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This publication follows the tradition of publishing selected papers from Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives and Museums (PIALA) annual conferences. This 22th annual conference was held in Tumon, Territory of Guam USA, November 13-16, 2012. The volume begins with a listing of the members of the PIALA 2012 Planning Committee and PIALA Officers and Executive Board, Acknowledgements, and the Conference program schedule. John Fernandez, Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education, provided the keynote address. James Lonergan, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services provided opening remarks. Presentations include: (1) Pathways to Excellence And Achievement in Research and Learning (PEARL): Training K-12 School Teams to Support Student Research (Violet H. Harada and Michael-Brian Ogawa); (2) 21st Century Skills and Web Tools for the Library (Sudi Q. Napalan); (3) Guam And Chamorro Educational Facility (Ken Baki); (4) Web 2.0 Technology Tools for the School Library (Alicia Diego and Rose Unpingco); (5) Localizing History for Community Relevance author talk (Judy Flores); (6) "Let Go and Let God" author talk (Genevieve Leon Guerrero); (7) Data Mining Techniques Using a Spreadsheet (Manny Hechanova); (8) Highlights from the IFLA International Leaders Programme (Atarino A. Helieisar); (9) The Instrument of the Book, the Instrument of the Internet: "Thinking" "Information" in the Pacific (Nicholas J. Goetzfridt); (10) Creating Quality Services: Palau Bookmobile Panel Discussion (Joycelene Moses, Mary Arius, Grace Merong, and Pasquana Tirso) and (11) Guam Public Library Bookmobile Outreach Services (Terry Kennimer, Doris A Francisco, and Victor Palomo). Presentations contain individual references. Appended are: (1) PIALA Executive Board Meeting Agenda; (2) American Pacific Territories' "Librarians Say Books Are Here to Stay". "Radio Australia "Pacific Beat" interview : November 15, 2012; (3) Program from Welcome Dinner; (4) Guam Public Library System Bookmobile Brochure; (5) Guam Public Library System Bookmobile Cutout; (6) Guam Public Library System Bookmobile Library Card Group Form; (7) Guam Public Library System Bookmobile Tour Request Form; (8) Guam Public Library System Bookmobile schedule November, 2012; (9) Chronology of PIALA Conferences; and (10) Conference Registration Form.

Seven papers from the Mbabane workshop are presented in the first part of this report: (1) "An Overview of the Supply of Information in Swaziland" (E. Wamala); (2) "The Place of a Documentation Centre in the Supply of Information in Swaziland: Problems and Prospects" (M. M. Nhlapo); (3) "The Concept of Cooperation in Information Services: National, Regional, International" (Z. N. Ngcobo); (4) "The User vis-a-vis the Information Purveyor" (E. E. Kaungamno); (5) "The Application of Theory to Practice" (S. B. Monageng); (6) "The Role of a National Information Service in Socio-Economic and Cultural Development" (N. Longwe); and (7) "Improvement of National and Regional Information Services: An Assessment of Problems and Solutions Prescribed under the PADIS Programme" (D. Abate). Recommendations from the IDRC/UNESCO/TLS Conference on Resource Sharing in Southern and Central Africa (Tanzania, December 1985) are appended to this section. Six papers from the Maseru workshop are presented in the second part of the report: (1) "The State of the Art in the Field of Information Supply on a National Scale" (M. M. Lebotsa); (2) "Identification of an Institution Which Could Play the Role of a National Documentation Centre" (R. J. Kukubo); (3) "Role of a National Information Service for the Socio-Economic and Cultural Development" (S. M. Mohai); (4) "The Fitting of National Information Services into Regional and International Information Systems, and the Use of Such Services/Systems" (M. M. Moshoeshoe); (5) "Information Retrieval: A Case Study--The Minister's Speech" (J. R. Neill); and (6) "User-Related Problems at NUL [National University of Lesotho] Library" (P. Moabi). Also included for each of the workshops are opening and closing remarks; workshop recommendations; the workshop program; and a listing of participants, resource persons, and staff. (KM)

