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Downloading and uploading offer labour‐saving advantages and are now accepted as useful options in online searching. All aspects are here considered, from recent technical advances, applications and legal attitudes. There is also a review of current software for downloading. Recent developments mean a trend to higher internal memory and storage capacity, and greater transmission speeds. Packages now offer access to more than one host, give maximum assistance to the user without being menu‐driven and incorporate the latest developments in artificial intelligence. Disadvantages are in the length of time involved in the process and the fact that the legal issue of copyright has not yet been finalised. Database producers have turned to licensing under contract law, but there is still need to rely on user ethics, and the need for a standard permissions form is highlighted.

Today an estimated 500,000 personal computers have been purchased by Americans who use them at home and in a variety of small business applications. (Note: We define a personal computer as a small, relatively inexpensive, microprocessor‐based device which can be taken out of its box, plugged in and begin working immediately, as opposed to large computers which must be permanently installed, and/or require professional programming. We exclude microprocessor‐based devices whose only function is limited to the playback of packaged games.) Many market research services believe that personal computer sales will continue to grow rapidly, perhaps as fast as a 50 percent annual growth rate for the next several years. The impact of this new interactive information technology coming into the possession of perhaps millions of people can only be guessed at at this early juncture. To us, as librarians, one of the more perceivable results of the growing wave of interest in personal computers has been the proliferation of literature addressed to the personal computer user.

Interactive video projects where a laser disc is linked to a microcomputer are a new trend in research on information transfer and library development. The high cost of these projects presents a drawback. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how libraries and information centres can increase utilisation of non‐book reference materials by using inexpensive microcomputer equipment for image storage. Collections of pictures, archival materials and maps can be stored by capturing the images on video and transferring the frames to a database on a microcomputer. The description and the image can be viewed together when searching the materials. The research project described here considers the quality of the pictures in the image database, as well as time calculations for image database production. The project aims at proposing a low‐cost solution to image information storage on microcomputers in libraries and information centres.

In order to remain competitive, businesses need to rely heavily on the productivity utilization of microcomputer technology. Microcomputer manufacturers have responded to this need with such a dazzling array of computers and optional equipment that it is becoming progressively more difficult to choose the most appropriate machine. Assists managers with the specification, selection and acquisition of microcomputers. The selection process includes profiling the user, and understanding key computer components and options including physical size, chip features and power, data bus pathways, memory, video, keyboard, mouse, price, acquisition sources, and vendor support services. Understanding what these items are, how they work, and how they work together enables managers to make informed choices relative to hardware acquisition.

Survey data gathered from 79 operations managers holding positions in 55 companies were utilized to test extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for using microcomputers in the workplace. Three motivators for usage were investigated: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment. Usefulness is an example of extrinsic motivation whereas enjoyment is intrinsic. The results suggested that the three studied motivators were interrelated and that perceived enjoyment is an important factor for considering microcomputers useful. Perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use had significant direct effects on perceived usefulness. In addition, managers reported less anxiety in using computers when they perceived them to be easy to use.

The cataloger’s job and work environment have changed considerably during the last three decades. One of the major factors contributing to these changes is the transformation of the cataloger’s workstation from dumb terminals (OCLC M100) to multipurpose workstations (new generation of PCs). The evolving technologies of microcomputers, CD‐ROMs, networks (LAN, Intranet, and Internet) are the major attributes of today’s cataloging workstation. Intel chips, Pentium processors, and Microsoft Windows have provided a higher level of computing platform to the cataloger’s workstation enabling catalogers to perform multiple tasks on their desktops, such as accessing the local system, bibliographic utilities, online cataloging documentation and publications, authority work, and OPACs of other libraries, and communicating with colleagues, etc. This article discusses the general principle of the cataloger’s workstation, its configuration, the electronic versions of cataloging tools, the workstation’s impact on productivity, and the difficulties in implementing or maximizing the use of the workstation technology in the Arabian Gulf libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of a skills development project aimed at increasing the technology competencies of participating librarians in Columbia University’s Science & Engineering Libraries, in response to changing instructional needs.

Adopting a DIY or Maker learning model gave librarians a perfect opportunity to experience learning new technology skills just as their users encounter them.

The authors conclude that this collaborative project methodology could potentially fit a large variety of different library environments, providing other institutions with an excellent opportunity to reassess and revamp staff skills, no matter their instructional focus.

The literature notes that previous library staff training models were largely devised for newly matriculated Library and Information Science graduates preparing to enter the workforce. Burgeoning technology developments require libraries to explore novel methods to expose staff to new technology skills; this case study applies the programmatic lens of the Maker Movement to a collaborative staff learning model.

In institutional settings, the decision to adopt technically innovative products is usually made jointly by individuals representing various functional groups. Each individual participant exerts significant influence over the adoption decision; and often the needs and concerns of various participants and groups differ. These characteristics contribute to the complexity of the purchase decision process and accentuate barriers to adoption, thus presenting special challenges for marketers of technically innovative products. The research discussed was designed to investigate the purchase decision process for technically innovative products in institutional markets. The US educational market provides the setting for the investigation. This market’s purchasing process is similar to a variety of tax‐funded institutional markets (e.g. governmental agencies, public health care facilities). Additionally, this market is significant ‐ in its own right ‐ for two important reasons: (1) it currently spends $225 billion annually, and (2) it significantly affects the future socio‐economic success of the USA. The results of the investigation provide important insights into the problems associated with marketing technically innovative products to these types of institutional markets.

From the early 1980s to the late 1990s overall productivity rates did not reflect the rising investment in information and computer technology (ICT). This paradox, the productivity paradox, which was widely discussed among economists may well turn out to be mainly a mirage once the assumption is excluded that investment has a short‐run effect on productivity. The apparent productivity paradox seems to be rooted in an ICT infrastructure that is inadequate and in an increase in income disparities that thwart the realization of economies of scale.

People who are interested in evaluating and rating microcomputer technology need a single, composite measure which is rich enough to enable comparing machines of widely differing time periods, features and formats. Traditionally, computers are modeled by describing four primary features ‐ their CPU, available memory, and input/output (I/O) capabilities. Applying this general model to portable microcomputers, this paper uses a scoring model methodology to develop a composite measure for the portable microcomputer marketplace and then evaluates the model’s longitudinal performance. The technological scoring model methodology is a very pragmatic and highly subjective technique to derive a relative measure for identifying long‐term technological trends and rating/ranking individual machines one with another. Furthermore, employing the scoring model offers some unique challenges to the technological forecaster. However, the scoring model does seem to be a useful approach (at least for portable microcomputer technology) if used with due caution.