Service Perspectives for the Digital Library Remote Reference Services - role of librarians and users in a digital library - Abstract

Library Trends, Summer, 1998 by Bernie Sloan

   We play a cultural role in the sense that librarians have traditionally
   applied a broader range of knowledge to pieces of information. I think it's
   high tech and high touch. Bring in high tech, but give it a human face. And
   that face is the face of a librarian. (Hathorn, 1997)

ABSTRACT

This article will explore the role of the librarian and of the service perspective in the digital library environment. The focus of the article will be limited to the topic of librarian/user collaboration where the librarian and user are not co-located. The role of the librarian will be explored as outlined in the literature on digital libraries, some studies will be examined that attempt to put the service perspective in the digital library, survey existing initiatives in providing library services electronically, and outline potential service perspectives for the digital library.

INTRODUCTION

The digital library offers users the prospect of access to electronic resources at their convenience temporally and spatially. Users do not have to be concerned with the physical library's hours of operation, and users do not have to go physically to the library to access resources.

Much has been written about the digital library. The focus of most studies, papers, and articles has been on the technology or on the types of resources offered. Human interaction in the digital library is discussed far less frequently. One would almost get the impression that the service tradition of the physical library will be unnecessary and redundant in the digital library environment.

DEFINING THE DIGITAL LIBRARY -- WHERE DOES SERVICE FIT IN?

Defining the digital library is an interesting, but somewhat daunting, task. There is no shortage of proposed definitions. One would think that there would be some commonly accepted and fairly straightforward standard definition, but there does not appear to be. Rather, there are many. And one common thread among all these definitions is a heavy emphasis on resources and an apparent lack of emphasis on librarians and the services they provide.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) notes: "There are many definitions of a `digital library'.... Terms such as `electronic library' and `virtual library' are often used synonymously" (Association of Research Libraries, 1995). The ARL relies on Karen Drabenstott's (1994) Analytical Review of the Library of the Future for its inspiration. In defining the digital library, Drabenstott offers fourteen definitions published between 1987 and 1993. The commonalties of these different definitions are summarized as follows:

* The digital library is not a single entity.

* The digital library requires technology to link the resources of many libraries and information services.

* Transparent to end-users are the linkages between the many digital libraries and information services.

* Universal access to digital libraries and information services is a goal.

* Digital libraries are not limited to document surrogates; they extend to digital artifacts that cannot be represented or distributed in printed formats. (p. 9)

One interesting aspect of Drabenstott's summary definition is that, while there is a user-orientation stated, as well as references to technology and information resources, there is no reference to the role of the librarian in the digital library.

Another report by Saffady (1995) cites thirty definitions of the digital library published between 1991 and 1994. Among the terms Saffady uses in describing these various definitions are: "repositories of ... information assets," "large information repositories," "various online databases and ... information products," "computer storage devices on which information repositories reside," "computerized, networked library systems," "databases ... accessible through the Internet," "CD-ROM information products," "database servers," "libraries with online catalogs," and "collections of computer-processible information" (p. 223). Saffady summarizes these definitions by stating: "Broadly defined, a digital library is a collection of computer-processible information or a repository for such information" (p. 223). He then narrows the definition by noting that "a digital library is a library that maintains all, or a substantial part, of its collection in computer-processible form as an alternative, supplement, or complement to the conventional printed and microform materials that currently dominate library collections" (p. 224). Without exception, each of the definitions Saffady cites focuses on collections, repositories, or information resources.

In another paper, Nurnberg, Furata, Leggett, Marshall, and Shipman (1995) ask "Why is a digital library called a library at all?" They state that the traditional physical library can provide a basis for discussing the digital library and arrive at this definition: the traditional library "deals with physical data" while the digital library works "primarily with digital data." Once again, a definition that is striking in its neglect of service perspectives. In a paper presented at the Digital Libraries '94 conference, Miksa and Doty (1994) again discuss the digital library as a "collection" or a series of collections. In another paper, Schatz and Chen (1996) state that digital libraries are "network information systems," accessing resources "from and across large collections."