The convergence of IT, telecommunications, and media is changing the way information is collected, stored and accessed. This revolution is having effects on the development and organisation of information and artefact repositories such as libraries and museums. This book presents key aspects in the rapidly moving field of digital convergence in the areas of technology and information sciences. Its chapters are written by international experts who are leaders in their fields.
In today’s digital era, the emergence of digital libraries, collections, and repositories stands as a significant advancement. Across various organizations, there’s a notable shift toward digitization driven by both technological advancements and the proliferation of vast amounts of data, texts, artworks, and other collections. With information volumes reaching unprecedented levels, the imperative to organize it in digital formats becomes apparent. This digital transformation has given rise to a pervasive digital culture, particularly evident in academic libraries, museums, and nonprofit organizations. This culture profoundly influences how information is accessed, utilized, and organized. The book addresses key aspects of this digital paradigm, including digitization processes, open access principles, and the protocols and standards governing the utilization of digital information. It examines the broader landscape of digital libraries, repositories, and collections found in galleries and museums. Moreover, the book explores the evolving skill sets required by users in adapting to these digital advancements, as well as the standards necessary for implementing digital organizational structures. By taking a comprehensive view, it highlights both the advantages and challenges posed by these digital developments, offering insights into their multifaceted impacts on contemporary society.
European digital libraries have existed in diverse forms and with quite different functions, priorities, and aims. However, there are some common features of European-based initiatives that are relevant to non-European communities. There are now many more challenges and changes than ever before, and the development rate of new digital libraries is ever accelerating. Delivering educational, cultural, and research resources-especially from major scientific and cultural organizations-has become a core mission of these organizations. Using these resources they will be able to investigate, educate, and elucidate, in order to promote and disseminate and to preserve civilization. Extremely important in conceptualizing the digital environment priorities in Europe was its cultural heritage and the feeling that these rich resources should be open to Europe and the global community. In this book we focus on European digitized heritage and digital culture, and its potential in the digital age. We specifically look at the EU and its approaches to digitization and digital culture, problems detected, and achievements reached, all with an emphasis on digital cultural heritage. We seek to report on important documents that were prepared on digitization; copyright and related documents; research and education in the digital libraries field under the auspices of the EU; some other European and national initiatives; and funded projects. The aim of this book is to discuss the development of digital libraries in the European context by presenting, primarily to non-European communities interested in digital libraries, the phenomena, initiatives, and developments that dominated in Europe. We describe the main projects and their outcomes, and shine a light on the number of challenges that have been inspiring new approaches, cooperative efforts, and the use of research methodology at different stages of the digital libraries development. The specific goals are reflected in the structure of the book, which can be conceived as a guide to several main topics and sub-topics. However, the author’s scope is far from being comprehensive, since the field of digital libraries is very complex and digital libraries for cultural heritage is even moreso.
This book presents the user-facing aspects of digital media, from the web and computer games, to mobile technologies and social media, and demonstrates how these are continuously growing and developing. The convergence of IT, telecommunications, and media is bringing about a revolution in the way information is collected, stored, accessed and distributed. Rae Earnshaw's book explores the principal factors driving this and the ways in which social and cultural contexts are affected by media content. This is Professor Earnshaw's fourth book in a series that focuses on digital media and creativity, and through the use of Case Studies; the theoretical, practical and technical aspects of digital media are examined. Readers are informed about how the user as content creator, publisher and broadcaster is changing the traditional roles of news media, publishers and entertainment corporations. Topics such as the evolution of digital imaging and the phenomenon of social media are discussed in relation to this. Professor Earnshaw also demonstrates how changes in technology produce shifts in the ways that consumers utilize it, in an increasing variety of application domains such as e-books, digital cameras, Facebook and Twitter. State of the Art in Digital Media and Applications will be invaluable for readers that want a comprehensive look at how emerging digital media technologies are being used, and how they are transforming how we create, consume, exchange and manipulate media content.
Digital Library Economics covers key aspects of the management and development of the digital library from an economic viewpoint. The work is a collection of essays by leading international authorities and provides an overview of current and future positions with regard to the economics of digital library management and development. Key contextual aspects are described, providing a history of the growth of digital libraries, with special reference to financial issues, current and possible future economic models and costing methodologies and challenges, themes and issues in the field. Incorporates past developments, current good practice and future trends Written by recognized national and international authorities There is little else in the field: it fills a major gap in the literature
While it's inspiring to ponder the libraries of the 22nd century, it's a lot more practical to think ahead to the next five years. That's just what Varnum and his hand-picked team of contributors have done, showing library technology staff and administrators where to invest time and money to receive the greatest benefits. Their ideas will stimulate strategic thinking and help library staff make informed decisions about meeting user expectations and delivering services. Sure conversation starters and informative for any library, chapters include “Impetus to Innovate: Convergence and Library Trends,” by A.J. Million and Heather Lea Moulaison“Hands-Free Augmented Reality: Impacting the Library Future,” by Brigitte M. Bell and Terry Cottrell“Libraries and Archives Augmenting the World,” by William Denton“The Future of Cloud-Based Library Systems,” by Steven Bowers and Elliot Jonathan Polak“Library Discovery: From Ponds to Streams,” by Varnum“Exit As Strategy: Web Services as the New Websites for Many Libraries,” by Anson Parker, VP Nagraj, and David Moody“Reading and Non-Reading: Text Mining in Critical Practice,” by Devin Higgins“Bigger, Better, Together: Building the Digital Library of the Future,” by Jeremy York“The Case for Open Hardware in Libraries,” by Jason Griffey This compendium offers an expert-level view of the library technology that’s just around the corner.
The End of Wisdom? The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age assembles opinion pieces, forecasts, strategy options, and case studies from leading worldwide politicians, academics, educators, authors, publishers, captains of industry, senior public sector workers, library directors, IT gurus and other key players in the field of information provision who discuss their views on the hypothesis surrounding the "end of libraries" and the "death of books." The contributions – ranging in length from 500 to 2000 words are analyzed and summarized to create a rich picture of current trends and likely futures for libraries of all types, with digital options discussed in detail. Focuses on the key issue facing library and information services for the foreseeable future Takes a much broader view by asking a wide range of key people and representative stakeholders and user groups for their view of the future of libraries of all kinds Presents a comprehensive analysis of likely directions and options for libraries, library managers, and users Includes a route map for the future Builds on the successful approaches adopted in A Handbook of Digital Library Economics and Libraries and Society
This volume of Advances in Library Administration and Organization takes as its underpinning theme the whole subject of innovation in Library and Information Services. It considers the various types of innovation through case studies and exemplars both from within the LIS sector and other cognate industries and environments.
Argues against the futuristic idea of virtual libraries because it is devastating to the societal mission of libraries, proposing instead a balanced, human-oriented approach to technology that complements print, community library buildings, and user-friendly librarians.
