Digital Libraries as a Tool Uniting Communities
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Transcript of Digital Libraries as a Tool Uniting Communities
Digital Libraries as a Tool Uniting Communities
Professor Derek LawUniversity of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde,founded in 1796 as “a place of useful learning”
University of Strathclyde
18th Century James Watt Steam Engine >
Industrial Revolution > Environmental Pollution and Global Warming
University of Strathclyde
James Watt 19th Century >David
Livingstone > Exploration of Africa > British Empire > Political chaos from Iraq to the Malvinas
University of Strathclyde
James Watt David Livingstone 20th Century > John
Logie Baird > television > Baywatch and Big Brother
University of Strathclyde
James Watt David Livingstone John Logie Baird 21st Century >
Arthur Van Hoff > Javascript > Pop up windows
eIFL activities
Content Consortia Infrastructure Co-operation
www.eifl.net
Activities 2003: Content
Model licenses E-books report (Jan Nikisch) Russian content established CUP, Proquest, Bioone Elsevier for six
countries APS, Highwire, IoP Survey of content required - inconclusive
Report on activities 2003: New Consortia
Macedonia Sudan Laos Cambodia China under negotiation 28 Training events/workshops
Report on activities 2003: Cooperation
Meetings with INASP, TIB, Biomed Central Stand at IFLA Link set up to ICOLC Proposals with Goethe Institute Bid with partners to develop Greenstone
Why bother getting involved?
Leave it to technology But we are user focussed
Leave it to the market? But we want to change society
Leave it to big countries? But one size doesn’t fit all Not everyone wants to share Small is beautiful from Finland to Singapore
Leave it to publishers? But they have no grandmothers
Trust Me I’m a Librarian
“People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.”
(Olson, 2000)
Underpinning philosophy
The Vesalius Conundrum This is rocket science not a plug in the wall Ease of use = “the satisfied inept” Public sector bodies are producers not just
consumers of information The Internet is AT PRESENT very flawed as
a teaching and learning tool
A history of libraries: 19th Century – towards the global community
The development of the concept of public libraries and public good
Panizzi, Dewey, Carnegie The Procrustean Bed
A history of libraries: early 20th Century – international co-operation
Cooperation and the Russian Revolution Interlending to St
Petersburg Latitude = 59º26'N Longitude = 024º46'E
A history of libraries: late 20th century - interoperability
MARC AACR2 OCLC UAP and UBC Dublin Core
User not technology driven
The Library as place Second most used public service University space has not grown
Staff and students are library conservatives
Communities share a history Librarians can collect and interpret that Returning their history to communities Collection focussed
DLF Collection typology local digitization projects that produce surrogates for
analogue information objects; data creation projects that produce information
resources that have no analogue equivalent and are in this respect "born digital";
the selection of existing third-party data resources for inclusion in a collection either through their outright acquisition or by acquiring access under some licensing arrangement; and
the development of Internet gateways comprising locally maintained pages or databases of web-links to third-party networked information
(Greenstein)
Third Party Data and gateways
The Virtual Human, mirroring and caching strategies
Gateways: The Indian diaspora and the Welsh in Patagonia
Collection types
Surrogates of rare items: the British Library Surrogates for whole or part collections: The
Springburn Virtual Library Digitised surrogate collections assembled
from multiple repositories: the Valley of the Shadow, Red Clydeside
Collections assembled specifically to be digitised ASPECT; CAIN
Born Digital Resources
Display of treasures: the British Library
GLASGOW DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLECTIONS PEOPLE PLACES SUBJECTS DOCUMENTS
Organised digital collections to support teaching, learning and research
Aspect Access to Scottish Parliamentary Election
Candidate Materials 1999
Red Clydeside Political History of the Scottish Left 1910-
1922
Springburn Virtual Museum Photographs from Springburn Community
Museum 1880-1987
Voyage of the Scotia Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
1902-04
GlasgowInfo Directory information for and about Glasgow
2002
100 Glasgow Men Memoirs and Portraits of 100 Glasgow Men
1855-1885
Virtual Mitchell Images of Glasgow by area, street or subject
1860-1980
Victorian Times Social, political, and economic conditions
1837-1901
Overview | Contacts | Reports | Policies The Glasgow Digital Library is based at the Centre for Digital Library Research in the University of Strathclyde. It was set up as part of the Research Support Libraries Programme, supplemented by funding from SCRAN for specific digitisation projects.
GLASGOW DIGITAL LIBRARYCOLLECTIONS PEOPLE PLACES SUBJECTS DOCUMENTS
Glasgow Digital Library
Identifying Resources for Digitisation Encouraging Electronic Content Creation Cost-cutting by City-wide Licences Mirroring heavily used content
The Virtual Human Setting and Implementing Standards A distributed regional resource -
ScoDiDiLi
Springburn
CAIN: Conflict Archive on the Internet
Red Clydeside: Restoring a collection
Information arbitrage
Identifying products Identifying value for money Is the Pareto Principle relevant? Independent, authoritative and right
Law’s Laws
1. Good Information systems will drive out bad
Law’s Laws
1. Good Information systems will drive out bad
2. User Friendly systems aren’t
Training
The satisfied inept – staff as well as students
13% get information from the Library But it’s also a:
cybersandpit dating agency learning space 7x24 chatroom Training ground
Data preservation and trusted repositories
Clearing the study Building research collections for the
future EVERYBODY has something to contribute
Digital Asset Management and Curation
Repository standards
Trusted Repositories: the five Maori tests Receive the information with accuracy Store the information with integrity
beyond doubt Retrieve the information without
amendment Apply appropriate judgement in the use
of the information Pass the information on appropriately
Where we are now
Hybrid libraries Google and the satisfied
inept Struggling with
redefinition of scholarly communication
Big deals (ending?) E-books are toys Images the next frontier?
The global village in 2003
$30 annual income 90% unemployment 18hr a day power cuts Life expectancy
declining Unlimited access to e-
journals
The future…..?
The Options
1. Stunned amazement – the Homer Simpson approach
2. Cynicism – the Rhett Butler approach
3. Aggression – the Monty Python approach
4. Be ahead of the game – the Road Runner approach
Road Runners Rool, OK
Grown up thinking Joined up networks Seamless Martini education Capitalism and communism according to
Keynes A people at ease with a knowledge society
having survived the information revolution
Conclusion
Digital libraries are a social phenomenon as much as a technical one
Communities cut across geography as well as class and function
There is a lot of money available for creating collections
Every library has – or should have – a collection to contribute
He who pays the piper may call the tune – but may not get an audience
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902