Motivation

The purpose being pursued in library service is the provision of access to books, journals, and other informative materials.

• convergence between library services, computing services
• means of library service vs. the ends
• The long period of relative stability from the late nineteenth century up to the 1970s in the means for providing library service is just the kind of situation in which it becomes easy for the distinction between ends and means to become blurred. So long as there is but one principal means to an end (even with variations in details and in scale), more of the end is achieved by more of the means and the distinction between ends and means has little significance in practice. But this blurring of the distinction hinders dealing effectively with alternative means if and when--as now--they become available.

Table 1. Technological Bases of Library Operations and Materials
	Technical Operations	Library Materials
Paper Library	Paper	Paper
Automated Library	Computer	Paper
Electronic Library	Computer	Electronic media

However, a library catalog has some significant shortcomings as a tool of access. In contrast, published bibliographies are, or can be:

• more complete extending beyond a given library's collections,
• more selective (focusing on the interests of specific clientele and so, in the terminology of information retrieval, of "higher precision"),
• more capable of special arrangements (as opposed to standardized universal schemes of classification and of subject headings),
• more flexible (because each new bibliography can be done differently),
• more detailed (indicating individual papers within periodicals, articles in newspapers, and papers within conference proceedings),
• more descriptive (containing abstracts of the contents),
• more easily deployed to cover new topics of interest as needed,
• more expertly compiled (because bibliographers are more likely than catalogers to be expert subject specialists), (Endnote 7)
• more coherent (because bibliography starts with a topic around which selected references are assembled, whereas, in cataloging, documents are assigned to subjects),
• more cost-effective (because a bibliography's usefulness is not limited to an individual library).

Much of what is published nowadays has already existed in machine-readable form because authors commonly use word-processors and printers often employ computer typesetting. Frederick Kilgour has characterized the evolution of electronic publishing as being in four stages:

• Preparation of text in machine-readable form for the production of paper copies with subsequent discard of the machine-readable version,
• Publication of paper copies and also in machine-readable form,
• Publication in machine-readable form only, and
• Publication of information in machine-readable form in an encyclopedia-like database. (Endnote 1).

ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

The characteristics of electronic documents differ greatly from those of paper documents, which were discussed in Chapter 2:

• Electronic documents are not localized. Given telecommunications connections, an electronic document can be used from anywhere, without one even knowing where it is stored geographically. In practice several people can use the same database or electronic records at the same time.
• Electronic documents are easily copied.
• Documents stored electronically are very flexible. They are easy to revise, rearrange, reformat, and combine with other documents. Hence the popularity of word-processing among people who have to create and, more especially, revise documents.
• Collections of documents stored in electronic form are now less bulky than paper versions. The trend is to even greater compactness.

In each of these five important characteristics, electronic documents are quite different from paper documents.

PAPER IS BEST EXCEPT . . .

• A document on paper, such as a letter or a book, is unquestionably extremely convenient to use compared with other media such as microfilm or floppy disks, at least for most purposes. But, even if we were firmly agreed that paper were the best medium for documents, it is increasingly clear that there are significant exceptions to this rule. Electronic documents, with or without the generation of paper copies, become preferable: When documents are highly volatile. For example it is unwise to depend on printed paper versions of highly changeable material such as airplane schedules, stock prices, and currency exchange rates.
• When manipulation of the document is desired. No one would want to have to transcribe (and possibly mis-transcribe) printed numerical data for statistical analysis if the data were already available in electronic form. Similarly, when a text is to be modified, a bibliography revised, or the layout rearranged, the availability of an electronic copy in a standard format for word processing can dramatically reduce the work involved compared with having only a typed or handwritten copy.
• When scanning for names or for particular words or phrases in a lengthy document. Trying to find mention of some thing or person in, say, a multi-volume printed work or a run of periodical is very tedious and error-prone. No one now would want to compile a concordance "by hand" anymore: The first step in concordance making now is the creation of an electronic copy of the text.
• When light use of remote material is needed. For a thorough reading of a document that is not available locally, obtaining a paper copy by interlibrary loan would probably be preferred. If, however, use were light--to check here and there in the document or to skim the document superficially to see whether or not a more careful reading would be warranted--rapid access by telecommunications to an electronic copy could be attractive.
• When rapid communication is desired, especially within a dispersed group that is not conveniently available at the same time and place, the use of electronic mail has considerable advantages over ordinary mail and, for some purposes, over telephone.

A system which does not emphasize individualized learning in its educational philosophy is unlikely to emphasize the allocation of resources to libraries.

http://as3.lib.byu.edu/hbll/dl_vision.htm

We envision a digital library (DL) that will apply recent advances in electronic data collection, access, cataloging, and delivery to develop existing web resources into an effective instructional tool in support of Earth science education. The goals of this library are to create a portal providing easy and rapid access for educators and students 1) to information and data that support learning about the Earth system, and 2) to materials and methods that support highest quality instruction in Earth system science.

• The Library, as the primary information provider to the University Community, will provide leadership in information policy development, information technology application and information research.

Kansas http://kudiglib.ku.edu/foundations/foundationsvmp.shtml