The three papers presented at this assembly focused on communications technology and the information industry, organization of information, and development of the Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) system. "The Communications Revolution: America's Third Century Challenge" examines the growth of society from a pre- to a post-industrial society and the subsequent growth of the information industry and an information-based economy. While communications technologies can aid in systematically creating "information literacy" for all adults, it is also necessary to prepare individuals so that they may comprehend and apply communication capabilities and realize the potential of these technologies. "The Future of Organizing Knowledge: A Matter of Access" addressed the future of organizing information as the essential precursor of knowledge and wisdom, and claims that the ultimate objective of the information services is to provide access to information, thereby making information processing more efficient. The Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) system is examined in "The Many Facets of MARC," which covers the development of MARC, technical processing, files, acquisitions, and other significant aspects of the distribution service. (CWM)

This paper discusses the role of information in national development, addressing such issues as for whom and for what purposes information is needed in developing countries, the impact of the information explosion on the Third World, and the problems inherent in current national and international information infrastructures. A series of statements formulated at the COSTED-UNESCO Expert Meeting (held in Bangalore, India, in 1978) on the kind of information needed by developing countries is presented. As an example of information that is useful for developing countries but expensive to access, a list of online databases in the field of agriculture, along with their associated usage fees, is provided. Weaknesses in the information infrastructures of developing countries described by the 1975 FAO Conference on agricultural research are reviewed and the recommendations made at the conference for the strengthening of national and international information infrastructures are summarized. An 8-item reference list and a checklist on information infrastructure accompany the text. (JL)

The high publication rate of scholarly material makes searching and browsing an inconvenient way to keep oneself up-to-date. Instead of being the active part in information access, researchers want to be notified whenever a new paper in one's research area is published. While more and more publishing houses or portal sites offer notification services, this approach has several disadvantages. This paper introduces the Hermes altering service, a service that integrates a variety of different information providers making their heterogeneity transparent for the users. Hermes offers sophisticated filtering capabilities preventing the user from drowning in a flood of irrelevant information. From the user's point of view, it integrates the provides into a single source. Its simple provider interface makes it easy for publishers to join the service and thus reaching the potential readers directly. This paper presents the architecture of the Hermes service and discusses the issues of heterogeneity of information sources. Furthermore, it discusses the benefits and disadvantages of message-oriented middleware for implementing such a service for digital libraries. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/AEF)

This paper presents the design of an Internet-enabled search service that supports educational resource discovery within an educational brokerage service. More specifically, it presents the design and implementation of a metadata-driven approach to implementing the distributed search and retrieval of Internet-based educational resources and compares its performance with current search services, e.g., Internet search engines. The paper first presents a business model, identifying the possible different actors (customer, access network provider, broker, educational service provider, value added service provider, and content provider) in the context of a global educational open market. The major components of education metadata as defined by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) are summarized, including general, lifecycle, meta-metadata, technical, educational, rights management, relation, and annotation components). An architecture that reflects this model is then outlined. In focusing on the role of the educational broker, the current state of the art with respect to a metadata driven approach to educational content description is examined. More specifically, the paper concentrates on the metadata-driven search and retrieval issues when designing, implementing and trailing such a brokerage search manager, including the metadata cache and mapping XML to the relational model. The paper concludes with experiences of operating such services in a pan-European trial as part of the GESTALT research project. (Contains 10 references.) (MES)

On2broker provides brokering services to improve access to heterogeneous, distributed, and semistructured information sources as they are presented in the World Wide Web. It relies on the use of ontologies to make explicit the semantics of Web pages. This paper discusses the general architecture and main components (i.e., query engine, information agent, inference engine, and database manager) of On2broker and provides some application scenarios. The paper shows how semantic based access is provided to Web sources described with HTML (HyperText Markup Language), XML (eXtensible Markup Language), or RDF (Resource Description Framework). (Contains 15 references.) (Author/MES)

