Internet Resources Discovery (IRD)

Internet Resources Discovery (IRD) Views on Digital Libraries Thanks to Hadas Weinberger T.Sharon-A.Frank

Names of the New Paradigm • Electronic Library • Virtual Library • Digital Library • Portals - Almost all, lately?! T.Sharon-A.Frank

Virtual Library (1) • A "library without walls" in which the collection does not exist on paper, microform, or in any tangible form, but is accessible electronically. • Such libraries exist only on a very small scale, but in many traditional libraries, current and retrospective periodicals and some reference works are being converted to digital format. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Virtual Library (2) The term digital library is more appropriate because the term virtual (borrowed from virtual reality) suggests that the experience of using such a library is not the same as the real thing, when in fact, reading or viewing a document on a computer screen may be qualitatively different from reading a printed book or periodical, but the information or knowledge imparted is the same regardless of format. http://www.wcsu.edu/library/odlis.html#virtuallibrary T.Sharon-A.Frank

What is a Digital library • A library in which a significant proportion of the resources are available in digital (machine-readable) format, as opposed to print or microform. • The process of digitization began with indexes and abstracting services, then moved to periodicals and reference books, and is now entering the field of book publication. • Compare with virtual library. • http://www.wcsu.edu/library/odlis.html#D T.Sharon-A.Frank

DL Services: Example University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: • Remote reference services. • Video-based reference services with e-mail based reference services. “We play a cultural role in the sense that librarians have traditionally applied a broader range of knowledge to pieces of information. I think it’s high tech and high touch.Bring in high tech, but give it a human face. And that face is the face of a librarian.” T.Sharon-A.Frank

Advantages of a Digital Library (1) The concept "library" has been refined over several centuries. It would be injudicious to depart from what people expect merely because a digital service is replacing a material one. Except where explicit reasons suggest animprovement that is easily explained to ordinary users (e.g., in query services), library services should implement a familiar model. Many potential advantages of a digital library over a paper library are similar to those of any digital database over its paper counterpart. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Advantages of a Digital Library (2) • Faster addition to the collection • Better quality control • Improved search functionality • Faster access to information found • More freedom • Reduced bureaucracy for individual users. Achieving these advantages depends not only on efforts traditionally undertaken by computer scientists, but also on the highest quality engineering for human usability. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Retry - What is a Digital Library? • A managed collection of information, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network. Arms, William, Y., Digital Libraries, MIT press, Cambridge, 2000. T.Sharon-A.Frank

So the Digital Library is: • The collection of services that supports users in: • creating, dealing and sharing information. • organization and presentation of information objects. • The collection of information objects: • Available directly or indirectly for access via electronic/digital means. T.Sharon-A.Frank

The Ten Dimensions The Ten Dimensions for exploring the potential differences between Traditional librariesand Digital libraries. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries • Evolution Dynamics - Traditional libraries arestable and slowly evolving; digital libraries arehighly dynamic, ephemeral and versioned. • Object Structure - Traditional libraries holdatomic objects of mostly printin big crisp chunks; digital libraries holdinter-linked, multimedia objectswhich are multi-size, fractal, and ill-defined. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries 3.Structure - Traditional libraries hold objects with largelyflat structure and minimal context and metainformation; digital libraries support documents withsignificant internal scaffold structure and significant context/meta informationwhich might be automatically extracted. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries 4. Origin - Traditional (academic) libraries hold objects which are scholar-authored and pre-credentialledthrough a ponderous publishing stream; digital libraries allow anyone to publish in a lightweight way, and can support pre-credentialling or credentially through use. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries 5. Access Control - Traditional libraries are based upon centralized control and relatively few access locations; digital libraries can be distributed and ubiquitous. 6. Object Structure - In traditional libraries the objects are physically & logically co-controlled; in digital libraries the physical and logical organizations can be separated (allows virtual collections). T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries 7.Free Access - The tradition of public libraries isuniversal access and free; digital libraries could be similar inthis regard, or digital libraries could supportrich layers of access controland management of terms and conditions. 8. Interaction - Traditional libraries supportone-way, loosely coupled (slow) interaction; digitallibraries supporttwo-waycommunication with tight,fast interaction. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Differences betweenTraditional and Digital libraries 9. Simple Search - Traditional libraries are based upon a model ofone-way search(a consumer looking for anobject); digital libraries supportsymmetric search(consumer looking for an object an producer of the object looking for a consumer). 10. Interactive Complex Search - In traditional librariesstructured text queries(and some browsing) are used to aid intellectualaccess; in digital librariescomplex interactions of query,navigation/browsing, and socialfiltering can be used. T.Sharon-A.Frank

Internet Resources Discovery (IRD)