Digital Libraries as a Tool Uniting Communities

1. Digital Libraries as a Tool Uniting Communities Professor Derek Law University of Strathclyde

2. The University of Strathclyde,founded in 1796 as “a place of useful learning”

3. University of Strathclyde • 18th Century • James Watt • Steam Engine > Industrial Revolution > Environmental Pollution and Global Warming

4. University of Strathclyde • James Watt • 19th Century >David Livingstone > Exploration of Africa > British Empire > Political chaos from Iraq to the Malvinas

5. University of Strathclyde • James Watt • David Livingstone • 20th Century > John Logie Baird > television > Baywatch and Big Brother

6. University of Strathclyde • James Watt • David Livingstone • John Logie Baird • 21st Century > Arthur Van Hoff > Javascript > Pop up windows

7. eIFL activities • Content • Consortia • Infrastructure • Co-operation • www.eifl.net

8. Activities 2003: Content • Model licenses • E-books report (Jan Nikisch) • Russian content established • CUP, Proquest, Bioone Elsevier for six countries • APS, Highwire, IoP • Survey of content required - inconclusive

9. Report on activities 2003: New Consortia • Macedonia • Sudan • Laos • Cambodia • China under negotiation • 28 Training events/workshops

10. Report on activities 2003: Cooperation • Meetings with INASP, TIB, Biomed Central • Stand at IFLA • Link set up to ICOLC • Proposals with Goethe Institute • Bid with partners to develop Greenstone

11. Why bother getting involved? • Leave it to technology • But we are user focussed • Leave it to the market? • But we want to change society • Leave it to big countries? • But one size doesn’t fit all • Not everyone wants to share • Small is beautiful from Finland to Singapore • Leave it to publishers? • But they have no grandmothers

13. Trust Me I’m a Librarian • “People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.” (Olson, 2000)

14. Underpinning philosophy • The Vesalius Conundrum • This is rocket science not a plug in the wall • Ease of use = “the satisfied inept” • Public sector bodies are producers not just consumers of information • The Internet is AT PRESENT very flawed as a teaching and learning tool

15. A history of libraries: 19th Century – towards the global community • The development of the concept of public libraries and public good • Panizzi, Dewey, Carnegie • The Procrustean Bed

16. A history of libraries: early 20th Century – international co-operation • Cooperation and the Russian Revolution • Interlending to St Petersburg • Latitude = 59º26'N      Longitude = 024º46'E

17. A history of libraries: late 20th century - interoperability • MARC • AACR2 • OCLC • UAP and UBC • Dublin Core

18. User not technology driven • The Library as place • Second most used public service • University space has not grown • Staff and students are library conservatives • Communities share a history • Librarians can collect and interpret that • Returning their history to communities • Collection focussed

19. DLF Collection typology • local digitization projects that produce surrogates for analogue information objects; • data creation projects that produce information resources that have no analogue equivalent and are in this respect "born digital"; • the selection of existing third-party data resources for inclusion in a collection either through their outright acquisition or by acquiring access under some licensing arrangement; and • the development of Internet gateways comprising locally maintained pages or databases of web-links to third-party networked information (Greenstein)

20. The Virtual Human, mirroring and caching strategies Gateways: The Indian diaspora and the Welsh in Patagonia Third Party Data and gateways

21. Collection types • Surrogates of rare items: the British Library • Surrogates for whole or part collections: The Springburn Virtual Library • Digitised surrogate collections assembled from multiple repositories: the Valley of the Shadow, Red Clydeside • Collections assembled specifically to be digitised ASPECT; CAIN • Born Digital Resources

22. Display of treasures: the British Library

23. Organised digital collections to support teaching, learning and research Overview | Contacts | Reports | Policies The Glasgow Digital Library is based at the Centre for Digital Library Research in the University of Strathclyde. It was set up as part of the Research Support Libraries Programme, supplemented by funding from SCRAN for specific digitisation projects.

24. Glasgow Digital Library • Identifying Resources for Digitisation • Encouraging Electronic Content Creation • Cost-cutting by City-wide Licences • Mirroring heavily used content • The Virtual Human • Setting and Implementing Standards • A distributed regional resource - ScoDiDiLi

25. Springburn

27. CAIN: Conflict Archive on the Internet

28. Red Clydeside: Restoring a collection

30. Information arbitrage • Identifying products • Identifying value for money • Is the Pareto Principle relevant? • Independent, authoritative and right

31. Law’s Laws 1. Good Information systems will drive out bad

32. Law’s Laws 1. Good Information systems will drive out bad 2. User Friendly systems aren’t

33. Training • The satisfied inept – staff as well as students • 13% get information from the Library • But it’s also a: • cybersandpit • dating agency • learning space • 7x24 chatroom • Training ground

34. Data preservation and trusted repositories • Clearing the study • Building research collections for the future • EVERYBODY has something to contribute • Digital Asset Management and Curation • Repository standards

35. Trusted Repositories: the five Maori tests • Receive the information with accuracy • Store the information with integrity beyond doubt • Retrieve the information without amendment • Apply appropriate judgement in the use of the information • Pass the information on appropriately

36. Where we are now • Hybrid libraries • Google and the satisfied inept • Struggling with redefinition of scholarly communication • Big deals (ending?) • E-books are toys • Images the next frontier?

37. The global village in 2003 • $30 annual income • 90% unemployment • 18hr a day power cuts • Life expectancy declining • Unlimited access to e-journals

38. The future…..?

39. The Options • Stunned amazement – the Homer Simpson approach • Cynicism – the Rhett Butler approach • Aggression – the Monty Python approach • Be ahead of the game – the Road Runner approach

40. Road Runners Rool, OK • Grown up thinking • Joined up networks • Seamless Martini education • Capitalism and communism according to Keynes • A people at ease with a knowledge society having survived the information revolution

41. Conclusion • Digital libraries are a social phenomenon as much as a technical one • Communities cut across geography as well as class and function • There is a lot of money available for creating collections • Every library has – or should have – a collection to contribute • He who pays the piper may call the tune – but may not get an audience

42. The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902