"Treading the minefield between the establishment and the minority groups, trying to retain the credence of one while keeping the confidence of the other, will not be easy". Author visits the Center for Information and Advice on Educational Disadvantage at a moment when it is re-examining its role. (Editor)

The study reported here was conducted to determine whether local decision makers have information needs that can be elicited by direct contact, whether their questions could be answered through the resources of a research library, and, if so, whether the public library could have served as well. (Author/JAB)

Discusses the development of crisis centers in the community and their role in organizing and coordinating community services for more optimal usage by people experiencing distress. (Author/RK)

Assesses the state of the public library, briefly reviewing the history of the institution and discussing library purpose, services, and patrons at the present and in the future. Seven references are provided. (EJS)

A telephone tape program designed to provide basic mental and physical health information to callers is described. The tapes were especially constructed to offer assistance to callers in coping with personal and social issues as well as problems of daily living and to offer referral sources for these problems. (Author)

This article examines some of the reasons why community workers get involved with neighborhood information centers, and shows how unrealistic expectations of these workers can limit and disguise the achievements of these centers. (SK)

Advocates development of libraries through statewide approach, using as an example the West Virginia library system where a conference on libraries was sponsored to increase citizen awareness and involvement. Workshops, outreach programs, open access, and library sharing are tools mentioned to make the library more useful to the individual. (SW)

Traces the path of library revolution in Information and Referral (I&R) Services from 1969 to the present. (Author/MBR)

The work involved in planning and implementing a community information center in partnership with the community requires professionalism of the highest order and provides the opportunity for many more librarians to work as true professionals. (Author)

Includes lists of machine-readable data bases (publicly available bibliographic data bases as well as machine-readable files associated with information and referral centers), a discussion of information and referral services, lists of major information sources for coping, a selective bibliography of coping literature, and a discussion of trends…

The Community Learning Centers are adult education centers deliberately placed in the more remote areas. Using video as a medium, they offer people the opportunity to communicate among themselves and with the larger centers of decision making. (Author/BD)

Discusses the practice and perspectives of free access for the public of Uzbekistan to legal resources, including distant and disadvantaged communities. Explains the legal database system and presents results of a project at the Open Library for Legal Information to organize legal information by regional libraries and public centers for legal…

Describes digital community information systems (CIS) and the need for improvements in system design. Proposes a layered evaluation framework to guide the evaluation of digital CIS from the perspective of information retrieval, following a selective review of digital CIS and evaluation approaches. Contains 59 references. (Author/LRW)

Describes the background of and the concept, and purpose of a local file in the Pikes Peak Library District's community resource and information system. The year established, scope and function, and sample records are reviewed for the nine files that currently comprise the system. (two references) (MES)