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Lecture 1 What is a Digital Library?

CS 502 Computing Methods for Digital Libraries Cornell University – Computer Science Herbert Van de Sompel herbertv@cs.cornell.edu. Lecture 1 What is a Digital Library?. Course Administration. Web site: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs502/2001sp/

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Lecture 1 What is a Digital Library?

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  1. CS 502 Computing Methods for Digital LibrariesCornell University – Computer ScienceHerbert Van de Sompelherbertv@cs.cornell.edu Lecture 1 What is a Digital Library?

  2. Course Administration Web site: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs502/2001sp/ Instructor: Herbert Van de Sompel, Rhodes 426 Teaching assistant: Ken Hopkinson, Michael Frei Assistant: Rosemary Adessa, Upson 5147 Sign-up sheet: Fill-out and leave on front desk

  3. Course Organization • 2 Lectures per week [Mon Wed; Thurston 203] PowerPoint slides via web site. • Weekly Personal Readings Available via web site (no text book!) • 1 Lab per week [Fri ; Rhodes 471] • a pop-quiz on the readings associated with the current week; • guided hands-on work on topics covered in previous lectures; • an in-depth exploration of an issue covered in a previous lecture; • a guest lecture;

  4. Pop quiz Which of the following words is not part of my name? • Hubert • Van • Sompel

  5. Course Organization • 4 Assignments • Due dates available on web site; • Topic announced 2-3 weeks before due date; • Submission via e-mail; • some group; some individual • Mid-term examination • Final examination

  6. Grading • Course assignments ~ 30 % • Performance in the Labs (if applicable) ~ 20 % • Examinations (mid-term and final) ~ 50 % The weightings given to these components are expected to be as shown, but these weightings may be changed

  7. Code of Conduct • Always give credit to your sources and collaborators: • Good professional practice: To make use of the expertise of others and to build on previous work, withproper attribution. • Unethical and academic plagiarism: To use the efforts of others without attribution. • If an assignment is individual: do it on your own! • If a task/assignment is for a group: collaborate and mention the nature of the contribution of each participant [if not equal].

  8. Course Philosophy • Maximum use of online information by the class: • Extensive reading of online materials (no text books) • Extensive exploration of online resources • Course materials on web site • All assignments described and submitted online • Teaching assistants available online (no office hours)

  9. Course Content, Schedule See Syllabus at http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs502/2001sp/syllabus.htm

  10. Warning • I am a (digital) Librarian • Mathematics (1979) • Computer Science (1981) • Ph.D. in Communication Science (2000) • 18 years experience in Library Automation • Ph.D. research led to 2 innovations in digital libraries: • Open Linking (SFX, OpenURL) • Open Archives Initiative

  11. What is a Digital Library? • Definition depends on the perspective of the definer • (digital) Librarians • Digital Library researchers • => We will explore both perspectives in the upcoming lectures • => We will balance between both perspectives during the course

  12. What is a Digital Library? Digital Librarians … • Institutions/Organizations that provide information services in digital form. • The content to provide services for is a given. • A prolongation of library automation. • Focus on actual integration (federation) of many resources. • Concern with sociological, economical, legal aspects. • The Library and Information Science track. • A daily reality: things must work. • ~ the UK UKOLN and US DLF/CNI perspective

  13. What is a Digital Library? Digital Library researchers … • Digital contentcollected and organized on behalf of user communities • Populate resources with content; architectures to store content, to make content accessible, … • Something that started in the early nineties. • Focus on technological issues (data-capturing, categorization, advanced algorithms for search, browse, filter ..., usage of networked databases). • A new research domain. • The Computer Science track. • So far, few research results end up in real-world applications. • ~ the NSF DLI-1 perspective (1993).

