Digital library

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Digital libraries can be viewed from a number of perspectives. They can be new forms of information institutions, multimedia information retrieval systems, or information systems that support the creation, use, and searching of digital content. Digital libraries are not ends in themselves; rather, they are enabling technologies for digital asset management, electronic commerce, electronic publishing, teaching and learning, and other activities. Accordingly, digital libraries need to be evaluated in the context of specific applications. The methods and metrics for evaluating digital libraries will vary by whether they are viewed
- as institutions,
- as information systems,
- as new technologies, or
- as new services.


2. Why Is Digital Library Evaluation Important?
Digital libraries have become an essential foundation for areas as diverse as electronic publishing and strategic defense, and serve as a primary means to deliver content for scholarship, commerce, cultural heritage, and education. Networked information systems are now a ubiquitous component of business, commerce, community, and education. Despite these advances, we have little understanding of the effectiveness of digital library systems and services in supporting these essential aspects of daily life in the 21st century.

Digital libraries support specific activities in specific contexts – classroom instruction, distance learning, digital asset management, scholarship, virtual museums, and so on. Digital libraries need to be evaluated as systems and as services to determine how useful, usable, and economical they are and whether they achieve reasonable cost-benefit ratios. Results of evaluation studies can provide strategic guidance for the design and deployment of future systems, can assist in determining whether digital libraries address the appropriate social, cultural, and economic problems, and whether they are as maintainable as possible. Consistent evaluation methods also will enable comparison between systems and services.