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Digital Libraries

Aired November 29 and 30, 1997

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This is Internet On The Air. I'm Todd Mundt. The difference between a public library and a digital library, in a moment.

Funding Credit: Internet On The Air is a production of the University of Michigan School of Information and Michigan radio, made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

When asked to define a digital library, many people think of the Internet. They envision a cavernous warehouse crammed with an endless supply of information, where they can browse without leaving the comforts of home. Other people think of a digital library as an electronic collection of material also available in print. Instead of leafing through a stack of books, users point and click through a CD-ROM or a Web site.

These digital collections can be books, magazines, photographs and reports. Some of these collections you wouldn't be able to find in your own library. But digital libraries can also be collections of data, images and text that don't exist in any library, only in the virtual realm of the Internet.

There is a lot of concern among the general public about the factual accuracy and credibility of Web sites. Digital libraries, especially those created by universities, can provide the assurance that on-line researchers are using well-documented material. Six universities, including the University of Michigan, are working together on a digital library initiative to make a wide variety of documents available to those with access to the Internet.

The Library of Congress also has its own special collection open to the public. Digital libraries provide high-quality on-line information in a logical order. Some digital libraries are available only to the university members, others are restricted due to concerns about copyright violations.

To learn more about the future of digital libraries, and to hear comments from the Director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, visit our own Web site at www.iota.org. For Internet On The Air, I'm Todd Mundt.

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Related Links

For further information, try these Web sites:

• Definition of a Digital Library
  
  
• Digital Libraries Magazine
  
  
• Digital Library Federation
  
  
• Digital Libraries Are Much More Than Digitized Collections
  
  
• Digital Library Work: Meeting User Needs
  
  
• Workshop Summary: UCLA-NSF Workshop on Social Aspects of Digital Libraries

To learn more about the University of Michigan Digital Library, check here.

• Strategies for Digital Library Development: The University of Michigan Case Study
  
  
• Making of America: Online Searching and Page Presentation at the University of Michigan
  
  
• Just-in-time Conversion, Just-in-case Collections
  
  
• SGML Creation and Delivery: The Humanities Text Initiative

Visit some digital libraries by linking here.

• Humanities Text Initiative
  
  
• Making of America
  
  
• Library of Congress
  
  
• Alexandria Digital Library (University of California Santa Barbara)
  Note: You must sign up for a password to access Alexandria.

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The Interview

Listen to comments from Larry Smarr, the Director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

To hear the entire interview with Larry Smarr, check here.

Please direct questions or comments to iota.webmaster@umich.edu.

Last Updated January 26, 2000