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The American Society for Information Science (ASIS) held its 1992 mid‐year meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 28–30 May. The theme of the meeting was ‘Networks, Telecommunications and the Networked Information Resource Revolution’. The technical program committee consisted of Clifford A. Lynch, Michael Buckland, Cecilia Preston, Janet Vratney‐Watts and Nancy Gusack.

In the early 1980s, Luis Alvarez and his colleagues added a new dimension to Darwin's theory of evolution. With evidence from studies of the earth's crust between the cretacious and tertiary layers, they postulated that the traditional slow, gradual mutation of species over eons was also punctuated with occasional major changes, often catastrophic, that caused leaps in evolution in relatively short “moments” of history. The extinction of the dinosaurs and half the other animal species alive between the cretacious and tertiary periods of earth's history was one such momentous change, forever altering the evolution of animal species.

Identifies key activities that network users can perform in order to use the network effectively. Offers recommended reading, from beginner to expert user status. Explains some commonly used terms (e.g. Turbo Gopher with Veronica!). Lists useful Internet resources.

The rapid advances in computer networking technology in the late 1980s have led to a corresponding increase in locations wishing to participate in computer networks. As more sites adopt a common communication protocol and connect to local networks that may themselves be connected into a national network, opportunities abound for information sharing and collaborative research. A major roadblock to experiencing the benefits of this connectivity, however, is the difficulty of knowing what information is available on computers throughout the network. Several approaches are being explored to provide access to this “virtual library.” A combination of library and computer networking skills will be necessary to design appropriate tools that will allow all users to participate in the developing networked information environment.

To report on the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) held the Spring 2005 Task Force Meeting for its Task Force representatives and other participants in Washington, DC, on April 4‐5, 2005.

Provides a concise review of the conference.

The meeting offered a wide variety of timely presentations that advanced and reported on CNI’s programs, projects and issues from Task Force member institutions and emphasized significant activities on the national and international arenas.

This paper is a useful summary of a conference of interest to library and information management professionals.

To provide coverage and insights about the annual meeting of the AAAS where this year's theme was “Science and Technology for Sustainable Well‐Being.”

Environmental scan of annual national meeting. Of particular interest due to the range of backgrounds different attendees from all avenues of the scientific community.

Sustainable well being has wide applications in different arenas but the informatics component was not as strong as at past conferences.

Much of the conference focused on intersections of theory and application and new ways of responding to sustainability. Particularly strong in the physical sciences.

Provides information of value to information professionals.

For this third column in the IT I‐V (information technology interview) series, we interview library systems directors. While library directors (first column) and chief information officers (second column) addressed similar questions from a high‐level administrative perspective, this time we look at the practical aspects of these issues as told by systems directors working closely with the technologies themselves. Some of the questions were: “What challenges do you see libraries experiencing now and in the near future that could be assisted by information technology?”, “What would you like technologists/library automation vendors to work on that you do not see any progress in at this time?”, “What do you see as the ideal relationship between the library and the information technology offices of your campus or government unit?”, and “If you could explain one thing to technologists/library automation vendors that would help communication between you and them, what would it be?”.

Introduction Since the earliest transaction monitoring studies, researchers have encountered the boundaries that define transaction log analysis as a methodology for studying the use of online information retrieval systems. Because, among other reasons, transaction log databases contain relatively few fields and lack sufficient retrieval tools, students of transaction log data have begun to ask as many questions about what transaction logs cannot reveal as they have asked about what transaction logs can reveal. Researchers have conducted transaction monitoring studies to understand the objective phenomena embodied in this statement: “Library patrons enter searches into online information retrieval systems.” Transaction log data effectively describe what searches patrons enter and when they enter them, but they don't reflect, except through inference, who enters the searches, why they enter them, and how satisfied they are with their results.

The National Agricultural Library (NAL), the North Carolina State University(NCSU) Libraries, and the NCSU Computing Center are collaborating on a research and demonstration project to identify and investigate issues involved in a networked, computer‐based document delivery system for library materials. The project uses scanned images of documents to generate highly detailed, machine‐readable page images, and transmits those images through the data transmission capabilities of the NSFnet/Internet to computers located in libraries, in research areas, and on scholars' desks at agricultural research stations and extension offices throughout the United States. By using commercial, graphics‐capable, networked hardware platforms combined with commercial and public domain software, a non‐proprietary, computer‐based document delivery system should be within the reach of the land grant library community by the mid‐1990s.