Successes and Failures of Digital Libraries

Citation

Freeman, M. (2002), "Successes and Failures of Digital Libraries", New Library World, Vol. 103 No. 7/8, pp. 297-297. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.2002.103.7_8.297.3

Essentially a compilation of papers presented to the Annual Clinic on Data Processing covering many of the issues and problems arising in the transition of digital libraries from their initial theories through project development to functioning practical instruments. The Digital Libraries Initiative now completed in the USA was used as a real life case study and test bed to study the many issues of concern it brought forward and to highlight some of the lessons learnt, including the “tradecraft” involved in designing and operating digital libraries. A flavour of the wide, if rather technical, range of offerings in this book is given by the interesting paper by Catherine Marshall on “Annotation in a digital world”, covering the use of the Web, hypertext and student use. Another pertinent paper is Ed Fox’s account of how the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) introduces research students to the concepts and use of electronic publishing and the electronic dissemination of their research efforts. Perhaps the most engaging contribution in this book is David Levy’s thoughtful and philosophical paper entitled “Give me documents or give me death”, which brings out the wider societal impact of digital libraries and the ways that new uses and forms of information will alter our intellectual and spiritual landscape irrevocably.

All in all, an interesting if rather specialised and dense collection of papers from an eminent academic institution, which will appeal to library and information workers at the “leading edge” of information and communications technology and digital libraries. It is just a pity it’s taken so long to bring to publication; a long time indeed in a discipline subject to such rapid change.