Week 1 Readings/Muddiest Point

Setting Foundations-DELOS Manifesto

This article focuses on the evolving meaning of the term 'Digital Library'. No longer a content-centric, digital libraries have become person-centric, meaning there no longer are barriers to information available in an online setting. Previous collection models existed in a static environment, but today, digital libraries offer a dynamic interaction between users and their search for information. The DELOS Manifesto aims to establish principles for digital library environments to follow. According to the Manifesto, Digital libraries operate within a three-tiered network: Digital Library Management Systems; Digital Library Systems; and the Digital Library. The managment system involves providing necessary software to form the infrastructure for both the Digital Library System and the Digital Library itself. The Digital Library system provides the software that provides the architectural structure of the Digital Library, and the Digital Library is the space where users manipulate search queries to obtain content held within.

Dewey Meets Turing

This article explains the relationship between computer scientists and librarians with respect to digital libraries. In the mid-1990's, computer scientists saw digital libraries as an answer to many in-depth, "pure" research projects, while librarians saw them as an answer to their institution's funding problems, as the scientific community largely generated grants to fund research. The advent of the World Wide Web drastically changed the dynamics of this relationship. The web undermined the common ground for computer scientists and librarians in that the distinction between consumers and producers of information became drastically blurred. For libraries, access to information changed as publishers drove up costs to digital content, while computer scientists enjoyed the linkability of networks that the web provided. This new phenomenon changed the relationship between computer scientists and librarians; now librarians perceive computer scientists as having 'hijacked' monetary funds for collection development, while computer scientists don't understand why algorithms can't replace metadata formulated by librarians, and why librarians can't be replaced by computer scientists themselves.


Muddiest Point
I see on another person's blog there was a third reading for this week, which I am currently unable to locate on Courseweb. I will continue to look for it and update this blog accordingly.