The Digital Library : myths and challenges

Bibliographic description

KUNY Terry, CLEVELAND Gary. The Digital Library : myths and challenges. IFLA Journal [online]1998, vol. 24, n. 2,[visited 10 April 2007] Available from : http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla62/62-kuny.pdf

Extract

“The purpose of this paper is simple: it is a provocation. It aims to rebut the technolust and rhetorical excess that has characterized much of the reporting on "digital libraries." The polemic here aspires to provide a corrective to the reporting that is whipped up by the technology companies, politicians, and Wired magazine¾the same forces that gave us the "paperless office" and predict the "demise of the book." But it does not suggest that "digital libraries" are a waste of time and money. There is no call for a neo-Luddite uprising against "digital libraries" developments and technology. But the polemic tone is intended, for a call-to-arms is needed in the library community to meet the challenges of "digital libraries"¾and we must attempt to recognize these challenges clearly. To further this process, a suggestion for a new focus in the pursuit of "digital libraries" is suggested which present a renewed role for librarians in the digital future.”
[…]
“If librarians and information professionals are going to progress into the 21st century then a clear and effective "digital library" model for library services and development will be increasingly important. An increasingly complex technological, social, legal, and economic environment defines many boundaries within which "digital library" services will evolve. Librarians may discover that "libraries-without-walls" are actually only libraries with new walls technologically bounded, legally restricted, and administratively hamstrung. The "digital library" may be equally impenetrable and as profoundly limiting to their patrons as  the physical library which techno-pundits would suggest digital collections are intended to replace. “ [...]

Metadata

 
 DC Title : The Digital Library : myths and challenges

DC Creator : KUNY Terry, CLEVELAND Gary

DC Subject : digital libraries, librarians, myths, Internet, retrieval, preservation, cost of digital libraries,  access, collections, copyright

DC Description : “Technological progress has changed how libraries do their work, not why. The most profound technological development, a connection of computer to computer in an unbroken chain around the world, may alter the fundamental concept of the library in the 21st century. However, that technology will not substantially alter the business of librarians - connecting people with information. If librarians and information professionals are going to progress into the 21st century, then a clear and effective digital library for library services and development will be increasingly important. The article exposes some myths that permeate the popular press reporting about digital libraries, and sets the stage for a closer examination of the significant challenges to digital library development.”

Table of content

Myth

Myth 1: The Internet is the digital library.

Myth 2: The myth of a single digital library or one-window view of digital library

collections.

Myth 3: Digital libraries will provide more equitable access, anywhere, any time.

Myth 4: Digital libraries will be cheaper than print libraries.

Challenges

Resource Discovery

Digital Collection Development

Preservation

Digital Library Administration

Copyright and Licensing

Cost

Conclusion: Rethinking Digital Libraries, Reinventing Librarians

DC Publisher : International Federation of Library Associations Journal

DC Contributor :

DC Date : 1998

DC Type : texte

DC Format : pdf

DC Identifier : http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla62/62-kuny.pdf

DC Source :

DC Language : en

DC Relation :

DC Coverage : world

DC Right : reserved, IFLA.

Source of abstract : http://www.ifla.org/V/iflaj/2402abs.pdf