URL: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf98102

Proposal submission deadline dates: January 31 and July 31, annually

The purpose of this announcement is to encourage U.S. research and education institutions and facilities to connect to the Internet and to establish high performance connections to support selected meritorious applications. It updates NSF 96-64 Connections to the Internet. This includes three connections categories:

a) connections for K-12 institutions, libraries, and museums that utilize innovative technologies for Internet access;

b) new connections for higher education institutions;

c) connections for research and education institutions and facilities that have meritorious applications with special network requirements (such as high bandwidth and/or bounded latency) that cannot readily be met through commodity network service providers.

The NSF Division of Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research (ANIR) has advanced and supported inter-institutional computer networking for research and education since 1986. With this support, the Internet has become an essential infrastructure for that community and is used extensively to facilitate communication and collaboration and to provide access to information and computing resources. The number of Internet users, the number of connected networks, and the amount of network traffic continue to grow rapidly.

NSF supports the goals of the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Information and Communications (CIC) "America in the Age of Information: A Forum (July 1995)" <http://www.hpcc.gov>.

Addtional Information:

Frequently asked questions are maintained on the web page: http://www.cise.nsf.gov/anir/connect.html

General inquiries should be made to:

Division of Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research
Room 1175
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230

(703) 306-1949 or anir-info@nsf.gov

Sixth DELOS Workshop: Preservation of Digital Information, June 17 - 19, 1998, Tomar, Portugal

Neil Beagrie
AHDS Executive
Arts and Humanities Data Service
King's College London WC2R 2LS UK
neil.beagrie@ahds.ac.uk

Since 1996, the DELOS Working Group has organised a series of workshops with the intention of promoting research into the further development of digital library technologies. The sixth workshop in this series, co-organised with the European Commission Telematics for Libraries Programme funded NEDLIB project, was concerned with the important subject of digital preservation. It was held in Tomar (Portugal) and had about 40 attendees, largely from Europe but with representatives from the United States and Australia. The workshop presentations provided a good overview of current work and several important issues were raised.

Firstly, there was an awareness of the importance of collection management policies with regard to digital preservation.  For example, with specific reference to the World Wide Web, current technologies make it relatively easy for software robots to be able to collect complete snapshots of the entire Web or particular domains of it. The Finnish EVA project, for example, is using Nordic Web Index (NWI) technology to harvest and index all Web documents located in the Finnish domain. Copyright issues mean there is currently no public access to the archive created by EVA although in the longer term, legal deposit legislation for digital publications may provide for this. By contrast, the National Library of Australia's PANDORA project uses particular selection guidelines developed by the Selection Committee on Online Australian Publications (SCOAP). PANDORA is currently only collecting electronic journals that are in the public domain. Discussions are underway with publishers to extend the archive to include commercial publications. Developing and applying collection management policies may be time-consuming and expensive in the short-term but attempting to collect all digital documents will not be sustainable (or even desirable) in the long-term.

The workshop also raised a second issue: what metadata would need to be collected to enable the re-use or emulation of digital information created on obsolete software and hardware platforms?  Alan Heminger of the US Air Force Institute of Technology proposed the creation of a meta-knowledge archive (or archives) that would maintain sufficient knowledge about how data had been stored and used in order to enable the future recovery of data from obsolete storage devices and file formats.  Dave MacCarn (WGBH Educational Foundation) outlined the concept of a Universal Preservation Format (UPF) for digital video and film which proposes the use of a platform-independent format that will help make accessible a wide range of data types. Interestingly, in his presentation, MacCarn advocated storing digital data on an extremely compact hybrid analogue media (like that developed by Norsam Technologies) for long-term preservation. The stored information would include metadata that would describe how to recover the data stored on the medium and to enable the construction of reading devices.

Other workshop papers raised the important issues of rights management, early appraisal and the essential relationship between preservation and access. An interesting paper by David Wallace of the University of Michigan School of Information on the US PROFS-related litigation over the archiving of US Government email suggested that digital "salvage archiving" would probably require resources, both technical and economic, that would not be available in most institutions concerned with preservation. Reflecting a current confusion, several of the other workshop papers described projects or programmes related to digitisation rather than digital preservation itself but problems being solved in this particular area are of interest to those concerned with preservation. It is also good to see a widespread acceptance that the preservation of digital information does not just involve technical problems, it requires solutions to organisational, economic and political problems as well. The recent UK JISC funded study on "Digital Collections: a strategic policy framework for creating and preserving digital resources" underlined the need for a strategic and collaborative approach to these problems. It is good to see so many initiatives and projects preparing to gain practical experience in this important area.

For more information on the workshop, see the DELOS6 Web pages:

http://crack.inesc.pt/events/ercim/delos6/

Other Relevant Pointers:

DELOS Working Group	http://www.iei.pi.cnr.it/DELOS/
EVA - the acquisition and archiving of electronic network publications (In Finnish)	http://linnea.helsinki.fi/eva/
NEDLIB Project	http://www.konbib.nl/nedlib/
Norsam Technologies	http://www.norsam.com/
PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked DOcumentary Resources of Australia)	http://www.nla.gov.au/pandora/
A strategic policy framework for creating and preserving digital collections	http://ahds.ac.uk/manage/framework.htm
Universal Preservation Format	http://info.wgbh.org/upf/

Copyright (c) 1998 Michael Day, Neil Beagrie

As the World (Wide Web) Turns: Resources at Iowa State

On the Road to Omega

At the dawn of the early Meso-Electronic, we are facing unprecedented information overload. The World Wide Web and the Internet have not only revolutionized information availability, but provide access to forms and formats unimagined except by the most visionary. In their effort to facilitate access and use of these digital resources, many librarians, as well as others, have adopted traditional organizational techniques developed during Pre-Electronic times. Others have sought to manage these sources through the application of technologies created during the Paleo-Electronic era. Still others are at this very moment inventing the Tools of Tomorrow to provide organized access to existing and yet-to-be resources. To promote awareness of current and emerging digital information management efforts, we have established a series of Web-based clearinghouses which profile significant activity in each of these arenas.

