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PDAs and the library without a roof

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Abstract

THE DEVELOPMENT of electronic resources and “virtual libraries” offer many new opportunities for accessing voluminous amounts of information. This project tested the prospect of accessing library information using handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with cellular communications capability. The project demonstrated the feasibility of accessing library online public access catalogs (OPACs), commercial online databases, and the Internet without the need to be in a library building, or any building at all. Using this technology, researchers could search electronic information resources while sitting by a serene lake or while roaming the stacks of the library. Other uses of wireless communications in libraries and educational institutions are proposed.

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Author notes

  1. Clifton Dale Foster

    Present address: Ralph Brown Draughon Library Libraries, Auburn University, 36849-5606, Alabama

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    1. Clifton Dale Foster
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    Correspondence to Clifton Dale Foster.

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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Clifton Dale Foster was Coordinator of Online and CD-ROM Search Services at the University of South Alabama Library during this project. He is a former library/archives database consultant with InfoGraphics Information Services and a former television/radio producer with The Cierra Group, Inc. His current position is Head of Special Collections at the Auburn University Library. He received his M.A. and M.L.S. from the University of Maryland.

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    Foster, C.D. PDAs and the library without a roof. J. Comput. High. Educ. 7, 85–93 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946144

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946144

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