The Plant Information Center (PIC) is a project funded under the Institute of Museum and Library Studies that aims to provide global access to both primary and secondary botanical resources via the World Wide Web. Central to the project is the development and employment of a series of applications that facilitate resource discovery, interactive learning, and contributory opportunities within the PIC system. Initial testing of PIC will be through 6th-grade science curriculum activities involving plant identification. On a larger scale, PIC intends to promote the flow of scientific information to researchers, amateur botanists, students (elementary through higher education), and other communities interested in botanical science. This paper provides an overview of PIC, reviews the development and implementation of PIC applications, and comments on the research activities that will measure the project's overall success. (Author/MES)

This paper focuses on the development, adoption, and integration of resource discovery, knowledge management, and/or knowledge sharing interfaces such as interactive portals, and the use of the library's World Wide Web presence to increase the availability and usability of information services. The introduction addresses changes in library services due to information technology and summarizes the three basic functions that comprise the knowledge mediation function of the library. The first section discusses portals as an access tool and lists several types of portals, i.e., Consumer Portals, Vertical or Niche Portals, Affinity Portals, Horizontal Portals, Enterprise Resource or Corporate Portals, and B2B or Industry Portals. The second section addresses knowledge management, including trends that play a significant role in the current knowledge economy. The third section discusses the evolution of the library Web site to portal. The fourth section describes the portal development program at the Australian National University for Scholarly Information, including examples of library portals and a schematic representation of the database structure. The final section considers future challenges. (Contains 12 references.) (MES)

This paper focuses on the concept and practice of information literacy in relation to the virtual information environment. Key challenges for the development of digital information services are identified, and three fundamental components of information literacy (connecting with, interacting with, and utilizing information) and related research findings are summarized. Two tables present models of student research using traditional print-based information and World Wide Web-based information. Each table describes characteristics of the information environment and student responsibilities for six dimensions, i.e., starting point of search, document scope, document quality, information relevance, indicators of information quality, and information management. Implications for information literacy instruction related to the following learning principles are summarized: (1) learning is about making and maintaining connections; (2) learning is an active search for meaning; (3) learning is developmental--a cumulative process involving the whole person; (4) learning is both individual and social; (5) learning is strongly affected by the educational climate; (6) learning requires feedback, practice, and use; (7) much learning takes place informally and incidentally; (8) learning is grounded in particular contexts and individual experiences; (9) learning involves the ability of individuals to monitor their own learning; and (10) learning is enhanced by taking place in the contexts of compelling situations. (Contains 22 references.) (MES)

This paper provides timesaving tips for information gathering. Part 1 presents the following tips for use of bibliographic databases: (1) read the help screens for the specific database you are using; (2) make use of the different access points and the limit features for the specific database you are using in order to focus your results; (3) learn which indexes include your favorite journal titles; (4) determine how to locate an item; (5) repeat a search; (6) use the update codes; (7) use persistent links; and (8) view the table of contents of a particular journal issue. Part 2 discusses current awareness services, including examples of basic services, a table of contents service, a search strategy service, a document delivery current awareness service, and current awareness on the Internet. Part 3 covers bibliographic management software to import citations from databases for use in a bibliography. (Contains 10 references.) (MES)

This paper presents some of the efforts currently being made to develop mechanisms that can organize World Wide Web resources for efficient and effective retrieval, as well as programs that can accommodate multiple languages. Part 1 discusses structural approaches to organizing Web resources, including the use of hierarchical or classification-based formats and functional requirements of Web organizers. A report of a research project on developing a personalized knowledge organization and access mechanism, called Knowledge Class, is presented in Part 2, including purpose, objectives, and specifications of Knowledge Class, system design, design principles, the iterative design process, multilingual support, and plans for the near future. Part 3 describes a multilingual approach to subject access, including multilingual-oriented services of major search engines and characteristics of Web subject directories in a multilingual environment (i.e., alphabetical arrangement of categories, implementation of the literary warrant principle, flexibility in reflecting local interests, and limitation of language-dependent search features). (MES)