Beyond Bookmarks

Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web is a clearinghouse of World Wide Web sites that have applied or adopted classification schemes or indexing vocabularies to organize or provide enhanced access to Internet resources. CyberDewey, a site employing the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) developed by David A. Mundie; EELS, the Electronic Engineering Library, Sweden; DutchESS, the Dutch Electronic Subject Service; and CyberStacks(sm), a Web-based 'virtual library' that uses the outline of the Library of Congress Classification as a structural framework, are among the listed sites using established international or national library classification systems for Web organization.

The Scout Report Signpost, a service coordinated by Amy Tracy Wells at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the NSF-sponsored Internet Scout Project, is one of the outstanding projects listed in the clearinghouse that has applied a "traditional" controlled vocabulary (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)) to enhance access to a select collection of Web resources.

The Big Picture(sm)

The Big Picture(sm): Visual Browsing in Web and non-Web Databases is a clearinghouse of activities that have applied Information Visualization technologies to enhance use and access to Web and selected non-Web databases. Profiled projects include those that utilize the Kohonen Self-Organizing Map (SOM) developed by Teuvo Kohonen and his team at the Neural Networks Research Centre, Helsinki University of Technology (WEBSOM). Other notable examples of this approach include the work of Xia Lin, Drexel University (SiteMap) and Hsinchun Chen of the University of Arizona (ET-Space), a co-investigator with Bruce R. Schatz in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NSF/ARPA/NASA Digital Library Initiative. Among the more intriguing applications profiled at this site are SPIRE, a document visualization technology developed by James A. Wise, James J. Thomas, and the team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the products offered by Inxight, a company utilizing technologies developed at Xerox PARC.

LibraryAgents(sm)

LibraryAgents(sm): Library Applications of Intelligent Software Agents is a planned clearinghouse of applications of intelligent software agents to library services. Potential service areas include reference, acquisitions, cataloging, as well as interlibrary loan and collection development. Presently, access is provided to key Agent resources sites, notably the UMBC AgentWeb maintained by Tim Finin of the Laboratory for Advanced Information Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and BotSpot®, the award-winning clearinghouse devoted to Internet agents and robots founded and directed by Marcus P. Zillman.

The Magic Touch(sm)

The Magic Touch(sm): Haptic Interaction in Web and non-Web Databases is a recently initiated clearinghouse devoted to efforts that describe or apply Haptic, Tactile, or Kinaesthetic interfaces, displays, or interactive technologies to enhance access and use of non-Web and Web resources. An extensive bibliographic and technology review is currently underway and it is hoped that the site will be formally announced in Fall 1998.

The Next WAVe(sm)

The Next WAVe(sm): Auditory Browsing in Web and non-Web Databases is a newly-established clearinghouse devoted to Auditory interfaces, displays, or interactive technologies that may enhance access and use of non-Web and Web objects. The site also includes profiles of relevant Assistive Technologies that provide Web access for the disabled as well as enhanced WWW navigation for others. Projects and publications by members of the International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD) form the core of this clearinghouse.

Onion Patch(sm)

Onion Patch(sm): New Age Public Access Systems is a clearinghouse devoted to projects, research, products and services that support or demonstrate alternative approaches to Second Generation OPACs and other current online public catalogs and indexes. Among the large-scale or envisioned systems that offer alternative display and retrieval features and functionalities, integrated access to full-text and Web resources, or intelligent interactive searching are the Library of Congress Experimental Search System (ESS) developed by Rich Greenfield and Dean Wilder; Cheshire II, developed by Ray R. Larson at the University of California, Berkeley; and Continuity, an "Extensible Intelligent Integrated Collaborative Catalog and Distributed Institutional Memory Archive" developed by Peter J. Wasilko.

Project Aristotle(sm)

Project Aristotle(sm): Automated Categorization of Web Resources is a clearinghouse of activities that investigate or demonstrate the automated categorization, classification, or organization of Web resources. The work of Anders Ardö and Traugott Koch of the Lund University NetLab (Nordic WAIS/World Wide Web Project); David Eichmann, the University of Iowa (Sulla); and Robert E. Kent, Washington State University (WAVE) are but a few of the notable projects that offer desktop, networked, or distributed methods of automatically organizing WWW collections. This clearinghouse is also a gateway to additional Information Visualization projects as well as those that employ Agent technologies for information organization.

Sensory Information Navigation

Sensory Information Navigation in Virtual Environments is a planned clearinghouse devoted to projects that demonstrate the application of Visualization, Auditory Browsing, or Haptic Interaction in Virtual Environments. The site will include profiles of immersive as well as non-immersive technologies and applications. A preliminary literature survey has been conducted, and selected activities have been identified. It is hoped that this clearinghouse will be formally established by the end of 1998.

For those activities profiled in each clearinghouse, a bibliography of key and significant reports, papers, and articles is provided. Where possible, a link to the full-text of a cited work, or an abstract, is made available. Access to demonstration or prototype systems is offered in most cases. Profiled projects and associated publications have been arranged by the name of the university, corporation, or other organization with which the principal investigator of a project is, or was formerly, affiliated. A General Bibliography of general works is also available within each clearinghouse. Publications that more fully describe many of these clearinghouses are available within the clearinghouse site or from the CyberStacks(sm) homepage. Several additional publications are in preparation and will be posted when completed and available.

A gateway to these and other pending or planned Net Projects has been established. We welcome the formal participation of interested parties in the further development of these clearinghouses as well as citations and sources relevant to their scope.

I wish to thank Paul Evan Peters (1947-1996) for my lesson in Digital History 101. I highly recommend his Words to Web Weavers and Dancers at the Dawn of the Meso-Electronic Period, a presentation I had the privilege of experiencing at the State of Iowa Historical Building, Des Moines, one morning in the late Paleo-Electronic.

