Editorial
The editorial for this, issue 5 of the Web version of Ariadne.
So why is this issue of the Web version of Ariadne so big, then?
…was a question asked by several people who have watched this issue being constructed. The answer is, in
one word, “awareness” (Ariadne does reside in the
Training and Awareness
section of the eLib programme). In a possibly noticeable change of direction, the Web version of Ariadne
(WVA for short) will have a significantly heavier bias towards making its target audience aware of relevant
and useful services and resources.
For example, in this issue we have a section devoted to
Web-based journals of interest to librarians and information
specialists/scientists, with detailed descriptions of
D-Lib, the
Katharine Sharp review,
Provenance,
Cause/Effect and
MC Journal (The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship) by the
people who edit and publish them. There are also contributions from the maintainer of the most popular clickable map of UK academic sites, and the builder of the
PICK resource (an index of online library and information science resources that
has gained much favourable comment), as well as a review of
Infoseek Ultra (a search engine with a bigger index than Alta Vista
and Lycos) and a brief overview of
UKERNA training courses (which is of interest to managers of sites hooked
up to JANET).
Also, the new Web interface for BIDS is described, while a description of the
Web4Lib mailing lists, a debating/help forum dealing with many aspects of
the Web being integrated into Libraries.
So, it’s all about services and resources, then?
No, far from it. In this issue, the research elsewhere section has
several interesting pieces, most of which concern research/work not just in the UK. The
IIELR (International Institute of Electronic Library Research) is described, as is
the European Libraries Programme, the
Surf foundation (a major IT co-ordination service for the Dutch academic
sector), and
Desire, a project designed to “solve the problems which currently hamper the
use of the World Wide Web as a means of giving researchers access to research data”. In the same section
is an article on the
Journal of Interactive Media in Education, it’s design, and a discussion of some
of the issues behind the approach that this journal takes to the process of scholarly review.
In addition,
Ian Tilsed describes the building of the main Exeter University subject tree, or index, of Internet Resources.
What about the material in the parallel print version of Ariadne?
Oh, that’s all there, as usual. For example, the cover story deals with the
new JISC 5 year strategy, where the main article from the print version is by
Amy Friedlander, who looks at, and towards, some of the benefits of
the Web and digital technology when it comes to doing and present research. In addition, the Down
your way column investigates the networking setup at
Edge Hill College, the
Interface column describes what public libraries are doing on the Internet at
the moment, while in Around the Table, Sheona Farquar looks at
Web sites for the Science and Engineering community.
The eLib section in both the print and Web versions of Ariadne carries
articles describing the
Helix,
Open Journals,
Skip and
NewsAgent for Librarians
projects. In addition, Dan Fleming describes the
Formations project and looks at some of the issues involved in adding
value to a pre-prints by using groupware such as Lotus Notes.
Its getting a bit big, then…
There’s more. The
Get Tooled Up section contains the regular
From the Trenches column from Jon Knight, where the security of
Web-based fill-in forms is examined. Brian Kelly, in the article for
Netskills Corner he will be providing before moving to UKOLN to
become the UK Web Focus Officer, provides advice on the design of the underlying directory structure of
Web sites, while Paul Miller describes the
Dublin Core metadata set and ways in which it can be implemented
in online data. Charles Oppenheim, in
Copyright Corner, provides us with brief reviews of the more useful Web
sites for legal/copyright information. In a new column, British Library Corner, Graham Jefcoate provides
his Libtech lecture on
"Text and the Internet". In the Public Libraries Corner, Sarah Ormes
examines the advantages and disadvantages of having
commercial "cyberstations" or internet points in Public Libraries,
while Sue Welsh in the new
OMNI-Corner section examines the pitfalls of using the Internet as a
replacement for your friendly family practitioner.
…erm, how do you expect us to…
Don’t interrupt!; there is also the regular
cartoon,
poem, the
caption competition (spot the eLib project manager!),
the sideline article, and several other pieces. In addition, there is a
survey form which people can fill in through their Web browser. This would
be very appreciated, as the feedback would help us in deciding the most appropriate future for Ariadne post-
eLib funding.
…read all of this, then?
Well, if you did manage to read all of this issue of Ariadne on the Web, then you either have little or no
social life (that sounds depressingly familiar {-) or a job with a suspiciously large amount of free time
(which means you probably don’t work in academia or in libraries!). Pick and choose the more interesting
bits, leave the rest. However, you do have a good point…
The Web version of Ariadne - changes to the format
From the next issue (number 6, in mid-November 1996), articles will be appearing more frequently, in that
some articles will appear in updates between issues. Basically, this means that the main issue, on launch,
will contain all of the articles, reviews, items also found in the print version, as well as a number of items
unique to just the web version (but a smaller number than in this issue). In the two months between the
launch of that issue and the next one, there will be one or two major updates, consisting of several items in
each. So instead of having one lump of over 50 things to read every two months, with nothing till the next
issue (apart from the regular news clippings update section), you will have around 35 to 40 articles to read
initially, with another 5 to 15 spread over one or two mid-issue updates.
The Editor's Favourite
In an indulgent mood, I’ve decided to pick my favourite article out of each edition of the Web version of
Ariadne (having said that, I wish to stress that many of the articles in Ariadne are of great interest; this can
be a drawback when editing/proof-checking, when you find yourself reading the articles out of interest
instead of executing editorial duties on said articles instead). For this issue, I’ve chosen the article by
Jadranka Stojanovski on "Croatian Libraries: The war is behind us, what brings the
future?". This is a fascinating piece on the evolution of networking in Croatia and Croatian libraries
since the recent war, where many of the libraries were severely damaged or destroyed (this puts the
problems we have in the UK with libraries into sharp perspective, in comparison). Jadranka has been a key
motivator in several areas of the library and networking redevelopment in Croatia, as well as raising four
children at the same time!
We hope you find many things of interest/enjoyment in this issue of the Web version of Ariadne.
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original
authors. This page last updated on September 11 1996