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With the increasing dominance of electronic content and digital collections in academic libraries, the capabilities lacking in the current slate of automation systems has increasingly become an obstacle to progress. A new generation of digital services platforms for libraries is emerging, designed to provide a more comprehensive approach to the management and access to all formats of library materials: print, electronic and digital. These new systems involve a modernization of technology, embracing service-oriented architectures, availability for APIs to facilitate interoperability with external systems, support for task workflows more aligned with current operational realities, and more tightly coupled discovery interfaces that deliver access to library collections and services in a more unified and comprehensive manner. These new products, emerging in this era of cloud computing, have been designed for deployment through software as a service and rely on highly shared data models.

This article summarizes the findings of a study on e-resource knowledge bases and OpenURL-based link resolvers sponsored by the National Library of Sweden. The project involved soliciting detailed information from each of the providers of the major products in this genre, reviewing product information available on the web and in published articles, and conducting a survey addressed to libraries using these products. The report identified and presented comparative information on a top tier of products that includes KnowledgeWorks and 360 Link from Serials Solutions; SFX Global KnowledgeBase and the SFX link resolver from Ex Libris; LinkSource and the EBSCO Integrated Knowledge Base from EBSCO and the WorldCat knowledge base from OCLC. A second tier included TOUResolver from TDNet, Gold Rush from the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries and GODOT from Simon Fraser University. Innovative Interfaces, Inc offers the WebBridge link resolver but does not produce a knowledge base. The library survey revealed relatively narrow differences in the statistical results. Serial Solutions emerged as more favorable in most categories except for end-user functionality where Ex Libris received higher ratings. The Global Open Knowledgebase project (GOKb) is noteworthy as a nascent community-based effort to produce a knowledge base. Key trends noted include less emphasis on knowledge bases and link resolvers as stand-alone products as they become integral components of comprehensive discovery and automation products.

Twenty-five college students were tested for recognition memory of small common objects immediately after exposure and after a retention interval of 1 week. The objects were classified into three object types based upon a cluster analysis of rated stimulus characteristics. The results indicated that recognition performance was influenced by object type and retention interval. The importance of considering stimulus characteristics in theoretical explanations of memory for environmental detail was discussed. Adaptation to a new or unfamiliar environment involves the processing of information extracted from physical components of that environment. Few studies have reported the nature of visual information retained from objects and scenes in real-world environments. Using schematic drawings of realistic scenes,