Copyright (c) 1998 Gerry McKiernan

Digital Library Technology '98: Transforming library services.....meeting the user needs for electronic information delivery: Solutions for the digital age, Sydney, June 1998

Have you wondered what the role of libraries and librarians would be in the 21^st century when the whole world is networked? Are you concerned about whether libraries will exist in the future and how you will be able to change to ensure that you have a job in the future? Or whether libraries will exist? The Digital Library Technology Conference attended by approximately 300 participants in Sydney on June 15-16, 1998, partially addressed these concerns. More importantly, the sessions confirmed that the libraries that are developing and successful are part of the information industry, and are not wedded to maintaining a traditional library service. The most important message from the sessions dealing with digital initiatives was that libraries must focus on the developments in information technology and match these to the information needs of our clients, delivering quality service, which will make our organisations successful and competitive.

Overall three themes emerged:

• We librarians are not all equally well prepared for the digital present--let alone the digital future. In fact, many organizations are not networked or able to access the Internet
• A strong partnership with our IT colleagues is essential in order to deliver any services to our clients
• It will take a lot of work, skills development and assessment to ensure that libraries are able to make the transition to effective information service in the 21^st century.

Tony Barry, previously Deputy Librarian and head of the Centre For Networked Access to Scholarly Information, Australian National University, now information consultant, introduced the conference, describing the evolution from print to electronic media in terms of opportunities for libraries. He mentioned initiatives in building digital libraries, developed mostly by the researchers we seek to serve.

Wendy Pang then led off the 2 days of discussion by describing the evolution of the ABARE/Department of Primary Industries and Energy from a traditional library to one serving clients directly at their desktop utilising desktop database and ejournal access, self checkout and interactive services. The four areas Wendy identified as still requiring library intervention were cataloguing, journal routing and loan, interlibrary loans, and coordination of purchasing. Key to the success of the library were the link with IT, a strong relationship with the technologist, and a knowledge of client needs.

"Writing your library technology plan" was the next presentation. Robyn Boydell of the law firm, Allen, Allen and Hemsley, described the steps taking place to network and access electronic resources in a major legal firm. For those who think that every library is automated and the only thing stopping implementation of digital library services is the conservatism of the library staff, this and Gail Davies' papers were wake-up calls. Robyn described the enormous steps which need to be taken to move an organisation with no networked access to the catalogue or CD ROMs into an information rich environment. At this company, an external group, KPMG, undertook the analysis. After needs assessment a report on IT needs was developed relating to architecture, applications and information delivery. While a library IT plan has not yet been written, the organisation has proceeded to select a systems integrator and to implement change. Robyn described both the process used to make the transition, the organisational drivers, and potential impact on clients. I hope she is able to share a library IT plan with us when it is developed.

The State Library of New South Wales digital initiatives were then outlined by Rebecca Thomas. From an enormously rich collection, the Library has digitised the Banks paper (9,322 manuscript pages), 300,000 photographic images, Elizabeth Ellis' book on Conrad Martens, Utzon's plans of the Sydney Opera House, and Colonial art. They are also participating in the Australian Co-operative Digitisation project. Interesting themes emerged--firstly, that project generally take longer than anticipated; secondly, that the technology can change so much during the progress of a project that the delivery mechanism changes significantly, and thirdly, that content is critical.

Lyn Bosanquet, GEAC, addressed the issue of Library System acquisition. She pleaded for libraries to make library system vendors their partners rather than expect to buy "off the shelf". Her paper gives a general overview of system acquisition issues, rather than a checklist oriented to providing selection criteria or a project management guide.

Graeme Deutscher, Manager of Wollongong City Library & Cultural Services, presented an insight into public library networking--including the library system, CD ROMs, and local databases.

Nicholas Mulcahey, Associate with the law firm Gilbert & Tobin addressed the very thorny issue of copyright in the digital environment, describing the general library provisions for copying in the existing environment. He then moved to moral and new technology rights, particularly implications for fair dealing, (thankfully) recently announced as a central plank of the Commonwealth Government approach to digital rights (thanks in no small part to ACLIS). Libraries clearly need to be concerned about storage of digital objects, as well as privacy for clients.

The morning sessions were followed by a round table, which covered general issues of library use of technology, the role of the librarian in a networked evnironment, and continuing technology changes.

Jeremy Cullis, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, Sydney University Medical Library, described the evolution of Squirrel, a document delivery initiative at the library. Users can register to use the service through a web form, which covers copyright issues. Requests can them be made by phone, fax, mail or email or via a web form. Electronic requests are managed in Eudora, with supply either by fax from the collection or by using Infotrieve via Ariel. The system will change when the Fretwell Downing software selected under the LIDDA project is installed and operational. Interesting issues emerged regarding costs and speed of supply.

Gail Rinquet, Australian Dental Association, described the progress towards a fee for service arrangement for library services for Association members. The project is not a digital library initiative. The charging fee is in addition to the standard service for members, but is able to provide services for non-members under a schedule of fees.

Beth McLaren provided a very interesting perspective on the evolution of the Electronic Technology Access Centre at the Sydney Institute of Technology (SIT) from her role as Library Manager. While the development of a service offering more than 70 networked PC's accessing CD ROMs, office applications and the Internet is only appropriate for a very small number of libraries, the paper was a fascinating description of the strategies used to successfully gain approval and funding for the centre. Again, the most essential step was to clarify how the project would assist the organisational goals of SIT, and to form partnerships with IT and other groups to lobby for, and implement to, initiative.

Margaret Hyland, Manager, ACT Education and Communication (previously OConnell Education Centre), was one of the highlights of the conference. She spoke convincingly and enthusiastically of the need to redefine the catalogue to provide pathways to knowledge - printed and electronic. Seamless, efficient access to information emerged as the themes. She argued for the essential role of quality records of electronic information for location and retrieval.

