ITAL Information Technology and Libraries (E-Journal)
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Administering an Open-Source Wireless Network
Get PDFThis tutorial presents enhancements to an open-source wireless network discussed in the June 2007 issue of ITAL that should reduce its administrative burden. In addition, it will demonstrate an opensource monitoring script written for the wireless network
Metadata to Support Next-Generation Library Resource Discovery: Lessons from the eXtensible Catalog, Phase 1
Get PDFThe eXtensible Catalog (XC) Project at the University of Rochester will design and develop a set of open-source applications to provide libraries with an alternative way to reveal their collections to library users. The goals and functional requirements developed for XC reveal generalizable needs for metadata to support a next-generation discovery system. The strategies that the XC Project Team and XC Partner Institutions will use to address these issues can contribute to an agenda for attention and action within the library community to ensure that library metadata will continue to support online resource discovery in the future
An Assessment of Student Satisfaction with a Circulating Laptop Service
Get PDFSince May of 2000, Colorado State University’s (CSU) Morgan Library has provided a laptop computer lending service. In five years the service had expanded from 20 to 172 laptops. Although the service was deemed a success, users complained about slow laptop startups, lost data, and lost wireless connections. In the fall of 2005, the program was formally assessed using a customer satisfaction survey. This paper discusses the results of the survey and changes made to the service based on user feedback
Preparing Locally Encoded Electronic Finding Aid Inventories for Union Environments: A Publishing Model for Encoded Archival Description
Get PDFThis paper will briefly discuss encoded archival description (EAD) finding aids, the workflow and process involved in encoding finding aids using EAD metadata standard, our institution’s current publishing model for EAD finding aids, current EAD metadata enhancement, and new developments in our publishing model for EAD finding aids at Florida State University Libraries. For brevity and within the scope of this paper, FSU Libraries will be referred to as FSU, electronic EAD finding and/or archival finding aid will be referred as EAD or EADs, and locally encoded electronic EAD finding aids inventories will be referred to as EADs @ FSU
Investigations into Library Web-Scale Discovery Services
Get PDFWeb-scale discovery services for libraries provide deep discovery to a library’s local and licensed content, and represent an evolution, perhaps a revolution, for end user information discovery as pertains to library collections. This article frames the topic of web-scale discovery, and begins by illuminating web-scale discovery from an academic library’s perspective – that is, the internal perspective seeking widespread staff participation in the discovery conversation. This included the creation of a discovery task force, a group which educated library staff, conducted internal staff surveys, and gathered observations from early adopters. The article next addresses the substantial research conducted with library vendors which have developed these services. Such work included drafting of multiple comprehensive question lists distributed to the vendors, onsite vendor visits, and continual tracking of service enhancements. Together, feedback gained from library staff, insights arrived at by the Discovery Task Force, and information gathered from vendors collectively informed the recommendation of a service for the UNLV Libraries
Metaphor’s Role in the Information Behavior of Humans Interacting with Computers
Get PDFMetaphors convey information, communicate abstractions, and help us understand new concepts. While the nascent field of information behavior (IB) has adopted common metaphors like “berry-picking” and “gap-bridging” for its models, the study of how people use metaphors is only now emerging in the subfield of human information organizing behavior (HIOB). Metaphors have been adopted in human–computer interaction (HCI) to facilitate the dialogue between user and system. Exploration of the literature on metaphors in the fields of linguistics and cognitive science as well as an examination of the history of use of metaphors in HCI as a case study of metaphor usage offers insight into the role of metaphor in human information behavior.
Editor’s note: This article is the winner of the LITA/Ex Libris Writing Award, 2008
