Smoothing the Transition to Mandatory Electronic Theses

After a year of voluntary submissions, Caltech is requiring electronic thesis submission for all graduate students effective July 1, 2002. Website development, user education, collaboration between library and campus computing staff, and with faculty and the dean's office are all integral to the transition

Proposal for a CLIPS software library

This paper is a proposal to create a software library for the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) expert system shell developed by NASA. Many innovative ideas for extending CLIPS were presented at the First CLIPS Users Conference, including useful user and database interfaces. CLIPS developers would benefit from a software library of reusable code. The CLIPS Users Group should establish a software library-- a course of action to make that happen is proposed. Open discussion to revise this library concept is essential, since only a group effort is likely to succeed. A response form intended to solicit opinions and support from the CLIPS community is included

Study of Tools Interoperability

Interoperability of tools usually refers to a combination of methods and techniques that address the problem of making a collection of tools to work together. In this study we survey different notions that are used in this context: interoperability, interaction and integration. We point out relation between these notions, and how it maps to the interoperability problem. We narrow the problem area to the tools development in academia. Tools developed in such environment have a small basis for development, documentation and maintenance. We scrutinise some of the problems and potential solutions related with tools interoperability in such environment. Moreover, we look at two tools developed in the Formal Methods and Tools group1, and analyse the use of different integration techniques

The Development and Usage of the Greenstone Digital Library Software

The Greenstone software has helped spread the practical impact of digital library technology throughout the world-particularly in developing countries. This article reviews the project’s origins, usage, and the development of support mechanisms for Greenstone users. We begin with a brief summary of salient aspects of this open source software package and its user population. Next we describe how its international, humanitarian focus arose. We then review the special requirements imposed by the conditions that prevail in developing courtiers. Finally we discuss efforts to establish regional support organizations for Greenstone in India and Africa

Eight Things you should Know about Open Source Integrated Library Systems.

Open source library management systems are free alternative to costly commercial library systems. It helps to automate library functions and give a tremendous savings on library automation expenses. User ’s participation in all stages of software project ensures the development of the features that the library really wants. Lack of awareness and knowledge in open source technology among library professionals restrict wide adoption of open source library management system. This article gives an insight into the use and maintenance of open source library management systems

National Library initiatives : the UK Higher Education experience

Creation of internetworking infrastructure has long since taken on an international character and Derek Law's essay serves to inform us of just how variable the effort may be from one nation to the next, given differences in political traditions and institutional structures, not to mention the character of educational traditions. The Follet program in the United Kingdom has placed a premium on broad access by end users different from the somewhat market driven approach in the United States. It has also taken advantage of the opportunities provided by central authority which may seem unthinkable in the United States. At the same time common values and strategies are also evident, particularly the commitment to strengthening the information (read "knowledge ") creating role of higher education and promoting training of students in advanced information skills as a direct benefit to healthy economic growth. Similarly, the goals of access without charge to institutional users and subscription based funding will be familiar to American librarians who continue to pursue these goals