Information Retrieval List Digest 391 (February 2, 1998) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-391.txt IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 February 2, 1998 Volume XV, Number 5 Issue 391 ****************************************************************** II. JOBS 1. Emory U.: General Libraries, Information Systems Coordinator 2. RLG: Program Officer, Research Resources III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. News Items for _Journal of Internet Cataloging_ 2. FARNET's Washington Update, January 20, 1998 3. ARL's Directory of Electronic Journals, 7th ed. B. Meetings 1. Workshop on Reuse of Web Information (in Conjunction with the 7th Int'l. WWW Conference) 2. Intelligent Information Integration Workshop 3. Digital Libraries in the New Millennium: Building on Our Past C. Miscellaneous 1. U. Buffalo: SILS: Distance Learning Program IV. PROJECTS D. Research 1. CNI Authentication and Access Management Initiative: Call for Participation 2. NTIA Technical Management of Internet Names Draft ****************************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Martin Halbert Re: Emory U.: General Libraries, Information Systems Coordinator POSITION: Information Systems Coordinator AVAILABLE: Immediately RESPONSIBILITIES: Emory University's General Libraries seeks an Information Systems Coordinator to develop innovative electronic infrastructure elements to further the research service goals for the library user community. The Coordinator will be responsible for: systems development, administration and upgrades to support public and staff computing needs; development of extranet and intranet tools and documentation; training for library users and staff; internal helpdesk assistance; and special projects. The position, residing in the Library Systems Office, will collaborate with staff in the General Libraries and the Information Technology Division; the position will report to the Director of Library Systems for the General Libraries. QUALIFICATIONS: Masters degree required in one of the following areas: library and information science (ALA- accredited), computer science, information systems or a relevant field. Experience in an academic or research setting involving the use of research methodology and electronic information tools. Demonstrated understanding of the research needs of the academic community. Strong customer service orientation and ability to respond effectively to clientele. Experience with information technologies such as: MS Windows NT, Unix, Java, Web server software, and integrated library systems. Experience with training and instruction desirable. Strong communication and interpersonal skills essential. Experience in planning, organizing, and implementing project activities preferred. ENVIRONMENT: The General Libraries Systems Office provides systems development and administration for library users and staff. A University Libraries Systems Office provides systems administration for the integrated library system for all Emory university libraries. The General Libraries, in conjunction with the Information Technology Division, are currently embarking on a long term effort to develop a program of services focused on access to networked information resources. The Center for Library and Information Resources (CLAIR), a new facility at Emory University provides an environment for innovative approaches to the use of information technology for the scholarly community. The libraries of Emory University hold 2.3 million volumes and employ a total of 263 FTE. In addition to the General Libraries, there are libraries for health sciences, law, theology, and Oxford College. The Emory libraries are members of the Association of Research Libraries, OCLC, the Research Libraries Group, the Center for Research Libraries, the Coalition for Networked Information, the National Digital Library Federation, and the University Center in Georgia. BEGINNING SALARY AND BENEFITS: Salary and rank dependent upon qualifications and experience, starting in the mid-$30s. Comprehensive Benefits Package, including TIAA/CREF. APPLICATION PROCEDURES: Submit letter of interest, resume and names, addresses and telephone numbers of three references to: Dianne M. Smith, Library Human Resources Officer, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322-2870. Application review begins immediately and will continue until position is filled. Emory University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and encourages women and minority candidates. ********** II.2. Fr: Nancy Campbell Re: RLG: Program Officer, Research Resources The Research Libraries Group has the following position open and is actively seeking qualified candidates. Your promotion of our employment opportunity is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me at bl.hro@rlg.org or (650) 691-2294 should you have any questions. Thanks! THE RESEARCH LIBRARIES GROUP, INC. Opened: 12/18/97 Title: Program Officer, Research Resources Reports to: Manager, Citations and Delivery Service Grade: C06 - C07 Range: C06: In-hire: $3272/month - $4401/month Full range: $3272/month - $5399/month C07: