Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work
Being a history major in undergrad, I always find it nice to have some background historical information on subjects. This article was very helpful in discussing the background history of digital libraries. Basically, the first initiative to look into digital libraries occurred in 1994 with the Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI-1), which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF.) From 1994 to 1999, 68 million dollars was given in the form of research grants to explore this new phenomenon. The most important aspect of digital libraries and their founding was the joint efforts of combining computer scientists and librarians. It was a process that saw many challenges, but there were also great benefits. For librarians and libraries in general, it brought the unique expertise of computer science into the field. This was extremely important because it allowed librarians to keep doing their work while society continued to push for digital technologies. It was also an opportunity for computer scientists to develop new systems (which satiated their desire for creativity), as well as providing for the public user sector.
Dewey Meets Turing: Librarians, Computer Scientists, and the Digital Libraries Initiative
This was another useful article in explaining the early works of computer scientists and librarians with regards to digital libraries. The article explained some of the reasons for why librarians and computer scientists started working together on digital libraries. The librarians obviously needed a technology face-lift in order to continue providing for the user community. It was necessary that they started looking into digital technologies in order to stay relevant in the community. Also, librarians saw this as a wonderful opportunity to bring in much needed funding for their programs. Computer scientists were excited because it presented them with the opportunity to create new things that would serve the public good. This, in turn, could bolster their credentials, which could lead to tenure and other opportunities. Although they ran into bickering problems, the core function of librarianship remains with the advent of digital technologies. Information must still be organized, collated, and presented to the public for use. Therefore, librarianship has not changed, just evolved into the new digital age.
Association of Researhc Libraries: Institutional Repositories
This article was very useful in explaining the role and positive benefits of institutional repositiories. The author basically argues that every higher-learning institution should look into institutional repositories for the benefits of its students, faculty, etc. Some of the benefits to institutional repositories include: housing works of faculty, housing works of students, including documentation of institution works and decisions, etc. Another key component of institutional repositories is to preserve the works of the institution and its members. By oeganizing and saving the information of an institution, it will be easier to access and research information about the institution in the future. However, there are three dangers the author points out about institutional repositories: 1. assertion of administration control over author's works, 2. the possible overloading of repositories with policy baggage and political platforms (using repositories to solely counter the publishing industry), and 3. the possibility of repositories being offered hastily without much commitment on the institutions' part.
If you want my honest opinion, I think what you were able to recollect from your experiences as an undergrad studying history could have helped you more in the second article, "Dewey Meets Turing," than the first one, "Digital Libraries." I am not suggesting that you neglected to do so for the second one, but rather it appears you did not bother to make as much mention. The reason why I pointed this out is because I felt as though the second article had shown a transition from one generation of a work force to the next and I am sure that would serve as a reminder to anyone keen on history about the essential roles of transitions in events. Speaking of transitions, I would expect the core aspects of that article to remind you about your move from studying for a bachelor's degree (a multidisciplinary experience) to a master's degree (an interdisciplinary experience), since it goes in parallel with the librarians needing to collaborate with computer scientists. In both instances, after so much has been explored in various fields, they need to merge together so as to create different paths that establishes shorter distances to greater possibilities. We also need to remember from history that inspiration and innovation came about as a result of people studying different areas and combining the elements of their observations, leading to the creations that changed each era; hence why we are here today. Once again, this is all just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I appreciated you bringing your history background in when discussing the articles. I thought you did a great job of summarizing the key points of all three articles.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoy the word bickering to describe the "disagreements" between the librarians and the computer specialists that invaded their space. The truth is that we all have to have computer knowledge to survive these days - librarians are no exception. Computers are there to serve the librarians (patrons, too), computer scientists are the "mechanics" who make them function, so that librarians can operate the entire library system with increased efficiency.
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