Unfortunately, Ken Methven, Manager, Internet and Network Services, EDS Technical Services, was unable to present his paper on building an Intranet. His written paper (tabled at the conference) outlined the need for the Corporate Intranet to have a strong business model and technical architecture.

Penny Kerr, Marketing Manager, Chip Application Technologies, attempted to convince all that smart card schemes are essential for all transactions in this digital age. Application would clearly depend upon the technical infrastructure and charging requirements of each organisation; however, Penny very usefully outlined the 3 main types of schemes:

1. A single payment only scheme
2. Joining a scheme run by another organisation (e.g., a bank)
3. Establishment of your own scheme. Costs of implementing a smartcard scheme were not revealed.

Peter Keenan, Australian Business Limited Librarian, provided a detailed paper outlining the assessment which can be made to consider whether material should be purchased in electronic and print forms. It was a case study of ABL legal subscriptions.

Next I spoke on evaluating and delivering Internet journals and resources. The actual criteria which should be considered in evaluation; mechanisms for delivery; metadata; and Information Portals were covered.

Gayle Davies was another highlight of the conference. The New South Wales Director of Public Prosecturions is one of 20 Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) customers still receiving cards, as they do not have an automated system. The technological environment within the organisation requires major change and is a significant limiting factor for any attempt to move to digital library initiatives. Gayle argued that the skills and knowledge of librarians was essential for all information projects. In conclusion, calling on librarians to actively promote rather than apologise for their skills, she argued that librarians need confidence in the skills we already have and flexibility to learn new skills to move ahead.

Frances Sims and Don Carol of Stanton Library and Information Systems described the revitalisation of the library through the updating of its technical environment. Internet access, CD-ROM and database delivery, and a freenet have provided a complex set of services to be delivered to all library clients. This was the only presentation which really delved into any technical issues, to the delight of many in the audience.

Finally, Philip Fare, IBM, gave a rather patronising address covering data mining. After dismissing information retrieval as a keyword only tool, he described very slowly (remember we are librarians!) and using very simple words, a textual analysis system. Very few details were provided. For anyone interested in data mining or textual analysis, I would recommend the paper given at the Australian Society of Indexers (ACT and NSW) conference in September 1997. (For information on the paper contact gcousins@onaustralia.com.au)

Walt Crawford (1) argues that as libraries have progressively accessed and implemented online initiatives over the past 25 years, without sudden change, the services and skills of digital librarians have not been well recognised. At times, we all have been challenged by those who claim either that libraries are anachronistic unchanging organisations, out of touch with new technology, or that they are irrelevant in a networked world. This conference provided much food for thought and demonstrated that libraries have been changing steadily and with great success implementing new virtual connections for our clients where this is technically possible, and challenging the boundaries of traditional information services.

(1) Crawford, W. 1998. "The dangers of the digital library", Electronic Library, 16 (1): 28-30.

Copyright (c) 1998 Roxanne Missingham

H. John Heinz III Archives at Carnegie Mellon University: Preservation, Access, Research

URL: http://heinz1.library.cmu.edu/HELIOS

After four years of design, development and implementation, the H. John Heinz III Archives at Carnegie Mellon University presented the Internet community with access to the digital version of the Senator John Heinz papers in January 1998. The Heinz Electronic Library Interactive Online System (HELIOS) represents one of the country's most exhaustive and comprehensive projects to systematically digitize textual documents for preservation, access and scholarship purposes. Not only does HELIOS deliver images of the documents in the collection in a conventional manner, but provides access to the content of the documents using natural language processing (NLP) software developed at the university. Striving to convert the bulk of the collection into digital format, the Heinz Archives is making archival information available to users across the globe while offering advanced information retrieval capabilities to significantly enhance their research activity.

The project will manage a collection of approximately one million documents in both image and full-text formats by its completion in 1999; presently, the HELIOS database comprises over 500,000 images. As an interdisciplinary project, it combines the professional expertise of archivists, librarians, computational linguists, user interface designers, programmers, and managers of computing services. HELIOS integrates standard archival practices designed to meet the needs and expectations of archivists and researchers with the functions of an automated system. In particular, CMU archivists helped to develop a scanning, verification and end-user display system to capture and present the images and contextual information necessary for the online use of the papers.

HELIOS responds to several important issues: the creation, management and preservation of documents by digitization; the accessibility of archival material regardless of time/space constraints; and the exploration of archives using powerful new text-searching and organizing tools for scholarship. Unlike traditional "word-based" information retrieval technologies (i.e., keywords, Boolean operators, proximity indicators, etc.), the HELIOS search engine facilitates more accurate, sensitive, and robust content-based indexing and retrieval. It moves beyond the word as the basic unit of information to make practical use of natural language processing technology by identifying and indexing the noun phrases in each document. Phrases show words in their natural contexts, and therefore, offer inherently greater precision when used to analyze, characterize or retrieve information.

Copyright (c) 1998 Edward Galloway

Note: Correction made to the number of images (that comprise the HELIOS database) from 600,000 to 500,000, 7/15/98 4:22 pm. URL for the HELIOS site corrected from http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/Heinz to http://heinz1.library.cmu.edu/HELIOS, 7/15/98 4:38 pm.

In Print

• Using Kodak Photo CD Technology for Preservation and Access: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and Curators, Anne R. Kenney and Oya Y. Rieger

  Cornell University Library Department of Preservation and Conservation has published a brochure summarizing the findings of a study to evaluate the use of Kodak Photo CD technology for preserving and making available a range of research materials. Funded by a grant from the New York State Education Department's Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials, the study was conducted in cooperation with the eleven New York State comprehensive research libraries. In addition, six other institutions participated in investigating the applicability of the findings. Building on the work undertaken at Cornell on digital capture requirements for text-based materials, the project was designed to evaluate the Photo CD technology by controlling the factors affecting image quality during photography, digitization, and on-screen viewing. The study involved only paper-based documents, and was limited to documents scanned using the basic Kodak Photo CD method (Image Pac).

