Transcript technological change towards digital libraries

LIS510 lecture 11
Thomas Krichel
2006-12-06
Historical part
• Technological progress is not new.
• Rubin starts with a useful historical
overview.
– he looks at the development of computers and
networks in libraries
– he looks at the development of the Internet,
which largely happened outside libraries.
early technical advances
• Microphotography in the early 20th century.
– It allowed to photograph sheets of paper and
allow to read them with a special device
• tremendous savings of storage cost
• hard to read
• photocopier, invented in the 1960s, was a
great advance in libraries, but brought
attacks from copyright holders.
computers in libraries
• most important application was in
bibliographic data, with the development of
the MARC record.
• OCLC became a significant organization
that allowed libraries
– to share MARC records
– print catalog cards
– interlibrary loan facilities
– acquisition support.
networks in libraries
• They also appeared in the 60s. this allowed
for online information retrieval, eventually
• In 1964 Lockheed developed the DIALOG
system, offering online access to database
– This system collects databases
– It makes them away collectively or individually
through a search interface
– Access to DIALOG was limited to specialized
staff.
CD-ROM
• This came along in the 1980.
• It could hold a lot of information.
• It did not need a network to be used,
theoretically. In practice it was hard for two
users to use the same CD-ROM without
some kind of a network.
• It certainly did not need a remote network.
At the time that was where much of the cost
was.
integrated library system
• This is a local computer and network
application that integrates
– acquisition
– serials
– catalog maintenance
– catalog access
– circulation records
– collection management
• These systems took a while to mature.
OPAC
• An OPAC is an online public access
catalog.
• It’s a term coined by our very own Charles
R. Hildreth.
• It allowed a user access to the library
catalog via a computer terminal.
• No need to buy catalog cards and no need
to file them.
• Modern ones have a web interface.
linked OPACs
• As more and more OPACs became open
access from outside, there was more
demand to search many of them at once.
• A special distributed searching protocol,
Z39.50 was developed over many years.
• It is very complicated.
• There is no public domain software
implementing it.
Internet
• Internet is not a physical network.
• It is as abstraction that allows different
physical networks to work together and
appear as one.
• Main facilities
– email
– remote use of computers
– file transfer
– World Wide Web
Internet technology
• There are two basic standards
– Internet protocol (IP) transfers packets of data
between hosts.
– Transmission control protocol (TCP) allows for
a stream of communication to appear as if
there was a connection.
• The basic theory of the Internet goes back
to Paul Baran. Al Gore did not invent it.
• All the Internet boils down to is a set of
technical standards.
email
• It is the oldest Internet application
• It is also one of the most complex these
days because
– old protocols
– never designed to deal with spam
• Not likely that you will get much involved
with running an email system
email lists
• They are not called Listservs, as Rubin
thinks.
• Email lists are very important information
sources that are not readily found on the
Web.
• Knowledge and expert usage of lists make
a librarian shine.
• Unfortunately we don’t have time or mission
to go through this here.
remote computer use & file transfer
• There are two common protocol
– telnet
– ftp
for remote login and use
for file transfer
• Some older OPACs may be accessed with
telnet
• But telnet and ftp are no longer used in
private transaction because they are not
secure
• ssh (aka secure shell) is a successor to ftp
and telnet.
the Web
• The web is a medium that uses three
standards
– URI for addressing objects “on the web”
– http for transferring these objects
– HTML to build a hypertext system to build and
navigate resources.
• Since we define the web as using this,
some things may only use part of these
standards, thus be “less webby”.
Web and libraries
• Libraries have become heavily involved in
– building web site
– buying access to toll-gated web sites
– building resources that are indirectly available
on the Web
• Web OPACs
• archives with machine interfaces
• It is important to know how the web works
• Take LIS650 and LIS651.
word wide web consortium
• The W3C is the standards making body of
the Web, run by its inventor Tim Berners
Lee.
• Some standards they have developed are
good
– HTML
– XML
• Many others are over-engineered.
Digital libraries
• Nobody really knows what they are.
• Much of the LIS literature discussing digital
libraries in fact addresses web sites.
• I like Bill Arms’ definition best. Digital
libraries share the fact that
– organized on computers
– available over a network
– maintain procedures to
• select
• organize
∙ make available
∙ archive
Web portal
• A portal can be understood as an interface
on the web, that allows you to use a digital
library.
• Portals can sometimes be personalized.
• Portals may be used as an intermediary for
online reference services.
Internet2
• This is not a new version of the Internet.
• It is set of technological devices that allow
higher Internet speed.
• Currently available to privileged US
institutions and some foreign partners.
technology and next generation
libraries
• Rutenbeck has five challenges
– malleability (information changes)
– selectivity (people abandon print-only)
– exclusivity (not everyone has access)
– vulnerability (print assets are more vulnerable)
see http://www.anna-amalia-bibliothek.de/
– superficiality (some rubbish is on the Internet)
digital preservation
• This is hugely complicated area
• keeping files is not a big deal as long as
one avoids
– proprietary formats
– removable media
• but this issue of what to preserve is tough
when the contents shows lack of fixity.
http://openlib.org/home/krichel
Please shut down the computers now.
Thank you for your attention!