyright laws protect these electronic measures through the prohibition of their circumvention. The contents of the three main legal norms that have regulated this area to date, the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the European Directive and the new Australian Copyright Act, are analysed in an attempt to determine what impact they might have on the traditional limitations and exceptions to copyright (fair use/dealing, private copying, library privileges) that benefit libraries, their users and the general public.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate four visualizations that represent affective states of students.

An empirical-experimental study approach was used to assess the usability of affective state visualizations in a learning context. The first study was conducted with students who had knowledge of visualization techniques (n=10). The insights from this pilot study were used to improve the interpretability and ease of use of the visualizations. The second study was conducted with the improved visualizations with students who had no or limited knowledge of visualization techniques (n=105).

The results indicate that usability, measured by perceived usefulness and insight, is overall acceptable. However, the findings also suggest that interpretability of some visualizations, in terms of the capability to support emotional awareness, still needs to be improved. The level of students’ awareness of their emotions during learning activities based on the visualization interpretation varied depending on previous knowledge of information visualization techniques. Awareness was found to be high for the most frequently experienced emotions and activities that were the most frustrating, but lower for more complex insights such as interpreting differences with peers. Furthermore, simpler visualizations resulted in better outcomes than more complex techniques.

Detection of affective states of students and visualizations of these states in computer-based learning environments have been proposed to support student awareness and improve learning. However, the evaluation of visualizations of these affective states with students to support awareness in real life settings is an open issue.

The importance of online public access catalogues (OPACs) has changed in recent years, mainly due to the large number of electronic resources now available. The aim of this study is to learn about and evaluate the use made by researchers of the OPAC of the library network of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, the largest research institution in Spain.

To this end a questionnaire was drafted with questions pertaining both to the system and to the users themselves. The information gathered was supplemented by data obtained from the transaction logs.

The results have revealed the use made of the OPAC and the characteristics of the searches performed. Users are still confronted by classic problems of information seeking: information overload, errors in subject searching, and the predominant use of the system's simpler options. The results show that the OPAC is broadly used by end‐users not only for obtaining printed material, but also for connecting to the electronic resources subscribed to by the library.

The OPAC should continue to occupy an important position in the library's overall information environment, interacting with other information systems.

The purpose of this paper is to update and review the concept of warrant in Library and Information Science (LIS) and to introduce the concept of epistemic warrant from philosophy. Epistemic warrant can be used to assess the content of a work; and therefore, it can be a complement to existing warrants, such as literary warrant, in the development of controlled vocabularies. In this proposal, the authors aim to activate a theoretical discussion on warrant in order to revise and improve the validity of the concept of warrant from the user and classifier context to the classificationist context.

The authors have conducted an extensive literary review and close reading of the concept of warrant in LIS and knowledge organization in order to detect the different stances and gaps in which the concept of epistemic warrant might apply. The authors adopted an epistemological approach, in the vein of some of the previous commenters on warrant, such as Hope Olson and Birger Hjørland, and built upon the theoretical framework of different authors working with the concept of warrant outside knowledge organization, such as Alvin Plantinga and Alvin Goldman.

There are some authors and critics in the literature that have voiced for a more epistemological approach to warrant (in opposition to a predominantly ontological approach). In this sense, epistemic warrant would be an epistemological warrant and also a step forward toward pragmatism in a prominently empiricist context such as the justification of the inclusion of terms in a controlled vocabulary. Epistemic warrant can be used to complement literary warrant in the development of controlled vocabularies as well as in the classification of works.

This paper presents an exhaustive update and revision of the concept of warrant, analyzing, systematizing, and reviewing the different warrants discussed in the LIS literary warrant in a critical way. The concept of epistemic warrant for categorizational activities is introduced to the LIS field for the first time. This paper, and the proposal of epistemic warrant, has the potential to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the development of controlled vocabularies and assessment of the content of works.