Purpose – The paper seeks to introduce a special issue of Aslib Proceedings , which contains a series of papers written by staff and research students at the Department of Information Science, City University London. Design/methodology/approach – This introductory paper introduces the other...

Purpose – The paper seeks to outline an approach to a unified framework for understanding the concept of “information” in the physical, biological and human domains, and to see what links and interactions may be found between them. It also aims to re‐examine the information science...

Purpose – The paper aims to gain a detailed understanding of the current health library/information environment in Saudi Arabia, to identify problems, issues, and areas for improvement, to make recommendations for improvement, and to instantiate these in models and prototypes....

The nature of distance learning in general, and for the specific case of LIS professional development, is reviewed in the context of wider changes in the learning environment. This leads to an analysis of the kind of materials and activities which may be required to support this form of...

Purpose – To determine and compare approaches to the education and training of librarians for work in digital libraries. More precisely, to identify – in general terms, rather than specifically – the important competencies required by information professionals in creating and managing...

Purpose – The purpose of the study was to compare an internet search engine, Google, with appropriate library databases and systems, in order to assess the relative value, strengths and weaknesses of the two sorts of system. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was used, with...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the nature of, and rationale for, user expectations in the digital library setting, and ways in which they may best be met and/or managed. Design/methodology/approach – An analysis of the literature, focusing on empirical studies, and bringing...

Purpose – The purpose of the study reported here was to assess the degree to which new forms of web‐based information and communication resources impact on the formal toxicology literature, and the extent of any change between 2000 and 2005. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes...

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to put forward a structured mechanism for web search evaluation. The paper seeks to point to useful scientific research and show how information practitioners can use these methods in evaluation of search on the web for their users. Design/methodology/approach...