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The purpose of this paper is to consider how and why virtual machines (VMs) and cloud computing and related development environments built on cloud-based resources may be used to support and enhance the technological elements of library and information science (LIS) education.

It is based on analysis of available technologies and relevant applications.

Cloud computing and virtualization offer a basis for creating a robust computing infrastructure for LIS education.

In the context of LIS education, cloud computing is relevant in two respects. First, many important library and archival services already rely heavily on cloud-based infrastructures, and in the near future, cloud computing is likely to define a much larger part of the computing environment on which libraries and archives rely. Second, cloud computing affords a highly flexible and efficient environment that is ideal for learning about VMs, operating systems and a wide variety of applications. What is more important, it constitutes an environment for teaching and learning that is vastly superior to the ones that currently support most LIS degree programs. From a pedagogical perspective, the key aspect of teaching and learning in the cloud environment is the VM. So, the article focuses a significant portion of its attentions on questions related to the deployment and use of VMs and Linux Containers, within and without cloud-based infrastructures, as means of learning about computer systems, applications and networking and achieving an understanding of essential aspects of both cloud computing and VM environments.

Based on a search of available literature in computer science and library and information science, the paper has no counterparts.

In the first installment of this series, the discussion focused mainly on the technologies that support participation in computermediated conferences. This installment looks briefly at the conferences and electronic publications native to BITNET. BITNET, an exclusively academic network, is a rich environment, offering users access to electronic journals and newsletters, file services, and computer‐mediated conferences on almost every topic of interest to educators.

New Audioport Lets Presentations Travel with Sound. PC users can add crystal‐clear digital audio to computer‐based presentations with an external audio adapter. AudioPort, the latest addition to the family of desktop multi‐media products from Video Associates Labs, Inc., is an external digital audio adapter that connects to the parallel (printer) port of DOS or Windows™‐based desktop, laptop, and notebook PCs.

In the last installment of this series on network resources, we took a look at some of the services available across the Internet via remote log‐on. In this article, we will consider the vast array of resources that are available today as a result of a form of service known as the anonymous FTP server.

Why is it so hard to put your finger on electronic information? Is it because it doesn't exist as an entity, a document or book which we can hold in our hands? Is it because it's almost indistinguishable from the software used to produce it? For librarians, continued attempts to classify electronic information using traditional approaches haven't resolved these questions. The amount of electronic information added to the Internet is increasing constantly, and will begin competing with conventional print in making demands on resources.

In September 1990, the U.S. Department of Education's Library Technology and Cooperation Grants Program awarded a three‐year grant to the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA), an agency of the Florida State University System, to develop software adhering to the ANSI Z39.50 Information Retrieval protocol standard. The Z39.50 software was to operate over the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) communications protocols and be integrated with FCLA's NOTIS system, which is shared by all nine state universities in Florida. In order to test the correctness of its Z39.50 software, FCLA sought out other library software developers who would be willing to develop Z39.50 systems of their own. As part of this process, FCLA helped to found the Z39.50 Implementors' Group (ZIG), which has since gone on to improve the standard and promote Z39.50 implementations throughout much of the North American library systems marketplace. Early on in the project, it became apparent that TCP/IP would be a more heavily used communications vehicle for Z39.50 messages than OSI. FCLA expanded its design to include TCP/IP and, by the end of the grant in September 1993, will have a working Z39.50 system that can communicate over both OSI and TCP/IP networks.