The Information Superhighway, or the Internet, is now common
terminology not only in the library professional community but also in our
general society. It has brought excitement especially to library and information
professionals because it means that the information resources available to us
have suddenly multiplied hundreds and hundreds of times. However, it has also
brought some confusion as to who should be doing what in order to optimize the
functions of these newly found information resources. Most people want to know:
"what is out there for me ﹖ ", or "how can the Internet benefit me ﹖ " This
presentation covers an over-view of what information resources there are on the
Internet, including e-mails, e-journals, e-books, articles, computer programs,
documents, pictures, fractals, sounds, library information systmes, community
information systems, industrial and governmental documents, etc. It also gives
an overview of network functions and information retrieval tools, such as remote
login (telnet), file transfer protocol (ftp), e-mailing, Gopher, Bookmark,
Veronica, Freenet, Hytelnet, World Wide Web (WWW), Wide Area Information Servers
(WAIS), Archie, Online Catalogs. Talk, IRC etc. For library and information
professionals, it presents opportunities for them to get involved in learning
and teaching the application of the network, and especially to use it for
enhancing library services. To illustrate the point that a librarian can get
involved in the Internet information system, the presenter presents his personal
experience in learning and teaching the Internet over the past few years. He
also presents his involvement in the project of testing the accessibility of
STICNET (Science and Technology Information Center Network, ROC) as well as
other Chinese information resources, such as Taiwan Gophers, BBS, China Time
News etc., on TANet (Taiwan Academic Network). The Internet also provides for us
a window of what future library services will be like, and how it may affect the
librarian's role in information services. Issues related to the Internet and
librarians are discussed. The presenter concludes the presentation with a
positive and encouraging note to the librarian.