  14. What is a Digital Library? Digital Librarians … Digital Libraries are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interprete, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economicallyavailable for use by a defined community or set of communities [Waters 1998] • Covers the 4 S’s of libraries: Selection – Service – Support - Storage (archiving) • Presents a holistic view: Social – Economical – Legal - Technological aspects

  15. What is a Digital Library? Digital Library Researchers … A Digital Library is a collection of information which is both digitized and organized[Lesk 1997] • [Lesk 1997] addresses other aspects when answering the questions: “What does it take to build a Digital Library?”: • Digital content • Access to content (search and retrieval) • Preservation of content • How to pay for digitial libraries (in parallel to maintaining traditional libraries) • Social issues (access to information ~ democracy ; resistance to reading on-line)

  16. economy technology sociology law What is a Digital Library? Digital Librarians … Digital Libraries

  17. economy technology sociology law What is a Digital Library?Digital Library Researchers … Digital Libraries

  18. What is a Digital Library? Informal definition (focusing on the Technological aspect) A digital library is a managed collection of information, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and is accessible over a network.[Arms CS502 sp00]

  19. What is a Digital Library? • 3 elements seem to be necessary[Bishop and Star 1996]: • A sense of a collection of information organized in some sense; the content of the collection can range between hybrid physical/electronic and electronic-only; • A collection that is not only bibliographic; the collection should contain full-content; • A goal of matching the “audience” with the collection; selection/services/network/; There also is a relationship with scholarly information

  20. What is a Digital Library? Definition depends on the perspective of the definer Evolutionary perspective: digital libraries as institutions that are the continuation of libraries (library automation as the link between libraries and digital libraries). Revolutionary perspective: digital libraries as resources linked by computer networks, that – as a whole – can provide services that will supplant libraries.

  21. fromMichael Lesk Both perspectives start using the same name: Digital Libraries

  22. How is a digital library different from … traditional IR systems ? • Typically, IR provides access to metadata only (OPAC system) • DLs move across the boundaries of a single IR system • The switch from IR to DL coincides with the emergence of the Web • IR technology as a building block of DLs • Next lecture about the library automation perspective

  23. How is a digital library different from … e-commerce systems ? • If the system is about selling inflatable boats? • http://www.shipstore.com • If the system is about selling books? • http://www.amazon.com • If the system is about selling access to e-books for undergraduate students? • http://www.questia.com/ Technologies used in those systems as building blocks for DLs. This is true for many web-information-systems.

  24. How is a digital library different from … the Web ? • Assignment 1: Is the Web (as a whole) a Digital Library? • 4 Groups • Discuss this question on listservs per Group • 1 paper per Group (max 6 pages): • e-mailed to herbertv@cs.cornell.edu • subject line: CS502, Assignment #1 • due 02/10 • HTML format

  25. How is a digital library different from … the Web ? • Assignment 1: Is the Web (as a whole) a Digital Library? • Use both perspectives • Relate to the typical functions of libraries [4S’s] • Relate to the objectives of a bibliographic system • Find inspiration in readings for week 1 • Find inspiration in lecture 1, 2, 3 & the lecture by John Saylor • Include your own perspectives. • Use the Web and Cornell Library Gateway. • Answer might not be black-or-white: which aspects of the Web qualify to be DL, which not?

  26. Readings (1/2) • Koehler, Wallace. 1999. Digital Libraries and World Wide Web sites and page persistence. In: Information Research, Vol 4 Issue 4. http://www.shef.ac.uk/~is/publications/infres/paper60.html • Waters, Don J. 1998. What are digital libraries? Council on Library and Information Resources. Issues, No. 4. http://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues04.html • Hughes, C.A. 2000. Information Services for Higher Education A New Competitive Space. In: D-Lib Magazine, vol. 6, iss. 12. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december00/hughes/12hughes.html

  27. Readings (2/2) • Bush, Vannevar. 1945. As We May Think. In: “Atlantic Monthly” • http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~duchier/misc/vbush/vbush-all.shtml

  28. References • Bishop, A.P. & Star, S.L. 1996. Social informatics for digital library use and infrastructure. In: M.E. Williams (editor) Annual review of Information Science and Technology 31. Medford, NJ: Information Today, pp. 301-401 • Waters, D.J. 1998. What are digital libraries? Council on Library and Information Resources. Issues, No. 4. http://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues04.html • Lesk, M. 1997. Practical Digital Libraries : Books, Bytes, and Bucks. Morgan Kaufmann.

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