This paper begins with background on intelligent agents (software programs built to perform certain specific tasks for the user). A taxonomy that categorizes intelligent agents by the degree of intelligence embedded in the software is presented. Applications of today's intelligent agents are discussed, including specific examples of the following: (1) agents that watch, i.e., look for specific information or events; (2) agents that can learn from observing users' behavior; (3) agents that can retrieve, which are capable of searching for information in an intelligent fashion; (4) agents that can assist in specific tasks; (5) agents that can converse with the user; (6) agents that can collaborate, providing assistance in several areas related to collaboration; and (7) agents that can do comparison shopping. World Wide Web addresses for the agents described are listed. (AEF)

After a period of slow growth, companies that provide business news to the manager's desktop PC are now among the most rapidly growing companies in the United States information industry. Well established companies such as Desktop Data and Individual, Inc. are now being joined by a number of new services and by enhanced versions of existing services, as well as services based entirely on World Wide Web technology. The provision of profiled business news services is one of the high growth sectors in the United States online market. Some of the leading US-owned vendors are profiled in this paper, as well as emerging service operators in Europe. Some of the issues influencing the rate of adoption of these services in Europe are discussed, including database content; profiling procedures; delivery platform; pricing and billing; and marketing. (Author/AEF)

Electronic databases have grown tremendously in both number and popularity since their development during the 1960s. Access to electronic databases in academic libraries was originally offered primarily through mediated search services by trained librarians; however, the advent of CD-ROM and end-user interfaces for online databases has shifted the emphasis from mediated to end-user searching. Unfortunately, research studies have indicated that many end-users do not understand basic search concepts and, consequently, do not employ effective search strategies when using these databases. Learning basic database design and effective search strategies allows end-users to take the often neglected first steps to successful electronic searching. The paper is a guide to effectively searching electronic databases, and includes: a history, definition, and discussion of types of electronic databases; selecting an appropriate database in which to conduct a search; planning the search strategy, including selecting search terms and combining terms; refining the search; expanding the results; problem solving techniques; and evaluating search results to determine the effectiveness of the search. (Contains 12 references.) (Author/SWC)

This exploratory study was designed to investigate the use of services available on the Internet by faculty in a public university in the United States. It examined the manner and frequency of faculty use of the Internet, their perception of the role of different Internet services in support of teaching and research, and the factors associated with their use of these Internet services. A 30-item questionnaire was distributed at faculty meetings; 158 completed questionnaires were returned (88% response rate). Results show that a majority of faculty were exposed to Internet use. Eighty-five percent of the faculty used at least one of the Internet services. Faculty were aware of the role of the Internet in their professional development and they used it in support of teaching and research. E-mail is still one of the most popular services among the faculty, even though other services are gaining popularity. Faculty use of mailing lists was low. For information search and retrieval, the World Wide Web showed the highest rate of use, with Gopher rated second and FTP (file transfer protocol) the lowest. Results point to the need for faculty training in order to promote the maximum use of Internet services. Several graphs and tables present data. (AEF)

The 1997 WebNet conference addressed research, new developments, and experiences related to the Internet and intranets. The 257 contributions of WebNet 97 contained in this proceedings comprise the full and short papers accepted for presentation at the conference. Included are positions papers by leading experts in the field; descriptions of ideas that are on the borderline between an idea, a prototype, and products; and reports on concrete applications of the World Wide Web, its impact on various aspects of life, and thoughts on how society might adjust to the resultant changes. Major areas covered include: advances in multimedia; browsing and navigation tools; computer-human interface issues; courseware development; educational multimedia on the Web; electronic publishing and the Web; industries and services; legal issues; psychology of Web use; security and privacy; statistical tools and user tracking; training; Web servers; application development tools; collaborative learning and work; country specific developments; data and link management; electronic commerce; future issues in WebNet technology; integration of Web applications and services; Internet-based multimedia/hypermedia systems; search engines; social and cultural issues; teaching; virtual reality; and Web site tools. (AEF)

