Visual articulation of navigation and search systems for digital libraries

Journal and digital library portals are the information systems that researchers turn to most frequently for undertaking and disseminating their academic work. However, their interfaces have not been improved. We propose an articulation of the navigation and search systems in a single visual solution that would allow the simultaneous exploration and interrogation of the information system. Area is a low-cost visualization tool that is easy to implement, and which can be used with large collections of documents. Moreover, it has a short learning curve that enhances both user-experience and user-satisfaction with journal and digital library websites

Access and usability issues of scholarly electronic publications

This chapter looks at the various access and usability issues related to scholarly information resources. It first looks at the various channels through which a user can get access to scholarly electronic publications. It then discusses the issues and studies surrounding usability. Some important parameters for measuring the usability of information access systems have been identified. Finally the chapter looks at the major problems facing the users in getting access to scholarly information through today's hybrid libraries, and mentions some possible measures to resolve these problems

A Contribution to Improve the Children's Catalogue of the Public Library

This paper presents a proposal whose main goal is to contribute for the improvement of the children’s catalogue of the Portuguese Public Library. The context of the communicational paradigm of the contemporary library is described as a foundation that justifies an evolution of the concept of catalogue and purports the emergence of the concept of catalogue for children. The catalogues, collections and the facilities and equipment infrastructures available to young publics in 115 Portuguese public libraries are identified and characterized. The survey is then used as a starting point for our proposal that suggests the implementation of an ontology that, by acting upon the catalogue's substructure, will reveal relations between objects and improve the dialogue space idealized for the children's catalogue of the Public Library

Embrapa Technological Information: a bridge between research and society

This paper presents the efforts undertaken by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation regarding Science and Technology information management, through one of its Decentralized Units, Embrapa Technological Information (Scientific and Technological Information Service', SCT). The major aim of SCT is to promote and improve the processes of scientific communication - information that feeds and that results from research activities - and of science and technology dissemination - information that results from research activities and that is directed to the general publi

Discipline Formation in Information Management: Case Study of Scientific and Technological Information Services

Discipline formation in information management is investigated through a case study of the origi-nation and development of information services for scientific and technical information in Australia. Particular reference is made to a case of AESIS, a national geoscience, minerals and petroleum reference database coordinated by the Australian Mineral Foundation. This study pro-vided a model for consideration of similar services and their contribution to the discipline. The perspective adopted is to consider information management at operational, analytical and strate-gic levels. Political and financial influences are considered along with analysis of scope, perform-ance and quality control. Factors that influenced the creation, transitions, and abeyance of the service are examined, and some conclusions are drawn about an information management disci-pline being exemplified by such services

Old Hopes, New Possibilities: Next Generation Catalogues and the Centralization of Acess

Next-generation catalogues can be viewed as the latest manifestation of a tendency in library catalogue history to strive for centralization of access to collections—a single portal for the discovery of library resources. Due to an increasing volume of published materials and the explosion of online information resources during the Internet age, the library does not currently provide centralized access to its various information silos, nor does it provide a user-friendly search and retrieval experience for users whose expectations are shaped by Google and other major commercial Web sites. Searching across library resources is a complicated task, bearing high-attention “transaction costs” for the user, which discourage the use of library resources. Libraries need access systems that minimize complexity, easing discovery and delivery of resources for user populations. Here, the authors review past efforts of centralization of access, consider the potential of next-generation catalogues in the context of this historical tendency toward centralization of access, and describe what goals underlie that centralization.published or submitted for publicatio

DesignNet: a online knowledge gateway for industrial design education and research activities

This paper presents DesignNet, a knowledge-based system to the online digital display, retrieval and archiving of rich media resources for industrial design education and research. It addresses the needs of end-users (teachers, researchers and students) and content providers interacting with the School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano. The project moves from the assumption that traditional modalities of archiving and presentation currently adopted by the Politecnico and other academic institutions are not coherent with industrial design process and its need of project-support materials. The typical outputs of industrial design process are 3D models or 2D graphics, not just texts or simple images, the materials for which the usual method and technique of archiving and retrieval are conceived and developed. The challenges, philosophy and methodology in creating this evolving Web-based, cataloguing, multimedia knowledge-base to VR design resources are discussed. Finally, the related system and prototype are described

Challenges to Teaching Credibility Assessment in Contemporary Schooling

Part of the Volume on Digital Media, Youth, and CredibilityThis chapter explores several challenges that exist to teaching credibility assessment in the school environment. Challenges range from institutional barriers such as government regulation and school policies and procedures to dynamic challenges related to young people's cognitive development and the consequent difficulties of navigating a complex web environment. The chapter includes a critique of current practices for teaching kids credibility assessment and highlights some best practices for credibility education