Development of Digital Libraries: An American Perspective

Citation

Pors, N.O. (2002), "Development of Digital Libraries: An American Perspective", Library Management, Vol. 23 No. 8/9, pp. 452-454. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.2002.23.8_9.452.6

It is a pleasure to receive four books about different aspects of digital libraries for review. It is a Herculean task to fully grasp the ever‐developing concept and implication of the digital library. It presents a great challenge. The subject – however you define it – tends to change with a pace that makes conceptualisation difficult. Fortunately, some authors and editors dare to take up this challenge.

The readers of this journal will probably appreciate that the book by Deegan and Tanner focuses on the library situation. It is an introduction to the whole field of digital libraries and this is reflected in its coverage. The volume provides a very stimulating overview that easily could serve as a textbook in schools of information studies. It also serves as a guide for the information professional to the most pertinent of the issues facing those working in a wired environment. The title is the first in a new series dealing with major aspects of digital library research and development. It necessarily takes a broad‐brush approach, but the topics covered are all relevant and placed in a context. The context is of course not just the technology, but also the social, cultural and economic factors and their implications. The book covers many important topics such as collection development, economic factors, WWW and metadata, system design, portals and personalisation of information, preservation and new roles for librarians – to name only some of the main topics. The book is very easy to read. The structure of each chapter is clear having an introduction and a conclusion, and many of the main points in the text are emphasised with bullets. The text contains many examples and illustrations of the issues drawn from around the world, and these examples are valuable. They point to some important projects from all over the world and illustrate the discourse of the text. This is an advantage. Having taught and researched the digital library concept for several years, I really appreciate this book. It forms a coherent whole, which serves very well as a kind of reference and starting point for putting the different pieces of the jigsaw called “digital libraries” together. The title indicates a broader perspective than just libraries. Managers and professionals in other memory institutions could easily benefit from the views and the overview given in the text. The book has an extensive bibliography with many Web addresses and a very useful index. The broad perspective taken in this book forms a good entrance to the more specialised papers in the book edited by Professor Gorman.

Gary Gorman is a highly experienced editor and this is evident in a yearbook which has the theme “Information Services in an Electronic Environment”. His seven‐page introduction offers just enough information to let you know which paper to pick and, at the same time, it offers enough information to put all the papers in a relevant context. The 14 papers deal with a broad range of issues relating to information services and the digital context. Together they provide a very comprehensive view; both of the problems facing the libraries, but also of the way researchers deal with the theoretical and methodological implications of the issues. The yearbook consists of five parts:

1. 1.

   (1) evolution of information services;

2. 2.

   (2) information services in different types of libraries;

3. 3.

   (3) the delivery of information services;

4. 4.

   (4) information literacy – a key service; and

5. 5.

   (5) the measurement of information services.

It is of course impossible to highlight all of the papers. Generally speaking, they are all of a high standard and constitute a good and interesting read. The UK, USA, Canada, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Singapore are all represented so the scope is really international and the very dissimilar values, issues and solutions in the different parts of the world make the reading a real and stimulating pleasure. The approach in the papers differs considerably. We see everything from an introduction, to the assessment of the services in the digital library, to the reporting of research results on information behaviour. One of the major problems in yearbooks of this kind is the use of the term “international”. One of the papers – and a very good one – sets out to analyse the research on library services for distance learning in an international perspective. We find extensive paragraphs on USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The rest of the world finds itself in a category called “other countries”. I guess it is inevitable and it simply reflects the dominance of the English language, or maybe the language capabilities of many researchers who have English as their first language. As far as I can judge the editor has chosen to put a paper on reference services in the past, present and future in as a kind of key paper. It was an excellent choice, because the paper serves to set the scene and to outline and discuss the similarities and dissimilarities of both values and practices legitimising the profession. Many of the papers in this volume would form good teaching material at library schools, but the target audience is the reflective professional or the researcher wanting an overview of related fields of study. I must add that the contributors in the volume all have a high research standing, or are influential leaders in the professional world. I have to say, however, that £60 is a very high price for the yearbook.

I happened to take a more sceptical look at the collection of essays edited by Deanna Marcum. The reason for this is simple – the papers all date back to 1994‐1998. They are all conference papers and together document co‐operation, particularly between the USA and Japan, centred on the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan. All have been presented at annual Round Tables. The collection is a tribute to this co‐operation. The authors of the papers all come from USA or Canada, which implies that most of the discussion is centred on experiences and issues from USA and Canada. The collection of papers makes an interesting read if one wants to investigate which topics the library and information science discussed in the mid‐1990s. Aesthetically, the book is a pleasure to read having a nice typeface printed on good paper. Nearly all the papers take the form of essays. Generally, they are all clear, concise and well written, but they are not research papers in a traditional sense. They spring from practice and demonstrate the informed professional’s view on the very diversified nature of the digital library. It would be unfair to categorise the book as being out of date in content since many of the topics discussed are still around, and the papers often offer a stimulating approach and contain some of the interesting and sweeping generalisations one is allowed to make in an essay. The book will particularly appeal to those having an historic interest in the digital library.

The last book noted in this review is concerned with the digital developments in higher education. It touches upon a topic that is extremely relevant for librarians and information specialists who are involved in the teaching situation. Peter Roberts and Mark Chambers have edited a very thought‐provoking collection of 12 papers on different aspects on the digital market of education covering theoretical, political, ethical and practical questions. The book is thought‐provoking because the information specialist can find many parallels to the library situation. The editors introduce the topic in a very stimulating way looking at the ways in which digitalisation changes the social order and education is provided. The first six papers in the volume deal with a whole array of philosophical, theoretical and social issues relating to the digitalisation of higher education. Some of the papers examine the commodification of the knowledge industry and of knowledge. Together they form a coherent and very theoretical view of the possible consequences for the institutions of higher education. These kinds of theoretical analyses are often lacking in the literature of library and information science. The last six papers are more concerned with practical and pedagogical issues. Much of the content will be of immediate interest for librarians involved in projects of lifelong learning or other kinds of instructional activities centred on the digital media as mediator.

This is a joint review with Digital Developments in Higher Education: Theory and Practice, International Yearbook of Library and Information Management 2000‐2001: Information Services in an Electronic Environment. Together the four books deliver a very convincing view of how our profession, and the way we think about it, is just at the beginning of a fundamental process of ever‐increasing change.