• The Digital Vault Initiative

  UMI announced a massive effort to digitize its 5.5 billion page archive containing documents going back to the first texts printed in English at the annual meeting of the American Library Association in Washington, DC. As reported by Wired magazine (June 26, 1998), "Only subscribers to ProQuest Direct -- mostly libraries and academic institutions -- will be able to offer access to the expanded collection. Over 8,000 K-12 schools subscribe to the service." The ProQuest Direct online service presently offers access to 20,000 periodicals and 7,000 newspapers. UMI provides electronic access to Digital Vault Initiative offerings through online bibliographic databases; both keyword and Boolean searching will be supported. Digitized periodicals will also include searchable tables of contents. The initiative is expected to take several years, and at its conclusion, it is expected to be "the deepest standing resource of historical documents on the Net."

Goings On

• Fritz Kutter-Contest 1999: Automatic Cataloguing and Searching Contest. Test collection to be distributed to participants, August 3, 1998.

  The Fritz Kutter-Fonds (http://www.kutter-fonds.ethz.ch/), a foundation administered by the ETH Zürich, was established in 1988, based on a donation from Fritz Kutter (1902-1985). Its aim is to encourage work in information processing and applied computer science. After ten years of awarding diploma and doctoral theses, the jury of the foundation has decided to carry out a special contest and has assigned 10 000 SFr for innovative methods in automatic cataloguing. Traditional cataloguing methods aim at generating metadata manually (i.e., catalogues), on which sophisticated queries can be performed: For example, how many issues of a book or how many titles by a certain author can be found in the collection. In this contest, the organizers are looking for new approaches, which provide good search functionality at significantly lower cost by avoiding the expensive manual generation of metadata.

  The objective of this contest is to encourage researchers and developers of information systems to completely rethink the methods of cataloguing, while aiming at both lower cost for cataloguing and higher quality in providing information access. On the one hand, automatic cataloguing based on scanned and OCR-converted information is error prone. On the other hand, new probabilistic information retrieval methods proved to be successful even in the presence of many errors. Altogether, there is a lot of potential for cheaper and maybe even better cataloguing and searching methods, which we would like to promote. The organizers emphasise that they do not want to limit this contest to a given cataloguing method, a certain metadata format, or predefined search method because rethinking cataloguing may also mean rethinking the role of metadata and the development of new search methods.

  Documents

  A sample set of data has been created based on a set of 500 books of Elias Canetti's private library. The Zentralbibliothek Zürich, where the books now reside, has scanned those pages of each book that a librarian considers relevant for cataloguing. The documents are in different languages and were acquired by Canetti during his time in Zurich. The images of the scanned pages and OCR-converted versions of each image will be provided.

  Tasks

  The contest is divided into two tasks that consist of answering queries representing an information need. Participating systems should answer these queries as well as possible. A query of the content task asks for books about a certain topic, e.g., documents about German poetry of the 19th century. For each query in this task, the answer should be a list of documents ordered by the degree to which it matches the information need. A query of the formal-aspect task asks for documents that fulfill a Boolean condition, e.g., documents written by Goethe, documents published by a certain editor, or documents published before 1945, for example.

  Schedule

  June, 1998	The guidelines of the contest are made available.
  August 3, 1998	The image files and the OCR-converted text files of the test collection are distributed to participants.
  August 3, 1998	The queries are distributed to the participants.
  March 31, 1999	The results are due.
  May 1999	Official announcement of the winners and the evaluation of the results.

  Participation

  Any person or group that is interested in library and information systems research is encouraged to participate in the contest. All participants must sign a contract with the Zentralbibliothek Zürich in order to ensure proper use of the data.

  Jury

  Dr. Matthias Kutter	ECO PHYSICS AG, Dürnten (chair)
  Professor Peter Schäuble	Institut für Informationssysteme, ETH Zürich
  Professor Horst Bunke	Institut für Informatik und angewandte Mathematik, Uni Bern
  Dr. Paolo Conti	ABB Forschungszentrum, Baden
  Dr. Angelika Kotz Dittrich	UBS, Zürich
  Professor Bernhard Plattner	TIK, ETH Zürich
  Dr. Lukas Rüst	Credit Suisse
  Dr. Jürgen Simonett	Crow Ten Information Engineering AG, Zürich

  Contact Information

  For further information please contact (preferably by email): 

  Fritz Kutter-Contest 1999
  Elke Mittendorf Information Systems
  ETH Zürich CH-8092 Zürich
  email: fkc99@inf.ethz.ch

  URLs: http://www.kutter-fonds.ethz.ch/ and http://www.kutter-fonds.ethz.ch/contest99.html.

  This contest is supported by InfoNet-Suisse (http://www.infonet-suisse.ch) and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich (http://www-zb.unizh.ch).

• Metadata for Archival Materials and Internet Resources: MARC to SGML, July 20 - 22, 1998, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

  This workshop proposes to address how the MARC format is used to catalog archival materials and Internet resources as well as other types of metadata standards that are being developed to support resource discovery in the networked environment. Sessions will offer participants the opportunity to:

  • learn how to create MARC records for archival materials (textual, graphic, audiovisual, and moving image and recorded sound) and Internet resources
  • learn how to use more specialized tools for descriptive cataloging and subject analysis for archival materials and Internet resources.
  • learn (through small-group exercises) about evolving metadata standards to create Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) headers, Dublin Core records (DC), and the new Encoded Archival Description (EAD).

  This workshop will also cover Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML), eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), and the Resource Description Framework (RDF). The cost is $300. Further information may be obtained from the web site maintained by the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Science.

• Second European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, September 19 - 23, 1998, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Early registration closes July 31, 1998.

  The conference opening session will take place at 9.00 a.m. on Monday, 21 September 1998, and the final session will take place on Wednesday afternoon, 23 September 1998. The technical talks will be complemented by invited presentations and special sessions, panel discussions, and poster and demonstration sessions. Among the topics addressed by the conference will be multilinguality, resource discovery, architectures for digital libraries, human-computer interactions, and funding policies.

