“Old Style” Libraries, Digital Libraries:

1. “Old Style” Libraries,Digital Libraries: Convergences, Divergences, And the Troubles in Between

2. What is a “Digital Library?”

3. 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

4. “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

5. “Library Function,” cont’d • 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. “Deep Access”Indexical 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.”

9. 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

10. Evolutionary Models:From 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)

11. Libraries as Content Creators:Phase 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”

12. Library Content Creators:Some 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]

13. Digital Conversion:Project 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

14. Some Broader Projects • California Digital Library (CDL@UC) • National Science Digital Library (NSF) • Association for Computing Machinery

15. 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

16. 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

17. Convergence of Traditional & Digital:Mature 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

18. 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

19. Questions?