ALA | Volume 21, No. 3, September 2002

	LITA Publications
	ITAL: Information Technology and Libraries
	TER Technology Electronic Reviews
	Current LITA Publications List
	Publications Archive (Newsletter, JOLA)
	Suggest a LITA Publication

Volume 21, Number 3, September 2002

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Chin Up!
DAN MARMION

FEATURE ARTICLES

Hanging Indents and the Reference Librarian:Offering Productivity Software in the Public Library
RACHEL MENDEZ

Tapping the Web for GIS and Mapping Technologies:For All Levels of Libraries and Users
KIMBERLY C. KOWAL

COMMUNICATIONS

PHP:An Open Source Solution for Web Programming and Dynamic Content
KEVIN F. CULLEN

The Syllables in the Haystack: Technical Challenges of Non-Chinese in a Wade-Giles-to-Pinyin Conversion
GAIL THORNBURG

TUTORIALS

Using Microsoft Access and HTML to Produce Browseable Web Lists
SCOTT A. OPASIK

Designing the Web Interface for Library Instruction Tutorials Using Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Coursebuilder
DOUG SUAREZ

BOOK REVIEW

SOFTWARE REVIEWS

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

ALA Editions

Axonix

Library Technologies

LITA

| ITAL Home Page |

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Chin Up! (p. 99)
DAN MARMION

Editor's Note: The full text of this editorial is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_editorial.html.

FEATURE ARTICLES

Hanging Indents and the Reference Librarian:Offering Productivity Software in the Public Library (p. 100)
RACHEL MENDEZ

This article explores ways to expand the public library’s mission, and that of the reference librarian, to include offering word processing on public access computers. The author defines access to and the ability to use word processing software as a form of literacy and links this to the library’s established role in promoting literacy. This article also provides anecdotal information about introducing this software at a public library system.

Editor’s note: This article is winner of the second annual LITA/Endeavor Student Writing Award. The full text is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_mendez.html

Rachel Mendez (rockyshoe@earthlink.net) is a 2002 graduate of the School of Library and Information Sciences, Emporia State University, Kansas, and works as reference staff at the Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon.

Tapping the Web for GIS and Mapping Technologies:For All Levels of Libraries and Users (p. 109)
KIMBERLY C. KOWAL

Numerous types of geographic information management technologies are currently available on the Web, ranging from simple tools for viewing maps to more complex systems such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The term GIS is commonly applied to all automated mapping. However, it specifically describes a system of computer hardware, software, and geographically referenced data, designed to capture, store, edit, display, and plot spatial information.

Kimberly C. Kowal (kkowal@umn.edu) is the Assistant Map Librarian at the John R. Borchert Map Library of the University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

COMMUNICATIONS

PHP: An Open Source Solution for Web Programming and Dynamic Content (p. 116)
KEVIN F. CULLEN

Managing large amounts of static, traditional HTML pages can be difficult. Dynamic content generated by tools such as common gateway interface (CGI) scripts and databases is the best-known alternative to maintaining a vast amount of information in HTML format. There are numerous alternatives to CGI programming, but technologies and acronyms are bandied about so often that the task of selecting suitable tools becomes quite confusing. Anyone evaluating alternatives to pure HTML or CGI programming should take a close look at PHP.

Kevin F. Cullen (kcullen@lib.colostate.edu) is Digital Projects Librarian at Colorado State University.

The Syllables in the Haystack: Technical Challenges of Non-Chinese in a Wade-Giles-to-Pinyin Conversion (p. 120)
GAIL THORNBURG

This paper describes the technical challenges of developing software to convert Wade-Giles to Pinyin in bibliographic records that are not in Chinese.

Editor's Note: The full text of this editorial is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_thornburg.html.

Gail Thornburg (thornbug@oclc.org) is Consulting Software Engineer at OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio.

TUTORIALS

Using Microsoft Access and HTML to Produce Browseable Web Lists (p. 127)
SCOTT A. OPASIK

Microsoft Access is a powerful tool for creating and maintaining databases. One of its many features is the ability to publish reports to the Web. The Schurz Library of Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) found a problem using the Web publishing features of Access. The library found its needs better met by directly marking up an Access report form with HTML. Doing so did not take sophisticated computer skills and provided the ability to output a report as one continuous Web page, saving the time of the reader. It is a method that can benefit other libraries.

Editor's Note: The full text of this editorial is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_opasik.html

Scott A. Opasik (sopasik@iusb.edu) is Assistant Head of Technical Services, Schurz Library, Indiana University–South Bend.

Designing the Web Interface for Library Instruction Tutorials Using Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Coursebuilder (p. 129)
DOUG SUAREZ

Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Coursebuilder software were used to create Web tutorials for classes in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University.1 This paper offers some important tips that can be shared by all those developing similar pages. Design features rather than specific tutorial content are emphasized on the assumption that librarians need to incorporate these if their pages are to be effective. This software has very powerful features shared by other competitive products. In using them, however, librarians need to be aware that considerable time and effort are required to realize the software’s full potential.

Doug Suarez (dsuarez@spartan.ac.brocku.ca) is Applied Health Sciences Reference Librarian, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

BOOK REVIEW (p. 135)

The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
by Lawrence Lessig. New York: Random House, 2001.

Editor's note: The full text of this review is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_books.html

SOFTWARE REVIEWS (p. 139)

For this issue I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the network-based multimedia authoring software that’s available on the market. The three products reviewed here are RealSlideshow Plus 2.0, ViewletBuilder 2, and Flash 5. They vary widely in purpose, functionality, and cost. About the only thing that they have in common is that they build multimedia presentations primarily accessed via a Web browser.

Editor's note: The full text of these reviews is available at http://www.lita.org/ital/2103_software.html