Collections: Digital Libraries
A digital library contains a carefully selected, well-organized collection(s) of text, visual, audio, and/or video information stored in a digital format; supports a variety of methods to access, view, and manipulate these collections; and provides services to meet the information needs of users.
Read other definitions at DL Self-Study: Definitions page by Edward A. Fox and Rajat Gupta from Virginia Tech.
Digital libraries come in many forms. Some focus on organizing and collecting content, while others concentrate on organizing the content of others. While some digital libraries are specialized collections focusing on a particular topic or format, others are general collections. Some digital libraries also have "brick and mortar" library buildings . Other libraries only exist on a web server.
American Memory from the Library of Congress may be the best-known digital library. Containing motion pictures, sound recordings, prints, photographs, map collections, and documents, it contains more than 7.5 million digital items from over 100 collections.
Digital libraries are different from other websites because they focus on the library aspect of their mission. Rather than simply providing webpages of content, they have a collection development policy that contains guidelines for content selection and deselection. In addition, they have guidelines for acquiring, processing, cataloging, storing, sharing, evaluating, and promoting materials.
For example, the Digital Audio-Visual Preservation Prototyping Project at the Library of Congress is exploring aspects of digital preservation and packaging digital content. They are looking for ways to store, maintain, and deliver digitally reformatted recorded sounds and moving picture materials. Rather than just posting a video on the web, they are collecting and organizing administrative (where is the original item), structural (how is the item stored), and descriptive (what is the item) metadata related to each original artifact (object) as well as the digital version. This information will be used to provide the best possible catalog.
Examine an example from the American Memories collection on Theodore Roosevelt. Notice the wealth of information.
Go to American Memory from the Library of Congress. Select a particular collection to explore. Create a form for evaluating a digital library collection. Then, use the form to evaluate this collection.
Digital Library Collections
- American Memory from Library of Congress (Historical collections for the National Digital Library)
- California Heritage Collection from Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley
- Colorado Virtual Library (ACLIN) from Colorado State Library
- Conversations with History from UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies
- Digital Collections from Chicago Public Library
- Digital Collections from Cornell University Library
- Digital Collections from University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Digital Collections from University of Washington Libraries
- Digital Library Program from Indiana University
- Digital Collections of IUPUI University Library
- Digital Library from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Great Lakes Maritime History Project from Wisconsin Collaborative Library and Museum Project
- Historylink (Online Encyclopedia of Seattle, King County and Washington State History)
- International Children's Digital Library from University of Maryland and the Internet Archive
- Internet Movie Database (Part of the Amazon.com family of companies)
- Library and Achives Canada
- Medical Student.com (Authoritative medical information for all students of medicine)
- Paper of Record (Searchable historical archive of full-page newspaper images- Canadian subscription site)
- Princeton University Library Digital Collections
- United States National Library of Medicine
Digital Library Links
- British Columbia Digital Library
- Digital Archives & Collections: Databases & E-Resources - Directory from Library of Congress
- Digital Collections and Programs from the Library of Congress
- Digital Collections from the Digital Library Federation
- Digital Library Research Laboratory at Virginia Tech (tech specs for digital libraries)
- D-Lib
Magazine - electronic publication with a primary focus on
digital library research and development
- Ready Reference from D-Lib Magazine
- DL Self Study: Contents (Course materials by Edward A. Fox & Rajat Gupta from Virginia Tech)
- Educator's Reference Desk
Digital Library Articles and Projects
- Building Digital Collections: Technical Information and Background Papers from the National Digital Library Program (NDLP) at the Library of Congress
- Digital Library Federation from the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
- Digital Library Initiative Phase 2 (DLI2) from National Science Foundation
- Digital Library Team at New York University Libraries
- Digital Libraries: Issues and Architectures from the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries, Texas A&M University
- Digital Project Guidelines from Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
- Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects (Aug 2004) from the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
- Joint RLG and NPO Preservation Conference Guidelines for Digital Imaging (Research Libraries Group and National Preservation Office, UK)
- KYVL Kentuckiana Digital Library Project (June 2002) from D-Lib Magazine
- Proposal For Educational Fair Use Guidelines For Digital Images, A (1996) from CONFU (Conference on Fair Use)
- Stanford Digital Library Technologies Project
- Web Video Guidelines from University of Texas at Austin
Virtual Field Trips and Museums
Virtual field trips and museums are closely related to digital libraries. Like libraries they organize, archive, and provide access to materials. In addition, virtual field trips and museums provide a specialize "front-end" that guides users through the materials.
A virtual field trip helps you explore a place you might not be able to visit face-to-face. Like a walking tour, the content takes you step-by-step through an adventure.
A virtual museum replicates the exhibits, resources, and experiences of an actual museum. Like a virtual field trip, many virtual field trips help you experience the museum as you would if you were physically visiting the museum.
Go to Teacher Tap: Virtual Field Trips and Museums for links to good resources.
Read the off-site article As We May Think by Vannevar Bush in The Atlantic Online (The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945, 176(10), 101-108). Many people consider this to be the first vivid description of the philosophy behind the Internet, global information sharing, hyperlinking, and digital libraries work. Describe your vision of tomorrow's library.