The second issue of the electronic journal "Infofoorum" of the Department of the Information Studies of the Tallinn Pedagogical University is ready now and available to the information specialists and people interested in the information world.
If the first issue concentrated mostly on the activities of the Department, then the second one includes a wider range of authors and topics. The information specialists from the United Kingdom, the USA, Norway and, of course, Estonia to be found in this number, dealing with the information environment, education, coping in the information society, the role of libraries and information workers in the society, changed by the information technology.
The issue maintains the same structure as the first one, the material is presented under the sections "Library science", "Information Society", "Book Studies".
The present state and trends in libraries are analyzed by Frederick C. Lynden, the Associate University Librarian for Technical Services of the Brown University Libraries, USA and the reasearcher of the Institute of the Estonian Language Sirje Nilbe. F. Lynden gives an overview about the experience of libraries in sharing their resources, which enable the movement from printed forms of information to the electronic ones. S. Nilbe presents the first article of the series on the possibilities and necessity of electronic library catalogues.
The information society is treated by a psychologyst, a teacher of adults and a student. Voldemar Kolga, a professor of psychology of the Tallinn Pedagogical University reflects on the prerequisites and obstacles to coping in the information society. The associate professor of the chair of andragogics of the Tallinn Pedagogical University Larissa Jõgi writes about the changes in the learning environment and its impact on learners and teachers. Aivar Tõnso, the fifth-year student of the information sciences, is an author of an essay about Estonia's possibilities of reaching the information society.
Mare Lott, professor of the chair of book studies of the Tallinn Pedagogical University and the associate professor of the same chair Aile Möldre begin with the series of articles on the changes in the Estonian publishing system and book distribution during the twentieth century. The current number deals with the publishing houses and the system of state subsidies to book-publishing in the independent Estonia in 1918-1940.
The editorial board of the journal is especially pleased about the interview given to "Infofoorum" by professor Tom Wilson, Head of the Department of Information Studies of the Sheffield University, who is well-known throughout the whole information world. He characterizes the changes in the information environment which have taken place during the last years, the role of the electronic publications at the present day and in the future, the contemporary learning space and the roles of teacher and information worker in this new surrounding as well as the research areas of the Department of the Information Studies of the Sheffield University.
The section "Facts, events, comments" includes information on the past and future events in library and information world. Ivar Haug, the chairman of the international relations committe of the Norwegian Library Association, who took part in the work of the Fifth Congress of the Librarians of the Baltic States in October 1996 in Tallinn presents his impressions and thoughts about the congress in this section.
All the comments, propositions and opinions are welcome to
Address:
An electronic journal "Infofoorum"
Department of Information Studies
Tallinn Pedagogical University
Narva Road 25
EE0001 Tallinn
E-mail: i-foorum@tpu.ee