Keeping Treasures in Testing Times: Special Collections in the Academic Environment

This paper explores some of the challenges faced by the Fryer Library, the special collections branch of the University of Queensland Library responsible for manuscripts and pictorial materials, as well as theses and rare books. The challenges are not dissimilar to those being met by other cultural agencies or institutions as well as other academic libraries. The challenges covered include collection development, access and preservation, making appropriate responses to the research imperative, as well as promotion of services and collections, and servicing the community at large. The paper outlines the research library context and concludes with experiences of cross-sectoral collaborations and future opportunities.

Multiresolution query optimization in an online environment

Multiresolution (or multi-scale) techniques make it possible for Web-based GIS applications to access large dataset. The performance of such systems relies on data transmission over network and multiresolution query processing. In the literature the latter has received little research attention so far, and the existing methods are not capable of processing large dataset. In this paper, we aim to improve multiresolution query processing in an online environment. A cost model for such query is proposed first, followed by three strategies for its optimization. Significant theoretical improvement can be observed when comparing against available methods. Application of these strategies is also discussed, and similar performance enhancement can be expected if implemented in online GIS applications.