Recent Developments in the Design, Construction, and Evaluation of Digital Libraries: Case Studies

For librarians, students, and academics, Cool and Ng (library and information studies, Queens College, City U. of New York) compile 13 case studies by library and information studies, education, and technology scholars and researchers from the US, Europe, and New Zealand, who address recent developments in the design, construction, and evaluation of digital libraries in a variety of environments, with an emphasis on practical strategies and lessons learned from real-world case studies. They first examine issues related to content management infrastructure design, including the design of an infrastructure built on service-oriented technologies, the replacement of a digital asset management system with an open source system, and the problem of de-contextualization and how metadata schemes may cause loss of contextualization in semantic meaning of digitized primary resources. The second section contains cases on designing effective access, new preservation methods, and expanded services in newer digital library environments, while the third covers the importance of developing methods for evaluating digital libraries, with cases on the differences between traditional and digital libraries, evaluation methods for a cultural heritage collection, and the cognitive dimension of users' experiences. The last section addresses the larger social environment, such as digital libraries being "for the people" and an instrument of social change, teaching digital imaging to foster experiential learning, and the context of communication and collaboration enhanced by Web 2.0 technology.

The clear structure of this book, which helps it serve both as textbook and guidebook, can be regarded as a good pattern for other authors and publishers. Through reporting several international cases, the volume presents a sound addition to DL theory, research and practice. Reading this collection, which takes a multidimensional approach to DLs, will provide us with useful insights for the world of practice and novel horizons for developing research topics. It is recommended for policy makers, IT managers, librarians, knowledge workers, academics and researchers.