WXGB6311DIGITAL LIBRARIES

TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTIONDR. NOORHIDAWATI ABDULLAH

LEARNING OBJECTIVESTo discuss various definition of DLsTo discuss the benefits and limitation of DLs

What is a Digital Library? What is not a Digital Library?

Tan Sri Dr Abdullah Sanusi Digital Library (http://iportal.oum.edu.my)MyLib (http://www.mylib.com.my/)Digital Library of Malay Manuscript (http://mymanuskrip.fsktm.um.edu.my)IIUM Digital Library (http://www.iium.edu.my/lib)

Find it out!

Digital Libraries: the definitionsVarious definitions based on research and practise community

Examples:Computer scientists and engineers - access and retrieval of digital content Library and information professionals - collection, organisation and services

Some definitions of DL:CollectionInstitutionServicesHybrid library

DL as collection"Digital libraries are organized collections of digital information. They combine the structuring and gathering of information, which libraries and archives have always done, with the digital representation that computers have made possible." (Lesk, 1997)

"An informal definition of a digital library is a managed collection of information, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network. A crucial part of this definition is that the information is managed. A stream of data sent to earth from a satellite is not a library. The same data, when organized systematically, becomes a digital library collection." (Arms, 2000)

DL as collection

"A DL contains digital representations of the objects found in it - most understanding of the "DL" probably also assumes that it will be accessible via the Internet, though not necessarily to everyone. But the idea of digitization is perhaps the only characteristic of a digital library on which there is universal agreement." (Harter, 1997)

Digital library is "a focused collection of digital objects, including text, video, and audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection, organization, and maintenance of the collection." (Witten and Bainbridge, 2003).

"Digital libraries are different [from traditional library automation] in that they are designed to support the creation, maintenance, management, access to, and preservation of digital content. (Bernie Hurley, the Director for Library Technologies at U.C.Berkeley. Quoted in Digital library technology trends. Sun Microsystems. August 2002)

DL as institutionDigital Library Federation (DLF) brings out the essence of this perception.

"Digital libraries are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff, toselect, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities"

DL as servicesBorgman (2000) defines DL as a combination of: (1) services; (2) an architecture; (3) a set of information resources, databases of text, numbers, graphics, sound, video and etc.; and (4) a set of tools and capabilities to locate, retrieve and utilise the information resources available.

Marchionini and Fox (1999): DL work occurs in the context of a complex design space shaped by four dimensions: community, technology, services and content.Community reflects social, political, legal and culture issuesTechnology serves as the engine moving the digital library field, including technical progress in computing, networking, information storage and retrieval, multimedia, interface design and so on.Services that should digital references services, real-time questions answering, on demand help, information literacy and user involvement mechanisms.Content represents all possible kinds of form and genre of information, printed as well as digital.

DL as hybrid libraryA hybrid library is defined as a library where digital and printed information resources co-exist and are brought together in an integrated information service accessible locally as well as remotely (Hylife, 2002)Hybrid library is on the continumm between the conventional and digital library where electronic and paper-based information sources are used alongside each other (Pinfield, 1998)It may noted that DLs are meant to deal with digital materials, whereas hybrid libraries are meant to deal with both printed and digital materials, but this dictinction is not always maintained in practice. Many libraries that contain both printed and digital materials are called digital libraries instead of hybrid libraries e.g. California Digital Library at the University of California and Digital Library of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Benefits of DLsDL brings the library to the user Improved access - searching and browsing Information can be shared more easily Easier to keep information current Information is always available

New forms of information become possible Wider access Allow collaboration and exchange of ideas DLs may save money Improved preservation

Limitations of DLsTechnological obsolescence Cost of content refreshing Rights management Inter-operability Network bandwidth

ReferencesArms, W. Y. (2000). Digital libraries. Cambridge: MIT Press Chapter 1Chowdhury, G. G. and Chowdhury, S. (2003). Introduction to digital libraries. London: Facet Publishing Chapter 1Witten, I. H. and Bainbridge, D. (2003). How to build a digital library. Morgan Kaufman Publishers Chapter 1Lesk, M. (200)5. Understanding digital libraries. Morgan Kaufmann Chapter 1 Borgman, C.L. (1999). What are digital libraries? Competing visions. Information Processing and Management, 35, pp227-243.Pinfield, S et al. 1998. Realising the hybrid library. D-Lib Magazines. Available at http: www.dlib.org/dlib/october98/10pinfield.html.Marchionini, G. and Fox, E.A. (2000). Editorial: Progress toward digital libraries: augmentation through integration, Information Processing and Management, 35 (3), pp219-25.