This study surveyed customer needs and the information-usage behavior in two sectors, corporate end-users and academic end-users, both using business information. Questionnaires were distributed to 198 named senior managers of a large United Kingdom energy company (97 returned) and to 595 faculty members of 11 top business schools in 9 countries (59 returned). The questionnaires were designed to probe the extent of end-user access to, and usage of, work-related information and the perceived value of such information in facilitating their work. Despite the fact that all or most of the journals required by academic respondents are available in their library and access to the peripheral sources they value is easy, 58% still feel they are missing useful information and use other available sources to try to find it; corporate end-users are in agreement, with 86% agreeing that better access to external information would improve the performance of their department. In the academic situation, a huge proportion of respondents have access both to Internet facilities and to online services provided via their library, yet usage figures for these media are quite low. Corporate resondents indicated that they are not confident of their abilities to use these media effectively and anecdotal evidence suggests that academic end-users feel similarily. Academic end-users rated journals as the most important source of information (86%); undertaking a systematic search of these journals, in printed form in their institutional library was the main method of access. Oral or informal written communication appeared to be an important source of work-related information. In contrast to the corporate sector, the academic respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of greater access to electronic information. Just as there are many differences between the needs of end-users and those of institutional buyers, so there also appears to be significant and often substantial differences in the perceived needs of different types of customers in the end-user sector. (Contains 12 references.) (AEF)

For the past two decades the central Information Retrieval Services of the Max Planck Society has been providing database searches for scientists in Max Planck Institutes and Research Groups throughout Germany. As a supplement to traditional search services offered by professional intermediaries, they have recently fostered the introduction of a new information system that can be accessed directly from all sites. Ovid Technologies was chosen as partner for this project. Their common user interface offers database-specific search tools for the expert as well as for the novice user. Further advantages are the use of the TCP/IP protocol allowing immediate access from a number of different computer platforms, the client/server architecture and the adherence to the Z39.50 standard, thus providing interconnectivity with other library servers. The possibility of using the Ovid Local Loader to install internal databases under the same user interface as external databases was of particular interest to the Institutes. The advantages of a CD-ROM interface in combination with the performance of an online system has made this new service very popular among the scientists. Of critical importance for the quality and success of the project was the active participation of experienced information specialists during the planning, testing, installation and final production stages. End-users receive continued support with workshops, documentation, advice and a helf-desk for database specific questions. The Information Retrieval Services are now confronted not only with a variety of new responsibilities but also with many new opportunities for helping the users to gain the information they seek. (Author)

From 1989 to 1991, the German Foundation for International Development has organized a series of seminars and training courses for Eastern African countries given in concert with national and regional partner organizations to assist in providing improved information and documentation services. Selected papers and lecture notes from three training courses on information resource sharing and networking are presented. Part 1 contains the following papers from the three courses: (1) "A National Information Service" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (2) "Resource Sharing" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (3) "Networks: An Overview" (Edward Waiguru Muya); (4) "Bibliographic Control" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (5) "Collection Development" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (6) "Information Management--Indexing" (Edward Waiguru Muya); (7) "Information Management--Thesaurus" (Edward Waiguru Muya); (8) "Information Management--Retrieval" (Edward Waiguru Muya); (9) "Abstracting" (Augustes Musana); (10) "Records Management" (Augustes Musana); (11) "Computer Applications in Libraries and Documentation Centres: What a Manager Needs To Know" (Jacinta Were); (12) "Developing Marketing Strategies for Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (13) "Financial Resources Mobilization and Utilization" (James M. Ng'ang'a); (14) "Cooperation and Resource Sharing" (Cecile Wesley); (15) "Information Networks" (Cecile Wesley); (16) "National Information Systems" (Cecile Wesley); (17) "Communication in Libraries" (Getachew Birru); (18) "Strategies for Improving upon Reference Services" (Getachew Birru); and (19) "Current Awareness Services and Selective Dissemination of Information" (Augustes Musana). Part 2 contains a report on the three training courses (Augustes Musana), listing summary proposals and recommendations for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti. (Contains 60 references.) (SLD)

