Philosophy

1. Libraries finally must take the Information Age seriously! Economically, the case has been clear for a decade. Intellectually, we have had ample time to prepare:
   • 50 years since Vannevar Bush's As We May Think
   • 30 years since Licklider's Libraries of the Future
   • 30 years since Salton's SMART system
   • 9 years since Hypertext '87 at UNC Chapel Hill
   • 5 years since NSF's Digital Library Initiative was recommended
2. We view digital libraries as a key component of the support required for effective education. This should be the norm for University Libraries. A layered approach to building courseware atop digital libraries seems to make the most sense.

Problems

• Universities are pressured to be more cost effective.
• Universities pay more and more for library services, especially to commercial publishers.
• Universities are pressured to do more distance education.
• Many current students lack motivation.
• Many current students lack "information skills."
• It it unclear how to use technology to help solve these problems.
• It is unclear what pedagogical approaches help solve these problems.

Solutions

• More cost effective - Virginia Tech Initiatives
  • Faculty Development Initiative
  • Staff Development Initiative
  • Local and State ATM Network
• Library savings - Monticello Electronic Library
  • Electronic technical reports (from 1992 Snowbird meeting)
  • Electronic theses and dissertations
  • High leverage to train next generation of authors, scholars
• Distance education
  • Paperless courses
  • Videoconferencing over networks
  • CSCW - e.g., MOOs like EIEIOmoo
• Motivation - Interaction
  • Personal tutoring, working in groups, project-based learning
  • Multimedia, hypermedia: control interaction
  • Searching, browsing and other accessing of information, including Web home pages
  • Demonstrating, visualizing, taking quizes, doing exercises
  • Email, conferencing (asynchronous discussion)
• Information skills
  • Re-orientation of colleges of library and information science, libraries
  • Introduction to Networked Information
  • Extending that to be widely used (SUCCEED project, 1996)
  • Computing Across the Curriculum
• Technology
  • Digital libraries
  • WWW, debate support software, email, bulletin boards
  • Videoconferencing, projection
• Pedagogy
  • Presentation support
  • Lab support
  • Discovery based learning, exploration support
  • Keller plan/ Personalized System of Instruction