In-hire: $3732/month - $5310/month Full range: $3732/month - $6344/month Founded in 1975, The Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) is a not-for-profit membership organization of leading educational, academic and cultural institutions. RLG currently serves over 150 general and special members and over 1,000 organizations and individual scholars who use the RLIN database. RLG has two primary functions; the development and operation of cooperative programs to acquire, preserve and extend access to research library, museum and archival holdings; and the development and operation of a computerized bibliographic network (RLIN) that provides information access and management to both member and nonmember institutions and individuals. Responsibilities: The Program Officer for Research Resources assists the Manager with specific projects designed to enhance the utility of RLIN for scholarship and research. Specifically: Oversee the development, load and release of new citation files offered through RLG's CitaDel service, including the preparation of marketing collateral. Provide liaison between CitaDel file vendors and RLG technical staff respecting changes and enhancements to CitaDel files, including the enrichment of these files with full text . Research prospects for additions to the CitaDel service, and conduct first-level negotiations to establish interest and agreements in principle. Coordinate RLG's support for the English Short-Title Catalog (ESTC). RLG is the host for the ESTC master file, which represents all items published in the UK or its dependencies, or in the English language anywhere in the world, before 1801. Coordinate RLG's support for the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL). RLG is the host for the consortium's database of catalog records for materials printed in Europe before 1830. Work with selected European libraries, institutes and consortia to acquire files of catalog records suitable for addition to the books, serials and maps files of RLIN, that increase the coverage of these files with respect to European imprints, especially in the areas of unusual, unique or historical materials, and/or special formats. Work with selected European archival repositories to acquire collection, series or item level records for archival materials, suitable for addition to RLIN's archives and manuscripts control file (AMC), or to acquire digitized finding aids for RLG's Archival Collections Guides (ACG) service. Schedule and participate in international conference calls, prepare correspondence, coordinate schedules, maintain communication, troubleshoot problems, identify issues, and represent RLG diplomatically, articulately and effectively to extramural groups. Complete other projects and tasks as assigned. Collaboration Points: With the Manager, to ensure that established projects progress satisfactorily, and that new opportunities are systematically identified and researched. With Development, to be sure that dataloads are evaluated, anticipated and scheduled. With Member Programs and Initiatives, to ensure that data-based relationships having the potential to evolve toward new institutional memberships in RLG, are so identified and pursued. With Member Programs and Initiatives, to ensure the preparation of marketing collateral for CitaDel files and significant resource additions to the RLIN database. With Development, to ensure that user help for CitaDel files is appropriately prepared. Success Criteria: Established projects progress to the satisfaction of all partners, on schedule, and with reasonable attention to cost control. New projects and partners are identified, communication is maintained despite long distances, and progress is consistent with RLG's strategic objectives. RLG's image with European libraries, archives and other repositories is enhanced: we are not-for-profit, serious about research, dedicated to scholarship, collaborative, and reliable. Problems which threaten progress or image are identified, anticipated, and flagged for senior management attention. Qualifications: MA, ABD, or Ph.D. in a relevant humanistic discipline, and/or MLS and research library experience, or equivalent in education/work experience. For Grade C06: An advanced degree plus two years of directly applicable experience or equivalent combination of education and experience. For Grade C07: An advanced degree plus five years of directly applicable experience or equivalent combination of education and experience. Working knowledge of on-line catalogs, databases, imagebases and other electronic research tools and resources. Specific project management related to the above, including the procuring and implementing database resources in an academic library or commercial environment. People skills to negotiate mutually beneficial outcomes among partners. Good instinct for parsing issues into agenda, and organizing efforts to achieve goals. Working knowledge of French and/or German and/or Italian and/or Spanish helpful. Experience working and/or doing research in Europe helpful. Knowledge of library and archives data issues (formats for machine-readable records, etc.) helpful. To