Digital Libraries:An Overview

Edward A. Fox

Virginia Tech

(adapted from Ch. 11 for IR book, AW, 1999, ed. Baeza-Yates, Berthier)

Benefits

• Ease of use

• Effectiveness

• “The benefits of digital libraries will not be appreciated unless they are easy to use effectively.” - IITA Workshop report

Introduction

• References: Lesk, D-Lib, ACM DL’9x, …

• Vision: Wells, Bush, Licklider - challenge

• 4S to provide integrative framework
  • Streams: text, multimedia, commun. channel
  • Spaces: 1D, 3D, vector, thesaurus, GIS
  • Structures: DB, grammars, markup, web
  • Scenarios: stories, reqs, specs, fns, transforms
  • Network traffic: streams with structure carrying a scenario

Definitions

• Library ++

• Distributed information system + organization + effective interface

• User community, collection, services

• Digital objects, repositories, IPR management, handles, indexes, federated search, hyperbase, annotation

Architectural Issues

• Internet middleware

• Independent system / part of federation

• Decompositions vary
  • search engine, browser, DBMS, MM support
  • repository, handle server, client
  • information resources + mediators, bus or agent collection, client with workspace/environment

• Metrics: e.g., for federated search

Document Models, Representations, and Accesses

• Doc = stream + structure + use-scenario

• Multilingual: content, summary, metadata

• Multimedia: structure, quality (oS), search

• Structured: MARC, SGML, by user: MVD

• Distributed collection: Kleisli, CIMI, Z39.50

• Federated search: collecting, picking site(s), parallel search / fall-back, fusing results

• Access: IPR, payment, security, scenarios

Prototype, Projects, and Interfaces

• CODER, MARIAN, ENVISION; CORE

• DLI
  • Document collections: SGML, spatial, video
  • Search: text, x-vocab, image, video
  • Interfaces: DELIVER, DLITE, PAD++

• International: ERCIM, eLib, NZ, AU, SG, ...

• Usability: user-centered, evolving, Allerton, Xerox/visualization, social context/concerns

Standards

• Protocols/federation
  • Z39.50, CIMI
  • Dienst, NCSTRL

• Metadata
  • TEI: inline, detailed (structure in stream)
  • MARC: two-level, fine-grained
  • Dublin Core: high-level, 15 elements
  • RDF: describing resources/collections, annotation

Future Challenges

• Role of author
  • DC vs. TEI
  • Training, quality, amount of effort, QC

• Worldwide DLs
  • Performance
  • Multilingual
  • Identifying specialty areas in large repositories vs. large numbers of focused collections

• Scaling: personal to global, sustainable