**apologies for cross posting*
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     New Response
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     LIC responds to OFTEL consultation document Connecting Public 
     Institutions
     
     The LIC response has welcomed the special tariffs proposed by BT for 
     public libraries and other public institutions, and suggests that all 
     but the smallest libraries will require a minimum of a 2mb leased 
     line, with possibly only a low take-up of ISDN2, and no-one likely to 
     wish to use PSTN for very long. 
     
     Full response at:
     http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/responses/oftel.html
     
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     Information Retrieval Research: results of the call for proposals 
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     Concept-based Interactive Query Expansion Support Tool (CIQUEST) 
     
     Effects of spatial-semantic interfaces in visual information retrieval 
     
     Evaluation of Content-Based Image Retrieval in an operational setting 
     
     Image indexing and retrieval in the compressed domain 
     
     Improved online information access 
     
     A multi-disciplinary framework for the evaluation of Internet search 
     engines 
     
     Retrieval through explanation: an abductive inference approach to 
     relevance feedback 
     
     Retrieving multimedia objects: an approach through synchronisation 
     
     A system for music information retrieval of encoded music (MuTaTeD 2) 
     
     VIRAMI: Visual Information Retrieval for Archival Moving Imagery 
     
     VISOR II: user-oriented evaluation framework for the development of 
     electronic image retrieval systems in the workplace 
     
     Descriptions of all the eleven successful projects can be seen at: 
     http://www.lic.gov.uk/awards/ir-curpj.html 
     _____________________________________________________________________
     
     New Grant Awarded
     _____________________________________________________________________
     
     Internet services for older adults in public libraries
     
     Details at:
     http://www.lic.gov.uk/awards/pubaward.html 
     _____________________________________________________________________ 
     Two New Publications
     _____________________________________________________________________
     
     Outsourcing book selection: supplier selection in public libraries by 
     Capital Planning Information Ltd
     LIC research report 20
     ISBN 1898869588
     
     This research project investigated how the selection of books for 
     public libraries by suppliers rather than library staff might bring 
     benefits in terms of financial advantage, better use of staff through 
     work redeployment and more rapid supply. Two pilot schemes were 
     examined in Westminster and Hertfordshire. They demonstrated the 
     critical importance of appropriate electronic data transfer 
     arrangements (not available in the pilot schemes). The report 
     discusses supplier charges and provides a costing model. The report 
     concludes that supplier selection is practicable but requires good 
     planning and written stock management and selection policies. Access 
     to library catalogues and location records by suppliers is essential.
     
     AVAILABLE FROM
     CPI Ltd, 91 High Street, Bruton,Somerset BA10 0BH 
     Tel: 01749 812963 Fax: 01749 812964 Email: [log in to unmask] 
     
     A concept-based method for automatic abstracting 
     by Chris Paice and Michael Oakes
     LIC research report 27
     ISBN 1902394135
     
     Automatic abstracting operates by taking a source text in electronic 
     form, processing it in order to identify the most important ideas 
     discussed in the text, and organising the selected material to produce 
     a running text which, hopefully, expresses the essence of the source 
     text in a concise form. With the Concept-based Abstracting (CBA) 
     approach, abstracts are produced in three stages: (i) selection from 
     the text of a collection of strings which may contain key ideas; (ii) 
     selection from among these candidate strings of specific names which 
     are associated with relevant semantic roles; and (iii) generation of 
     an abstract containing all the selected concept names. 
     
     AVAILABLE FROM
     British Thesis Service, The British Library Document Supply Centre 
     Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ 
     tel: +44 (0) 1937 546229, fax: +44 (0)1937 546286 
     email: [log in to unmask]
     
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     People's Network Online
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     The website for the People's Network project is now available as a 
     work-in-progress. The site will be used as the focus for information on 
     progress towards the project's goal of co-ordinating the connection all 
     public libraries to the information superhighway by 2002. The NETBase 
     database will sit at its heart,tracking ICT developments in public 
     libraries and updated dynamically by library service managers 
     themselves. People's Network Online will also be the source of news, 
     advice and guidance on content creation, training, infrastructure and 
     other current public library ICT issues. 
     
     Go to
     http://www.lic.gov.uk/pno/index.html
     
     ______________________________________________________________________
     
     Henry Girling
     Assistant Information Officer
     Library and Information Commission
     19-29 Woburn Place
     London
     WC1H 0LU
     
     Tel:   0171 273 8746
     Fax:   0171 273 8701
     Email  [log in to unmask]
     


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%