apply: Send resume and cover letter highlighting qualifications to: Nancy Campbell Human Resources Manager Job # 9804 The Research Libraries Group, Inc. 1200 Villa Street Mountain View, California 94041-1100 Fax: (650) 964-7951 e-mail: bl.hro@rlg.org Phone: (650) 691-2294 An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer ****************************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Gerry McKiernan Re: News Items for _Journal of Internet Cataloging_ News Items for _Journal of Internet Cataloging_ For my next _New from the Field_ column for _The Journal of Internet Cataloging: The International Quarterly of Digital Organization, Classification, and Access_ I would much appreciate any and all news items about current or planned efforts for organizing or providing enhanced access to Internet and Web resources. I am particularly interested in summaries of relevant presentations, workshops, discussions, and/or programs held at the recent ALA mid-winter conference held in New Orleans. Reports of other relevant programs at other professional library, information science or computer science conferences are also of interest. I am also interested in: *** Citations to relevant published research projects notably journal articles or conference proceedings *** Relevant research project descriptions notably institutional or personal activities *** Forthcoming conference or symposium announcements *** Other relevant activities As always, any and all items are most welcome. Regards, Gerry McKiernan Curator, CyberStacks(sm) Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/ ********** III.A.2. Fr: Garret Sern Re: FARNET's Washington Update, January 20, 1998 FARNET'S WASHINGTON UPDATE --- JANUARY 20, 1998 FARNET (http://www.farnet.org) is a non-profit public interest Internetworking organization with a primary focus on the education, research and related communities. IN THIS ISSUE: Pending FCC report to Congress: Should Internet service providers be required to contribute to universal service fund? Recap of telecom issues facing Congress in Second Session (third in a series): Copyright in the Digital Age >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Written from FARNET's Washington office, "FARNET's Washington Update" is a service to FARNET members and other interested subscribers. We gratefully acknowledge EDUCOM's NTTF and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) for additional support. If you would like more information about the Update or would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Garret Sern at garret@farnet.org. ********** III.A.3. Fr: Patricia Brennan Re: ARL's Directory of Electronic Journals, 7th ed. January 15, 1998 ARL Announces... Seventh Edition of the Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists http://www.arl.org/scomm/edir The Association of Research Libraries is pleased to announce the availability of the most recent edition of the Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists (1997). Now in its seventh year, the Directory includes over 7,000 listings of journals, newsletters, zines, and professional e-conferences accessible via the Internet and has become the standard reference work for these resources. The Directory is edited by Dru W. Mogge, ARL Electronic Services Coordinator, of ARL's Office of Scholarly Communication. For the first time, a complete, fully searchable version of the Directory is available on the Web. The Directory is organized into two main sections: E-Journals and Newsletters, and Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences. The e-journals section is compiled and maintained by ARL, while the e-conferences entries come from Diane Kovacs of Kovacs Consulting. New with the 7th edition is a much expanded subject guide covering both sections; an index of keywords, publishers/distributors, and titles is also included. In addition, organization and layout of the journal entries have been enhanced for ease of use. For each entry, title, description, URL/subscription information, ISSN, costs, first issue date, frequency, and contact information is included. Each journal entry includes peer-review status and back issue availability; each list entry indicates whether it is moderated or not and if archives are available. This year's Directory includes over 3,400 serial titles, twice as many as were included last year. Summary analysis of the entries in this year's Directory indicate that, out of 1,465 titles categorized as electronic journals, 1,002 are peer-reviewed and 708 charge in some manner for access. In the 1996 edition, 47 journals were peer-reviewed and 168 were only available on a fee basis. Increasingly, traditional print publishers are making their titles available electronically. These exist both as e-versions of their paper products and as new electronic products that supplement or replace the print journal. Scientific journals constitute the greatest number of entries in the journals section, with 29%. Fourteen percent of the journal titles are categorized as arts and humanities journals, while 28% are social science titles. The online version of the Directory