Wallace Koehler

An analysis of Web page and Web site constancy and permanence

We recognize that documents on the World Wide Web are ephemeral and changing. We also recognize that Web documents can be categorized along a number of dimensions, including “publisher,” size, object mix, as well as purpose, meaning, and content. This study is first a preliminary exploration into Web page and Web site mortality rates. It then considers two types of change: Content and structural. Finally, the study is concerned with understanding those constancy and permanence phenomena for different Web document classes. It is suggested that, from the perspective of information maintenance and retrieval, the WWW does not represent revolutionary change. In fact, in some ways the Web is a less sophisticated form than traditional publication practices. Finally, this study explores the “short memory” and “mind changing” of the World Wide Web.

Values for librarians in the information age: an expanded examination

The library profession has been concerned with ethical issues since its beginning. Ethical issues raised in the early years dealt primarily with librarians’ responsibility to the employer or patron. The focus later shifted to questions of professional identity, organisational environment, and social responsibilities. Rapid technological change and the advent of the information age are forcing the library profession to rethink its mission and responsibilities. This paper expands research on a survey of librarians’ ethical values reported by Dole and Hurych (forthcoming) at the 1998 EEI21 Symposium. In the 1998 study, they conducted a survey of North American librarians and librarians at a conference in the Crimea (Ukraine) to examine the values considered most important by each group and to identify differences in the priorities of values assigned by the groups studied. They found that all three groups held similar values. The current study replicates the 1998 survey among librarians throughout the world. Additional professional and demographic data were collected during the second iteration to support consideration of professional training, library experience and type, and professional responsibilities as possible factors contributing to value formation.

The Bibliographic Management of Web Documents in Digital and Hybrid Libraries

Web documents present digital and hybrid librarians with a set of bibliographic management issues heretofore of no or minor significance for materials in print. These include frequent content change as well as the rate at which Web documents are removed or moved by their authors or creators. There have been a number of author-side and cataloger-side initiatives to assist in the management of Web documents, but these do not adequately address change. This paper explores some of those options. It addresses the impact of document change and demise on digital and hybrid collections. It offers suggestions on the management of the change and demise phenomena.