ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 41 | October 1999
The NLA at work
A world view: new developments in digital libraries
Roxanne Missingham,
Director Reader Services
Roxanne Missingham, Director Reader Services, recently returned from a two-month study tour to the United States. There she observed worlds best practice in digital libraries and examined the value of libraries in the current climate of changing scholarly communication.
The most intense part of the tour was a research project at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Roxanne surveyed more than 100 scientists using questionnaires and focus groups aimed at identifying changing patterns of communication, information needs in the digital environment and the value libraries could bring to researchers. Interestingly, the scientists use print and electronic materials extensively for their research, relying on libraries to provide access to both kinds of resources. Training and support for effective searching of scholarly journals is highly valued by scientists. A strong need has also been identified for seamless access, via a single gateway, to full text material and databases, including library catalogues. Key technical needs that emerged from the project are standards for searching, archiving and retrospective digitisation and the provision of a service geared to increasing the efficiency of researchers themselves.
Digital library developments were also in focus for Roxanne at the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian libraries. At these organisations, digitisation projects of rare books and maps are well developed using a variety of software and digitisation techniques. Here the principle of selecting material of broad interest, with the dual intentions of increasing access and preserving the original materials, often involves both the research community and technology partners.
Issues for library consortia were researched by Roxanne on her visits to the Washington Research Library Consortium, the Federal Library and Information Centre Committee and the Chesapeake Information and Research Library Alliance.
Digital reference services have been a feature of the American information environment for some years. Roxanne was able to visit the Arts Virtual Reference Desk (http://www.nmaa.si.edu/referencedesk/) and AskERIC (http://www.askeric.org/) to see how the demand for these services meets the National Librarys vision. The Arts Virtual reference desk handles around 450 enquiries a month and was originally developed in 1992 by the National Museum of Art with America Online. Information is provided from material in the Museums collection, databases and experts. AskERIC receives around 500 requests a week. School children, parents and educators are given access to information specialists, lesson plans, guides and the ERIC educational database.
Two international digital reference projects in which the National Library of Australia is participating were an important part of the tour. Roxanne discussed issues with other participants in OCLCs CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) project (see the article on page 8 and http://www.oclc.org/oclc/research/projects/corc/about/faq.htm). The Library of Congress project, Reference Service in a Digital Age (http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/digiref/), tasked to ensure that users any time any where can receive reliable and contextual service from trained and experienced librarians, was another important stop. Reference services are facing significant changes with the increasing move to digital collections and services. Through collaborative projects libraries will be able to provide much better access to information and collections than individually.
As the lone Australian, Roxanne attended the ACM (Association for Computer Machinery) Digital Libraries Conference in Berkeley, which brought together computer scientists, interface designers and librarians. Arriving from a number of countries, including Lapland, New Zealand, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, more than 120 delegates attended the conference this year. ACM primarily serves computer scientists, with the librarians involved often concentrating most on information retrieval issues.
Four strong themes emerged from the presentations and postersunder-standing the purpose and delivery of digital libraries; user needs and evaluation; innovative projects (particularly in music); and sustainable funding models (including those of the National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Some very valuable research on information access, and the support services required to deliver it, reflected the Australian experience, where publishing something on the Internet is not enough to give effective access to information.
Roxanne also undertook some international liaison for the National Library in relation to Library of Congress digitisation projects. There are opportunities here to develop links with centres of Australian and New Zealand Studies in the US and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
The Library of Congress reference, newspapers and map visits were highlights of the tour. The Library will celebrate its second centenary next year with the restoration of the Adams building and its spectacular treasures gallery, a special display of its magnificent artwork, and plans to prove many more collections digitally.
Other than learning to deal with heat and humidity, Roxanne found that being in Washington was the experience of a lifetimewonderful museums, terrific opportunities to meet librarians at the ACM and American Association of Law Librarians conferences, and great bookshops!
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au