CLSC 555 Information Systems Webliography

by
Michael E. Bell

| Integrated Library Systems | | Open Source Software | | XML and Metadata |
| Database Management Systems | | Information Technology Strategic Planning |
| System Development Life Cycle | | Usability Testing | | Digital Libraries |

Note: Articles and Web Sites will open in a new browser window.
Some items require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.


  • Integrated Library Systems (ILS)
    • Breeding, M. (2004).  "The Many Facets of Managing Electronic Resources,"
               Library Technology Guides 24 (1).

      Marshall Breeding explores the current state of ILS software in managing electronic resourses. He concludes that no single product currently excels in this area, but suggests change is in the wind, and major ILS software packages will soon be able to provide clear management of both "back-end acquisition functions and front-end content delivery."


    • Pace, A. K. (2004).  "Dismantling Integrated Library Systems,"
               Library Journal.

      Exploring ILS vendor modules and libraries' "home-grown" solutions, Pace questions why and how the ILS has become "dismantled." Noting that interoperability is essential in today's ILS arena, he concludes that vendors must either choose to maintain their proprietary systems or make their products entirely "modular." Whichever they choose, interoperability between other vendors' systems and modules must be achieved and maintained.


    • University of Iowa Libraries (1997). "Integrated Library System Migration Study."

      This Integrated Library System Migration Study Steering Committee report from 1997 details the process of migrating from one ILS to another. Detailed sections provide a step-by-step guide to the process, including bugetary concerns, RFIs and RFQs in a linked Microsoft Word document, and a linked bibliography. While the document is perhaps technologically dated, the exploration of the migration process is not.


    • Lopata, C. L. (1995).  "Integrated Library Systems,"  ERIC Digest.

      Provides a basic overview of the advantages and disadvantages of ILS software packages. While somewhat dated and limited in scope, it does cover the general considerations necessary when choosing an ILS software package. Includes references, and a link to the ERIC Digest search page, where users may search for any number of scholarly and technical papers related to education and information science.
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  • Open Source Software (OSS)
    • Levesque, M. (2004). "Fundamental Issues with Open Source Software Development,"
               First Monday 9 (4).

      Pointing to five major issues inherent in OSS development, Levesque examines why these issues are slowing the acceptance of OSS by the general public. User interface design, program documentation, feature-centric development, programming for the self, and "religious blindness" (system and software intolerance) are identified as problem areas. While the author calls for the addressing of these issues, no clear recommendations are made.


    • Aldstein, T. (2003). "How to Misunderstand Open Source Software Development,"
               Consulting Times.

      Addressing the many misconceptions about OSS development, Tom Adelstein views OSS as the "most efficient" way to build new applications. His article explores and refutes widely-held popular misunderstandings ("myths, false claims and disinformation"), and suggests that the OSS development model is more "mainstream" than most people think.


    • Nichols, D. M. and Twidal, M. B. (2003). "The Usability of Open Source Software,"
               First Monday 8 (1).

      Analysing the present state of Open Source software, the authors describe what needs to happen in order to increase its general use. Their recommendations include involving Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts to help OSS become "less buggy" and more reliable.


    • Breeding, M. (2002).  "An Update on Open Source ILS,"  Information Today 19 (9).

      Reviewing three open source ILS packages (Koha, LearningAccess ILS, and Avanti), Breeding offers predictions about Open Source products' viability in the marketplace. Providing links to each package, Breeding examines their current state of development and notes that "software support" is the biggest drawback to the implementation of these systems.

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  • XML and Metadata
    • Gonzales-Chan, M. and Rice, S. (2003). "2003 Dublin Core Conference Summary,"
               Boxes and Arrows.com.

      An excellent review and summary of the Fall, 2003, Dublin Core Conference held in Seattle. The article provides a chronological account of the conference, major issues addressed, brief abstracts of plenary sessions and workshops, and links to conference notes, papers, and other articles on the Dublin Core and other emerging metadata standards.


    • Guenther, R. and McCallum, S. (2003).  "New Metadata Standards for Digital Resources:
                MODS and METS,"       Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science
               and Technology 29 (2)      .

      Metadata Object and Description Schema (MODS) and Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) are explored for their application in emerging metadata schema for digital content. A detailed explanation of both standards is offered, but the authors offer no conclusions regarding what they believe is the better of the two.