offers users the ability to browse through individual entries or to search for specific items. Search options include searching by title, description, publisher, peer review basis, or subject. Also included online is the thesaurus used to classify the entries, thereby allowing users to search by specific keywords. All web-accessible e-journals have a link from the Directory entry to the journal's actual site. The electronic version of the Directory is available as a stand-alone product, while purchasers of print copies automatically receive access to the e-version. Each year, ARL chooses a particularly relevant or noteworthy article on electronic scholarly publishing for inclusion in the Directory: the 7th Edition article is Judy Luther's "Full Text Journal Subscriptions: An Evolutionary Process." Previously published in the June 1997 issue of Against the Grain, "Full Text Journal Subscriptions" reviews options offered to libraries by commercial publishers, subscription agents, and not-for-profit publishers. Luther addresses issues such as licensing packages and pricing structures, as well as various types of format. The Association of Research Libraries is a not-for-profit membership organization comprising 121 libraries of North American research institutions. Its mission is to shape and influence forces affecting the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication. ARL programs and services promote equitable access to and effective use of recorded knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and community service. The Association articulates the concerns of research libraries and their institutions, forges coalitions, influences information policy development, and supports innovation and improvements in research library operations. ARL operates as a forum for the exchange of ideas and as an agent for collective action. For more information about the Directory contact Dru Mogge, ARL Electronic Services Coordinator at . For information on how to order a copy contact Ken Rodriguez in the ARL Publications Office at . ********** III.B.1. Fr: Anne Marie Vercoustre Re: Workshop on Reuse of Web Information (in Conjunction with the 7th Int'l. WWW Conference) Workshop on Reuse of Web-based Information in Conjunction with the 7th International WWW Conference Brisbane, Australia --- April 14, 1998 April 14th, 1998 - Brisbane (Australia) http://www.mel.dit.csiro.au/~vercous/REUSE/WWW7-reuse.html WORKSHOP THEME: This workshop will focus on the reuse of information that is currently delivered over the Web. By reuse, we mean the assembling of information from Web-based sources, and the restructuring of that information to either build a new Web application or to import it into a non-Web-based application, such as a database. The target research areas include (but are not limited to): * mining, exploring and visualizing the Web * the structural extraction of relevant information, e.g., the Web as a large database * the semantic extraction of relevant information, e.g., the role of natural language processing and intelligent agents * the a posteriori restructuring or remodelling of Web pages and sites * the extraction of objects from the Web and their integration with legacy applications, or with other sources of information * the seamless integration of Web-based information, e.g., the design of information 'brokers' * the development of descriptive models for Web information and * the role of XML in Web information reuse applications. As the Web has grown the reuse of Web-based information has become increasingly important. Much of the existing research has focused on related issues such as 1) improving information search and retrieval capabilities, 2) enhancing the display of information in browsers, and 3) designing Web interfaces for legacy applications. Advances in these areas have enabled a massive amount of information to be made available on the Web. The point is that people do not search for information just for the sake of it; they search for information because they need it and want to make use of it. The real challenge is to make the best use of that information since desired information is often distributed piecemeal among a number of sites, servers, and pages, each with its own disparate structure. The goal of reusing Web-based information is to extract and assemble existing information that a user is interested in and to deliver that information in a form that is directly usable by users or applications. Full automated access to Web servers makes for some fairly compelling applications, e.g. integration of corporate purchasing systems with e-commerce Web sites. This workshop aims to draw together a number of research groups taking different approaches to the reuse of Web-based information, in order to promote the cross-fertilisation of ideas and highlight the prospects for future collaboration. The workshop will be a inter-disciplinary exploration into the reuse of Web-based information in controlled environment such as Intranets, as well as any part of the whole Web. Reuse of Web information in various contexts contributes to reducing the duplication of the