Digital Libraries: Philosophies, Technical Design Considerations, and Example Scenarios

by David Stern

Overview

An unparalleled overview of current design considerations for your digital library! Digital Libraries: Philosophies, Technical Design Considerations, and Example Scenarios is a balanced overview of public services, collection development, administration, and systems support, for digital libraries, with advice on adopting the latest technologies that appear on the scene. As a professional in the library and information science field, you will benefit from this special issue that serves as an overview of selected directions, trends, possibilities, limitations, enhancements, design principals, and ongoing projects for integrated library and information systems. In Digital Libraries, you will discover the latest ideas and research on digitizing and distributing online library material, including information on:

• organization and administration of new digital library facilities
• collection development in digital libraries
• technological infrastructures for seamlessly integrated computer databases over the Internet
• XML and other new standards for displaying data on the web
• interface design issues in the search environment
• object oriented interfaces and improved searching possibilities
• a brief history of patents on the internet

Digital Libraries is a working reference for your digital library-specific problems. Split into three related sections: Philosophies, Technical Design Considerations, and Example Scenarios, Digital Libraries addresses the many complexities and new issues that have evolved with the development of digital libraries and their future technologies. You will gain a thorough understanding of the public service and design considerations that are necessary to take your digital library into the 21st century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789007698
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/04/1999
Series:	Monograph Published Simultaneously as SC Series
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction

• Philosophies
• The Organization of Digital Libraries
• Collection Development in the Digital Library
• Usability Evaluation of Digital Libraries
• New Search and Navigation Techniques in the Digital Library
• Technical Design Considerations
• University of Illinois the Federation of Digital Libraries: Interoperability Among Heterogeneous Information Systems
• Toward Seamlessness with XML
• Interface Design Considerations in Libraries
• Grainger Engineering Library: An Object-Enhanced User Interface for Information Retrieval
• Example Scenarios
• MAGIC: A Connecticut Collection of Geodata for the Geoscientist
• Patents in the New World
• Index
• Reference Notes Included  

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Janet A. Crum, MLS (Oregon Health and Science University)
Description: This book includes ten papers offering overviews of topics related to digital libraries.
Purpose: According to the editor, this book "intends to serve as an overview of selected directions, trends, possibilities, limitations, enhancements, design principles, and ongoing projects" for digital libraries. Given the impact of rapidly-changing technology on STM libraries, such an overview is quite useful, and this book fills an important need.
Audience: While the editor does not identify a specific audience, the papers would be most useful to librarians and computer staff building and maintaining digital libraries. Nearly all are written by practicing librarians or research programmers working on digital library projects. A solid grounding in library, network, database, and Web technology is necessary to fully digest some of the pieces.
Features: The first section, philosophies, addresses legal, economic, and other administrative issues, identification and selection of content for digital libraries, methods for performing usability testing and evaluation, and searching and navigation techniques. The technical and design section covers combining heterogeneous databases, XML, and user interface design, including object-oriented user interfaces,. A short section on example scenarios contains two papers on existing digital libraries. Of greatest value to librarians are the papers addressing computer science topics that typically are not well-covered in the library literature, such as usability testing and interface design. The paper on object-oriented interfaces is superb, making a technical topic understandable to a non-expert and explaining the value of object-oriented design without jargon or buzzwords.
Assessment: The papers in this book provide a good overview of digital library issues and technology, from the day-to-day to the cutting edge. In particular, they introduce librarians to several computer science topics that are a vital part of building digital libraries. This book is a worthwhile purchase for any organization or individual planning or implementing a digital library project.

Doody's Review Service

This book includes ten papers offering overviews of topics related to digital libraries. According to the editor, this book ""intends to serve as an overview of selected directions, trends, possibilities, limitations, enhancements, design principles, and ongoing projects"" for digital libraries. Given the impact of rapidly-changing technology on STM libraries, such an overview is quite useful, and this book fills an important need. While the editor does not identify a specific audience, the papers would be most useful to librarians and computer staff building and maintaining digital libraries. Nearly all are written by practicing librarians or research programmers working on digital library projects. A solid grounding in library, network, database, and Web technology is necessary to fully digest some of the pieces. The first section, philosophies, addresses legal, economic, and other administrative issues, identification and selection of content for digital libraries, methods for performing usability testing and evaluation, and searching and navigation techniques. The technical and design section covers combining heterogeneous databases, XML, and user interface design, including object-oriented user interfaces,. A short section on example scenarios contains two papers on existing digital libraries. Of greatest value to librarians are the papers addressing computer science topics that typically are not well-covered in the library literature, such as usability testing and interface design. The paper on object-oriented interfaces is superb, making a technical topic understandable to a non-expert and explaining the value of object-oriented design without jargon or buzzwords. Thepapers in this book provide a good overview of digital library issues and technology, from the day-to-day to the cutting edge. In particular, they introduce librarians to several computer science topics that are a vital part of building digital libraries. This book is a worthwhile purchase for any organization or individual planning or implementing a digital library project.

Janet A. Crum

An overview of selected directions, trends, possibilities, limitations, enhancements, design principles, and ongoing projects for integrated library and information systems. The focus is not on simply translating library material into an online medium, but on how the shift from paper to electronics can provide opportunities for significant improvements. The ten articles are simultaneously published as vol. 17, nos. 3/4 (1999). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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