Discussion Class 1

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Discussion Class 1

• Examples of Digital Libraries
• and
• Electronic Publications

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Discussion Classes
Format Question Ask a member of the class to
answer Provide opportunity for others to
comment When answering Give your name Stand
up Speak clearly so that all the class can hear
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Topics

• D-Lib Magazine
• Journal of Electronic Publishing
• RLG DigiNews
• Cornell University Library Gateway
• Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School)
• NCSTRL

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Topics (continued)

• The ACM Digital Library
• The Alexandria Digital Library (University of
  California, San Diego)
• American Memory (Library of Congress)
• The IEEE Explore System
• JSTOR (Journal Storage)
• HighWire Press (Stanford University)
• Los Alamos ePrint Archive
• Netlib (University of Tennessee)
• Perseus (Tufts University)

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Question 1 How do the electronic journals and
magazines that you looked at differ from the
printed equivalents a) In the way that people
use them? b) For the people who write for
them? c) For the publishers and librarians who
manage them?
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Question 2 The content of the digital libraries
that you looked at comes from various sources.
Can you classify them into various categories?
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Question 3 The Perseus library has gone through
several generations of computing
technology Brown's Hypermedia system Macintosh
Hypercard Web server CD-ROM Networked
access What characteristics of Perseus enabled it
to make these transitions?
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Question 4 The Los Alamos E-Print Archives have
a terrible user interface, yet they have been
very successful. a) What characteristics make
them successful? b) If you were trying to
improve the system, where would you start?
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Question 5 The ACM Digital Library and HighWire
Press provide online versions of material that is
also available in print. Suppose that, at some
date, ACM stopped providing the printed
version. a) What impact might this have on the
design of the ACM Digital Library? b) What
impact would this have on authors?
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Question 6 Consider the user interface of
American Memory. a) What audience is this
digital library aimed at? b) What are the
services that this digital library provides? c)
Would you prefer a different concept of a user
interface?