Digital Libraries: A Digital Primer
Eva Perkins, EPA Research www.epa-research.com
NCNMLG/ MLGSCA Joint Meeting, San Jose, February 5-7, 1999
Several trends in effect since 1991 have resulted in digital libraries: development of the technology necessary for electronic publishing, more Internet searching by end-users, the proliferation of online, full-text services, CD-ROMs being replaced by Web-based databases, and virtual library services becoming available to patrons anywhere at all.
As libraries have made more workstations available, patrons increasingly are learning to search OCLC's FirstSearch and other databases that have migrated to the World Wide Web in addition to NLM databases such as Medline, resulting in a dramatic trend away from intermediary searching. In fact, whether academic librarians will continue to search for patrons is debatable. Another debate concerns how libraries will meet increased demand for document delivery, a byproduct of sophisticated end-user searching.
Patrons are not the only beneficiaries of the trend toward remotely-based resources. The burden of loading and maintaining databases locally is being passed on to commercial database services, a consortium, or a Web server. Libraries are experiencing lower hardware requirements, reduced costs and maintenance hassles. As we move into the next millennium, digital services will increasingly focus on connecting to information housed elsewhere.
Two projects, TULIP www.englib.cornell.edu/tulip/tuliphelp.html and Red Sage http://springer-ny.com/press/redsage, are responsible for much of today's digital environment. Elsevier Science's ability to market electronic journals stems from the research begun in 1991 as the University Licensing Program (TULIP), whose goal was desktop retrieval systems. Text and image digitizing technology was fine-tuned to the standard in use today. At the same time, Project Red Sage (AT&T, several scientific publishers and UC San Francisco) was developing electronic publishing technology, determining how the scientific community would react, and exploring business models
Librarians operating in the new digital environment must maintain awareness of copyright law. The United States Copyright Office‘s Web site (http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright, omit "www") reports on both recently passed and pending legislation; most recently, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There is information on international intellectual property conferences and treaties, as well as links to other Internet resources on copyright issues. A free, electronic mailing list, NewsNet, is available to all who apply.
The American Library Association maintains (http://www.ala.org/work/copyright.html) with links to information on intellectual property issues, fair use in a digital environment, and copyright protection. There is also a link to the Digital Future Coalition, a coalition of library, education, public interest, and industry organizations supporting balanced copyright policy.
