Garry Forger

Metadata protocols and standards: bringing order to our digital objects

ABSTRACT The World Wide Web has created new challenges for information professionals who are attempting to make sense of and locate resources in electronic format. Recent international initiatives have created standards and protocols to help manage and locate these resources. Successful implementation and integration of metadata standards into national digital library efforts have created online resources that are ready to use and populate. By illustrating how the new metadata standards are being used at the University of Arizona, we provide an example of how the Web can be used as a more viable research tool.

Information for Immunity: Internet Resources on Biological Agents as Terrorist Weapons

SUMMARY Before September 2001, bioterrorism was a term that appeared occasionally in the news, but usually only in reference to foreign wars and conflicts, or in relation to an obscure possible threat. After anthrax spores began to be mailed to offices and agencies in October of 2001, the threat was no longer an abstraction, but a reality. As the Internet has become a ubiquitous resource, authoritative agencies and organizations have used the Internet as the quickest way to provide information on bioterrorism to the general public and to planning agencies. This article provides a starting point for searching for bioterrorism information and is by no means an exhaustive list.