Week One Readings

Candela et al.
The authors make a legitimate point about the "terminological imprecision" in the literature. Their differentiation between Digital Libraries, Digital Library Systems, and Digital Library Management Systems is a useful one; so too is their discussion of the interaction between the four categories of actors (end-users, designers, system administrators, and application developers).

Borgman
Borgman highlights the problematic nature of the term "digital library," which "obscures the complex relationship between electronic information collections and libraries as institutions." I think this is an important distinction/relationship to keep in mind, and efforts to create digital libraries should strive to bridge the gap between them. I also agree with Borgman that librarians tend to--or, I think, should--"take a broad view of the concept of a library." It will ultimately make them more useful and more relevant to a wider range of users. Borgman also traces back to one of the earliest definitions of a digital (or "electronic") library in 1992, which included the key elements of services, architecture, content, enabling technologies, users, and content. I think it is still useful and applicable to consider all those features when talking about DLs.

Paepcke et al.
Digital libraries being a conduit for funds that libraries normally wouldn't have access to is a point I hadn't considered before, though I wonder if this is the case in practice. This is a good discussion of the tensions between the library science and computer science fields, and the way that relationship has been impacted by technological developments (e.g. the advent of the Internet). I appreciate the insistence that "the core function of librarianship remains" in a world where people ask, "Aren't libraries kind of irrelevant since Google?" (Someone really said that to me. I was speechless, but I guess I should have a ready answer for the next time...)