Digital libraries have started out as digital versions of conventional
libraries.
Very soon however the definition was extended to incorporate all kinds
of digital
data/information/knowledge collections and mechanisms to administer and
control them.
The first type of Digital Library has reached a certain state of
maturity: core
library functionality has been agreed upon, metadata standards, services
and
harvesting protocols have been established, and digital libraries for
different
kinds of application domains and content types are in operation. In
addition,
digital library management systems, like DSpace or Greenstone, which
offer a
well-defined core set of digital library functionality like metadata
management,
collection management, and search support, are on the market. Digital
libraries
nd digital library management systems are typically implemented as
Web-based
client server systems. However the library extensions towards the other
types
of collections that occur frequently in e-science applications require new
functionality and new tools for handling. Streaming data are different from
images; those again are different from simulation results or videos.
Looking into the extension of DL functionality to better support the
scientists
and their working behaviours and into the enhanced support of the
scientific
communities by advanced (partly semantic-enabled) services, the
development of
next generation digital libraries is an active area of current DL research.
Current plans for next generation DL architectures are aiming for a
transition
from the DL as an integrated, centrally controlled system to a dynamic
configurable federation of DL services and information collections. This
transition is inspired by new technology trends and developments. This
includes
technologies like Web services and the Grid as well as the success of new
paradigms like Peer-to-Peer Networking and Service-oriented Architectures.
This talk discusses the promises and challenges of next generation Digital
Library architectures revolving around information access. The discussion
is illustrated by looking into current European projects in this area,
DILIGENT and BRICKS. |