Nicky Whitsed is Director of Library Services at the Open University's Jennie Lee Library. The Open University is one of the world's largest suppliers of distance education; it…
Abstract
Nicky Whitsed is Director of Library Services at the Open University's Jennie Lee Library. The Open University is one of the world's largest suppliers of distance education; it has a student body of over 150 000, the vast majority of whom are not located on campus. The library is at the centre of developing electronic library services to meet the needs of the student body, and so the first question had to be:
Libraries are much more than passive repositories of information: they can play an active role in educating and training people, communities and society at large. We spoke to Nicky…
Abstract
Libraries are much more than passive repositories of information: they can play an active role in educating and training people, communities and society at large. We spoke to Nicky Whitsed, Director of Library Services at the Open University — one of the largest players in the distance education field in the UK — and Philip Adams, Senior Assistant Librarian at De Montfort University Library and EduLib Development Officer, to ask their views on distance learning, where the technology is going, how their institutions handle training.
Robert van der Zwan and Nicky Whitsed
The Interactive Open Learning Centre and Media Archive at the Open University Library is a collection of OU‐produced audio‐visual materials. The archive is being enhanced by the…
Abstract
The Interactive Open Learning Centre and Media Archive at the Open University Library is a collection of OU‐produced audio‐visual materials. The archive is being enhanced by the cross‐campus provision of online access to a showcase of locally‐ and externally‐produced multimedia software, and (as part of Carnegie Mellon University's Informedia project) by the creation of a automatically‐indexed collection of digital OU TV broadcasts. The OU plans to create a digital archive not just of its video materials, but also of its copyright photographs and printed course materials, as it works towards the establishment of a hybrid library.
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School Library serves the needs of teaching staff, students, researchers and other medical workers in this University of London Medical…
Abstract
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School Library serves the needs of teaching staff, students, researchers and other medical workers in this University of London Medical School. In 1984 it was decided that an OPAC system with sophisticated information retrieval facilities be acquired; CAIRS was chosen. The paper describes the reasons for choosing CAIRS and the tasks involved in designing the record structures, screen layouts and so on, as well as the ways of searching the catalogue using CAIRS.
The arrival of CD‐ROM (compact disc read only memory) databases provides the opportunity for libraries to gain valuable experience in teaching end users how to search for…
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The arrival of CD‐ROM (compact disc read only memory) databases provides the opportunity for libraries to gain valuable experience in teaching end users how to search for bibliographic information. This paper considers some of the issues, by describing the experiences of one small medical school library (Charing Cross and Westminster), which has introduced the Medline database on CD‐ROM. Such issues include the assessment of training needs, the type of teaching sessions and the documentation. Details are given of the one‐to‐one approach adopted at Charing Cross and Westminster for training end users to search Medline on CD‐ROM. Fourteen references guide the reader to further papers on end user searching and CD‐ROM developments.
In a celebrated article, published in 1990, McSean and Law described CD‐ROM as a ‘transient technology’. This paper provides a starting point for a general discussion on the…
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In a celebrated article, published in 1990, McSean and Law described CD‐ROM as a ‘transient technology’. This paper provides a starting point for a general discussion on the future role of CD‐ROMs in libraries. An examination of the CD‐ROM market and the range of applications available highlights the popularity of the medium. Technical limitations remain, however, and in some subject areas the lack of currency of the data is a significant drawback. Alternative sources of electronic information, including online, tape leasing, BIDS and storage on hard disc, are explored. Although these alternatives are superior to CD‐ROM in some respects, the latter has a promising future particularly for small full‐text applications, multimedia, and small specialised databases. CD‐ROM should be seen, in general terms, as a replacement for printed material rather than a competitor to other forms of electronic information.
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:
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The first Microlib conference was held in 1988 and some of the papers presented there appeared in subsequent issues of Program. The second Microlib conference was held at the same…
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The first Microlib conference was held in 1988 and some of the papers presented there appeared in subsequent issues of Program. The second Microlib conference was held at the same location, the Penta Hotel in Lisbon, from the 14th to the 16th of May 1991. As before, the conference was organised by Consinfor, a Portuguese consultancy company specialising in the information field. Staff from Consinfor have been involved over the years in helping organisations choose database software and design databases; they have also been involved in the organisation of other relevant seminars, exhibitions and conferences. Microlib '91 was sponsored by the Portuguese firm, Time Sharing, and the Dutch serials subscriptions agency, Swets.
Computers in Libraries International 91 was the fifth in an annual series of conferences run by the publishers Meckler Ltd, in the UK. It was held from the 26th to the 28th of…