Abstract

This is the first book to discuss the sustainable development of digital scholarly information in three key aspects: economic, social and environmental sustainability. Taking as its starting point the premise that digital information systems and services form the backbone of a knowledge society and digital economy, this book explores the challenges of ensuring sustainability of information in an evolving digital world. Author Gobinda Chowdhury attempts to find answers to five key questions in the context of scholarly information systems and services; 1) How sustainable are today’s information systems and services?; 2) How can we ensure the sustainability of information throughout its lifetime?; 3) Can today’s information systems and services face the new economic challenges while providing easy and equitable access to information for everyone?; 4) Can the level and quality of information services be sustained over a long period of time?; 5) Can all these activities be performed in an environment-friendly manner? Chowdhury takes the approach of a research monograph based on literature review and meta-analysis of the issues and challenges associated with the various forms of sustainability of digital information systems and services. He proposes new models for study and research based on the critical analysis of developments in related areas. Illustrated with case studies and informed by the latest research, the chapters cover, economic sustainability of information, environmental sustainability of information, social sustainability of information, sustainability of digital libraries and information services, emerging issues and policies, sustainability of information models, research issues and challenges. This cutting-edge text is a must-read for those involved in setting policy and direction for information institutions, digital library managers and developers, researchers and students on LIS and digital information courses.
All in all the book is worth reading and would be a good substitute to many university courses on digital libraries, digitisation, general library management, information management, etc. It also suggests interesting topics for future research, so prospective young researchers on various levels may exploit it looking for research problems to study.
Information Research
...an extremely useful introduction to the increasingly important topic of sustainability, and one which will undoubtedly provoke discussion amongst information researchers.
Online Information Review
Professor Gobinda Chowdhury BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, FCLIP is Professor in Information Science at iSchool@northumbria, and Head of the Department of Mathematics and Information Sciences at Northumbria University. Before joining Northumbria University he was a Professor and Director of the Centre for Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. For over 25 years he has worked as an academic and researcher in information science in different parts of the world including Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. For the past few years he has been actively involved in the iSchools activities. Professor Chowdhury has written or edited 15 books and over 150 research papers.
This is the first book to discuss the sustainable development of digital scholarly information in three key aspects: economic, social and environmental sustainability. 
Taking as its starting point the premise that digital information systems and services form the backbone of a knowledge society and digital economy, this book explores the challenges of ensuring sustainability of information in an evolving digital world. Author Gobinda Chowdhury attempts to find answers to five key questions in the context of scholarly information systems and services: 

1. How sustainable are today’s information systems and services? 
2. How can we ensure the sustainability of information throughout its lifetime? 
3. Can today’s information systems and services face the new economic challenges while providing easy and equitable access to information for everyone? 
4. Can the level and quality of information services be sustained over a long period of time? 
5. Can all these activities be performed in an environment-friendly manner? 

Chowdhury takes the approach of a research monograph based on literature review and meta-analysis of the issues and challenges associated with the various forms of sustainability of digital information systems and services. He proposes new models for study and research based on the critical analysis of developments in related areas. 
Illustrated with case studies and informed by the latest research, the chapters cover: 

• Economic sustainability of information
• Environmental sustainability of information
• Social sustainability of information
• Sustainability of digital libraries and information services
• Emerging issues and policies
• Sustainability of information models
• Research issues and challenges. 

Readership: This cutting-edge text is a must-read for those involved in setting policy and direction for information institutions, digital library managers and developers, researchers and students on LIS and digital information courses.