Digital Libraries

Digital Libraries

by William Arms

Recent changes

Winter 2003

During Winter 2003, a minor editorial pass will be made through the entire book, adding references and making minor editorial changes. Whenever a chapter is changed, the date will be recorded at the end of the file. Previous versions of each chapter are available in the Archive.

January 17, 2003

New preface for online edition.

 Preface to the Online Edition

This online edition of Digital Libraries is an updated version of the book of the same name published by the M.I.T. Press in January 2000. I am extremely grateful to the press for giving me permission to place it online even while the book is still current. The aim of the online edition is to preserve the general shape of the book, but to keep it much more up to date than is possible with successive editions of a book. In particular:

·         In the few years since the book was written, there have been some major developments. Important topics that need to be updated or included for the first time include the emergence of XML, the dominance of Google, reference linking, the Internet Archive, the Open Archives Initiative, and many more.

·         Numerous details need to be brought up to date.

·         A few projects have come to an end and a few topics have proved to be less important than expected. They need to be deleted or give less emphasis.

·         The book does not have a bibliography, because, only a few years ago, nobody had confidence in the longevity of URLs. Now it is clear that many online collections are managed for the long term and can be cited with confidence.

·         Our understanding has developed. In some aspects, uncertainties have been resolved, in others the complexities seem to have grown. There is less need to be an advocate for digital libraries.

The objective is to survey the entire field of digital libraries. Computers and networks are of fundamental importance, but they are only the technology. The real story of digital libraries is the interplay between people, organizations, and technology. How are libraries and publishers using this new technology? How are individuals bypassing traditional organizations and building their own libraries? Where does the Web fit?
I try to avoid speculation and to concentrate on describing current activities, trends, and research. Thus the heart of this book is a large number of examples described in panels. Each panel describes some significant aspect of digital libraries, technology, application, or research. However, I have to admit to personal biases. Some are undoubtedly unconscious, but others are quite deliberate. I am definitely biased towards digital libraries that provide open access to information. As a reader, I am thrilled by the high-quality information, which I can access over the Internet, that is completely unrestricted; as an author, I publish my research online so that everybody has access to my work. Technically, my bias is towards simplicity. I am a great fan of the Web, because it is so simple. This simplicity is an enormous strength and I hope that we can defend it.
In selecting examples, I have usually chosen those that I know personally, with an emphasis on work carried out by friends and colleagues. Therefore, the examples reflect my experience working in universities in the United States. As an Englishman by birth, I am conscious of the quality of work that is being carried out around the world, but my examples tend to be American.

Acknowledgements

Because I know so many of the people whose work is described, I have been able to ask many of them for help. Amy Friedlander, the founding editor of D-Lib Magazine, was a constant guide in the original version. My wife Caroline introduced me to digital libraries when she was a graduate student at M.I.T. in 1966. She is now at the Library of Congress and helped with many sections throughout the book. Individuals who have made comments on the manuscript or checked specific sections include: Robert Allen, Kate Arms, Steve Cousins, Gregory Crane, Jim Davis, Peter Denning, Jack Dongarra, George Furnas, Henry Gladney, Steven Griffin, Kevin Guthrie, Larry Lannom, Ron Larsen, Michael Lesk, Ralph LeVan, Mary Levering, Wendy Lougee, Clifford Lynch, Harry S. Martin III, Eric Miller, Andreas Paepcke, Larry Page, Norman Paskin, Vicky Reich, Scott Stevens, Terrence Smith, Sam Sun, Hal Varian, Howard Wactlar, Donald Waters, Stuart Weibel, and Robert Wilensky.
Earlier versions of Chapter 4 were provided to the Fundaçمo Getulio Vargas and the Ticer Summer School. A first sketch of Chapter 8 was presented at the SGML/XML Conference in 1997. The image in Panel 2.6 is copyright CNRI. Panel 6.3 is from the U.S. Copyright Office. Figure 7.2 is based on a figure by Henry Gladney. The list of elements in Panel 10.3 is from the Dublin Core Web site.

William Arms
Cornell University, 2003