    • Lider, B. and Mosoiu, A. (2003). "Building a Metadata-Based Website,"
               Boxes and Arrows.com.

      Offers an excellent overview of web site construction with both core and supporting metadata as opposed to traditional content management systems. The authors provide clear definitions of terms, useful graphics, and myriad links for further information.


    • Hemenway, K. (2002). "The Semantic Web: 1-2-3,"  Disobey.com.

      While certainly not a "peer-reviewed article," Kevin Hemenway provides a clear and easily-understandable explanation of XML and RDF basics, with an excellent collection of resources for further exploration.


    • Swartz, A. and Hendler, J. (2001). "The Semantic Web: A Network of Content for the Digital
                City,"        Proceedings [of the] Second Annual Digital Cities Workshop, Kyoto, Japan,
                October, 2001.

      Defining the concept of the "Semantic Web," the authors show clearly the need for a new schema for integrating machine-readable content. Suggesting the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML), Resource Description Framework (RDF), and the DARPA Agent Markup Language with Ontology Inference Layer (DAML+OIL) as possible pathways to resolve the current difficulties.


    • Day, M. (1999). "Metadata for Digital Preservation: An Update,"  Ariadne 22.

      Identifying and providing links to metadata projects and initiatives from around the world, this article discusses "best practices." More specific detail about the various projects would have been helpful.

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  • Database Management Systems
    • Zhang, C., Naughton, J., DeWitt, D., et. al. (2001).  "On Supporting Containment Queries in
               Relational Database Management Systems,"        SIGMOD '01.

      The authors explore whether to use a "separate information retrieval engine," or the "native tables and query execution machinery," to perform containment queries on RDBMS containing significant amounts of XML. "Inverted List" technology is discussed, and shown to be viable -- if "join algorithms" and hardware caching are employed. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.


    • Haas, S. and Caplan, P. (2000).  "Linking Florida's Natural Heritage: Science & Citizenry,"
               First Monday 5 (6).

      Offering a clear explanation of the process of integrating and managing multiple databases containing diverse data, this article describes an Institute for Museum and Library Studies (IMLS) funded project to convert the databases to Z39.50 compliance, and crosswalk them to allow common name searching of scientific terminology.


    • Chau, M. (1999).  "Web Mining Technology and Academic Librarianship: Human-Machine
                Connections for the Twenty-first Century,"       First Monday 4 (6).

      Arguing that today's librarians must be pro-active in identifying new ways technology can "benefit the academic library's role in the twenty-first century," May Y. Chau suggests that web-mining and a strong human-machine interaction focus can greatly improve electronic reference services. There is, however, no clear exploration of the ethics of data-mining present.


    • Shanmugasundaram, S., Gang, H., Tufte, K., et. al. (1999).  "Relational Databases for Querying
                XML Documents: Limitations and Opportunities,"        Proceedings of the 25th VLDB
                 Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.

      Arguing that standard commercial RDBMS can query XML documents via data type descriptors (DTDs), the authors provide an excellent overview of the relationship between XML and RDBMS. Suggestions are made for modifications of RDBMS to accommodate XML querying, such as support for sets, multiple query optimization/execution, and more powerful recursion in RDBMS. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.


    • Hellerstein, J. and Stonebraker, M. (1993).  "Predicate Migration: Optimizing Queries with
                Expensive Predicates,"        GiST Indexing Project.

      Presents optimization schemes and a framework for measuring costs in querying SQL DBMS with function caching by using the Predicate Migration Algorithm. Includes language samples and run-time application language in numerous examples and graphics. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

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  • Information Technology Strategic Planning
    • Kalathil, S. and Boas, T. (2003).   Chapter 2 -- Wired for Modernization in China,"
               First Monday 2 (8).

      Exploring the effect of computers and the internet on society in the Peoples Republic of China, this paper examines both the cultural and technological aspects of IT planning and the organization of information. While the article (actually a book chapter) is lengthy, it provides perspectives about technology planning being driven by a traditional "top-down" management style. Includes detailed bibliographic references.


    • Cox, R. (1997).   "Washington, Jefferson, and Gates: Quarrelling About the Preservation of the
                Documentary Heritage of the United States,"        First Monday 2 (8).

