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This article describes a survey investigating the opinions of children’s librarians on the subject of electronic books. A questionnaire was sent by post to those responsible for public library services for children at each of the 208 local government authorities in the UK. The response rate was 77 per cent. Notable conclusions include the fact that there was a positive attitude towards including electronic books as part of the children’s library service, and a high proportion of libraries offered access to them, the majority through main libraries. A small majority of libraries were offering electronic books for reference use within the library, rather than lending them out like printed books. Many of the librarians believed that electronic books can attract new members to the library, and that offering electronic books will change their role. Respondents believed that electronic books are durable, and can exist alongside the printed items within the library.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/01435129710166482. When citing the article, please cite: Hazel Woodward, Fytton Rowland, Cliff McKnight, Jack Meadows, Carolyn Pritchett, (1997), “Electronic journals: myths and realities”, Library Management, Vol. 18 Iss: 3, pp. 155 - 162.

The progress that might lead to the development of an academic workstation is considered. The design of such a workstation must begin with a consideration of the tasks which the academic performs, and must aim to suport all such tasks, across the range of teaching, research and administration. Examples of currently available support are discussed, and it is concluded that not only are certain aspects of the technology insufficient, but also various psychological aspects need to be addressed.

Many people have suggested that the electronic journal would solve several of the problems experienced with paper journals. However, although technology has developed apace, the commercial electronic journal seems to be slow to develop. It is now over ten years since the first electronic journal experiments began, so perhaps it is time to take stock of what we have learned so far. The present paper will therefore begin by looking at some of the projects which have finished, mention some current projects and then point to some remaining problems and issues which must be addressed if the electronic journal is ever to become a regular feature in the scholarly communication process.

This paper examines the general value to users of a range of electronic journal functions and their usefulness in the specific context of the SuperJournal Project. For the evaluation of each of the functions three types of data were analysed in relation to each other and in light of other contextual data: logged data of usage, survey data on user satisfaction, and survey data on the perceived importance of the function. The analysis shows that basic browsing, printing and search make up the core functions of electronic journals; other functions, such as saving of bibliographic data, alerting, customising, links with external resources and communication, serve as peripheral functions. The usefulness of both the core functions and the peripheral functions in a specific service is influenced by various implementation factors. However, it is the realised usefulness of the core functions which determines the use of a service.

The present paper details research conducted into various aspects of author experience, attitudes and perceptions of publishing in paper and electronic journals. A sample of 1,040 authors in a variety of disciplines was identified as having published a journal article in the preceding year. A questionnaire was distributed to these authors and 537 usable replies were received. The questionnaire was analysed in terms of author experience in the paper and electronic domains, authors’ views on various aspects of electronic journals and their current skills. The results of the questionnaire suggest a small but increasing willingness to submit articles to electronic journals, but also suggest continuing concern about the permanence of such media. Almost a third of the sample felt that the addition of multimedia to their articles would be beneficial but few had the necessary skills to produce and incorporate multimedia objects. It is concluded that authors should be involved more in future research and debate in electronic serial publishing.

The availability of powerful desktop microcomputers has meant that the ideas underlying hypertext can now be implemented in readily available software packages. However, despite the fact that many writers on the subject assume that hypertext removes the reader/author distinction, it appears that, for a variety of reasons, many people will access hypertext documents in ‘read‐only’ form. The present paper discusses the implications of this for authors of hypertext documents. The creation of a hypertext version of a journal article, and the way in which a hypertext database of such articles is being constructed, is described.

If electronic networks generate distribution mechanisms capable of undermining the traditional model of publishing, what are the implications for established copyright practices? Seeks to answer this question from the viewpoint of academic authorship, in particular that of the academic who chooses journals as vehicles in which to disseminate ideas and research results. Regards the surrender of copyright by academic authors to their publishers as an exchange which benefits both parties: publishers got to fill their learned journals, and academics had their work distributed to a far wider readership than could otherwise have been reached ‐ until very recently. The Internet and its continued growth present academic authors with desktop access to what is potentially the greatest distribution network in existence. Concludes by considering the future of journal publishing and copyright in the electronic domain, and offers reasons for guarded optimism about the roles of both publishers and libraries in the light of two viable models of electronic journal publishing ‐ project ELVYN and project MUSE.

Considers the preliminary findings of the Cafe Jus research project, investigating end user reactions to electronic journals. Issues explored include: access to e‐journals; reading habits; human factors; financial implications; and the future roles of librarians, subscription agents and publishers in the electronic environment.

The purpose of this article is to review the research on human‐computer interfaces for library‐based commercial online information retrieval (IR) systems.

The review first focuses on basic interface issues for information retrieval such as interface style, end‐user searching, query formulation, relevance feedback and browsing. The second part deals with cognitive engineering in IR including mental models and individual differences. Finally, the topics on user interface engineering are covered. These include user interface guidelines, usability evaluation methods and interface engineering techniques.

The review shows that user interface design has received a limited attention from IR researchers. There is a need for adopting human‐computer interaction (HCI) techniques into IR interface designs, but this issue has not yet been fully recognised by the commercial database vendors and distributors. The paper recommends that applying HCI techniques could help in developing more usable IR interfaces.

The review identifies the main activities of a user‐centred design methodology and suggests that IR interface designers should use this method in future. This could have major implications in IR interface design for end‐user searching.

The review is the first to offer an overview of empirical research on IR interface design and IR usability engineering. Both IR researchers and practitioners may benefit from the description of previous research and the user‐centred design advocated by the current research.