Digital Commons Network^™

Books Are Back!, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

MORE THAN 1000 LIBRARIANS, publishers, and vendors jammed into the 25th annual Charleston Conference in South Carolina, November 2-5. Created by College of Charleston librarian Katina Strauch, the meeting brings together everyone in serials and acquisitions.

This year several speakers focused on book collections--print-on-paper books housed in bricks and mortar. Add in the discussions on ebooks and you could feel the back-to-book backlash.

Complex Syntax Lives On, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ALL THE TALK OF SIMPLISTIC TEXTBOX interfaces as the goal leaves the impression that there is no need to know how to use special characters or syntax, that all systems are being dumbed down. Even library school students groan when they are first told to learn the complex commands of an "old-fashioned" power system like Dialog. They expect systems where the complexity is behind the scenes and everything is done for them. Despite these new attitudes, commands and complex syntax are still needed in online searching, even on the web.

Vendors And Search Engines, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

AT FIRST IT SEEMED INEVITABLE that free search engines would compete with fee-based online services. Now they work together.