Editorial

Citation

Calvert, P., Gelfand, J. and Riggs, C. (2001), "Editorial", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918eaa.001

Editorial

This issue introduces several new authors and contributors and follows our theme of bringing you some interesting reading content about library technology. The nature of a Newsletter begs timeliness, accuracy, interest and news and we hope that you find that the information contained herein meets those expectations.

We introduce you to Tom Wilson, who wrote an opinion piece that tests our sense of reality when we examine how much personal computers and workstations have really dropped in price over the last decade and whether our assumptions are accurate or if our expectations are just that much greater. Enjoy reading "Pricing Trends for Personal Computers: Moore's Law, Wilson's Corollary, and Reality." David Bretthauer offers an introduction to Open Source Software and explores its application to libraries.

This begins the active conference season around the world. We have conference reports from the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) conference in Orlando, Association of College & Research Libraries 10th National Conference in Denver; the E-Books 2001 meeting in London; the 4th International Conference on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD2001) in Pasadena; Technology in Education conference in Southern California.

We want to encourage coverage and submissions from Europe, South and Central America, Canada and the Asia Pacific. Please let us know where you are going, what you are doing that is relevant to library technology and automation. Our scope of coverage is liberal and we invite your participation. Please consult the Diary and let us know if you choose to write such a report or can recommend a colleague you know who will be attending a conference.

We recognize that you cannot cover everything, but we want to share what is happening out there and promote cultural understanding and professional development. Sometimes, as can be seen from the reports in this issue, sharing the responsibilities with some colleagues offers readers varied viewpoints and observations.

Of our contributing editors, Howard Falk explores lots of new issues and products in his column, "E-Book Currents: A Pulse," and Gerry McKiernan dissects the e-Conf: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Proceedings Archive in his e-Profile column.

Another first-time contributor is Mark Bay, who responded to our notice on License-L for copyright related content, and explores "Libraries and the Need to Educate Users about Copyright and Fair Use." Emma Pearse is our eyes and ears about what is happening in the profession and information industry.

This issue also is the launch for a new column that will take us around the globe, "Case Studies in Library Technology and Automation," and the first stop is the University of Valencia in Spain with a write-up by Maria Carmen Cárcel Más.

We hope that you will share the responsibilities of updating each other about new resources ­ books, journals, sources of information, etc. and will want to be a reviewer. Are you engaged in research about some kind of library technology application? If so, don't be shy, tell us about it.

We look forward to bringing you more of what you want ­ stay tuned for future articles on the growing role of the Webmaster, new standards, and experiences in library technology. Let us hear from you, our trusted readers!

Philip Calvertphilip.calvert@vuw.ac.nzJulia Gelfandjgelfand.uci.eduColby Riggscmriggs@uci.eduCo-editors