Digital libraries present new challenges: an interview with Bill Arms. (member of ACM Publications Board and an electronic publishing expert)(Interview)

Bill Arms, member of the ACM Publications Board since 1993, is one of the world's experts on the current state of research in digital libraries. After receiving degrees in mathematics and operational research from Oxford, the London School of Economics, and Sussex University, Arms eventually specialized in the the academic uses of computing. He worked at Dartmouth and Carnegie Mellon in the 70s and 80s and was involved with the first computer courses for the British Open University.

In 1995 Arms joined the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) where he is involved in a number of electronic publishing and digital library projects focusing on research and novel applications. One large program is in conjunction with work funded by DARPA and NSF digital libraries, where Arms provides supports to the program officers and is publisher of D-Lib Magazine. His work also includes projects with the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office, implementation projects with the U.S. Information Agency and Defense Technical Information Center, and collaboration with various universities an the networked Computer Science Technical Reports Library.

Q: The ACM Digital Library opened for world …