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A national multi‐gigabit‐per‐second research and education network known as the National Research and Education Network is to be established by 1996, according to the High‐Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102–194) passed in December 1991. Commonly known as the NREN and referred to as the “information highway,” this electronic network is expected to provide scientific, educational, and economic benefits for the United States and to serve as the basis for an all‐encompassing National Information Infrastructure available to all citizens. The idea of the NREN began in the late 1960s in the Department of Defense and its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the development of ARPANet, the first packet‐switching network. This evolved into the Internet, or Interim NREN, after the National Science Foundation (NSF) linked its national supercomputing centers with the NSFNet. The NSFNet is to be the technological backbone for the NREN, which will continue the networking begun by the Internet. Initially, the NREN is intended to interconnect researchers and resources of research institutions, educational institutions, industry, and government in every state.

The NCSU Digitized Document Transmission Project is a collaborative project between North Carolina State University Libraries, the National Agricultural Library and eleven land grant university libraries. The aim of the project is to explore the basic issues and questions involved in developing network‐based document delivery systems for library materials. NCSU Libraries, in partnership with the National Agricultural Library (NAL), is leading the research and demonstration project that is investigating the technical, procedural and administrative issues related to the electronic delivery of digitized research materials via the NSF net/Internet and campus telecommunications networks. Commercially available graphics‐capable, networked desktop computers, scanners and laser printers have been installed in participating institutions' interlibrary loan departments for the direct transmission and receipt of digitized materials. The system allows the digitized research materials to be transmitted directly to the researcher's workstation, whereupon the image can be readily imported into a graphics or wordprocessing program or an ASCII file can be created using an optical character recognition (OCR) program. Printed images are markedly superior to fax transmissions. A distinguishing feature of the system is its ability to import and deliver materials originating in electronic form, such as electronic journal articles or multimedia works.

The study aims to unpack the role of Malawi Library Association (MALA) in developing librarianship in Malawi. It also explores an array of opportunities and challenges that are present for MALA.

The study applies the interpretivist paradigm for the research design. Qualitative data were collected from a purposeful sample totaling 24 practicing librarians and paraprofessionals in different work environments to inform the study phenomenon.

The study gathers that the role of MALA has been in its infancy stage for a long time. However, the apparent developments of MALA manifest in its pro-educational initiatives. Overall, MALA is impeded by a litany of obstacles such as financial constraints and a lack of advocacy strategy.

The study theorizes the role of MALA by triangulating the advocacy coalition framework, institutional theory and professionalization theory in the library and information practice.

The term “library management” covers many different aspects of the way that a library is operated and conjures up different concepts in the minds of different people, depending on their own interests, agendas and requirements. Research into the subject is even more difficult to define because the application of research in one field can be vital to the development of another. Some researchers would not consider their research central to library matters at all, whereas the practising librarian might well see it as casting new light on a difficult area of understanding or development.

The long‐term access to and preservation of research collections in digital form is an issue of increasing concern to research libraries around the world. This article provides an overview of selected issues, projects and initiatives in digital preservation in the UK. These include the Joint Information Systems Committee/National Preservation Office research studies, the CEDARS project, the National Electronic Site Licensing Initiative (NESLI), legal deposit of electronic publications, the preservation management of digital materials handbook, and the Arts and Humanities Data Service. It concludes with details of the proposed Digital Preservation Coalition, which aims to develop a UK digital preservation agenda within an international context.

To report on the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) held the Fall 2005 Task Force Meeting for its Task Force representatives and other participants in Phoenix, Arizona on December 5‐6, 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.

Most buildings at MIT are connected, and the long hallway which runs the length of the main complex is called the “infinite corridor.” This design was intentional when the Cambridge campus began construction along the banks of the Charles River basin in 1913. The purpose of interconnecting buildings, in contrast to the separate buildings of many campus quadrangles, is to promote conversation and interchange among students, faculty, and staff. This was viewed especially important for the cross‐fertilization of interdisciplinary studies. What does this have to do with the DLI? It is an early analog of the DLI purpose to nourish and encourage the quality of education and research for the entire MIT community. Within the Athena computing environment students often learn cooperatively. Through services such as Discuss, an online meeting facility, students can ask questions, continue dialogue, probe for new answers, and relax. The DLI provides the information layer of this learning environment and helps to build the electronic infinite corridor.

The purpose of this paper is to review the post‐1996 literature of information science and other disciplines for the application of social network theory and social network analysis to research that provides an understanding of information environments.

The literature review involved a content analysis of 373 articles retrieved from five electronic journal databases offering broad disciplinary coverage, and a selection of nine peer‐reviewed electronic access journals in information science. Each database was limited to academic or peer reviewed journals and searched using two query phrases: social network theory (SNT) and social network analysis (SNA).

The paper demonstrates the growth of interest by information science and other disciplines in research that applies social network theory and utilizes social network analysis, indicating what research approaches and major focus trends differentiate the disciplines.

The search phrases overlook articles using social networks as the only key phrase for indexing. However, the intention was to examine the application of a theoretical concept and specific methodology, so the terms used were appropriate for this purpose.

The paper identifies opportunities to apply social network theory and social network analysis to the study of the exchange of information resources.

The paper demonstrates that information science could advance valuable contributions to an understanding of information behavior using social network theory and social network analysis as a vehicle to connect with a significant body of existing research in other disciplines.

This paper aims to review the value of social network analysis (SNA) as a method appropriate to LIS research. SNA is used to investigate the effectiveness of a framework of methods adopted by the DREaM project to develop researcher-practitioner networks.

Following a review of the literature on SNA, the paper reports longitudinal research from a whole population sample of the DREaM cadre of LIS researchers. Data were collected using a questionnaire at the start of the first DREaM project workshop, and at the final workshop. Data were analysed using Ucinet 6 software, and network diagrams were visualised using the Netdraw package.

Findings demonstrate that the combination of linked workshops and use of social media throughout the DREaM project was successful in increasing the density of the researcher networks, forging new connections among participants. SNA was found to be a useful technique in investigating network development.

There is scope for further longitudinal research to investigate the sustainability and strength of the new network links forged.

The use of SNA in the context of the development of researcher networks is novel in LIS research. The findings from this project indicate the potential of the DREaM methodology as a replicable framework for developing further research networks in other contexts. This paper represents a unique contribution in demonstrating through the use of SNA the extent of the extension of research networks afforded by the DREaM methodology.

Universities are social and economic instruments for investment in man and thereby for the development of human resources at the highest level. This is truer in the case of developing countries where science and technology have not yet extended their beneficial aspects to whole spheres of social life. While preserving culture and heritage, universities are the most powerful institutions for social change and innovation. At the same time, universities and colleges themselves are subject to changes and need to adapt to these.