  More detailed information is available at the following sites:

  Conference  Programme	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/programme.html
  Paper Sessions	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/accpapers.html
  Panel Sessions	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/panels.html
  Posters	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/posters.html
  Demos	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/demos.html
  Tutorials	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/tutorials.html
  Invited Speakers	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/speakers.html
  Special Sessions	http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/highlights/sessions.html

  This conference is sponsored by the following:

  European Union

  European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics

  IEEE Computer Society

  ICS-Forth

  University of Crete

• Creating Electronic Documents For The Next Century, August 6 - 7, 1998, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

  This two-day seminar, to be held at the Thompson Conference Center at UT-Austin, is intended for information professionals who are responsible for providing solutions to the problems posed by the management of electronic documents and records. The purpose of this seminar is twofold:

  • to explore the new technologies to be used to create documents, and

  • to examine how those standards may be the antidote to the jumble of fractious and proprietary competing formats that threaten to make modern electronic documents inaccessible to future generations.

  Many of the technical details involved in the Standardized General Markup Language (SGML) and its cousin, the Extensible Markup Language (XML), will be examined to understand why they are so powerful and how they are meant to be implemented. To demonstrate some real-world applications, we will look at some specific implementations of these markup languages, including Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and others.

  This seminar proposes to offer insight as to how and why these standards evolved, and how they will provide a framework for the long-term preservation of electronic records. Special emphasis will be placed on the fundamental concepts involved in these document description languages and how they can be used. In addition, the seminar will study many of the policy and organizational decisions that must be made when new document standards are adopted, with examples ranging from government to private industry.

  The regular registration fee is $175. A $20.00 late fee should be included if registration is not postmarked by July 23, 1998. Check, Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Fee includes refreshments, handouts and lunch. Fees are used to support the UT-Austin Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) continuing education program.

  For more information or for a registration form, contact David Terry (dterry@uts.cc.utexas.edu) or call the GSLIS office, (512) 471-8806 for registration information.

  Registrations can be faxed, with payment to follow, to avoid the late fee.

• Digital Imaging and Electronic Document Management Workshop, August 6 - 8, 1998, Kansas State University, Salina, Kansas, USA

  This course is intended for records managers, librarians, and archivists who have been assigned to specify, install, or manage a document imaging system, and who must start immediately. It is designed for non-technical professionals.

  It is expected that students will gain an understanding of how document imaging can be used and managed in both small and large scale organizations. The technology of scanning, importing, transmitting, storing, protecting, locating, retrieving, viewing, printing, and preserving documents for document imaging systems and digital libraries will also be addressed. Image and document formats, multimedia, rich text, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), CAD (Computer Aided Design), and image enabled databases will be discussed. System design issues in hardware, software, ergonomics, and workflow will be covered. Emerging technologies such as the DVD Digital Video Disk and very high speed Internet, intranet, and extranet links and protocols will be discussed. The course will include the DVD's role in completing the merging to the PC and television, the merging of telephony, cable, and the Internet, the merging of home and office, the merging of business and entertainment, and the management of the resulting document types. Several system designs will be done based on system requirements provided by the students. Students are encouraged to bring the requirements for their planned document imaging system to class.

  Further information may be found at the KSU website at http://www.dce.ksu.edu/dce/conf/imaging.

• 64th IFLA General Conference, August 16 - 21, 1998, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  The Netherlands Library Community invites professionals and decision makers in the library and information services world to attend and participate in the 64th General Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (IFLA). At the same time, an exhibition on all the latest topics in the library world will be organised in the RAI Congress Centre, where the General Conference will take place. The theme of the meeting, "On Crossroads of Information and Culture", offers scope for an exchange of experiences on the role libraries and librarians can play in bridging cultures at local, national and international levels. It also calls for reflection on the role of the information professional to increase awareness and access to the many media now available for the dissemination of information and for co-operation between all the players in the information chain: writers, academics, publishers and librarians. Sub-themes include:

  • The library as a refuge
  • On crossroads of information rights and duties
  • New roads for the profession: media skills and mind skills
  • On crossroads of acceleration and deceleration
  • Directions for the accessible library
  • The library at the crossroads of the broadest highway and the smallest footpath
  • Libraries signposting simple ways in a complex society

  Additional information on the program, registration, and logistics is available via the conference's web page: http://www.ifla.org/ifla/IV/ifla64/64intro.htm

• OCLC Institute: "Understanding and Using Metadata", Dublin, Ohio, USA.

  Registration is now open and seating is available for the following Fall 1998, dates:

  August 31 - September 2	September 9 - 11	September 21 - 23
  November 2 - 4	November 9 - 11	December 7 - 9

  This 2 1/2-day seminar offers an intensive theoretical and practical, project-based exploration of metadata and its applications.  The curriculum provides participants the opportunity to:

  • Understand the foundations of resource description and its application to the Internet
  • Understand emerging Web standards such as XML, RDF, and the Dublin Core and their application in resource description systems
  • Evaluate your information management needs and determine the appropriateness of metadata for a variety of applications
  • Use Dublin Core metadata in real-world applications

  The OCLC Institute's Metadata Lab will be used to design, implement, and evaluate a MARC- or webserver-based resource description system using metadata records for a real-world collection.

  For more information and to register online, see http://purl.org/oclc/institute. Early-bird registration (45 days prior to the seminar) discounts are available; seating is limited.

• Fourth International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining -- KDD-98, August 27 - 31, 1998, New York, New York, USA

  This conference intends to address the science and technology of automated discovery, drawing from the fields of statistics, databases, machine learning, data visualization, high performance computing, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge-based systems. Besides scientific and technical contributions from the latest research and applications, this year's program will also feature free tutorials, demonstrations by tool vendors, and several invited talks summarizing the state of the art and looking forward to the future. The field's interdisciplinary nature facilitates the cross-fertilization of ideas, and this summer KDD-98 will be collocated with the 24th International Conference on Very Large Databases (VLDB-98).

