This article from D-Lib Magazine is informative, interesting, and provocative ; the authors quickly overview past developments in d-libraries and then offer a model for developing d-libraries that will better serve users through context customization and interaction. I found that most of the criticisms that the authors apply to general purpose digital libraries could apply with equal force to currently available digital collections of learning objects (LO Repositories) and to collections of open educational resources (OERs). ______JH
"Based on a variety of calibrations1, we are now in the adolescence of digital libraries. Like any adolescence, there is reason for optimism and concern."
"This expanded view of a digital library requires new thinking about the information models on which they are based. The legacy of the union catalog in the traditional library and the sometimes myopic emphasis on search in the digital library has led to widespread use of an information model built around a metadata repository. Although many digital libraries are implemented differently, we often find that at their core they collect, index, and provide queries over a catalog of metadata records. As we describe later, this simple catalog model breaks down in the face of a more expansive view of a digital library."
"This paper describes an information model for digital libraries that intentionally moves 'beyond search and access', without ignoring those basic functions, and facilitates the creation of collaborative and contextual knowledge environments. This model is an information network overlay that represents a digital library as a graph of typed nodes, corresponding to the information units (documents, data, services, agents) within the library, and semantic edges representing the contextual relationships among those units. The information model integrates local and distributed information integrated with web services, allowing the creation of rich documents (e.g., learning objects, publications for e-science, etc.). It expresses the complex relationships among information objects, agents, services, and meta-information (such as ontologies), and thereby represents information resources in context, rather than as the result of stand-alone web access. It facilitates collaborative activities, closing the loop between users as consumers and users as contributors."
"In the age of Google, what is a digital library anymore, anyway? Just asking the question is bound to raise passions. Despite our zealous defense of the successful work of the digital library community over the past decade, the amazing success of commercial web search engines has changed the playing field. Search and access over a set of resources, while important to any digital library, are not sufficient. Digital libraries need to distinguish themselves from web search engines in the manner that they add value to web resources. This added value consists of establishing context around those resources, enriching them with new information and relationships that express the usage patterns and knowledge of the library community. The digital library then becomes a context for information collaboration and accumulation – much more than just a place to find information and access it."
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(Thanks to Ray Schroeder for identifying this resource in his [Online Learning Update].)
10:34:21 AM 
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