The paper, presented at a four-State adult education regional institute, first presents some problems in developing curricula for adult and continuing education, drawing distinctions between the terms "curriculum" (content-centered, credit offerings) and "program" (learner-centered, or problem-centered, non-credit offerings). The process of program planning, the second topic discussed, is illustrated by Houle's model, showing the various decision points in the design of an educational activity. The author then focuses on resources for curriculum development. The use of resources can alleviate some problems posed by lack of direct participation by adult learners in designing content-centered learning activities: human resources include advisory groups, composed of both labor and management representatives, to provide curriculum design input; material resources include books (some useful titles are cited) and data bases. The Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) data base is discussed in some detail and other data bases are cited as sources for curriculum development. Searches of data bases give access to the names of individuals, institutions, agencies, and other organizations creating curriculum materials. The paper concludes with an explanation of how to utilize the ERIC Clearinghouse in Career Education (ERIC/CICE). (AJ)

Presented at a symposium instigated to improve the accessibility and usefulness of educational technology, the five invited papers presented in this proceedings deal with various aspects of information systems and their relationship to each other. Topics covered were "Educational Technologists as Consumers of Educational Information", "Information Services in Practice", "The Use of Query in Multi-facet Indexing of Information Materials", "The Exeter Abstract Reference System in Higher Education", and "Qualified Citation Indexing--Its Relevance to Educational Technology." Each paper is accompanied by an invited structured response. Also included in the report are responses of participants invited to complete a practical exercise on identifying individual needs in information retrieval, and summaries of the discussions pertinent to that exercise, and to the theme of the symposium. (MER)

This paper focuses on techniques for retrieval used in information sciences and in World Wide Web search engines. The purpose of reference service and information science is to provide useful information in response to a query. The two metrics of recall and precision serve to express information retrieval performance. There are two major categories of searching tools on the Web: directories and search engines, and both require an indexing system. Building an index is done by either human or computer; for computers, the software program called a robot, or spider, or wanderer, visits each site and gathers information. Search engines on the Web incorporate a number of techniques to assist in both recall and precision. New trends in information retrieval include: artificial intelligence, probabilistic logic, query-by-example, query expansion, automatic summaries, natural language processing, which is a part of artificial intelligence, and concept-based searching. A description of the search engines available from Netscape's Net Search is provided at the end of this paper. (Contains 26 references.) (AEF)

With the increasing availability of information on Internet information providers, like search engines, digital libraries and online databases, it becomes more important to have personalized systems that help users to find relevant information. One type of personalization that is growing in use is recommender systems. This paper presents MyLibrary, a Web personalized digital library that provides personalized services and a recommender system (RecDoc) to support the user task of finding useful information. MyLibrary offers an environment where users can store read documents in a user profile, can rate and comment these stored documents, can visualize the documents percentage rate in a chart representation, and share information with other library users. With the information stored in the user profiles, MyLibrary offers a recommender systems, RecDoc, that indicates documents based in already read documents by the user (content-based) or based in the collaboration with other users (collaborative filtering). (Contains 13 references.) (Author)

Conducted over the past 15 years by the College of Education at Wayne State University (WSU), the studies of several databases that are described in this paper were designed for the specific purpose of providing factual information related to the problems of education in the public schools and in higher education. As a matter of precept the study was carried out on the following lines: (1) only databases that are in the public domain were used; (2) efforts were made to gather the original documents identified by searching the databases; (3) existing software was used with a database when it was available; and (4) descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of data. Descriptions of the use of five databases at WSU--the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC); the Michigan Professional Personnel Register (MPPR); Computer Based Resource Units; the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP); and the WSU College of Education Data Base--include explanations of how they were developed for use at the site, and comments on the successes and failures experienced in their use. The 26 references cited include sources that provide detailed descriptions of various studies conducted at WSU and their results. (DJR)