Developing a Taiwan library history digital library with reader knowledge archiving and sharing mechanisms based on the DSpace platform
| Pages | 426-442 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211241681 |
| Published date | 01 June 2012 |
| Date | 01 June 2012 |
| Author | Chih‐Ming Chen,Yong‐Ting Chen,Chin‐Ming Hong,Chin‐Wen Liao,Chia‐Meng Huang |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Developing a Taiwan library
history digital library with reader
knowledge archiving and sharing
mechanisms based on the DSpace
platform
Chih-Ming Chen and Yong-Ting Chen
Graduate Institute of Library, Information and Archival Studies,
National Chengchi University, Wenshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan
Chin-Ming Hong
Department of Applied Electronics Technology,
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Chin-Wen Liao
Department of Industrial Education and Technology,
National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan, and
Chia-Meng Huang
ADLINK Technology Inc., Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – This work seeks to present a reading annotation and knowledge sharing tool, which can
annotate a web page with HTML format archived by the Taiwan libraries’ history digital library
based on Web 2.0 technologies
Design/methodology/approach – This work adopted DSpace, an open-source i nstitutional
repository system, to implement a Taiwan Digital Library History Library with the reading
annotation tool for knowledge archiving and sharing services. A quasi-experimental design method
was employed to randomly assign participants to an experimental group and control group to evaluate
differences in the reading performance of learners who used the proposed annotation system. A
statistical analysis scheme was employed to evaluate differences in learning performance of learners
while reading and learning with the proposed annotation tool.
Findings – The paper finds that annotated digitalmaterial provides usefulknowledge to readers. The
valuesto those annotatingand subsequent readersare the acquisitionof in-depth knowledgeand efficient
reading. Additionally, the effect on digitallibraries is that digital library content grows dynamically as
readers contribute knowledge. More importantly, annotated informationfrom different readers hasvery
high potential for the discovery of value-addedknowledge utilizing data mining techniques.
Originality/value – Collecting user-generatedcontent is a novel research issue in the librarysciences
field, and few studies have developed useful tools that allow readers to actively contribute their
knowledgeto digital libraries. This work showshow to implement such digital librarysystems and how
the annotation tool benefits the growth of digital archives and promotes learning performance.
Keywords Digital libraries,Annotation, DSpace, Knowledgearchiving, Knowledge sharing,
Knowledge management, Taiwan
Paper type Technical paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
30,3
426
Received May 2010
Revised September 2010
Accepted September 2010
The Electronic Library
Vol. 30 No. 3, 2012
pp. 426-442
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471211241681
1. Introduction
Libraries are important institutions that preserve human culture. Beginning in the
1990s, the Internet has contributed markedly to the development of digital libraries
(DLs). Some predict that DLs will be the predominant libraries in the future. Library
and education professionals have recently become actively involved in DL research
and development. Many DL projects (e.g. American Memory of the Library of
Congress (http://memory.l oc.gov/ammem/index.html) an d the Digital Archives
Project of National Taiwan University (www.darc.ntu.edu.tw/)) focused on
preserving human cultural heritage, historical relics, and institutional productions.
However, few DL projects have focused on preserving library history. Taiwan’s
library history can be divided into the following four periods: the Japanese
occupation period (1895-1945); the reconstruction period (1945-1952); the growth
period (1953-1976), and the rapid growth period (1977-present). Many historical
events are valuable and should be collected in a DL to support teaching and
academic research in the library and information field. This work developed a DL
for Taiwan libraries’ history to preserve the developmental history of Taiwan’s
libraries by modifying the open-source DSpace platform.
2. Background
Digital libraries are focused on creating, organizing, and managing multimedia digital
content and collections, and providing search, retrieval, and other information services
over computer networks. Currently, some open-source software packages (Goh et al.,
2006; Jody, 2007), such as Eprints, Fedora, Greenstone, GERN CDSware, and DSpace,
are available to organizations and individuals to create DLs. Open-source DLs are
increasingly considered a beneficial alternative to commercial DL systems due to use r
dissatisfaction with the functionalities of commercial DL systems and the increasing
budget cuts libraries now face. Additionally, the costs of maintenance and producing
software are also increasing dramatically. Free access and a good level of functionality
are the main reasons accounting for the usage and interest in open-source DL software.
Goh et al. (2006) developed a checklist consisting of 12 criteria for evaluating
open-source DL software. The 12 features that characterize “good” open-source DL
software are effective content management and content acquisition, the existence
metadata, search support, adequate access control and privacy, report and inquiry
capabilities, preservation of digital content, interoperability, a user-friendly interface,
standards compliance, effective automated tools, and good support and maintenance.
Although Goh et al. (2006) evaluated four open-source DL software programs –
Eprints, Fedora, Greenstone, and GERN CDSware – their study did not analyze
DSpace (www.DSpace.org). The first version of DSpace was released in November
2002, following a joint effort by developers from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Notably, DSpace has powerful functionalities that are characteristics of a good DL, as
identified by Goh et al. (2006) in their study of archiving, retrieval, and management of
digital assets. DSpace is currently used as a basis for institutional repositories (Tansley
et al., 2003).
Although DSpace has sufficient functionalities for archiving, searching, and
managing digital content, the predefined metadata schema needs to be revised to
archive digital targets, such as library history in Taiwan. Additionally, the user
Developing a
library history
427
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