information, while keeping it adapted to the real needs of the users. Those interested in participating are expected to submit a 5-6 pages position statement by February, 13th, 1998. Electronic submission are required. Please send an e-mail with the URL of your paper, or containing your submission in HTML format (single-space, 10pt minimum, about 3000words), to: Anne-Marie.Vercoustre@inria.fr Submission due: February 13, 1998 Acceptance on: March 2, 1998 Registration by: March 12, 1998 Final Copy due: March 20, 1998. Accepted participants are expected to register to the WWW conference by March 12th. This means that by March 12th they have to be registered for at least Tutorial/Workshop Day. WORKSHOP REGISTRATION: For updated information on registering to the workshop please check the page on the official conference site at http://www.webventures.com.au/javelin/jssi/www7/welcome.jhtml The cost of the Workshops is the same as any single-day registration. Anne-Marie Vercoustre Inria Rocquencourt Domaine de Voluceau-Rocquencourt B.P.105 78153 Le Chesnay Cedex, FRANCE Phone: +33-1 39 63 56 62 Fax: +33-1 39 63 56 74 Email: Anne-Marie.Vercoustre@inria.fr http://www-rocq.inria.fr/~vercoust ********** III.B.2. Fr: Holger Wache Re: Intelligent Information Integration Workshop CALL FOR PAPERS International and Interdisciplinary Workshop "INTELLIGENT INFORMATION INTEGRATION" 25 August 1998 during the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI'98), Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK http://www.tzi.org/grp/i3/ws-ecai98 Submission Deadline: 27 March 1998 TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Due to Intranets and Internets, more and more information sources become technically available. These include knowledge bases, data bases, and semi-structured data (e.g. HTML pages). An increasing number of users now either wishes to integrate these different information sources or to have a uniform view of these. As a consequence, the integration of heterogeneous information sources has become a field of investigation of growing importance. The schematic and semantic heterogeneity is one of the difficulties in the integration of heterogeneous knowledge and data bases. Normally, the information in every information source is stored with regards to their users' requirements (e.g. an application), disregarding access from other sites or their integration. Semantically similar information thus may be stored with different structures (e.g. a name may be stored either as one string or as two strings split into first name and last name) and different information representations (e.g. ranking values can be represented either as numbers or as symbols). There are several distinct research and development areas explicitly or implicitly addressing semantic heterogeneity. Most approaches reconcile the semantic conflict implicitly. Federated databases, for example, integrate local databases into one (virtual) global database while at the same time preserving the autonomy of each local database. In loosely-coupled systems like multi-databases query languages are extended to access different information systems. However, they do not help the user with the heterogeneity problem. Other groups want to exchange knowledge and data via standards (e.g. KIF, STEP, etc), but the different semantics of the standard and the information source have to be correlated. Other approaches take the semantics of knowledge or data more closely into account and represent the semantics explicitly. In the DARPA "Intelligent Information Integration" initiative approaches are developed which represent the meaning in ontologies or meta data in contexts. The ontologies may be used to reconcile the conflicts or act as a global domain specification. However, there is still a great number of disciplines whose subtask is at least the integration of information. Although each research and development community has its own view of the integration of information sources the basic problems concerning for example the semantic and schematic heterogeneity remain the same. It is an interesting aspect that different groups tackle the problem in different ways. It is the aim of this workshop to bring together these heterogeneous groups in order to create a forum where the participants can compare their individual approaches. THEME: The interdisciplinary workshop of "Intelligent Information Integration" covers all topics related to the integration of heterogeneous data, information and knowledge sources. The workshop will bring together researchers, developers, and practitioners and discuss further research and development directions in intelligent integration of information. