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Unit 10: Digital and Virtual Libraries

Describe various directories of Digital Library Resources Notes
Discuss the concept of Virtual Library
Explain the Virtual Library Environment

Describe the Virtual Library and Lifelong Learning aspects
Introduction

In the previous unit, we dealt with the concept, functions and descriptive Account of a Few
National Libraries. The idea of easy, finger-tip access to information, what we conceptualize as
digital libraries today began with Vannenar Bush’s Memex machine (Bush, 1945); and have
continued to evolve with each advance in information technology. With the arrival of computers,
the concept centred on large bibliographic databases, the now familiar online retrieval and
public access systems that are part of any contemporary library. When computers were connected
into large networks forming the Internet, the concept evolved again, and research turned to
creating libraries of digital information that could be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the
world. The Virtual Library was first conceived and run by Tim Berners-Lee, and later expanded,
organised and managed for several years by Arthur Secret, before it became a formally established
association with Gerard Manning as its Council’s first chairman. The late Bertrand Ibrahim was
a key contributor to the pre-association phase of the Virtual Library’s development, and then
served as its Secretary until his untimely death in 2001 at the age of 46. Phrases like “virtual
library”, “electronic library”, “library without walls” and most recently, “digital library,” all
have been used interchangeably to describe this broad concept. The purpose of this unit is to
enable the students to comprehend basic expressions. At the end of this unit, you should be able
to understand the concept, technical issues and various directories of Digital Library along with
the concept of Virtual Library, Virtual Library Environment and its Lifelong Learning aspects.

10.1 Concept of Digital Library

The term “digital library” is the most recent in a long series of names for a concept that has been
written about nearly as long as the development of the first computer: a computerized “library”
that would supplement, adds functionality, and even replaces traditional libraries. Vannevar
Bush (1945) wrote about the “memex,” which is often cited as stimulating much of the early
application of computers to information retrieval. Although the memex was a mechanical device
based on microfilm technology, it anticipated the idea of hypertext. Library automation began
in the early 1950s with punched card applications to library technical services operations. Licklider
(1965) coined the phrase “library of the future” to refer to his vision of a fully computer-based
library, and ten years later, F.W. Lancaster (1978) wrote of the soon-to-come “paperless library.”
About the same time Ted Nelson (1974) invented and named hypertext and hyperspace. He also
analysed some of the problems to be identified in some detail, but was never able to build an
operational system. Closer to the present, other terms such as “electronic library”, “virtual
library”, “library without walls”, “bionic library” and others have been used. Karen Drabenstott
(1993) has produced an excellent analytical survey of this and related literatures.
The relatively recent use of the term “digital library” resulted from the Digital Libraries Initiative
funded by the National Science Foundation, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States. In 1994, these agencies
granted 24.4 million dollars to six U.S. universities for digital library research, impelled by the
sudden explosive growth of the Internet and the development of graphical Web browsers (Pool,
1994). The term was quickly adopted by computer scientists, librarians, and others. Thus, while
the term “digital library” is new, work in bringing digitized information resources to libraries
has a history spanning several decades. Much can be learned from librarians and information

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