Bókasafnið - 01.01.2001, Page 50

[skoðað 6.4.2001]. Aðgangur um Internetið: GALILEO
http://galileo.gsu.edu/ Homepage.cgi
Um aðgang bókasafna, stofnana og einstaklinga að erlend-
um og innlendum gagnasöfnum. (1999) Reykjavík. Mennta-
málaráðuneytið.
Summary
On the access of libraries, institutions and individu-
als to foreign and domestic databases : a summary
from a report of a committe working for the Icelandic
Ministry of Education
The article summarizes a report of a committee
working for the Icelandic Ministry of Education in
1999. The committee had the role of finding ways to
ensure Icelanders’ access to domestic and foreign
databases through the Internet. The last years’ rapid
evolution in information technology has changed the
environment in the operations of libraries enabling
them to offer users more diversified services. The
author says that the technology surely is available, so
therefore it is possible to offer good information
services. She also says that there is much enthusiasm
inside libraries to offer these services. The biggest
problems are the small population of the nation and
the small size of the research community. Because of
those, the costs to gain access to electronic databases
may be too high for Icelandic libraries. In the article
some ideas about ways to ensure Icelandic users
access to databases are set forth. Among the
committee’s proposals was the establishment of a
three years experimental project. The aim of the
project is to make access to electronic databases an
integrated part of Icelandic libraries’ services after
the three years of experiment. Those who have
observed the evolution in information technology
worry about Iceland’s competing position in this
field. They believe that evolution in science and
technology may not be sufficient if Icelandic
scientists and scholars do not have the same access
to databases as their colleagues in other countries.
E.S.S.
48
BÓKASAFNIÐ 25. ÁRG. 2001