Librarians on the Internet: Impact on Reference Services

Here is one of the first books to focus on the Internet?s impact on library services. Libraries have evolved over many years and contain traditions of organization. The Internet---disorganized, fluid, mutative--challenges the logic of the librarian. How responsive are librarians to the Internet? How do they use it? What are their interests? What does the Internet mean to their world? Librarians on the Internet addresses many questions such as these and provides a snapshot of librarians’work with the Internet.Authors from around the United States and Canada discuss many aspects of Internet use, including gophers, VERONICA, science sources, electronic text, bibliographic instruction, training, and implementation of information services. Chapters focus not so much on the Internet in general as on librarians’use of the Internet as they take on a new task--essentially using a virtual library. Readers will discover how their colleagues are using this new technology to their advantage. Librarians on the Internet makes it clear that librarians who utilize the Internet have an edge in the world of information. The questions this book answers--and those it raises--inform and challenge librarians as they forge ahead into the future on the Internet.

Table of Contents:
ContentsIntroduction--Librarians on the Internet I. Introducing Internet Services , Getting Started on the Net , Gopher Searching Using VERONICA , How to Use VERONICA to Find Information on the Internet , The Internet Gopher: A Reference Tool , II. Selected Sources on the Internet , Geoscience Resources on the Internet , Economic and Statistical Information on the Internet , Science Resources on the Internet , A Virtual Library for Librarians: JANET?s Bulletin Board for Libraries , Texas Woman?s University and White House Communications on the Internet , III. Internet?s Impact on Reference Services , The Impact of the Internet on Communication Among Reference Librarians , The Internet and Reference Librarians: A Question of Leadership , MOOving Towards a Virtual Reference Service , A New Challenge for Intermediary-Client Communication: The Electronic Network , Internexus: A Partnership for Internet Instruction , Internet In-Service Training at the University of New Mexico General Library , IV. Evaluating Internet Sources , The Internet as a Reference and Research Tool: A Model for Educators , NREN Update, 1993: Washington Policy , Evaluating Physical Science Reference Sources on the Internet , V. Progress With the Internet , Developing a Campus-Wide Information System Using the Gopher Protocol: A Study of Collection Development and Classification Issues , The First Mile Down Internet 1: Development, Training, and Reference Issues in the Use of an X Windows Interface for Internet Access , Providing and Accessing Information via the Internet: The Georgetown Catalogue of Projects in Electronic Text , The Nevada Academic Libraries Information System: An Application of Internet Services , MIME and Electronic Reference Services , The Internet