Digital library
A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital media formats or a library accessible through the internet. Objects can consist of digitized content like print or photographs, as well as originally produced digital content like word processor files or social media posts. In addition to storing content, digital libraries provide means for organizing, searching, and retrieving the content contained in the collection. Digital libraries can vary immensely in size and scope, and can be maintained by individuals or organizations.[1] The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. These information retrieval systems are able to exchange information with each other through interoperability and sustainability.[2]
"Elibrary" redirects here. For the former online library eLibrary, see HighBeam Research.History[edit]
The early history of digital libraries is not well documented, but several key thinkers are connected to the emergence of the concept.[3] Predecessors include Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine's Mundaneum, an attempt begun in 1895 to gather and systematically catalogue the world's knowledge, with the hope of bringing about world peace.[4] The visions of the digital library were largely realized a century later during the great expansion of the Internet.[5]
Vannevar Bush and J.C.R. Licklider are two contributors that advanced this idea into then current technology. Bush had supported research that led to the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. After seeing the disaster, he wanted to create a machine that would show how technology can lead to understanding instead of destruction. This machine would include a desk with two screens, switches and buttons, and a keyboard.[6] He named this the "Memex". This way individuals would be able to access stored books and files at a rapid speed. In 1956, Ford Foundation funded Licklider to analyze how libraries could be improved with technology. Almost a decade later, his book entitled "Libraries of the Future" included his vision. He wanted to create a system that would use computers and networks so human knowledge would be accessible for human needs and feedback would be automatic for machine purposes. This system contained three components, the corpus of knowledge, the question, and the answer. Licklider called it a procognitive system.
In 1980 the role of the library in an electronic society was the focus of a clinic on library applications of data processing. Participants included Frederick Wilfrid Lancaster, Derek De Solla Price, Gerard Salton, and Michael Gorman).[7]
Early projects centered on the creation of an electronic card catalogue known as Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). By the 1980s, the success of these endeavors resulted in OPAC replacing the traditional card catalog in many academic, public and special libraries. This permitted libraries to undertake additional rewarding co-operative efforts to support resource sharing and expand access to library materials beyond an individual library.
An early example of a digital library is the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), a database of education citations, abstracts and texts that was created in 1964 and made available online through DIALOG in 1969.[8]
In 1994, digital libraries became widely visible in the research community due to a $24.4 million NSF managed program supported jointly by DARPA's Intelligent Integration of Information (I3) program, NASA, and NSF itself.[9] Successful research proposals came from six U.S. universities.[10] The universities included Carnegie Mellon University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, University of California-Santa Barbara, and Stanford University. Articles from the projects summarized their progress at their halfway point in May 1996.[11] Stanford research, by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, led to the founding of Google.
Early attempts at creating a model for digital libraries included the DELOS Digital Library Reference Model[12][13] and the 5S Framework.[14][15]
Terminology[edit]
The term digital library was first popularized by the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Initiative in 1994.[16] With the availability of the computer networks the information resources are expected to stay distributed and accessed as needed, whereas in Vannevar Bush's essay As We May Think (1945) they were to be collected and kept within the researcher's Memex.
The term virtual library was initially used interchangeably with digital library, but is now primarily used for libraries that are virtual in other senses (such as libraries which aggregate distributed content). In the early days of digital libraries, there was discussion of the similarities and differences among the terms digital, virtual, and electronic.[17]
A distinction is often made between content that was created in a digital format, known as born-digital, and information that has been converted from a physical medium, e.g. paper, through digitization. Not all electronic content is in digital data format. The term hybrid library is sometimes used for libraries that have both physical collections and electronic collections. For example, American Memory is a digital library within the Library of Congress.
Some important digital libraries also serve as long term archives, such as arXiv and the Internet Archive. Others, such as the Digital Public Library of America, seek to make digital information from various institutions widely accessible online.[18]
Future development[edit]
Large scale digitization projects are underway at Google, the Million Book Project, and Internet Archive. With continued improvements in book handling and presentation technologies such as optical character recognition and development of alternative depositories and business models, digital libraries are rapidly growing in popularity. Just as libraries have ventured into audio and video collections, so have digital libraries such as the Internet Archive. In 2016, Google Books project received a court victory on proceeding with their book-scanning project that was halted by the Authors' Guild.[55] This helped open the road for libraries to work with Google to better reach patrons who are accustomed to computerized information.
According to Larry Lannom, Director of Information Management Technology at the nonprofit Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), "all the problems associated with digital libraries are wrapped up in archiving". He goes on to state, "If in 100 years people can still read your article, we'll have solved the problem." Daniel Akst, author of The Webster Chronicle, proposes that "the future of libraries—and of information—is digital". Peter Lyman and Hal Variant, information scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, estimate that "the world's total yearly production of print, film, optical, and magnetic content would require roughly 1.5 billion gigabytes of storage". Therefore, they believe that "soon it will be technologically possible for an average person to access virtually all recorded information".[56]
Digital archives are an evolving medium and they develop under various circumstances. Alongside large scale repositories, other digital archiving projects have also evolved in response to needs in research and research communication on various institutional levels. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries and higher education institutions have launched digital archiving projects to document life during the pandemic, thus creating a digital, cultural record of collective memories from the period.[57] Researchers have also utilized digital archiving to create specialized research databases. These databases compile digital records for use on international and interdisciplinary levels. COVID CORPUS, launched in October 2020, is an example of such a database, built in response to scientific communication needs in light of the pandemic.[58] Beyond academia, digital collections have also recently been developed to appeal to a more general audience, as is the case with the Selected General Audience Content of the Internet-First University Press developed by Cornell University. This general-audience database contains specialized research information but is digitally organized for accessibility.[59] The establishment of these archives has facilitated specialized forms of digital recordkeeping to fulfill various niches in online, research-based communication.