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Data were gathered on acknowledgements in five leading information science journals for the years 1991‐1999. The results were compared with data from two earlier studies of the same journals. Analysis of the aggregate data (1971‐1999) confirms the general impression that acknowledgement has become an institutionalised element of the scholarly communication process, reflecting the growing cognitive and structural complexity of contemporary research.

At this year's National Online Meeting a panel chaired by Pamela Cibbarelli (Cib‐barelli Associates) and consisting of Ching‐chih Chen (Simmons University), Tom Kochtanek (University of Missouri‐Columbia), Tefko Saracevic (Rutgers University) and Carol Tenopir (University of Tennessee) discussed the topic of libraries present and future. The subject of library schools featured prominently in the discussion, and this was reported on in our last issue: the subject then turned to how the field is changing…

In vol. 6, 1976, of Advances in Librarianship, I published a review about relevance under the same title, without, of course, “Part I” in the title (Saracevic, 1976). [A substantively similar article was published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (Saracevic, 1975)]. I did not plan then to have another related review 30 years later—but things happen. The 1976 work “attempted to trace the evolution of thinking on relevance, a key notion in information science, [and] to provide a framework within which the widely dissonant ideas on relevance might be interpreted and related to one another” (ibid.: 338).

One area in which libraries can help with learning is in helping people become librarians in the first place. At this year's National Online Meeting a panel chaired by Pamela Cibbarelli (Cibbarelli Associates) and consisting of Ching‐chih Chen (Simmons University), Tom Kochtanek (University of Missouri‐Columbia), Tefko Saracevic (Rutgers University) and Carol Tenopir (University of Tennessee) discussed the topic of libraries present and future, and the subject of library schools featured prominently in the discussion.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the ninth annual meeting of Libraries in the Digital Age and its program.

Conference report.

Longitudinal studies are now indicating trends in how readers and users are relying upon a digital library (DL) compared to traditional print and hybrid collections. Interestingly, values remain unchanged as expectations grow.

Now that there is critical mass of digitized content libraries are creating ways to develop and customize services in this DL environment.

Experimentation in information science has suffered from lack of definition and deficiencies in experimental design and control. With the absence of such control it is often difficult to determine what has in fact been tested and under what conditions. The reproducibility of experiments, if desirable, is consequently open to doubt. Inadequate attention has been given to experimental design with even less care devoted to the provision of procedures for the successful execution of experiments. This paper identifies the essential elements necessary for valid and reliable experiments in the testing of retrieval systems. The variables (components and sub‐components) operating within the context of retrieval systems are enumerated, defined, and discussed. Models, experimental design, and methods of controlling variables in actual experimental situations are illustrated. The meaning of ‘control’ in retrieval experiments is discussed. Attention is given to sources of experimental bias which contaminate research findings. Specific points are discussed with reference to experimentation undertaken in the Comparative Systems Laboratory at Western Reserve. Variables and sources of bias are those identified and manipulated in experiments performed on the basis of an IR system model, incorporating components related to purpose: discipline, users, file size; and to functions: acquisition, input source, indexing language, coding, file organization, question analysis, search procedures, and dissemination. Each of these components is analysed separately and numerous variables operating within the components are grouped into those associated with system mechanics, human factors, or human‐system interaction. Since a multiplicity of variables associated with these components operates within any retrieval system it is argued that any experimental design, as a minimum, must take into account the formulation of adequate procedures regarding the control of all the enumerated variables.

The purpose of this paper is to survey and analyse the literature emanating from less developed countries (LDCs) and international agencies and dealing with their perception of the needs of LDCs for scientific and technical information (STI) in relation to social and economic development.

Looks at the pathfinder approach to library instruction, which was developed in the 1960s by Patricia Knapp. Knapp's system focused, not on the simple provision of answers to questions, but on the teaching of the effective use of the library and its resources– in other words, on the finding of one's “way” in the library.

A traditional theoretical model for the creation and evaluation of pathfinders (subject research guides) can be identified through study of the literature. This model, expressed in the design criteria of consistency, selectivity, transparency and accessibility, sprang from an impulse to serve the inexperienced user by emulating or facilitating the user's search process.

A gap in this model can be detected, in the form of a missing multi‐dimensional picture of the user and the user's experience of the information service via the pathfinder. In an attempt to fill the gap, literature examining information behavior, the search process, the design of user‐centered services, and the information retrieval interaction is discussed.

An experience‐centered model for online research guide design and evaluation is derived from the findings.