Issue 38

• Editorial Introduction to Issue 38: The Quality of Metadata Is Not Strained

  Richard Waller introduces Ariadne issue 38.

• The AHDS Is Evolving: Changes at the Arts and Humanities Data Service

  Alastair Dunning describes the changes afoot at the AHDS and how it intends to adapt to the changes in both technology and the needs of its stakeholders.

• The JISC 5/99 Programme: What's in a Number?

  Rachel Bruce and Balviar Notay give an overview of the outputs and influences of the JISC 5/99 Learning and Teaching and Infrastructure Programme.

• Improving the Quality of Metadata in Eprint Archives

  Marieke Guy, Andy Powell and Michael Day address the argument that the quality of service to end-users is markedly influenced by the quality of metadata being produced and provide suggestions.

• Building OAI-PMH Harvesters With Net::OAI::Harvester

  Ed Summers describes Net::OAI::Harvester, the Perl package for easily interacting with OAI-PMH repositories as a metadata harvester. Ed provides examples of how to use Net::OAI::Harvester to write short programs which execute each of the 6 OAI-PMH verbs.

• The Portole Project: Supporting E-learning

  Tracey Stanley, Mina Sotiriou and Matthew Dovey provide an overview of a project to produce tools to discover information resources and deploy them within a university VLE.

• The European Library: Integrated Access to the National Libraries of Europe

  Britta Woldering describes the findings of the recently completed EU Project The European Library, focusing on technical solutions and metadata development.

• DSpace Vs. ETD-db: Choosing Software to Manage Electronic Theses and Dissertations

  Richard Jones examines the similarities and differences between DSpace and ETD-db to determine their applicability in a modern E-theses service.

• What the Resource Discovery Network Is Doing for Further Education

  Mark Williams highlights some of the services that the RDN provides for the benefit of FE users.

• How Altis Can Help the Further Education Sector

  Steven Hewitt gives advice on finding quality Internet resources in hospitality, leisure, sport and tourism

• What's in Artifact for Further Education?

  Jayne Everard writes about the areas covered by the new subject service Artifact and takes us through the facilities on offer to FE practitioners.

• Further Education and BIOME

  Donald Mackay gives an overview of BIOME, the hub for the health and life sciences in the context of its services for Further Education.

• What's in EEVL for Further Education

  Roddy MacLeod gives an overview of the services and plans EEVL has for students and practitioners in the Further Education sector.

• What's in GEsource for Further Education?

  John Blunden-Ellis provides a view of the material available to FE from GEsource, the RDN subject service for geography and environment.

• What's in Humbul for Further Education?

  Randy Metcalfe provides an overview of the materials and services of use to humanities practitioners in the FE sector.

• What's in PSIgate for Further Education?

  John Blunden-Ellis describes the materials and services available from the RDN subject service PSIgate in respect of students and practitioners in FE.

• What's in SOSIG for Further Education?

  Emma Place gives an insight into the pitfalls that await new users of the Internet in their search for relevant and quality materials and explains how SOSIG has catered for the needs of both FE students and practitioners.

• Public Libraries: 2003, 2004: A Backward Glance and Thoughts on the Future

  Penny Garrod looks at some of the broader issues affecting public libraries and information professionals.

• Search Engines: The Year 2003 in Perspective

  Phil Bradley takes us through the major trends and highlights in the world of search engines over the course of the past year.

• WebWatch: How Accessible Are Australian University Web Sites?

  Dey Alexander reports on a recent study of the accessibility of Australian university Web sites.

• Developing and Publicising a Workable Accessibility Strategy

  Lawrie Phipps, Sue Harrison, David Sloan and Betty Willder look at the increasing need for developers of institutional and educational Web sites to develop and follow a strategy for ensuring optimal accessibility of online content.

• Web Focus: Improving the Quality of Your HTML

  Brian Kelly outlines a strategy for fixing the most important HTML resources on a Web site.

• The OpenURL and OpenURL Framework: Demystifying Link Resolution

  Ann Apps reports on a conference about current and future uses of the proposed OpenURL Framework Standard Z39.88-2004.

• Towards a User-Centred Approach to Digital Libraries

  Ken Eason reports on the five themes in the Digilib Conference, Espoo, Finland.

• Herding Tigers, Part II

  Sophie Clarke describes an event designed to share ideas on accessibility, evaluation and the use of learning technology standards.

• OSS Inaugural Conference: Open Source Deployment and Development

  Sebastian Rahtz and Randy Metcalfe give an overview of the first conference of the Open Source Advisory Service.

• Reaching Out to Your Community: Policies and Practice for Public Library Service

  Fiona Leslie gives an overview of this seminar which covered a variety of topics of interest to public library professionals.

• News and Events

  Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

• Book Review: Super Searchers Make It on Their Own

  Lina Coelho looks at the work and lives of independent information professionals prepared to share their secrets for starting and running a research business.

• Book Review: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Volume 37, 2003

  Colin Harris declares himself a veteran reader of the ARIST, assesses the kinds of reviewing it performs and balances the strengths and weaknesses of this long-standing publication.

• Book Review: Centred on Learning

  Bruce Royan takes a structured look at this series of case studies and analyses their view of the Learning Resource Centre phenomenon.