Reading Notes - Week 10

Digital Libraries - Challenges and Influential Work

I think the thing that struck me most in this article was the following quote:

"Another interesting effect of the increased federal funding for digital library research was that senior scholars from other computing disciplines were brought into the field (Lesk, 1999). Whether digital library work will continue to be interesting to the computer science community at large is an open question."

Huh.  I, as a future librarian/archivist, would hope that digital library work is not just a passing diversion.  Seeing as it is the future of just about everything...but I'm probably overreacting.

Dewey Meets Turing

I find it interesting how those involved in this project expected that computer science and libraries would just mesh completely with no problems.  Anything that involves the internet is bound to have issues. 

Also, I'm glad that the author mentioned that other disciplines were drawn into the project.  As a historian/anthopologist (with a degree I might add), I have witnessed firsthand how helpful digital library resources can be.  Many a paper would not have been completed without those resources.  Ah, all nighters...

Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age

As I mentioned earlier, I owe a bachelor's degree to the institutional repository at my former college.  Being able to access information easily was key to any paper that I attempted to write.  Lynch's article sheds some light on some of the issues and solutions that would be necessary for dealing with an essentially digital repository at such an institution.