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This purpose of this paper is to present the current state and use of the web by university libraries in India and to examine the web‐based library services offered by some university libraries in different sections via their websites with the help of web‐based library automation software.

A survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire circulated personally among university librarians and the response rate was 100 percent. The responses received from the respondents to 22 questions are presented in the form of tables and figures and analyzed using a simple method of percentages.

The findings show that many of the surveyed university libraries are yet to exploit full potential of the web forms, and are lagging behind in effective use of library website. A few libraries offer innovative web‐based library services in different sections. This study identified specific ways in which the web helps university libraries to improve and develop innovative and creative web‐based library services. Some key improvements and developments are: there is an urgent need to develop dynamic library websites and incorporate relevant Web 2.0 based services including web forms in each web‐based library service; apply semantic technologies and ontologies; adopt next‐generation internet (IPv6); and provide multi‐language support content. This study also examined institutional characteristics and resources dedicated to web‐based services.

The geographical area of the study was restricted to 20 university libraries in India.

The purpose of this paper is to explore key issues involved with opportunities, challenges, and future developing trends of delivering dynamic and distributed web‐based academic library information resources, services, and instructions for library users in the digital age.

Based on the typical web‐based, three‐tier client/server architecture, this paper explores ten key issues how to leverage quality library user services in the digital age: roles of academic libraries; funding support; information resources; information access; information services; instructions and trainings; impacts of cutting‐edge technologies and emerging technologies; web contents management and knowledge base; assessment and evaluation; and Librarians. Also discussed are the next‐generation web‐based client/server library information architecture and services in the foreseeable future.

With the rapid development of the internet and the world wide web, information exchange and information distribution can be transformed either by disparate formats or by dynamic channels. Knowledge, competence, and skills cannot follow up with the rapid advances of science and technologies. Many library users need assistance to access, locate, convert, synthesize, and evaluate information effectively and efficiently. It is very imperative for libraries and librarians to design, develop, enhance, implement, and deliver high quality user‐centered information services, resources, and instruction at the fingertips of library users.

Target readers who include librarians, instructors, trainers, consultants, managers, IT specialists, executives, and other professionals who are involved with developing and delivering distributed library user services via the internet will find this article of value.

The paper seeks to explore and discuss in detail the application of instructional media features in developing web‐based library instruction in order to strengthen students' online learning experience.

The paper surveys research findings on instructional media features that can be incorporated into library instruction in the web environment. The effective use of media elements such as text, color, graphics, navigation systems, audio, video, as well as the implementation of interaction and feedback, are analyzed. Exemplary illustrations supplement the discussions of guidelines for the design of successful online library tutorials.

Academic libraries are taking advantage of technological innovations to extend instructional opportunities and enrich traditional classroom‐based bibliographic instruction. Web‐based library instruction requires more than duplicating print instructional materials on the web. Good online information tutorials should effectively incorporate multiple instructional media into the web presence to convey the instruction in multi‐stimulating ways.

The findings of the paper will be helpful to librarians who plan to design and develop web‐based instruction or online tutorials for the greater engagement of students.

The paper provides practical help to librarians in obtaining an understanding of various instructional media capabilities for creating effective online instructional materials.

Many higher education institutions now offer virtual delivery of academic programs via the Internet and the World Wide Web, and cater to the needs of growing numbers of distance education students. Before an academic library can adequately address the needs, preferences, and expectations of its remote patrons, however, it needs to understand the peculiarities and challenges of serving patrons at a distance. Penn State University’s World Campus (a virtual campus) is one of the leading distance education institutions in the USA, and its libraries are among those actively engaged in ascertaining the needs of remote library users and developing services and resources to meet these needs. A portrait of library resources and services available to World Campus students is presented, and results of a survey conducted to assess Penn State World Campus students’ perceptions, expectations and use of Web‐based library resources are reported. A key finding is that students are pleased with the quality and availability of library services, but not fully partaking of the vast array of services and collections.

This article details the public policy framework that establishes the legal foundation for requiring access to Web‐based information resources for people with disabilities. Particular areas of focus include: the application of the fair use doctrine to an understanding of disability access to digital information; the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to Web‐based services; and the application of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act to Federal Web‐based resources and the extent to which Section 508 may be applicable to states through linkage under the Assistive Technology Act.

To examine what search capabilities are desirable in web‐based scholarly e‐book systems.

To present the author's opinion and interpretation about what search capabilities are desirable in web‐based scholarly e‐book systems through investigating studies of information seeking behavior and exploring current multimedia and hypertext techniques.

The findings are several desirable browsing and known‐item search features of web‐based scholarly e‐book systems.

The author's suggestion on the implementation of a dedicated, user‐oriented and user‐friendly interface, which includes the search features recommended in this paper to unleash the power of multimedia and hyperlinks.

Sets out to provide a selected bibliography or recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogues examining library instruction and information literacy.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

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

Enabling technologies have led to the transformation of library services from traditional services incorporating card catalogs, printed books and periodicals, bibliographic instruction, in‐person/face‐to‐face reference, to new services and delivery modes incorporating: electronic collections, such as e‐books, e‐journals and databases; virtual reference services, and other online services. Innovation of new services that are peculiar to the online/Web environment is the trend in modern electronic libraries. During the last decade, many libraries, particularly those serving academic communities, have witnessed the emergence of new service paradigms in areas of information access and delivery, reference, instruction, technology facility and support to patrons. Libraries continue to harness new technologies to offer services in innovative ways to meet the changing needs of their patrons. This paper explores some of these emerging service paradigms in electronic libraries. The concept of “service paradigm” in this paper is used to refer to predominant service patterns.

This article describes the e‐book program of the University of Texas, surveys the state of the e‐book market and e‐book technology, provides e‐book usage statistics for three different consortia, and offers guidelines for e‐book acquisitions, as well as e‐book issues to be considered. Relevant specification, standards, and working groups are explained, as are the future e‐book plans of The University of Texas. The author concludes that e‐books are to printed books, as television is to radio and movies: another format with its own strengths and weaknesses.

The paper aims to provide details of a study conducted at Hunter College Libraries in fall 2005, the focus of which was how presentation of initial digital resource pages (or gateway pages) on the library's web site impacted students' subsequent steps in the research process.

A group of 16 students from English and History classes at Hunter College were recruited to participate after having had basic library instruction. They were given computer‐based key tasks to perform in a proctored classroom setting, using the library's homepage. A second group of students was recruited to participate in two small focus groups. The methodology and exercises were developed in part using guidelines from a taxonomy of user behavior developed by librarians at Hunter College, and recommendations from usability literature by Krug, Neilsen and Rubin.

Results from the computer‐based key tasks exercises were bifurcated. Completion rates for computer‐based key tasks using the in‐house developed Hunter College Library database grid, with less than 80 percent (37 percent‐73 percent) students successfully completing all the tasks, was inferior compared to performance using the Serial Solutions access page and the Academic Search Premier database, both commercially‐developed products, with most of the tasks successfully completed by at least 80 percent of the students.

This study is unique in that the focus is not on the usability of an entire library web site, rather, on the presentation of select, highly visible gateway pages that get a lot of use.