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - wrappers and mediators - integration approaches using ontologies/contexts - design principles for ontologies used for integration - languages for information integration - advanced integration architectures - semantic, schematic, vocabulary, data heterogeneity - information sources in Internet, Intranet - classification schemes (for mediators, semantic heterogeneity, etc.) - tools for supporting information integration - reviews and evaluation of existing integration approaches - practical experience with integration approaches - theoretical perspectives of information integrations - ontology mapping, ontology algebras and context logic - intelligent information retrieval - security aspects - change management - federated databases and multi-databases - integration of uncertain or inaccurate sources SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Authors are invited to submit original research contributions or experience reports in English. Submitted papers must be unpublished and substantially different from papers under review. Papers that have been or will be presented at small workshops/symposia whose proceedings are available only to the attendees may be submitted. Papers should be double-spaced and no longer than 12 pages. As text formats only LaTex or Microsoft Word 6.0 (or higher) are accepted. Papers should be sent electronically not later than March 27. 1998 to Holger Wache Authors that cannot submit Papers electronically should please send 5 hard-copies to the following address: Holger Wache Bereich Intelligente Systeme Technologie-Zentrum Informatik (TZI) - FB3 Universitaet Bremen Postfach 330440 D-28334 Bremen GERMANY Papers received after the deadline or not conforming to the submission format will be rejected without review. Papers will be selected on the basis of review of full paper contributions. We propose to publish the contributions in public report series of University of Bremen ("Lila Reihe") and via WWW. The format guidelines for the final paper version will be published at this place. Final camera-ready copies of accepted papers will be due by June 01 1998. Please note, we are preparing a special issue in a journal concerning the workshop topic. Selected papers will be invited to contribute a revised and extended version in that special issue. Important Dates Deadline for papers: March 27, 1998 Notification of acceptance: May 01, 1998 Camera-ready copies of papers: June 01, 1998 Workshop on ECAI-98: August 25, 1998 ********** III.B.3. Fr: Pascal V. Calarco Re: Digital Libraries in the New Millennium: Building on Our Past "Digital Libraries in the New Millennium: Building on Our Past" March 11-13, 1998 Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia in conjunction with the Virginia Council of Health Sciences Librarians (VaCOHSL) and the IBM Renaissance Consortium As a highlight of its year-long centennial celebration, Tompkins-McCaw Library, in collaboration with the Virginia Council of Health Sciences Librarians (VaCOHSL) and the IBM Renaissance Consortium, is hosting a special conference to commemorate its history and to explore the electronic library of the future. The conference, "Digital Libraries in the New Millennium: Building on Our Past," will be held March 11-13, 1998 on the Medical College of Virginia campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). It will serve as the Spring meeting of VaCOHSL and the IBM Renaissance Consortium. The conference begins with a focus on the past with the annual Peter N. Pastore Memorial Lecture on Wednesday afternoon, March 11. Henry L. Lemkau, Jr., Director and Chairman of the Louis Calder Memorial Library, University of Miami School of Medicine, will speak on the history of medical libraries in the United States. The conference continues on Thursday, March 12 with a full day of events including presentations, panel discussions and other sessions focusing on digital library technology. On Friday, the conference begins with business meetings for VaCOHSL and the IBM Renaissance Consortium and concludes with additional sessions exploring the future of digital libraries. The final event of the conference is a gala Centennial Luncheon which will highlight milestones in the library's history. Following the luncheon, a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at the entrance to Tompkins-McCaw Library to mark the beginning of its next 100 years of service to the health professions. Please join us for the Centennial Celebration. We look forward to seeing you in Richmond in March! For information about registration contact: John D Jones Jr jdjones@vcu.edu or 804-828-1881 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1998 Lecture: History of Medical Libraries in the United States Henry Lemkau, University of Miami Reception will follow the presentation. THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1998 Opening Address: Barbara Ford, President, American Library Association Percy Wooten, President, American Medical Association Session 1: Global Perspective: What Is a Digital Library? Donald Waters, Digital Library Federation Session 2: Digital Library Initiatives and the National Library of Medicine, Alexa McCray, National Library of Medicine Session 3: The VARIATIONS Project at Indiana University, David Fenske, Indiana University Session 4: VCU - Digital Radiology Archives, Jim Mulvaney, Medical College of Virginia Hospitals Session 5: Access/Intellectual Property Rights/Licensing, Jonathan Band, Morrison & Foerster, LLP Session 6: Digital Libraries - Challenges & Opportunities - Panel