Collection maintenance in the digital library (original) (raw)

Collection development in the electronic library

Proceedings of the 21st annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services, 1993

Until recently, bzzilding library collections lzas meant acquiring materials and housing thenz locally. Librarians have constrzzcted a well-defined methodology for plannirzg the development of collections. TIze predonzinant model was "the bigger, the better." Libraries are no70 at a crossroads. Tlze nzznzber of pztblications and their cost are growing so rapidly that evelz the largest researck libraries calz no longer acqztire all the nzaterials their llsers need. Librarinns are hnoing to rethirlk the ways in &ich they serve their users, leadirzg to the czlrrent debate over "ownership verszzs access. 'I They are realizing that they mztst nzoz7efronz tlzc model of collecting materials in alzticipation of zzser needs to one of accessing materials zcpon presentation of need. Dztring tlze last twenty-five years libraries Izave relatively easily incorporated electronic information in thefornz of online catalogs, CD-ROMs and otlzer bibliographic databases into their collectiows, in part because they containcd.familiar information which often lzad print counterparts. Conzpzcter networks, in particztlar the Internet, now #er libraries access to otlzer illformation resozzrces. Many libraries \zazje implemented ltzternet access via tlze University of Mijmesota's Gopher software, zulzich allows selective and organized access to information on the Internet. lrlfornzation on the Internet comes in a wide variety offormats, most of it "non-traditional" as far as libraries are concerned. Librarians have to decide zuhat.information on tlze Internet qzdalifies as "libra y" infornzation. In addition, librarians zuill have to zuork witlzirz the larger contexts of the university, other libraries, and the larger research community. In tlzcir role as mediators between people and knowledge, librarians can add valzde to a libra y Goplzer in many zuays. By bringing informationfrom the Internet into local collections and by enhancing its accessibility, librarians are working towards the realization of the electronic libra y.

Development of Digital Libraries: Old Wine in New Bottles

Rapid development of information communication technologies (ICTs) has made an environment globally to the growth of digital libraries. Digital libraries (DL) are facilitating researchers, scholars, learners, information professionals to access their information in variety of formats and learning support at their desktops without any geographical barrier. They are providing electronic based (e-based) information delivery to its users crossing the boundaries of time, space and location. DL users can be reached remotest corners of the world to fill their thrust of information. It makes a gateway to the users for retrieving and browsing of desired information from its huge resources like one stop shopping of big shopping mall. It provides extra services of 24X7 hour uninterrupted access through Internet to the users at their desktop. . It supports teaching, learning and research while reaching unreachable without walls. Greater revolution has occurred in the libraries recent past converting paper-based libraries to electronic based ones. With the emergence of WWW and availability of national and global networks, libraries have turned their attention to digital collections rather than building printed-based collection. In this way, librarian's role dramatically changed and is responsible for what digital repositories available for their users and how users can access to the available information within the physical walls of the library or elsewhere.

Toward a worldwide digital library

Communications of the ACM, 1998

IGITAL LIBRARIES CAN BE AMONG THE MOST COMPLEX AND advanced forms of information systems because they often involve collaboration support, digital document preservation, distributed database management, hypertext, information filtering, information retrieval, instructional modules, intellectual property rights management, multimedia information services, question answering and reference services, resource discovery, and selective dissemination of information. While physical libraries develop digital components and other business and cultural organizations offer their materials over networks, thousands of digital libraries are emerging around the world, crossing all disciplines and media and ranging from the small, such as community organizations offering online catalogs and news for local constituencies, to the large, such as national libraries offering a wide variety of research and cultural treasures in multiple media.

Preservation and Maintenance of the Digital Library: A New Challenge

2005

Libraries, archives, and museums play a critical role in organizing, preserving, and providing access to the cultural and historical resources of society. Digital technologies are used increasingly for information production, distribution, and storage. The institutions that have traditionally assumed responsibility for preserving information face technical, organizational, resource, and legal challenges in taking on the preservation of digital holdings. Maintenance will be critical to digital libraries; especially those who promote broad access to diverse, informal materials. If ignored, maintenance issues within the digital library, especially those relating to its materials will threaten its usefulness and even its long-term viability. We perceive the maintenance problem to be both technical and institutional, and this paper considers the preservation and maintenance of the digital library. The paper examines collection maintenance from several vantage points, including software architecture and the type of collection. The paper ends with an examination of potential technical solutions.

What we expect from digital libraries

2004

Digital Libraries have been the subject of more than a decade of attention by researchers and developers, and yet in all this time the implementations have not matched the promises. By far the majority of systems have concentrated on content and provided limited or basic functions for users. In this article we offer a new look at what can be expected from a digital library system based on contemporary developments in Information and Communications Systems and Technology. First, we sketch out the basic functions which are provided to support finding and accessing material by a reader. Next we explain some extended functions which support the use and re-use of documents-links and annotations-and the need to support learners in addition to readers and writers. Finally, we present our visions for a modern digital library and e-Learning portal system which includes for example intelligent and conceptual search support including results visualization, white lists, and adaptive user interfaces.

Three Kinds of Digital Library Treasure: Theses, Heritage Libraries, Human Networks

2011

When I was first approached about participation in Digital Library for the Maghreb workshop, I reflected on my experience of managing a digital library repository of unique scholarship created by every Yale University School of Medicine (YSM) graduating student. To clarify, many U.S. medical schools have MD/PhD student combining a dissertation with an MD degree. But at Yale, every MD student must propose, develop, submit, and deposit a research thesis. The pre-digital tradition of these deposited theses was that they almost never left the basement of the library.

The internet and the revival of the myth of the universal library

The creation of the universal library where the whole of human knowledge would be accumulated has long been a dream of librarians and scholars. The advent of computers, and of the Internet especially, made this vision possible of realisation - so we are told by many librarians, teachers and politicians, not to mention computer specialists. Yet we should not ignore lessons of history. Attempts to create universal libraries made in previous centuries failed. In the twentieth century knowledge is not perceived as a solid structure any more. The universal library is a utopian vision and it belongs to the same category as the universal encyclopaedia and the universal language.

Digital Libraries: Ongoing Development (From the Editor of the Special Issue)

Programming and Computer Software, 2002

Digital Libraries Initiative declared in the USA in the autumn of 1993 aroused interest to information systems of this class in many countries all over the world. Today, numerous research teams are involved in activities related to such systems. A significant number of digital libraries for diverse purposes are already in operation, and various research prototypes have been created. This subject has been discussed at international conferences dedicated specifically to digital libraries and conferences on fundamental directions of information system technologies, such as database technologies, Web technologies, textual search, data mining, and knowledge discovery. Programming and Computer Software already addressed the problems arising in relation to digital libraries. This issue of the journal further explores the subject.

The 21st-century library: a whole new ball game?

2009

Over the last few years the shift in emphasis from print to electronic collections has posed a new series of challenges for libraries. Issues regarding physical logistics are now being replaced by URL management and appropriate copy, licence agreements, linking problems and, first and foremost, the growing challenge of how to make users aware of the virtual cornucopia of e-books, journal articles, text and images. In addition, users expect this information in a one-box interface.