Exploring Digital Libraries: Foundations, Practice, Prospects

Citation

Philip Calvert (2015), "Exploring Digital Libraries: Foundations, Practice, Prospects", The Electronic Library, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 602-603. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-11-2014-0199

In the rapidly growing literature on digital and electronic librarianship, is there room for one more book that says its intention is to “help advance learning, professional discourse, research and practice at this particular moment in the evolution of digital libraries” (p. 11)? My answer to that question is an unqualified Yes. Karen Calhoun is a respected figure in the library world, so it is good news she has put her knowledge into this book. What she has given us is something that practitioners will benefit from; with its pragmatic approach that favors reality rather than apparently obscure research we read about in some other books on digital libraries. But, as I shall explain later, this is more than just a book that describes current practice.

Calhoun is strong in explaining the development of digital libraries (DLs) over time. The history is useful as it helps us to understand how things are changing from the original definitions of DLs written in the 1990s (found in Chapter 1) and what has been built upon the progress that was made in the first decade of DLs (Chapter 2). There is a detailed “concept map” in Chapter 3 (p. 64) that places the major themes in the DL literature of 2002-2012 into relationships with each other. The core of the first part of the book discusses the role of DLs in the present decade. A whole chapter is devoted to open access repositories, which the author considers to be a growth area. The point is made that specialized subject repositories, some of them such as arXiv now more than two decades old, are thriving, while institutional repositories are struggling to catch on.

The book then changes direction from Chapter 6 onward when the author tries something different. Here, she presents a conceptual framework for the social role of digital libraries; not one that she claims has been achieved, but one that might be aspired to. The importance of this contribution is to move thinking beyond just the digital collection to the role that digital libraries can and perhaps should play in their various communities. Subsequent chapters fill out her thoughts on the social role of DLs, again taking a good look at repositories (Chapter 8). The role of DLs in scholarship is entering into a new territory, for really none of us knows how DLs, the social Web and other new developments will change scholarship, but Calhoun makes some very interesting suggestions, such as the development of the “personal digital library”. One aspect of DLs that is not covered in any depth is the place of the digital librarian. Are there new jobs being created and what roles, what specific tasks, are they being asked to perform? Are there any new competencies digital librarians need to learn?

The book is clearly written. It has a thorough index. This book should be in all libraries serving LIS programs, but it is also a recommended read for all information managers involved with the development of digital libraries.