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Old Style Libraries,Digital Libraries

• Convergences,
• Divergences,
• And the Troubles in Between

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• What is a
• Digital Library?

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Physical Libraries

• Bound to the medium of the book
• Embodiment of the sedimented values practices
  of print culture, including
• Fixity of the print artifact / manufactured
  object
• Finite set of well-known paths to items
• Built-in structures of legitimation authority
• Importance of local repositories

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Library Function

• Identify, acquire, organize, support, and
  preserve cultural and intellectual expression in
  its recorded forms
• Core values
• Unfettered availability of all materials to meet
  educational, cultural, intellectual, civic, and
  personal needs
• Commitment to standard methods practices in
  service of resource sharing open access
• Preserve the cllection, i.e. keep it permanently
  accessible

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Library Function, contd

• Libraries as cultural heritage institutions
• Libraries as embedded in larger social systems
• Communities (cities, towns)
• Colleges universities
• Corporations similar organizations
• Library as social / physical / virtual nexus for
  the cultural intellectual record

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Repository Service Roles

• All true libraries are defined by coherent and
  carefully assembled collections keyed to specific
  domains, with services supporting associated user
  needs. For example
• Public Libraries general readers
• College Libraries undergraduate learning
• University Libraries advanced learning
  research
• Special Libraries corporate or organizational
  research

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Browsing Serendipity

• Physical libraries, through their classified
  grouping of related items in open book-stacks,
  have long supported two key aspects of learning
  intellectual inquiry
• Browsing of related items
• Serendipitous encounters with unexpected or
  previously unknown ideas materials

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Deep AccessIndexical and Research Aids

• Libraries incorporate structured tools for
  analytical access to buried information,
  including indexes abstracts, reference
  compendia, bibliographies finding aids, and
  experienced intelligent human agents, also known
  as reference librarians.

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Libraries as Filtering Systems

• Libraries are (medium independent) complex and
  layered filtering and access systems
• for aggregating cultural and intellectual
  materials
• for providing efficient routes into the specific
  content of those materials

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Evolutionary ModelsFrom Physical to Digital

• Library Web Sites as Digital Gateways
• Villanova Library Web site
• Entry point to content resources accessible
  elsewhere
• Delivery medium for new digital services
• Provides information architecture for wide
  array of heterogeneous items (databases,
  journals, e-books, research aids, etc.)
• "Internet Public Library
• More generic approach for general Web users
• Online Books Page (UPenn)

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Libraries as Content CreatorsPhase I

• Convert physical items for digital access
• Describe items for access in online environment
• From cataloging to metadata
• Provide enhanced searchability
• Make unique local resources universally available
• Sustain commitment to ideal of coherent
  collections

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Library Content CreatorsSome Examples

• Making of America (Mellon cooperative)
• Electronic Text Center (UVa)
• Perseus Project (Tufts)
• Digital Bridges (Lehigh)
• Irish Press -- (Villanova) Netscape view
• Irish Press (Villanova) IE View

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Digital ConversionProject Challenges

• Lack of standards
• Lack of robust, fully-functional software
• Metadata requirements
• Descriptive
• Structural
• Need to replicate some aspects of physical
  artifact
• Lack of integration with other services

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Some Broader Projects

• California Digital Library (CDL_at_UC)
• National Science Digital Library (NSF)
• Association for Computing Machinery

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The Realities of the Information Age (David
Lankes, Syracuse University)

• Information (and Knowledge) has Escaped the
  Confines of Text
• A Digit is a Digit
• The Computer Science Community is Unprepared
• Digital Preservation, Digital Libraries without
  Name Authority, the Hidden Web
• Librarians at the mercy of the Computer Scientists

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The Cultural Shift(Lankes, again)

• Librarianship as a Technical Skill
• Librarians as the Knowledge the Guides the
  Information Age
• Conscience of the Computer Scientist
• Partners
• Active and Advocate for Those We Serve
• Entice our Partners to Solve our Problems
• Solve our Own Problems
• And benefit from the solutions

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Convergence of Traditional DigitalMature
Library Technology Environment

• Portals personalization
• Federated searching / Meta-searching / XML
  gateways
• SRW / SRU
• Virtual reference
• Course Management software resource integration
• Desktop delivery of shared / converted documents
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
  Coalition
• Institutional Repositories
• Technology-mediated research skills training
• Push toward digitization of Special Collections
  and other unique materials
• Digital Rights Management

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Key Digital Library Initiatives

• Google print (U of Michigan, Stanford, NYPL,
  Harvard, BL, etc.)
• Million books project
• Open Archives Initiative
• Metadata Harvesting
• Networked Digital Library of Electronic Theses
  Dissertations
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource
  Coalition
• Digital Library Federation standards
• Fedora project

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• Questions?