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The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. In the United States, the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) serves as the Internet "backbone" (a very high speed network that connects key regions across the country). The NSFNet will likely evolve into the National Research and Education Network (NREN) as defined in the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. For the Internet to exist, there must be connections between computers and agreements on how they are to communicate. These connections, which can consist of any of a variety of communication media or methods, are usually established within areas or regions by the particular networking organization with authority or economic interest in that area. The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) currently defines how Internet computers, from personal computers to mainframes, are to communicate. Electronic mail (e-mail) can be used by two Internet users to exchange messages with each other, distribute messages to a list of subscribers, support electronic discussions, or distribute electronic journals (e-journals). The Telnet facility for remote login enables computer users to establish connections with bibliographic databases, campus information systems of various universities, full-text databases, data files, and other online services. The File Transfer Protocol enables the user to transfer virtually any kind of file that can be stored on a computer from one Internet-connected computer to another. Tools such as Gopher, WAIS, and World Wide Web make information on the network easier to locate and use. Although the use of NSFNet has been limited to non-profit research and educational uses, dialogues have recently begun about commercialization and privatization of the its infrastructure. (10 references) (BBM)

Information Transfer * Beaver, David. 'Pushing beyond paper' MacUser 9(1) (January 1993): 215-221. Beaver foresees that 'our struggles to give up paper will seem endearingly backward' as we move into […]

The title of my presentation is 'Network Basics.' These basics are presented from a particular point of view -- the viewpoint of a network user in search of information resources […]

WHEN PEOPLE REFER to e-books, they typically mean device-dependent e-books such as those marketed by Gemstar. These are also what most people probably think of when hearing the term 'e-book'--a [...]

ALL DIGITAL LIBRARY projects are not created equal. Some projects attract millions of dollars of research funding, while others create useful collections without a dime of outside support. Some projects [...]

'WHAT DIGITAL LIBRARY software application should I buy?' asks the typical harried library staff member. It usually means that his (or her) boss decided that, to be modern, they must [...]

COPYRIGHT AS WE presently know it is dead. To be specific, copyright law as it currently stands is not only unenforceable, it is widely perceived by the general public as [...]

LIBRARIANSHIP FACES a pivotal and possibly disastrous problem. Our noble and essential work, for which we labor in quiet and unrecognized solitude, mostly attracts people for whom technology holds little [...]

AS I POINTED OUT in a previous column ('The Most Important Management Decision,' LJ 2/15/98, p. 102), it's essential to hire flexible staff to meet the challenges of building digital [...]

ABRAHAM MASLOW once said, 'When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.' Once you understand XML and the opportunities it offers for [...]

IN A PREVIOUS COLUMN, I discussed the importance of interoperability among digital library projects ('Interoperability: The Holy Grail,' LJ 7/98, p. 38ff.). Users should be able to discover through one [...]

WE DIGITAL LIBRARY developers don't get up in the morning wondering how we can ruin the lives of our patrons. Nonetheless, unintended consequences of our work may damage the capacity [...]

THE COMMON BUSINESS practice of co-branding enables an organization to purchase content or service while making it appear as if it were its own. A typical such arrangement may involve [...]

TWO YEARS AGO, I looked at the issue of selecting items or collections to digitize ('So Much To Digitize, So Little Time (and Money)' LJ 8/98, p. 36-37). Much new [...]

SOME OF US ARE old enough to remember owning and playing vinyl music records. Now, if you don't have an MP3 player, you're nearly ancient history. And between LPs and [...]

RECENTLY THE PRESS has been full of news about how the music industry is trying to shut Napster down to prevent users from swapping pirated music files. But the genie's [...]

NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO, I asserted that print books were going to be around for quite some time ('The Print Perplex: Building the Future Catalog,' LJ 11/15/98, p. 22,24) and [...]

ACQUIRING INTELLECTUAL content on behalf of a particular group of users isn't always as simple as buying it outfight. Librarians have long used a blend of techniques to acquire content, [...]

SOMEHOW THE ART of Salvador Dali seems to be an appropriate accompaniment to an eclectic group of people interested in electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Overlooking Tampa Bay, an international [...]

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE is rapid and constant. Yet our organizations now depend on technology to serve our clientele as they wish to and should be served. But choosing the technologies that [...]

IT WAS THE BEGINNING of February 2000, and although Daniel Greenstein had been traveling for weeks, he was only halfway through his itinerary. As the new (as of 12/1/99) executive […]

OVER TWO YEARS AGO I identified interoperability--the capacity of a user to treat multiple digital library collections as one--as a key digital library challenge (LJ 11/15/97, p. 31-32). In a [...]

THE OPEN SOURCE software (OSS) movement has garnered headlines in a variety of computing journals, and Linux--an open source operating system--has even been touted as a competitor to Microsoft Windows. [...]

A Database for Every Need MANY DIGITAL LIBRARY projects require database software--whether for a catalog of holdings, subject pathfinders, or other kinds of structured information. Database solutions are actually fairly [...]

IN THIS CRAZY, mixed-up world it can be tough to distinguish fact from fancy, hype from honesty, and the next 'killer' application from vaporware. As information bombards us, we must [...]

UNTIL THE LAST FEW decades, the user interface to the library had long remained relatively unchanged. For decades, the only changes in the card catalog were minor tweaks in production [...]

IN AN EARLIER COLUMN ('In-House Digitizing Options,' LJ 9/15/98, p. 30), I described options for digitizing materials in-house. But sometimes you must go outside your organization for the best solution. [...]

BEFORE BEGINNING any project to digitize material (either published or unpublished), you shouldn't assume you have the right to do so. It's an act of publication to digitize something and [...]

WITHIN A DECADE, many libraries have gone from having virtually no online presence to offering an incredible variety of online information resources. No wonder our users are confused. When they [...]

OVER THE LAST SEVERAL years we have made much progress in building digital libraries, but one major problem remains largely unsolved. The digital library is a lonely place. When we [...]

IT'S A VISCERAL, deeply affecting feeling to hold a very old book in your hands, gently turning the brown and fragile pages, experiencing the unique smell of aged paper, and [...]