WXGB6311

DIGITAL LIBRARIES
TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION
DR. NOORHIDAWATI ABDULLAH

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To discuss various definition of DLs
2. To discuss the benefits and limitation of
DLs

What is a Digital Library?

What is not a Digital Library?
- Tan Sri Dr Abdullah Sanusi Digital Library
(http://iportal.oum.edu.my)
- MyLib (http://www.mylib.com.my/)
- Digital Library of Malay Manuscript
(http://mymanuskrip.fsktm.um.edu.my)
- IIUM Digital Library (http://www.iium.edu.my/lib)

Find it out!

Digital Libraries: the

definitions

Various definitions based on research and practise

community
Examples:
Computer scientists and engineers - access and retrieval
of digital content
Library and information professionals - collection,
organisation and services
Some definitions of DL:
Collection
Institution
Services
Hybrid library

DL as collection
"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)
"An informal definition of a digital library is a managed
collection of information, with associated services, where the
information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a
network. A crucial part of this definition is that the information
is managed. A stream of data sent to earth from a satellite is
not a library. The same data, when organized systematically,
becomes a digital library collection." (Arms, 2000)

DL as collection
"A DL contains digital representations of the objects
found in it - most understanding of the "DL" probably also
assumes that it will be accessible via the Internet, though
not necessarily to everyone. But the idea of digitization is
perhaps the only characteristic of a digital library on
which there is universal agreement." (Harter, 1997)
Digital library is "a focused collection of digital objects,
including text, video, and audio, along with methods for
access and retrieval, and for selection, organization, and
maintenance of the collection." (Witten and Bainbridge,
2003).
"Digital libraries are different [from traditional library
automation] in that they are designed to support the
creation, maintenance, management, access to, and
preservation of digital content. (Bernie Hurley, the
Director for Library Technologies at U.C.Berkeley. Quoted
in Digital library technology trends. Sun Microsystems.
August 2002)

DL as institution
Digital Library Federation (DLF) brings out the
essence of this perception.

"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"

DL as services
Borgman (2000) defines DL as a combination of: (1) services; (2) an
architecture; (3) a set of information resources, databases of text,
numbers, graphics, sound, video and etc.; and (4) a set of tools and
capabilities to locate, retrieve and utilise the information resources
available.
Marchionini and Fox (1999): DL work occurs in the context of a
complex design space shaped by four dimensions: community,
technology, services and content.
Community reflects social, political, legal and culture issues
Technology serves as the engine moving the digital library field,
including technical progress in computing, networking, information
storage and retrieval, multimedia, interface design and so on.
Services that should digital references services, real-time
questions answering, on demand help, information literacy and
user involvement mechanisms.
Content represents all possible kinds of form and genre of
information, printed as well as digital.

DL as hybrid library
A hybrid library is defined as a library where digital and printed
information resources co-exist and are brought together in an
integrated information service accessible locally as well as
remotely (Hylife, 2002)
Hybrid library is on the continumm between the conventional and
digital library where electronic and paper-based information
sources are used alongside each other (Pinfield, 1998)
It may noted that DLs are meant to deal with digital materials,
whereas hybrid libraries are meant to deal with both printed and
digital materials, but this dictinction is not always maintained in
practice. Many libraries that contain both printed and digital
materials are called digital libraries instead of hybrid libraries e.g.
California Digital Library at the University of California and Digital
Library of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Benefits of DLs
DL brings the library to the
user
Improved access - searching
and browsing
Information can be shared
more easily
Easier to keep information
current
Information is always
available

New forms of information

become possible
Wider access
Allow collaboration and
exchange of ideas
DLs may save money
Improved preservation

Limitations of DLs
Technological obsolescence
Cost of content refreshing
Rights management
Inter-operability
Network bandwidth

References
Arms, W. Y. (2000). Digital libraries. Cambridge: MIT Press Chapter
1
Chowdhury, G. G. and Chowdhury, S. (2003). Introduction to digital
libraries. London: Facet Publishing Chapter 1
Witten, I. H. and Bainbridge, D. (2003). How to build a digital library.
Morgan Kaufman Publishers Chapter 1
Lesk, M. (200)5. Understanding digital libraries. Morgan Kaufmann
Chapter 1
Borgman, C.L. (1999). What are digital libraries? Competing visions.
Information Processing and Management, 35, pp227-243.
Pinfield, S et al. 1998. Realising the hybrid library. D-Lib Magazines.
Available at http: www.dlib.org/dlib/october98/10pinfield.html.
Marchionini, G. and Fox, E.A. (2000). Editorial: Progress toward
digital libraries: augmentation through integration, Information
Processing and Management, 35 (3), pp219-25.