The new‐look Electronic Library
| Published date | 01 February 1995 |
| Date | 01 February 1995 |
| Pages | 87-88 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045344 |
| Author | David Raitt |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Editorial
The new-look Electronic
Library
David Raitt
Welcome to the second issue of The new-look Electronic
Library! In view of its ever-increasing popularity, the pub-
lisher has decided that it is worth putting some additional
resources into the journal and making if more magaziney
— things of which I am all in favour!
One of the most obvious changes is the front cover.
We've moved away from the rather austere black geomet-
rical cover to one which gives a better impression of the
technological and global nature of electronic libraries.
We've also changed the subtitle of the journal to better
reflect this, too. Another change you might notice is the
improved page layout of the articles and sections.
One thing you probably won't have noticed — but it is
one of the most important — is the appointment of Ben
Jeapes as Managing Editor of
The
Electronic
Library.
This
is a role he has been fulfilling for some time, but now the
publisher has made it official. He's the
one
who does
all
the
editing of
articles,
page layout
etc.
and
who,
along with Vic
Bridge, who handles most of the correspondence with
authors, makes my job much easier.
Starting in a forthcoming issue, Ben will be writing a
series of articles on aspects of the Digital Libraries Project
— something not to be missed.
Managing Editor
Ben
Jeapes.
The Editorial Board also sees the arrival of some new faces
(Gunnel Stjernvall, Neville Spicer) and the departure of some
old (Mary Huston, Fred Kilgour and Barry Mahon). We ex-
tend
a
warm welcome to the new members and we proffer our
grateful thanks to the outgoing members for the time and ef-
forts and contributions they gave to TEL.
This issue
is
also rather special because
it
contains the tran-
scripts of a number of papers presented at the 18th Interna-
tional Online Information Meeting in London in December
1994 (an overview of the meeting was given in my February
1995 Editorial). As well as being Editor of TEL, I am also
Chairman of the Online Information Meetings and in that ca-
pacity I organised three panel sessions on topics which I felt
would be rather . . . well, topical, for today's library and in-
formation specialist, because of the changes in information
delivery and services that such technologies and systems
would bring.
They are bound to have an impact on our information pro-
fessional lives and in order
to
adapt to them, we have to know
about them. These sessions were on interactive television,
new consumer online services, and payment services for
global online services.
Interactive television is a concept which permits a whole
new range of end-user experiences in the home. The end-user
— the viewer — is able to control and interact with informa-
tion or programmes through the use of various interfaces. The
interface is connected to a telecommunications or cable net-
work and controls the end-users' experiences, which can be
totally interactive or preprogrammed passive (for example
movies-on-demand). The information can include audio,
graphics, still pictures and motion video — i.e. true multime-
dia. Since interactive television is starting to provide not just
games, films and entertainment to the home, but also a wide
range of information services, it is important that the library
and information community keeps up-to-date with such de-
velopments. The session gave an introduction to interactive
television and its application as a new medium for informa-
tion services.
Traditional online information systems have evolved to
such an extent that services such as CompuServe, Prodigy and
America Online are being used directly in users' homes. The
rapid changes in technologies and the convergence between
telecommunications, computers and screens now mean that
information services — both traditional and emerging — can
be transmitted to the home TV (or the PC). The ability of the
user to interact with these services opens up a vast range of
new possibilities including entertainment, leisure, business,
education and publishing. A new class of consumer online
services is becoming the fashion, such as Europe Online,
Italia Online, Delphi and Apple eWorld, amongst others.
These services offer discussion groups, e-mail, Internet gate-
ways,
as well as magazines and newspapers — all with user-
friendly or graphical interfaces and the possibility of provid-
The Electronic Library, Vol. 13, No. 2, April 1995 87
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