Introduction

Welcome to Renata’s Digital Library Review! This blog will explore and compare digital libraries of many sizes and scopes. I am interested in looking at digital collections of all kinds including books, manuscripts, videos, images, and audios. I will start by looking at major digital initiatives and then move to examine smaller, more focused, projects. Once a number of digital libraries have been introduced and reviewed, I will begin to examine features and issues across multiple libraries. I also plan to talk with people who are working on digital projects to bring multiple perspectives and depth to the discussions.

While I want to take a broad approach as to what defines a digital library, I plan to focus on projects that provide entire assets (such as a book, movie, or image) to the public free of charge (similar to a physical library), rather than projects that refer users to where they may find or purchase assets (similar to a card catalog). However, there are a number of digital libraries which combine these two functions, and I will review many of them.

To provide a focus of comparison across the libraries, I will rate each digital library on a scale of one to four for nine qualities. These qualities include:

1. Asset Quantity (How many books, videos, or images does the library contain?)

2. Asset Quality (Are the assets carefully selected or a random collection?)

3. Asset Presentation Tools (Are the tools provided to access assets easy to use and highly functional? Do they have special features?)

4. Asset Reusability (May assets be downloaded or reused ?)

5. Metadata Quality (Is documenting metadata thorough and consistent?)

6. Browsing Options (Are there multiple ways to view or discover assets?)

7. Overall Design (Is the site attractive and easy to navigate?)

8.  Search & Find Capabilities (Are the search functions effective and easy to use? Are there special search features?)

9. iPhone Navigation (Can you access the assets using an iPhone?)

Currently, there is no digital library I know of that would rate high on all of these qualities; likewise there is no digital library I know of that would rate low on every one. My point is not to hold digital libraries up to impossible standards but to highlight the strengths and note the weaknesses of each library I review. Most digital libraries (with a few notable exceptions) are non-profit initiatives on the part of universities, cultural institutions, or governments. Funding is often one of the major challenges facing many digital libraries. When comparing the libraries it’s important to remember that many digital initiatives are accomplishing what they can with the often limited funding available to them.

I hope you will contribute to this blog by exploring the libraries and commenting on your experiences. I especially invite you to share your favorite discoveries when you visit a library which has been reviewed.