Discussion, Jim Reimer, Moderator, IBM; Jonathan Band, Morrison & Foerster, LLP; David Fenske, Indiana University at Bloomington; Alexa McCray, National Library of Medicine; Bob Godwin-Jones, Virginia Commonwealth University Concurrent Sessions Session 7A: Funding Opportunities Available from NLM and Others, Frances Johnson, National Library of Medicine Session 7B: Digital Libraries: Impact on Hospital Libraries, Judith Robinson, Eastern Virginia Medical School; Linda Watson, University of Virginia Session 7C: Access or Ownership? Grappling with Rights Issues, Jim Barker, Case Western Reserve University FRIDAY, MARCH 13 VaCOHSL Business Meeting and Continental Breakfast IBM Renaissance Consortium Business Meeting and Continental Breakfast Session 8: The Digital Library as a University Initiative: Building an Infrastructure, Digital Library Development Team, Virginia Commonwealth University Session 9: The Future: The Digital Library and Beyond, Gary Strong, National Science Foundation FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION, CONTACT: John D Jones Jr jdjones@vcu.edu or 804-828-1881 Virginia Commonwealth University is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, ethnic origin, or disability. ********** III.C.1. Fr: Blake T Carver Re: U. Buffalo: SILS: Distance Learning Program The School of Information and Library Studies at the University at Buffalo will again formally offer two courses by Internet distance learning during the spring of 1998. Students will be able take two graduate courses, LIS 580 Intellectual Freedom and/or LIS 584 Academic and Research Libraries. Learners will be receiving instruction via information and lecture notes over a class WebPage: (http://www.sils.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/ellison.html), WebBulletinBoard: (http://128.205.103.184/ellison/enter.htm), from textbook readings, articles, monitoring appropriate listservs on the Internet, e-mail messages, searching and reading WebPages, and some mediated materials created specifically for the courses. In addition, learners will have the option to submit their course assignments on the class WebBulletinBoard. The following persons are eligible to register. Current MLS students at SILS can follow normal registration procedures. Practitioners with MLS degrees should contact the SILS office for registration information. Others who do not have the MLS, but who have at least a bachelor's degree may apply for Special Student Status. A new Special Student application must be filed for each semester. Questions regarding registration and cost should be directed to Ms. Rita Packard at (716) 645-2412 or packard@acsu.buffalo.edu . Questions regarding tuition and fees should be directed to the Office of Student Accounts: (716) 829-2181 or visit http://wings.buffalo.edu/services/stu-acc/ Continuing Education credit is also available for some courses. Persons with questions regarding either course should contact, Dr. John Ellison at ellison@epix.net or (716)326-6915. ****************************************************************** IV. PROJECTS IV.D.1. Fr: Clifford Lynch Re: CNI Authentication and Access Management Initiative: Call for Participation The CNI Program on Authentication, Authorization and Access Management: A Call for Participation The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), in partnership with member organizations from the Task Force, is undertaking a program to advance both infrastructure and policy formulation in the areas of authentication, authorization, and access management with the goal of facilitating resource sharing and use of licensed networked information resources. While much work to date on authentication and access control has been focused on the institutional context -- the authentication of members of an institutional community as part of the control of institutionally controlled resources -- the CNI program is cast within a framework of facilitating electronic commerce in content among organizations. The specific scenarios of interest are those where an organization contracts for access to a networked resource on behalf of the members of its user community; in order to implement such a contract, both technical and policy arrangements must be established among the individual users, their parent organization, and the content provider. Technical mechanisms are needed to allow the content provider to identify authorized members of the licensing institution's user community; policy issues arise and interact with the technical mechanisms chosen in establishing the appropriate balance of privacy and accountability as members of that community make use of the resource. The objective of the CNI program is first to establish a common taxonomy of best practices and de facto standards that can be used to facilitate both the negotiation of contracts and the actual implementation of access arrangements, and then to move to proof of concept testbeds that actually validate the technical approaches in practice. To the extent that common practices can be developed, they should facilitate the use of network-based access to information resources without the need for