      Presenting a case study in technology planning, this article discusses the preservation of digitized documents from several perspectives, including the "nature of records and recordkeeping technologies." Noting that the internet was not designed to "support organized publication and retrieval of information," the author suggests that the "archivist must be an expert on the history, purposes, and technology of records systems." He further notes that records and record-keeping systems will continue to proliferate, as they have done during the past several centuries. Despite this article's length and somewhat splintered focus, it does broach the necessary questions about long-term strategic IT planning.

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  • System Development Life Cycle
    • British Columbia [Canada], Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. (2002). "SDLC
                Standards: System Development Life Cycle Overview."

      This British Columbia government web site provides a step-by-step description and application of the SDLC process in a large governmental agency. Roles, responsibilities and timelines are given, as are links to necessary resources. While not technically a "refereed article," this site provides a great deal of useful information.


    • Spanoudakis, G. and Zisman, A. (2002). "Inconsistency Management in Software Engineering:
                Survey and Open Research Issues,"        Department of Computing, City University of
                London      .

      Surveying methods and techniques for managing inconsistencies in complex software systems, the authors suggest inconsistency is the "double-edged sword" of a system development life cycle. While this paper offers an excellent description of the issues involved, the highly technical software engineering language used occasionally may make the proposed remedies somewhat difficult to grasp. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

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  • Usability Testing
    • Dillon, R. (c2003).   "Usability Testing: Myths, Misconceptions and Misuses,"
               HOT Topics! 3 (3).

      Offering a general overview of the topic, Dillon's article advocates allowing users to determine system design. Provides linked references to similar articles. Presented in a long scrolling page without navigation aids. Further, it is impossible to determine the exact date of publication.


    • Perfetti, C. (2003).   "Usability Testing Best Practices: An Interview with Rolf Molich,"
               User Interface Engineering.

      Pioneering Heuristic Inspection in the 1980s, Molich discusses his current Comparative Usability Evaluation studies. Offers guidance and linked samples for conducting usability testing.


    • Schwartz, C. and Batty, D. (2001).  "Our Founder: A Profile of Dr. Llewellyn C. Puppybreath, III,"
                Special Interest Group of the American Society for Information Science and
               Technology (SIG/CON)      .

      Puppybreath, an early proponent of usability testing, is currently engaged in performing usability testing studies on data dictionaries. His 1978 discovery of a mathematical model for book selection policy in libraries and his 1979 paper discerning the "Impact of Mini-Computers on Medieval Libraries" have set the standard for the DRIVEL (Direct Retrieval of Information Very Easily Located) model of Information Retrieval. It would have been helpful to have copies of his papers available at the site.


    • Boling, E. (c1999).   "Interview: Elizabeth Bolling," Journal of Design Science.

      Reminding designers that they are not "artists," Bolling maintains that the job of a web designer is to solve problems. Provides a good theoretical base for page design based on users' preferences. The Journal of Design Science is apparently no longer in existence.

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  • Digital Libraries
    • Garrod, P. (2003).  "Ebooks in UK Libraries: Where Are We Now?"  Ariadne 37.

      Noting that distance education and "Elearning" are the "next big things" in higher education, Garrod calls for a re-assessment of Ebook use. Significant linked references are provided. Little page navigation is offered.


    • Pearson, D. (2002).  ""Digitisation: do we have a strategy?"  Ariadne 30.

      Questioning why there is no British "national strategy" for the development of digital libraries, Pearson describes a scenario where "control over access to documentary material
      . . . slip[s] too far into the commercial sector." Analyses current trends in content management, and offers linked references.


    • Hastings, S. (2000).  "Digital Image Managers: A Museum/University Collaboration,"
                  First Monday 5 (6).

      Detailing "best practices," this paper examines the practical development of digital librarians building digital libraries. Provides a good overview of theoretical issues in training digital librarians. Some links on page are no longer working (linkrot).


    • Levy, D. (2000).  "Digital Libraries and the Problem of Purpose"  D-Lib Magazine 6 (1).

      Reviewing libraries' historic struggle with balancing user needs and a perceived "higher mission," Levy explores digital libraries' search for purpose. He questions the all-too-common "digital library faith" and provides avenues for further exploration, hopefully leading "to a stronger and more focused research agenda."

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    Created by Michael E. Bell
    Catholic University School of Library and Information Science
    © Michael E. Bell 2004, All Rights Reserved.
    last modified: 22 April 2004 18:26hrs