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The dependency of academic information services on information technology is growing, particularly as information technology is the primary infrastructure of a digital library. This is compound by the fast changing/developing nature of information technology and the trend towards digitisation. The changing nature of information technology contributes to the need to manage it. The focus of this article is on the management of information technology with specific reference to the changing nature of this resource. To find a suitable model with which to manage information technology the management of change as well the management of technology was studied. In doing so 11 variables (which should be included in a management model) were distilled for literature. Directors of academic information services in the South African territory sector were approached to rank the variables. Of these 11 variables, the first six were identified as key criteria. When existing information technology models were evaluated, these key criteria were used as the most important measured of effectiveness. However, attempts to find suitable existing model that accommodates all six key criteria were unsuccessful. Ultimately, a new model was designed which could be implemented by academic information services (i.e. university libraries).

Online & CDROM Review here offers abstracts of the papers presented at the Second Southern African Online Information Meeting, held in Pretoria on 2–4 June 1993. The full Proceedings are published in a special edition of our sister journal, The Electronic Library, August/October 1993, vol. 11, no. 4/5.

The unique features of the web, such as hypertext and hypermedia, the large number of web sites with good quality information sources, current developments in electronic commerce, and the developments in digital publishing, are variables working together to provide a fascinating environment wherein diverse teaching and learning experiences can be developed. However, to be successful, courses should be carefully planned. In an environment where more and more tertiary and other institutions are embarking on distance learning programmes, a formal tertiary course can only succeed if it addresses a niche market. Furthermore, if the full advantage of the Internet and the web is to be utilised, the demands on the resources of the specific teaching unit, that is human as well as technical resources, are extremely high. Carefully worked‐out policies and managerial discipline are prerequisites in an environment where successful distance learning courses are being offered. The Postgraduate Diploma in Information Management (PDIM), implemented at the Rand Afrikaans University since 1998, is described as an example of a successful web‐based distance learning programme.

Pieter van Brakel became a Professor of Information Science in 1985 and transferred from the University of Pretoria to the Department of Information Studies at the Rand Afrikaans University in October 1991. His teaching responsibilities there include information technology, indexing, abstracting, thesaurus construction and all aspects of online searching, including the Internet. He is currently involved in a research programme investigating different applications of the World Wide Web to improve scholarly communication. He spoke to us about his experiences of teaching in an information context and also about the changes to which IT teachers must adjust.

The functions or tasks of the typical webmaster appear to be extremely diverse in nature. These can vary from basic web page design to gathering website statistics or even to establishing the web‐based information needs of the employees of a specific organisation. Although a number of mainly electronic documents were written on the functions of the webmaster, not many studies were undertaken to empirically verify these. This article discusses the results from an international survey in which the webmasters or managers of web teams were involved from 100 of the Global 500 list of organisations. An analysis of the information provided by the respondents indicated that one person (the traditional webmaster) can no longer be responsible for all the responsibilities of developing and/or maintaining the information flow within an organisation‘s website. The diversity of tasks that were identified by the respondents were analysed and the results brought together in a number of figures and tables.

Users of geographic information systems (GIS) often need immediate access to current data and information for proper analysis of GIS data. In the past, datasets were captured by an organisation to serve specific purposes and were mainly used by specialists within that organisation. The capturing of datasets represents substantial investments for each organisation to maintain specialised GIS databases, and results in exorbitant levels of duplication. The high cost involved in data capturing and the lack of efficient access to existing digital data stress the importance of finding alternatives to enhance GIS data sharing on a national scale. Although this need for data sharing exists, some issues limit the ability to share. However, the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) provides a breakthrough alternative to data sharing. This paper outlines the limitations of traditional data sharing techniques and proposes a solution to data sharing via the web.

Intranets and portals are supposed to provide an infrastructure through which end‐users can gain effective access to information sources needed to assist in daily tasks such as effective decision making, planning and research. This paper discusses the current lack of clarity on how to address the external information issue in conjunction with the current popularity of portals and their multiplicity, emphasising in particular the confusion in regards to what constitutes each portal type. The issue of definition intensifies when the term information portals becomes added to the current list of portal categories. Does the latter belong to a unique category of portals or should it rather be seen as an umbrella term for other portals? When is a portal an information portal? To conclude, what should a strategy entail to ensure that external information sources are perceived by an enterprise as of strategic importance?