What are digital libraries?
Variety of perspectives and models
Tefko Saracevic, Ph.D.
School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.
tefko@scils.rutgers.edu
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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On the scene
 Several
different communities involved in digital
libraries, each with quite different
concepts,
 Many
emphasis, approach, agenda
disciplines, institutions involved
national
& global interest
 Large
research projects - U.S. & abroad
 Many libraries investing & changing - hugely
 Very high significance for the future of libraries
& library & information professionals
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Basic problems addressed
 Creating
means & ways for dealing with &
using human knowledge records in the new
digitalized AND networked world
How
to deal with electronic “books”, journals,
publications, texts, images, sounds,?
 create,
organize, represent, store, interact, preserve?
What
access & services to provide?
How to effect use? Communities?
AND all in a networked environment?
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Problems ...
 Problems
are
technical,
organizational, operational
 managerial, institutional
social, legal, economic, cultural …
 Creating
a new world for libraries and for
organization, access, preservation & use of
human knowledge records in all formats
 Digital revolution may be as far reaching as
that created by Gutenberg & the printed book
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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What is a DIGITAL LIBRARY?
 No
single, all-encompassing answer
 Several perspectives

from different communities - different agendas
 Little
communication among them
 Coherent, integrating concept, approach not
yet emerged
 Complex problems in any approach
Many
 Highly
experiments; many experts & “experts”
exiting & volatile area
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Major (but only) perspectives
 Two
major conceptualizations stressing:
1. distributed objects in various forms, distributed access,
representation, operability (computer science)
2. institution, collection, services, availability (libraries)
 First
is research perspective
 focus
on a range of research problems, with little or no
operations; “D-lib” very broadly interpreted
 Second
is library operational perspective
 focus
on practical problems of transforming library
institutions and services, with little or no research; “D-lib”
very specifically interpreted
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Research perspective
"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
“Digital library is a managed collection of
information, with associated services, where
information is stored in digital formats and
accessible over a network.”
Arms, 2000
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Library perspective
“Digital libraries are organizations that provide
the resources, including the specialized staff,
to select, 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.”
Digital Libraries Federation (DLF)
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Computer science, engineering
 Concentrating
on research & development
 Technology centered
distributed
& organized knowledge resources
in electronic, digital formats
 collect,
store, organize, distribute, access, interact
 diverse types of information
– texts, images, sounds, multimedia in many areas
new
kind of distributed database services to
manage unstructured multimedia resources
 Important
for infrastructure
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Examples of research areas
 Interoperability
between heterogeneous collections
 Data integration - text, video, sound; metadata
 Network protocols and standards
 Search engines & agents for searching, filtering,
navigating, summarizing, integration
 Visualization & other interactive technology
browsing
 Scaling
large volumes of texts & imagery; display
R&D to large collections, applications
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Libraries and information science
 Concentrates

on institutions, service, practice
logical extension of libraries
 Content,
collection centered
Creation
of digital collections - variety of forms
Subscription, licensing, sharing of digital resources
Organization, representation, storing
Access to collections
 Guided
by service mission
 various
environments, user communities
 various degrees of integration - hybrid libraries
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Examples of operational projects
 Large
number in the U.S. - various institutions - e.g.:
National

Digital Library of the Library of Congress
“provide the widest possible access to knowledge &
information for educating a free society.”
 Numerous
projects in Europe - e.g.:
Library
Working Group in Britain; publishers projects
with National Libraries; Delos Working Group (Espirit);
ERCIM consortium of institutions
 All
have web pages & many links to projects
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Digital libraries & organizations
 Variety
of organizations built digital libraries
scientific
& technical societies
various fields, academic units
projects - institutions, consortia
government agencies, international organizations
 Concentrate
on applications & access
Availability
of collections in different fields
New forms of publishing, housing & distribution
Generally aimed at services to their communities
or perceived needs
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Digital libraries & business
 Offering
various kinds of digital libraries,
collections, services, information resources
concentrating
on markets, opportunities, niches
library and non-library markets
 Publishers
& digital publications - BIG business
traditional
publishers changing & new emerging
providing libraries with different arrangements
 electronic
licenses, subscription, storage, services
 relations between libraries & publishers drastically changing
mix
of new technology & new economics
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Advantages: Why digital libraries?
 Access:
brings library to users
always
available; better and wider delivery
many libraries now possible to use
 Sharing:
information resources; linking
 Timeliness: easier to keep current
 Searching, browsing: use of computer power
 Information resources: new forms possible
 Services: new & new forms possible
 Costs: may save effort, money??
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Problems for libraries
 Integration
between print and digital
mixing
new digital technology with print, local with
global; managing diverse resources - all difficult
economic trade-off decisions; new economic relations
 Competition
for scarce resources sharpening
 Institutional, cultural & social adjustments not easy
 Bridging the digital divide
 Resistance, threats:
guerilla
warfare within and nuclear annihilation without
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Economic issues
 Costs
not insignificant - WHO PAYS?
Two
traditions: old - users, new (“free”) - providers
 Dilemma
in library budgets
licensing
of digital publications vs. subscriptions
 Publishers’
economics for digital publications
approaches
vary, not settled, even scared
even: who is a publisher? - lines blurring
 Economics
room
of digital libraries still up in the air
for research & experimentation
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Social issues
 Legal
issues: copyright protection, security
 Individual: privacy protection; rights; obligations
role
in information exchanges, work, needs; life ...
 Organizations:
integration; changing structure
 Traditional libraries: disappearing? changing?
 Education: impact on all levels; integration
 Computing & society: disparity between
information rich & poor; digital divide; equity
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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General opportunities
 Building
digital collections of national importance
from existing texts, documents, images
historical,
educational, strategic, legislative …
 Creating
new digital documents & linking them
 Cataloging Internet resources in own domain
 Selecting digital resources from wherever &
creating & maintaining linkages
 Developing/adapting search engines & other
management tools for digital collections
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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General opportunities … continued
 Providing
access to digital collections
 Integrating digital & other library collections
incl.
integration of OPACs & library management tools
 Establishing
services for digital libraries
online
access & offline support
education & training of users, and librarians
 Addressing
social, legal, policy issues
 Cooperative national & international ventures
 Making libraries more central to needs & users
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Conclusions
“War is too important a matter to
be left to the generals.”
Georges Clemenceau
 Digital
libraries are too important to be left
to any one discipline, any one agency
 Why? Work on digital libraries is defining the
future of handling of human knowledge records
 Caught a lot of interest globally & politically
 They are also redefining the role of libraries in
society & the role of librarians & inf. specialists
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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Conclusions … continued
 Digital
libraries provide challenge & opportunity
for cooperative & interdisciplinary ventures
 Provide a GREAT opportunity for many institutions
to participate in many ways
have
room for smaller institutions & projects
 Digital
libraries will NOT replace libraries
 But no matter what: libraries and information
agencies cannot escape digital libraries, must change
so
might as well actively join the movement
© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University
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