Article on metadata quality assurance and the experience of the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries.

Article discussing the deep web and the new resource discovery service of the statewide virtual Library of Texas (LOT).

This article discusses the American Library Association (ALA) midwinter meeting in 2006, which was held in San Antonio. The discussions include an increase in dues and several resolutions.

This article discusses the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in 2006, which took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. Information about the topics discussed and issues that were brought up are included.

This book chapter examines the federal Executive Branch and Congressional vision of e-government and the role of the Government Printing Office's (GPO) Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to demonstrate how the FDLP can effectively participate in existing e-government initiatives. The continuation of the Federal Depository Library Program's historic information dissemination, access, and preservation roles are now dependent upon multi-agency e-government collaboration. The collections and research expertise of Federal Depository libraries are the critical features missing in current e-government service models. The authors propose that the public service and resource discovery features now available at FDLP libraries be coordinated nationally via an AskUS-FDLP Library Portal.

Article summarizing major findings of the MetaArchive and AmericanSouth projects, two of the seven projects of the 2001 Mellon Metadata Harvesting Initiative.

Article on e-government services and how libraries can provide helpful online government resources.

Abstract: In this editorial, I express my views on how to understand and reconcile contradictory revelations among near-death experiences (NDErs). I address the issue of an NDEr proselytizing one's own unique interpretations in response to life's deepest questions.

Abstract: In this paper, I present four apparent near-death experiences (NDEs) reported in Roman times. Despite their uncertain reliability, they contain features deserving attention. Three reports involve taking the wrong person to the realm of death by mistake ("mistake cases"), and even include the claim that the correct person had died after the NDEr revived ("correction cases"). Though common in Asia, such cases are absent in contemporary Western NDE reports. The fourth report contains an alleged correct future prediction and xenoglossy, the latter being a novum to NDE research. After introducing the four cases, I discuss their peculiar features and some related aspects of near-death states with a focus on their relevance for future NDE research.

Abstract: Given the dearth of Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs) in the literature, I decided to take advantage of my contacts in the Muslim community to find more of this material. After advertising unsuccessfully in both traditional media and Internet groups, I recruited a student resident of Pakistan who had considerable contacts and help there to visit the area of a major earthquake in the Kashmir area in the hope that this would be a fertile terrain to find additional NDE accounts. Once again the results were disappointing. I conclude that NDEs are specifically designed for people who need them, and the need in certain communities may not be as great because of the persistence of traditional faith in an afterlife and a Creator.

Abstract: In Peter Novak's recent work (2003), he suggested the hypothesis that the human self is intrinsically bifurcated and separates into distinct components of consciousness at death. He referred to the near-death literature for evidence of this separation. His analysis of this literature implied that the after-death experience is not sequentially determined but is shaped simultaneously by different events corresponding to those components of consciousness. His proposal to reconcile those components addressed the need for self-integration at death. However, proponents of postmodernism question the singularity of self-identity and propose the multiplicity of self-experience. Their challenge to the belief in a wholly integrated self brings into question the therapeutic value of recognizing self-division in death. If the self lacks a foundation, then it is fruitless to seek an illusory level of integration. Rather, self-division in death points to a more astute understanding of the emptiness of the self.

Abstract: In the modern literature, the so-called 'vision of Er,' told by Plato, and the 'vision of Thespesius,' recorded by Plutarch, have sometimes been cited as examples of ancient near-death experiences (NDEs). However, in a recent study, classicist Jan Bremmer (2002) impugned this interpretation. In this article, I offer a fresh analysis of these two texts that challenges Bremmer's stance and that vindicates the similarity between the ancient reports and modern NDEs. The vision of Er emerges as the oldest known direct account of an NDE. I add to these cases Plutarch's description of the 'vision of Timarchus' as an example of an ancient NDE provoked by extreme isolation. Comparison of these reports of NDEs from antiquity with modern analogues suggests a few additional characteristic traits of NDEs.

Abstract: Preliminary evidence suggests that both near-death experiencers (NDErs) and nonexperiencers who learn about near-death experiences (NDEs) show beneficial aftereffects. In this article I summarize the findings of an exploratory study to examine a small group process utilizing spiritual guidance and expressive arts for integrating NDE aftereffects. Eleven adult participants -- four NDErs and seven non-NDErs -- completed a pretest, initial posttest, and longitudinal posttest consisting of a revised version of the Omega Life Change Questionnaire (Rominger-LCQ) and the Human Spirituality Scale, as well as semistructured individual and group interviews. I also collected the expressive art participants created during sessions, photographed it, and used it to identify pictorial themes. Quantitative results included some significant differences and some nonsignificant trends indicating greater spirituality and life changes among NDErs compared to non-NDErs and, for all participants, from pre- to posttest. Qualitative interview material revealed participants had learned material on a number of topics of including a broader understanding of, and ability to communicate about, the NDE. Qualitative pictorial data revealed themes suggesting that both NDErs and non-NDErs had integrated positive aftereffects. The process described herein may benefit spiritual guides and directors, expressive art therapists, and therapists working with individuals who have had …

Abstract: The literature concerned with experiences of the dying contains numerous accounts reporting the sudden return of mental clarity shortly before death. These experiences can be described as Terminal Lucidity (TL). The most peculiar cases concern patients suffering from mental disability including mental illness or dementia. Despite the potential relevance of TL for developing new forms of therapies and for elaborating an improved understanding of the nature of human consciousness, very little has been published on this subject. In this paper I present a historical overview and selected case reports of TL of mentally ill or otherwise disabled patients, mainly drawing on the literature available in English and in German. Possible explanatory models of TL and their implications are discussed.

Study assessing the knowledge and attitudes of nurses in Italy toward near-death experiences (NDEs), through use of Nina Thornburg's Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire.

Study designed to develop a conceptual framework for the near-death experience (NDE), reflecting its nature and meaning for the patient and the critical care nurse. The study used naturalistic inquiry to examine the question: What is the nature and meaning of an NDE and how has it influenced the individual's view of the self, the future, and feelings and beliefs about life and death?

This article discusses collection development practices to meet the unique characteristics of Web-published materials.

Article discussing the development of the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries' Portal to Texas History.

Article discussing the effectiveness of a community health worker as sole diabetes educator.

This paper discusses the results of the formal usability studies and focus groups that involved other libraries' web pages to to first determine what users appreciated or disliked about the current site. This article was co-published in The Eleventh Off-Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings.

Study investigating electromagnetic effects among near-death experiencers (NDErs), people who reported a close brush with death without an NDE, and people who reported never having been close to death but who used their most life-changing event as a past reference point.

Article acknowledging the viability and potential value of the hypothesis underlying articles suggesting a relationship between near-death experiences (NDEs) and the body's arousal system, but also identifying substantial weaknesses in both the presented lines of evidence and the studies.

Article offering alternative arguments and conclusions to those Keith Augustine offered regarding discrepancies between some near-death experiencers' (NDErs') reports of events they perceived during their NDEs and objective information available about those events.

Article analyzing literature of the first quarter century of the field of near-death studies.