Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning

Jane Secker is currently employed as the Learning Technology Librarian
at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She
works in the Centre for Learning Technology supporting and advising
academic staff. Prior to this she was employed as Project Officer at
University College, London and at the Library of the Natural History
Museum. She was recently seconded to work on the JISC-funded
DELIVER Project undertaking the user needs analysis.
Jane is the Chair of the HERON User Group, which represents over 70
HERON members. She is also the Chair of ASSIGN (Aslib Social Science
Information Group and Network) and a member of Aslib Council. She
serves on the editorial board of Program.
Jane has a PhD and first degree from the University of Wales,
Aberystwyth. Her research was a study of newspaper collections in
libraries and their value to historians. It focused on issues such as the
preservation and digitisation of newspaper collections.
The author can be contacted at the following address:
Dr Jane Secker
Learning Technology Librarian
Centre for Learning Technology
LSE
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
E-mail: [e-mail]

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The digital library
Introduction
This chapter outlines the development of the digital library in its current
form, thereby providing a context for the integration of library resources
with virtual or e-learning environments. Many services and systems
which make up the digital library have been developed during the past
decade. This chapter examines the concept of the digital library,
providing a definition for the reader. To place the book within a wider
context, the chapter then goes on to discuss some key digital library
research, concentrating on developments in the UK and the US. In the
UK, research has been largely funded by the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib). In the US,
digital library projects have been funded throughout the 1990s by the
National Science Foundation (NSF). Most recently these developments
have come together with the joint JISC–NSF programme, ‘Digital
Libraries in the Classroom’ which is discussed in more detail in
Chapter 2.
The chapter does not set out to provide a comprehensive overview of
all digital library developments. It is not possible in one chapter to
discuss such developments comprehensively and there are other books
available which do this in some detail. For example, Lesk (1997)
provides an overview of digital library developments, whereas Borgman
(2003) examines what is called the global information infrastructure
(GII). However, the chapter does discuss research and developments in
the past decade that have shaped today’s information environment. The
second half of the chapter includes a description of some of the key
components, and the respective systems that make up the digital library
today. Until recently the term digital library was often taken to mean an
online catalogue or library management system. However, this now
encompasses a range of tools to manage electronic books, e-journals,
digital rights and the wealth of electronic resources.
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Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment
Defining the digital library
Since the 1970s developments in computer technology have impacted
upon all areas of human activity. These changes have led to the concept
of the information society, which has been defined as:
A society in which the quality of life, as well as prospects for social
change and economic development, depend increasingly upon
information and its exploitation. (Martin, 1995, p. 3)
Although the reality of this information society is still being debated,
developments in information and communications technologies (ICTs)
are central to this book. The Internet has provided a global
communication network and increasingly the importance of digital
information is recognised. Concepts such as the ‘global village’ and
‘digital revolution’ are referred to with increasing frequency by authors.
In The Rise of the Network Society, Castells (1996) provides a
contemporary account of the economic and social dynamics of the new
age of information. He formulated a systematic theory of the
information society, which took account of the fundamental effects of
information technology on contemporary society.
ICTs have had an effect on all aspects of the library profession. The
phrase ‘digital library’ is used with increasing frequency and it has been
defined as:
… the widely accepted term describing the use of digital technologies
to acquire, store, preserve and provide access to information and
material originally published in digital form or digitised from existing
print, audio-visual and other forms. (Lang, 1998, p. 227)
Meanwhile, DELOS (2001) argued that digital libraries should:
… enable any citizen to access all human knowledge any time and
anywhere, in a friendly, multi-modal, efficient, and effective way, by
overcoming barriers of distance, language, and culture and by using
multiple Internet-connected devices.
Crawford and Gorman (1995, pp. 123–30) have questioned the wisdom
of this increasing emphasis on digital information when considering the
future role of libraries. While remaining advocates of technology, the
authors recognise that the library profession and the wider world should
not assume that digital means better and:
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The digital library
Libraries will and should continue to use a mix of book and other
linear document collections, paper journal subscriptions, electronic
network-based distribution, full-text CD-ROM, CD-ROM indexes
with full-text microfiche, tape-loaded databases, Eureka and CitaDel,
EPIC, FirstSearch and OCLC [Online Computer Library Center]
delivery services, UnCover, Dialog, Nexis and others. (Crawford and
Gorman, 1995, p. 176)
In the 1990s, developments in the UK were funded under a programme
of research called the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) which is
discussed later in this chapter. This led the UK to adopt the term
‘electronic library’ which still persists in many institutions. UK-funded
research helped coin the term ‘hybrid library’ and Rusbridge (1998) has
argued that the concept of the ‘hybrid library’ was a logical follow-on
from current developments. As digital library activities continued within
institutions, Rusbridge argued that users required the sort of integration
of digital library services which the hybrid library promised. However,
increasingly, in both the UK and US as well as elsewhere in the world, the
term digital library is generally understood and has an agreed definition.
Global digital library initiatives
A number of large libraries throughout the world became involved in
digital library initiatives in the early 1990s, with much pioneering work
being undertaken in the US. In 1992 Cornell University formed the
Digital Access Coalition to explore the use of digital imagery. This group
has now been superseded by the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections
(CIDC) which has made numerous resources available in electronic
format.
1
Similarly, Project Open Book at Yale University was another
early initiative in digital collections. Launched in 1992, this project
sought to convert 10,000 microfilmed volumes of nineteenth- and
twentieth-century books into digital format. Through the Electronic Text
Center members of the university can now gain access to digitised
original material.
2
The US Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI), funded by
the National Science Foundation (NSF) and launched in 1994, sought to
‘dramatically advance the means to collect, store, and organize
information in digital forms, and make it available for searching,
retrieval, and processing via communication networks’.
3
Rusbridge
(1998) defined the DLI as ‘research’ rather than development and
although the ‘results are exciting and extraordinarily interesting, … it is
very hard to determine how many of these ideas might be effectively
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Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment
deployed in real life situations.’ The DLI Phase 1 ran from 1994 until
1998; many of the Phase 2 projects started in 1999 and a number are still
funded until August 2004 or 2005. The projects are based at major US
universities with a team of investigators. Many are concerned with
developing a digital library of specific resources, for example the
National Gallery of the Spoken Word based at Michigan State University
(more information at http://www.ngsw.org/) or PERSIVAL (PErsonalized
Retrieval and Summarization of Image, Video and Language Resource: