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Beck discusses the need to improve library and information services for the deaf community. The technological support available to libraries to serve the deaf is identified and described. Turnkey systems are found to be lacking in applications devoted to those who cannot hear or who are hard of hearing. Other technologies, like captioned videos, TDDs, and assistive listening systems, are examined for levels of service and excellence as well as cost. Examples of technology in transition and for the future are offered, along with experiments on speech and sound. These include inner ear implants, the “data glove” experiments, and tactile translators. Technological conflicts that may arise due to one person having multiple disabilities are presented with a discussion on the prevention of dangerous or difficult situations. Possible difficulties and ways to handle opposing technologies are examined briefly. Appropriate sections of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Guidelines are grouped with the technologies that aid compliance. Additional laws are mentioned where their inclusion is appropriate. Suggested guidelines for serving the deaf/disabled community are offered for librarians working in all library types.

In recent years, librarians, as a profession, have attempted to identify individual users' needs. Librarians in the past have served their communities with people, rather than the storage of books and materials, as their top priority; however, in library and information science literature, user‐centered theory is new. It offers a psychological/sociological depth that the practical literature, as late as 1990, fails to touch.

While one's route on the World Wide Web (WWW) may not be “straight on 'til morning,” it can be nearly as exciting. Sometimes the promise of a WWW file is not fulfilled, or different titles yield the same file, or one receives a message claiming that a server is not accessible; however, there are many good resources for the deaf that are under construction on the Web. Creative, responsible people are trying to arrange information to make it accessible for everyone. In spite of current limitations, the World Wide Web is an excellent platform on which everyone can share information and compare almost instantly the information and knowledge found.

This special theme issue of Library Hi Tech includes eight articles on technology and its impact on persons with disabilities. These articles represent a cross‐section of current research and practice in the field of adaptive technology and librarianship. Susan Beck begins by identifying the architectural barriers facing the disabled library user. Next, Marilyn Graubart tackles a less obvious but equally insidious access challenge: the attitudinal barriers facing the patron or staff member with a disability. Staff sensitivity issues are addressed and concrete solutions to staff training are presented. Other articles deal with various aspects of adaptive technologies. Case studies point out potential pitfalls facing librarians who must decide what to buy and how to best use it. Many in the disabled community have feared that the graphical user interface would reverse progress made with the earlier, primarily text‐based (DOS) systems. Alistair D.N. Edwards' history of the GUI provides the necessary background information for the articles that deal with pragmatic solutions to the graphics problems, including the trend toward graphics‐based OPACs and World Wide Web sites. What role will Braille, large print, and audio books and magazines play in the future of libraries and disabilities? Most libraries still collect books, and the nation's two largest suppliers of alternative format texts, the National Library Service and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), are sure to maintain a central role. This special issue winds up with Steve Noble's overview of the new RFB&D Internet‐based online catalog, which enables patrons to gain direct access to this agency's many recorded and electronic text offerings.

A few years ago, when the Americans with Disabilities Act was new and causing much concern among librarians and library administrators, it was difficult to find an issue of any major library science journal that did not address the legal issues surrounding access to library facilities and services. Librarians' interest in providing access to their services and collections is not new, but attention in the 1990s seems to have shifted away from what we can do toward what we must do for our user population with special needs.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

This paper aims to highlight recent resources on information literacy (IL) and library instruction, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and IL published in 2015.

This paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain either unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and IL.