Digitala bibliotek - framtidsvision eller morgondagens verklighet?
DEFDigitala bibliotekELib ProgrammeBIBSYSDocumentationInformationLibrary scienceArchivisticsArkiv- och bibliotekskunskapDokumentationSocial Sciences
In the wake of the electronic revolution digital library has become one of the central themes concerning libraries. The present study takes up the question whether digital library can function in the same way as the conventional library. The question can obviously be posed from different perspectives, e.g. technological-, the user-, or the organizational perspective. The study investigates if (and how) digital library can have the same functions as the traditional library. A large part of the study is devoted to examining the theoretical frameworks for tackling the question.Based on the discussions in the theoretical part, the second section focuses on the experience of a few electronic and digital libraries. These are DEF (Danmarks elektroniske forskningsbibliotek), BDB (BIBSYS Digital Library), Digital Library ofGöteborg, and eLib Programme. Both the theoretical and the empirical studydemonstrate that the necessary functions for constructing digital libraries are feasible and to a large extent already exist. The problem, rather, is to map the appropriate organizational forms for transition from traditional, "physical", libraries to the digital ones. At the present moment, it is quite possible to build up digital libraries at the locallevel (i.e. at the level of a single library), while building a digital library at the national level (i.e. covering all libraries in a country) is problematic. The barriers to thedevelopment of digital libraries, as well as the limitations of digital libraries, are discussed in the final part.