Editorial

Citation

Gelfand, J. and Riggs, C. (2004), "Editorial", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 21 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2004.23921daa.001

Editorial

In recent months there has been an explosion about how ubiquitous technology is in everything we do. The frontier expands to nearly every activity in which we engage or participate. Search engines are getting smarter; customization of Web sites outpaces itself; voting can be done online, still with some glitches, but soon probably in ATM-like kiosks that may offer more widespread access than going to a polling booth; data mining; and the intersection of technology and power is a more central theme in corporate success and the spheres of politics than ever anticipated. Computer security remains a high priority as we still suffer from new viruses attacking our programs and communications. Library Hi-Tech News wants to explore these themes as they relate to library settings and impact on how library staff conducts their work.

This issue offers a variety of content on different technology applications. Conference reports from subject fields of art and collection development and instructional technology offer different insights about how new forms of technology are being applied in a range of settings to achieve quite different goals with diverse populations. Our reporters attended the Annual College Art Association meeting in Seattle; the Fiesole Collection Development Retreat hosted by the European University Institute in Florence, Italy; and the Annual Tech Ed Conference sponsored by the California Community College Foundation. What is abundantly clear is that technology is the conduit for most information transfer these days and is responsible for how we learn, retain, access, retrieve, refresh, manipulate, cite, recall and preserve information.

One of our features examines new products and platforms for learning and publishing. Heather Morrison explores how professional library and information science associations could do more leading by example to address how open access literature could benefit its memberships, constituencies and product output if it was more widely introduced. Our co-editor, Colby Riggs, updates us on new Web browser technologies to supplement the traditional Internet Explorer most of us are familiar with and depend on. You should find all these features a "good read".

Our standard columns give us a prism on what is happening in library technology, with a list of newly released publications in library and information technology. The industry recap is found in New & Noteworthy and the Diary will keep you apprised of what is happening around the world as far as conferences, meetings and symposia are scheduled. We always seek conference reporters and others to write up about events and experiences with the intersection of information technology and libraries.

Julia Gelfand(jgelfand@uci.edu)Colby Riggs(cmriggs@uci.edu)Co-editors