  For further information on the program, registration, and related issues, see the conference's web page: http://www.aaai.org:80/Conferences/KDD/1998/

• First International Workshop on Practical Information Mediation and Brokering, and the Commerce of Information on the Internet, September 14, 1998, Tokyo, Japan

  The development of the Internet has created a new space for the exchange and the commerce of information. From search engines and bargain finders to expert information servers, a new range of mediation and intermediation services are being developed. I'MEDIAT is a forum of discussion and presentation of new ideas and technologies for value adding services in information mediation and brokering. The goal of the workshop is to bring together practitioners, researchers, users and information providers involved in the development and deployment of commercial, industrial and practical applications. The main topics for papers and demonstrations include, but are not limited to:

  • Mediated access to heterogeneous information sources;
  • Mediation systems architecture;
  • Internet tools for information and knowledge sharing;
  • Advanced information search and filtering;
  • Information extraction from unstructured or semi-structured documents;
  • Information personalization and customization techniques;
  • Information distribution protocols (channels, push/pull technologies, etc.);
  • User interfaces;
  • Trust, privacy, and security;
  • Business models for the commerce of information: technological implications;
  • Policy (intellectual property, privacy, etc.): technological  implications;
  • Information mediation applications.

  The submission deadline was June 19, 1998. However, updates and additional information are available at the home page: <http://context.mit.edu/imediat98>.

• Digital Libraries: Interdisciplinary Concepts, Challenges and Opportunities, Third International Conference on Concepts of Library and Information Science (CoLIS 3), May 23 - 26, 1999, Dubrovnik, Croatia. Deadline for research papers September 15, 1998.

  CoLIS 3 aims to focus on fundamental and integrating issues that reflect efforts and thinking on digital libraries from a number of disciplines and countries. Contributions are invited that address the following topics:

  • Fundamental and theoretical aspects,
  • Digital libraries for different communities,
  • Nature of digital library collections,
  • Organization of digital libraries,
  • Technical infrastructure; interoperability,
  • Access to and use of digital libraries,
  • Evaluation of digital libraries and past projects,
  • Social, cultural, legal, and economic issues,
  • Integration of information resources,
  • Cooperation among digital libraries, and
  • Relations with traditional libraries.

  The types of contributions solicited include: Research papers; Poster presentations; Panels; Tutorials; Workshops; and Demonstrations and exhibits. See the web site for further information.

  Important Dates and Deadlines

  September 15, 1998	Research papers deadline
  October 15, 1998	Deadline for posters, tutorials, workshops, panels, demonstrations, and exhibits
  December 1, 1998	Notifications on selections
  January 15, 1999	Final camera-ready copy

  CoLIS 3 is being organized by: University of Zagreb, Croatia; University of Tampere, Finland; Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, in cooperation with: Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval, Association for Computing Machinery (SIGIR/ACM); American Society for Information Science, European Chapter (ASIS/EC); and International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID).

  For more information contact colis3@ffzg.hr or in the US: colis3@scils.rutgers.edu, or see the web sites at http://www.colis3.hr or in the US: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/colis3.

• Afterimages: Reformatting Visual Materials in a Digital World, September 16 - 18, 1998, National Archives and Records Administration Archives II, College Park, Maryland, USA

  This course is designed to teach managers of picture collections how to plan and manage projects to reformat endangered visual materials, including deteriorating cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate negatives for both black and white and color images. Archives, historical societies, libraries, and museums often hold large collections of photographs and other visual materials, many of which are fragile or relatively inaccessible. Reformatting these images either digitally or photographically can limit future damage to original images, while increasing access to them either over the Web or in other publication forms. The sessions will introduce photographic duplication options and digital imaging technologies and compare their commonalties and differences. The program includes hands-on experience and will teach skills for:

  1. planning and managing reformatting projects for visual materials, including contracting an outside vendor;
  2. selecting and preparing collections for reformatting, including preservation issues and care and handling;
  3. selecting and evaluating copy technologies: including when to make digital copies and when to make photographic copies;
  4. understanding best practices, benchmarks, and quality control for color and black and white photographs and digital imaging;
  5. ensuring sound cost benefit analysis and containment; and
  6. managing contracts and legal issues.

  The cost of the conference is $275.00. All participants are responsible for their meal, travel, and lodging costs. The deadline to register is September 1, 1998. To request a flyer and registration material, contact:

  Gay Tracy
  Northeast Document Conservation Center
  100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA  01810-1494
  (978) 470-1010
  <tracy@nedcc.org>.

  The conference is funded by the National Park Service Cultural Resources Training Initiative and is co-sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Northeast Document Conservation Center is an organization that receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• Seventh Delos Workshop on Electronic Commerce, September 21 - 23, 1998, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. To be held concurrently with the Second European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries.

  The call for papers closed May 15, 1998; this notice is purely informational.

  The information revolution, combined with advances in networked computing, is envisioned to have profound impacts on the way commerce will be conducted among the businesses and consumers. Unlike human economies and markets, the emerging electronic markets for various information goods and services are very complex and demand special attention towards the design of flexible infrastructures to satisfy the diverse needs of businesses and consumers.

  The Seventh Delos Workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss and understand the pressing issues in E. Commerce and Economics of Information. The following are some of the key topics for discussion:

  • Economics of Digital Information systems.
  • Middleware architectures for E. Commerce.
  • Multi-agent systems and distributed systems.
  • Payment mechanisms and billing architectures.
  • Security, authentication and registration.
  • IPR, social and rights management issues.
  • Pricing models and charging frameworks.
  • Resource and Service bundling.
  • Advertising, Trading and Brokering services.
  • Specifications for services and interoperability.

