UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY IN THE COMPUTER AGE

Through increasingly sophisticated computerization, libraries will evolve from being passive depositories of published materials to becoming dynamic information systems. Stored information will be analyzed and recoinbined in original ways which are similar to the processes occurring on the frontiers of disciplines which are giving rise to new combined disciplines: Thus the partnership of computerized information systems and interdisciplinary scientific research will vastly widen the frontiers of human discovery.     

高校微机房管理的技术手段

病毒广泛传播、硬盘上教学软件被使用者有意无意地破坏是高校公用机房单机管理中普遍存在的问题，教学实验常常因此受到严重干扰。本文对解决该问题的种种方法进行了分析，提出用硬盘逻辑分区写保护法解决这个问题，并给出软、硬两种实现办法。前者能在软驱正常使用的情况下防止用户从软盘启动机器突破硬盘“防线”，并成功地用于机房管理；后者允许从软盘启动，也能对特定分区进行写保护。     

论高校图书馆电子检索室的人性化服务

高校图书馆电子信息检索的人性化服务极为重要,应以人为本,以诚为本,实现服务设施及服务方式的人性化。具体可从以下4方面努力：1．实现人性化和科学化的计费管理;2．开展形式多样的读教育;3．开通热线服务电话;4．开辟网上失物招领的公告。     

THE LIBRARIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LISBON: CURRENT SITUATION

The reduced budgetary appropriations that have been allocated to higher education are reflected in the management of the Portuguese university libraries. The organization of the libraries of the University of Lisbon is described, and certain deficiencies common to them and to the other Portuguese university libraries are pointed out, such as the lack of adequately trained professional staff members. Reference is made to the current state of computerization of the catalogues of collections and to the problems which have arisen as a result of the need to standardize procedures with regard to participation in the National Bibliographic Database ‐‐ PORBASE. The role of university libraries in their su rounding communities is stressed as well as the urgent need to find ways of overcoming the crisis situation which characterizes the European university libraries.     

EDUCATING AN AGING SOCIETY: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE IN FINLAND

Finland has responded to the educational needs of its aging population with the development of its version of the University of the Third Age. This article traces the creation of the University of the Third Age in Finland from seeds sown in France and England during the 1970s. The unique features of Finland's cultural hybrid University of the Third Age (U3A) are described from existing literature and field research data collected for this study. In addition, the educational interests and activities of a sample of older learners from five University of the Third Age campuses in Finland are described. Emerging organizational issues associated with growth in student populations and credentialing concerns are noted and briefly discussed.     

UNIVERSITY‐BASED INITIATIVES IN FAVOUR OF ECOSYSTEM REHABILITATION FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN GREAT LAKES

On‐going attempts by governments to implement measures intended to eliminate environmental degradation in the nearshore waters of the Great Lakes have revealed a critical need for integrative understanding that transcends disciplinary and professional specialisms. Academics from universities in the United States and Canada began, ten years ago, to meet with government officials and with people from nongovernmental organizations to find solutions to the problems in question. Groups of academics followed up these meetings with policy oriented studies using systems and transdisciplinary perspectives. Results have been readily disseminated into a wider constituency of interests because of the participation of nonacademics in the guiding of the studies. Similar collaborative approaches have been used to design role playing exercises for students in environmental studies courses at universities, using various Great Lakes situations as examples. An action learning/research mode lies at the core of environmental education at university level which also has considerable potential for addressing other global issues at universities.     

AUTOMATION WITH BLCMP IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

BLCMP is the major supplier of British‐designed integrated library systems with fifty ‐installations in the UK. It was formed in 1969 as the result of the interest of three Birmingham libraries in co‐operative cataloguing through the use of MARC tapes. Since then it has developed an integrated library system, BLS, which incorporates modules for cataloguing, acquisitions, circulation, online public access catalogues, serials control, and most recently, inter‐library loans. The interest in the BLCMP systems centres not only on BLS but on the central BLCMP database of 7.5 million bibliographical records comprising UK and LG MARC tapes, Whitaker's Books in Print, the British Library Document, Supply Centre database, and the BLCMP Union File. This is held in an IBM mainframe at BLCMP headquarters at the University of Birmingham and linked to members by telecommunications lines. BLCMP is a co‐operative organization with a well‐defined structure consisting of a Board of Directors, a Council of Chief Librarians, and a series of User Groups. Through these means, the company is able to respond well to the demands of its users and, as a result of responses to a question naire, is presently reviewing both its systems documentation and training courses for its members.     

WOMEN IN THE AUSTRIAN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT

The article begins by presenting some background material on the employment in Austrian universities of women academics, pointing out that progress has been very slow and the way paved with obstacles. A commitment to equal opportunity for women has come from the Austrian Conference of Rectors which has created a working group on equal opportunity for men and women and has engaged the services of two consultants who are specialists in gender equality. Both of them are advising working groups in the various higher education institutions of Austria on the establishment of preferential hiring and promotion schemes for women academics.