Successes and Failures of Digital Libraries (Proceedings from the Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing; 35)

Citation

Limb, P. (2001), "Successes and Failures of Digital Libraries (Proceedings from the Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing; 35)", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 66-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.1.66.6

The Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI), based at the University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign from 1994‐98 <http://dli.grainger.uiuc.edu/> was a major digitisation project of scientists, librarians, and publishers to provide federated Web searching of a testbed of tens of thousands of full‐text physics, engineering, and computer science journal articles. This book, consisting of 11 papers presented in 1998, provides a summary of the project’s achievements in practical digital library design and interfaces, managing the development process, interaction with stake holders, and meeting user needs. Bolstered by commissioned additional contributions on related issues and projects, it stands as a good introduction to state‐of‐the‐art digital library progress and issues to do with the implementation of digital and knowledge networks.

DLI programme manager Stephen Griffin lists the major lessons learned from the project as the need for wider access in a larger framework, usability of distributed knowledge, better interaction between technologists and librarians, wider international perspectives, and the absolute importance of content over form. William Mischo and Timothy Cole detail the processing and accessing of texts, Laura Neumann and Ann Bishop, the evaluation of the effectiveness of its use by 1,000 patrons. Tim Ingoldsby presents the views of involved publishers that the project was a success. Hsinchun Chen cogently summarises semantic issues, notably interoperability problems and how these might be solved by scalable techniques such as automatic indexing and categorisation and voice recognition. Robert Wedgeworth emphasises that technology transfer in a public university can involve complex corporate negotiations and in the end must be based on relationships.

Wider perspectives put the DLI findings into a broader context. Edward Fox, surveying progress with the impressive Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, emphasises that resolving copyright access is crucial in securing broader acceptance of the digital library. Thomas Hickey lists the lessons learned at OCLC’s full‐text journals service, including recognising the importance of data over form, the futility of proprietary clients, that “SGML helps but not much”, and the continuing usefulness of TeX. Catherine Marshall offers a fascinating chapter on digitizing annotations. David Levy concludes the book with a philosophical “Millennial Meditation on Documents and Libraries” that seeks to understand the anxieties caused by the move to the digital library.

In 1994 the digital library was a theoretical issue. In 2001 it is a question of practical implementation. The issues are now licensing, archiving, integration and interoperability. This book successfully bridges these phases, bringing together key themes from the testbed development period with current applications. While there is some overlap among UIUC contributors, and the time elapsed before publication means some very recent developments in this fast‐changing sphere are not incorporated, the book offers some tangible tips that may help future project teams. The brevity of contributions makes these lessons more general, yet easily digestible. The collection is recommended as likely to stimulate discussion on important issues that increasingly will confront information professionals, including researchers of digital libraries, library planners and systems developers as well as librarians considering how to implement digital libraries.