  More detailed information on presentations is available at the workshop's web site: http://www.ics.forth.gr/2EuroDL/Delos-7.html

• Clinical Computing in Patient Care: Electronic Patient Records, September 24 - 26, 1998, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

  This two and one-half day seminar will address effective management of health care information with a focus on electronic patient records. The course will address the following topics: evidence that clinicians will use well-designed information systems and their implications for clinicians' behavior; use of electronic records; legal consideration; multimedia; hospital-based systems; information security; possible future use of intelligent agents; and vendor perspectives.

  Full information is not yet available on-line. However, registration may be conducted via the web: http://www.med.harvard.edu/conted/data/81012.htm together with background information on the Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Education
  ( http://www.med.harvard.edu/conted/dce_cal.htm), which is sponsoring this course.

• Conference: Cultural Studies, Data Bases and Europe, September 29 - October 3, 1998, Debrecen, Hungary

  This conference proposes to address basic problems of contemporary cultural processes. These problems are to be specifically defined as the subject of international scientific work, following discussions (with particular reference being made to the "Austrian literature" as integral component thereof), on topics such as Culture/Civilization, National Cultures, Interculturalism/Transculturalism, as well as intercultural/transcultural scientific methods, the significance of data bases in terms of internationally oriented scientific work, etc. This may also include:

  • Changes in society and cultural science institutes, as well as universities;
  • International artistic processes (in the broadest sense of the term), and conceptions of national culture versus internationalization;
  • Artistic options and limitations (in the broadest sense of the term) in internationalization processes (the analysis of which has been mainly dominated to date by debates on security systems and the economy, as is well known).
  • Communications structures and contemporary internationalization processes (character systems, use of language, "translation" of terminology, etc.), within the scope of which the sciences are again challenged to offer solution and implementation options for communications structures (comparable to the increasing predominance of national languages which gradually became apparent from the 16th to the 19th century in particular).
  • Overcoming limitations in information (key words: absence of archives of written and image data, etc. in more than a few countries, as well as nationally emphasized data compilations, bibliographical limitations between East and West, documentation of Internet communications and legal problems connected therewith).
  • Application of cultural-scientific research results in international processes (cultural exchanges/tourism, cultural seminars, software structures, etc.).
  • Formation of a new scientific communications structure, both inwards (international networking, coop structures, etc.) and outwards (influence on media, forums including politicians, economists, etc.) with special consideration of the experience of the INST and its associates.
  • Preparation of the exhibition on the topic "The Cultural Sciences and Europe" as a forum for scientific-historical self-reflection, determination of  present status and future areas of activity.

  A plenary meeting will open the conference, and the results will be summarized in a concluding plenary meeting. (Simultaneous translation will be provided.) The sections are conceived as work-groups for specific issues (and, according to number of participants and registration, in one or more languages without translation).

  The conference is organized by INST ("Research Institute for Austrian and International Literature and Cultural Studies").

  Languages: English, German (simultaneous translation in the plenary sessions; languages used in the individual sections according to mutual agreement, and/or splitting as necessary, such that sections in another languages could also be possible, if and as necessary, according to number of participants and registrations).

  More detailed information is available at the conference's web site: http://www.adis.at/arlt/institut/english/debrecen.htm.

• Evaluating and Using Networked Information Resources and Services, American Society for Information Science (ASIS) 1999 Mid-Year Conference, May 24 - 26, 1999, Pasadena, California, USA. Call for participation closes November 1, 1998.

  Program Chairs:

  Charles McClure, Syracuse University
  cmcclure@mailbox.syr.edu
  John Carlo Bertot, State University of New York at Albany
  jcbertot@cnsunix.albany.edu

  Access to and use of networked information resources and services over the Internet continues to explode with new and innovative applications as well as in new and unforeseen applications. The development and provision of these innovative services is hindered by our limited knowledge of users and uses of networks, as well as by the lack of ongoing evaluation and assessment of networked resources. To a large degree, there is limited knowledge about users and uses of the network, nor is there much ongoing evaluation and assessment of networked information services and resources. Thus, the primary goals of the conference are to:

  • Identify what we know and don't know about use and evaluation of networked resources and services.
  • Propose strategies to improve our knowledge about use and evaluation of networked resources and services.
  • Provide a forum for attendees to share their knowledge, offer viewpoints, and debate different opinions regarding the use and evaluation of networked resources and services.

  Together, the increased use and provision of networks and networked information services, creates the need for understanding the dimensions of electronic networks and the information services provided over such networks. This conference concentrates on exploring the various aspects of electronic network and networked information services to begin to develop the means through which to measure, assess, and classify electronic networking activities. We invite papers on a variety of topics broadly related to Evaluating and Using Networked Information Resources and Services, including (but not limited to) the following general topics:

  • Use
  • Evaluation
  • Measurement
  • Theory
  • Technology
  • Social Implications and Impacts
  • Education
  • Policy

  The organizers encourage submissions across the commercial, public, academic, and governmental sectors. Submissions from national, organizational, and individual perspectives are also encouraged. While the program committee encourages submissions of empirical studies, we also encourage "opinion pieces," policy analyses, "best practice" reports, and conceptual papers. Persons considering submissions in areas related to, but not specifically mentioned in, the above topics should discuss them with the conference Chairpersons for additional guidance. To offer the most current information to conference attendees, initial submissions will first be comprised of abstracts of no more than 250 words and are due November 1, 1998. Practitioners are especially encouraged to submit abstracts and proposals for papers and sessions related to "best practices," case studies, and current activities related to use and evaluation of networked information services and resources. All conference attendees are asked to bring examples of user/use studies, and evaluation efforts that have been conducted in your organization. Other "handouts" that describe efforts to conduct use and user studies and evaluation efforts, data collection techniques and instruments, and other related items are also important information for attendees. Display tables will be made available for conference attendees to provide copies of such information.

  For further information concerning types of submissions and the requirements, see the conference's web site or contact: asis@asis.org.

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