extensive custom development on the part of both user institutions and content providers in support of each license agreement, and thus should contribute to a broader and more liquid marketplace in networked information. The first step of the program will be to develop a white paper. This white paper will summarize architectural models for inter-organizational access management, and will outline technical and standards issues involved in each model, as well as discussing privacy, accountability, and management issues implicit in each model and the extent to which they are addressed by technical or contractual provisions. CNI will take leadership in developing this white paper, working in conjunction with volunteers, who will both contribute to and review the white paper. The initial work will be done primarily through an electronic mail list, possibly supplemented by one or more conference calls if appropriate. Work on the white paper will culminate in late March with a day-long meeting -- most likely in the Washington DC area -- to review a final draft. The white paper's conclusions will be presented to the broader CNI community at the Spring CNI Task Force meeting in Washington on April 14-15,1998; a session at that meeting will also seek to begin work on establishing one or more implementation testbeds. I expect that as design of the testbeds advances, CNI will issue additional testbed-specific calls for participation. Organizations will be able to participate in the testbeds even if they do not contribute directly to the development of the white paper; similarly, involvement in the white paper work does not imply a commitment to participating in subsequent testbed work, although obviously I hope that many of the organizations who contribute to the white paper will go on to testbed deployments. In moving forward on this initiative, CNI seeks and welcomes the participation of not only a wide range of publishers and other network-based content providers and academic institutions (represented both through their libraries, as the focal point in developing license agreements, and through their information technology organizations, as primary developers of the authentication and access control infrastructure for the institution), but also public, state and corporate special libraries concerned with contracting for access to information resources on behalf of their patron communities, and library systems vendors, who will play an important role in providing access management infrastructure components for some libraries. Recognizing the broad significance of access management, and its interactions with many other institutional information technology initiatives, CNI is committed to work closely with its sponsor organizations -- CAUSE, Educom (and Educom's Networking and Telecommunications Task Force), and the Association of Research Libraries -- as well as the Common Solutions Group, the University Consortium for Advanced Internet Development (Internet 2), the Digital Library Federation and other interested organizations to make progress in this area. We will also be keeping in close touch with developments already underway in the United Kingdom higher education community. As a first step, I am eager to hear from representatives of organizations interested in participating in the development of the white paper, and ask that they contact me to join in this work. They should be prepared, as part of their participation, to discuss the requirements of their organizations and authentication and access management approaches that have been deployed or are under consideration, as well as policy issues that provide a context for their planning. An email message with some background on your organization's perspective and approach to these issues would be most useful. Given the tight timeframe, I would be grateful for responses by February 10. I would also welcome any questions or thoughts on how to move this initiative forward from the community. Clifford Lynch Executive Director, CNI cliff@cni.org (202) 296-2296 ********** IV.D.2. Fr: Craig A Summerhill Re: NTIA Technical Management of Internet Names Draft The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a draft report on the technical issues associated with the management of domain name space (DNS) in the Internet. The Department of Commerce is accepting comments on the paper starting today. A date for close of comments will be published in the _Federal Register_. I suspect many Coalition members will be interested in reviewing the paper, which is located on the NTIA World Wide Web server: The Washington Post ran a front page article in anticipation of the release of this report. It can be read on-line at the following URL; (NOTE: Washington Post leaves current articles for public access on their Web site for a period of two weeks.) ****************************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests and submissions to: nancy.gusack@ucop.edu Editorial Staff: Nancy Gusack nancy.gusack@ucop.edu Cliff Lynch (emeritus) cliff@cni.org The IRLIST Archives is set up for anonymous FTP. 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