Abstract

An authoritative and truly global exploration of current research in digital libraries. Internationally-renowned academics discuss what has been achieved with digital libraries and what we can expect in the future through the prism of research. The increasing number of digital libraries in all sectors and the pressure of ever demanding and diverse user needs has encouraged development of user-centred interfaces, intelligent search and retrieval capabilities, effective metadata description and contents organisation. In addition to the two editors who are renowned for their works in digital library research, this collection brings together established international names in the field such as Elena Maceviciute, Suliman Hawamdeh, Chris Yang, Stefan Gradmann, Michael Fraser, Tom Wilson and Ali Shiri to analyse these developments in relation to users and information access and the future trends and challenges that practitioners will face. Providing an invaluable resource for LIS students, academics and researchers interested in digital libraries and access, it is also a useful introduction to developments for those developing, managing or just starting out with digital libraries.
"...a stimulating book that covers the field very well" - Journal of Librarianship and Information Science
"Professors Chowdhury and Foo are to be commended on assembling this thoughtful body of work on digital libraries from around the world. The volume is a valuable addition to library collections, digital and otherwise." - Christine L Borgman, UCLA
"...with such a broad range of content and very recent research included, this book would definitely be useful to librarians doing work related to digital libraries...It would also make a very appropriate textbook for an introduction to digital libraries." - Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship
G. G. Chowdhury, BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, FCLIP is a Professor of Information and Knowledge Management and Director of the Centre for Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has co-written several best-selling books with Facet Publishing including Information Users and Usability in the Digital Age and Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Documentation, Library Review, Journal of Information Science, World Digital libraries: an international journal, and Online Information Review. Schubert Foo BSc, MBA, PhD, CEng, CITP, FIMechE, FBCS, PPA(P) is Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University. He was a former member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Information Science, Journal of Information and Knowledge Management and International Yearbook of Library and Information Management. He has co-written and edited a number of books including Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques, Design and Usability of Digital Libraries: Case Studies in the Asia Pacific, Social information retrieval systems: Emerging technologies and applications for searching the Web effectively, Handbook of Research on Digital Libraries: Design, Development and Impact