A digital library resource Web site: Project DL
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520110366698 |
| Published date | 01 February 2001 |
| Date | 01 February 2001 |
| Pages | 29-41 |
| Author | Thomas R. Kochtanek,Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim,Karen K. Hein |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
A digital library
resource Web site:
Project DL
Thomas R. Kochtanek
Karen K. Hein and
Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim
Introduction: digital libraries
The initial vision of what have become digital
libraries originated before the creation of
digital storage technologies and the general
commercial availability of computers. In the
July 1945 article ``As we may think'',
Vannevar Bush put forth the notion of a
mechanised file and library for all the records,
communications, and books for every
individual. This mechanised library was
dubbed the ``Memex'', which was, in concept,
a personal system for organising documents
using associative indexing capabilities. In
contrast to today's digital libraries,
information would be stored using an
analogue format, that of microfilm. The
Memex was a precursor to computer-assisted
retrieval (CAR) systems, which were
computer-based searching aids for
information stored on a different medium.
Digital libraries, as we have come to know
them, are entirely computer based.
Following in Bush's footsteps, researchers
began proposing the computer-based
indexing of microfilms in the 1950s and
1960s. This research resulted in Project
Intrex, a series of information storage and
retrieval experiments conducted at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The
Project Intrex database of 20,000 scientific
articles was stored on microfiche supported
by an on-line catalogue and index. These
microfiche were stored in an automated
retrieval mechanism located next to the online
computing device.
In the early 1960s J.C.R. Licklider was
commissioned to write a monograph that
forecasted the library of the future. To some,
this was the first time anyone had identified
the conceptual basis for a ``digital library''. In
this text, Licklider predicted that such entities
would:
... free us to concentrate upon what man would
like the nature of his interaction with knowledge
to be. That is possibly an important freedom, for
extrapolation of the main courses of present day
The authors
Thomas R. Kochtanek is Associate Professor, and
Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim is a PhD student, both at the
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies,
University of Missouri-Columbia, USA.
Karen K. Hein is Electronic Services Librarian at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA.
Keywords
Digital libraries, Information retrieval,
Database management, World Wide Web
Abstract
The goal of Project DL (www.coe.missouri.edu/~is334/
projects/Project_DL) is to provide an integrated resource
where diverse information sources on the topic of digital
libraries may be brought together in a single navigable Web
site. The intent is to use the site as a learning tool to support
exploration of selected research and development activities
associated with digital libraries, and to facilitate end user
interaction with the content of these various resources. The
focus of this site is on accessing digital library collections as
well as information resources related to the study of digital
libraries. As such, the Web site is segmented into three
distinct but integrated sections: digital library collections,
digital library resources and digital library Web sites. This
paper presents an overview of those three sections, their
development, and the organisational considerations
associated with each of the sections. The paper concludes
with a special emphasis on the design considerations for
creating a searchable Web version of digital library Web sites.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
Refereed article received 2 October 2000
Approved for publication 31 October 2000
Acknowledgement to: IS334 students for
continued collaboration and contributions; Heidi
Currie for assembling the first draft of the overview
essay; Carol Lee-Roark for suggesting and
providing an initial reorganisation scheme and
content for the resources section; Tulsi Regmi and
Juraruk Cholharn for the initial searchable MS
Access database of DL Web resources.
29
Online Information Review
Volume 25 .Number 1 .2001 .pp. 29±40
#MCB University Press .ISSN 1468-4527
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