Digital Libraries

By Arielle Starzynski

     When I interviewed Dean Thomas Moore at Central Michigan University’s library few weeks ago, one of the things that he said that had stuck out the most to me was what question, “What is a library?” That got me thinking about not only my own personal perception of what a library is, but the public’s in general. My generation has grown up with technology and therefore feels quite comfortable with the role that it has taken in our lives. That being said, it only makes sense then, that as we are coming into adulthood that projects such as BiblioTech, the first bookless library in the United States, are being completed.

     In an article called “Emergence of Digital Libraries,” Gordon Neavill goes through the history of the written word, from scribes writing volumes of books in ink all the way to the present when those very same books have become digitized. He claims that the “digital revolution is the most important communications revolution since the invention of printing. It is transforming almost everything we do: how we work, how we communicate, above all how we access information” (Neavill, 2004, pg. 26). Even in my lifetime I have seem immense changes in technologies from the first computer my family ever owned to the one we have now. In high school our library still had card catalogs which is quite different from the quick and easy computer searches that are available now.

     Neavill goes on to talk about how digital libraries have such importance because they can be potentially accessed from anywhere in the world. This possibility ensures interconnectedness with the people of the whole world. “Finally, the web makes it possible to bring together in cyberspace related materials that in the real world are physically dispersed. Documents gain meaning and value when they can be studied in relation to other documents” (Neaville, 2004, pg. 31). This could mean that even though many documents have been lost, maybe information can still be discovered by everyone in the world having access to the same documents, but with different cultural knowledge.

     While there are still many places that will maintain a “traditional” library setting for many more years to come, due to the digital preservation of information throughout the past couple of decades the possibilities for what a library may become is limitless. Throughout the ‘90s as the Web became more popular, collaborative projects such as the Dublin Core, Making of America II Project, and Technical Imaging Metadata, “focused on developing standards for interoperable retrieval of digital content” (Besser, 2007, pg. 219). These projects made it possible for the creation of a national preservation structure which would set a standard for the many years of digital preservation to come.

     Aside from the importance of national and even global preservation of digital content that digital libraries can provide, an initiative called the DAISY Consortium focuses on the individual needs of visually impaired people. “Visually impaired readers can use software that enlarges the display on the monitor to permit them to read it. Speech synthesizers can speak the material on the screen for the reader who is blind” (Tank & Frederiksen, 2007, pg. 935). This will open up a whole new community that libraries will now be able to cater to. Where as in some places, people would read to the visually impaired, now they will have their own freedom to choose whatever books or documents they wish to read on their own time, and at their own pace. The improvements that are being made to libraries on the digital level are amazing and will be able to reach so many more people than before.

     Finally, the last important topic to think about is the newly built, completely bookless book in the United States. For those who haven’t read up the new bookless library in Texas dubbed BiblioTech, I’ll give a short run down of what this new, tech savvy library has to offer. Patrons who are members at BiblioTech will have access to 10,000 e-books online, 45 Apple, iPads, 40 laptops, and 48 desktop computers in the library as well as “600 stripped down e-readers or 200 ‘enhanced’ readers for children” that can be checked out (Pepitone, 2013). Judge Nelson Wolff, who is Bexar County’s judge, definitely supported the change saying, “‘Not all libraries are going to be like us, and we understand that,’ Wolff said. ‘But we sure do hope it’s going to drive them to do more to evolve. The world is changing, and libraries can’t stay the same. Not if they want to stay relevant’” (Pepitone, 2013). While I honestly don’t think that books will ever completely disappear, it’s interesting to think about how many digital libraries will spring up over the next fifty years or so.

     The digital revolution was so important because it allows our history to be preserved. I am sure there have already been hundreds of thousands of documents that have been forever lost to us due to general wear and tear, poor filing systems, and other unfortunate events. Languages and other extremely important aspects of cultures have been lost, probably never to be found again. With the emergence of digitization and digital libraries, we can put an end to that. Even with so many things lost, we can relax in knowing that everything from this point forward will be have the opportunity to be saved. Digital libraries are not only essential to preserving our history but also to helping people who are not physically able to go to the library and read a book themselves. Overall, while I would never want books to disappear from our libraries, I understand the importance of the role that digital libraries presently play and will continue to play throughout our lifetime and in the distant future.

References

Besser, Howard. (2007). "Collaboration for Electronic Preservation." Library Trends, 56(1), 216-824. doi: 10.1353/lib.2007.0043

Neavill, G. B. (2004). Emergence of digital libraries. INFOteka: Journal of Informatics and Librarianship,  5(1-2), 25-33. Retrieved from: http://www.unilib.bg.ac.rs/zajednica01/english/izdanja/infoteka/br1_2_2004/index.php

Pepitone, Julianne. (2013). "The first bookless library: BiblioTech offers only e-books." CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/08/technology/innovation/bibliotech-ebook-library/

Tank, Elisebeth and Carsten Frederiksen. (2007). "The DAISY Standard: Entering the Global and Virtual Library" Library Trends, 55(4), 932-949. doi: 10.1353/lib.2007.0034