Faculty of Information Management

Bac. of Sc in Info Studies (Hon) (Library & Info Mgt)

IML651 Digital Libraries
Assignment 1: Digital Library Explorations
Report
Presentation

(15%)
(5%)

(Due date:)

The objective of this short paper is to explore and share information on major digital library
projects and provide initial assessment and evaluation of the projects. Each group will write a
short paper on one project selected from the list. You should read as much as you can about the
project, and then summarize the project for your fellow classmates. Depending on the project
you select, you may need to find out relevant information related to project objectives,
technologies, collections, users, funding, current status, etc. Questions you need to address in
your paper include:

Background: How and when did the project get started? Who are the sponsors? Who
are the major people/institutions behind the project? What are the purposes of the
project? Who are the intended users?
Content: What collections does the project provide? How do you identify the scope or
quality of the collections? Can you access or test their systems, interfaces, or collections?
What evaluations have been done and reported?
Impression: Whats your impression of the Digital Library or project? What is unique
about the project? Discuss one thing that strikes you the most (either positive or negative)
about the project.
Assessment: How is the digital library (or product of the digital library project) different
from traditional libraries? How is it different from a Web site? Is it a real digital
library as defined in the literature? What functions are well implemented and what are
missing?

You also need to provide good references and links for other people to follow up if they are
interested in the project.
Here is the list of selected digital library projects:
General:
1 Library of Congress American Memory: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
2 The Open Library: http://www.openlibrary.org/
3 Hathi Trust Digital Collections: http://hathitrust.org/
4 Biodiversity Heritage Library: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
5 Project Barleby (Literature): http://www.bartleby.com/
6 Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

University Library Initiatives

7 California Digital Library: http://www.cdlib.org/
8 University of Virginal Library Digital Initiatives: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/digital/
9 University of Vermont Libraries Digital Initiatives:
http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/index.xql
10 Northwestern University Digital Library Collections:
http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/
11 University of Georgia: GALILEO, http://www.galileo.usg.edu/welcome/
12 Duke University Libraries Digital Collections: http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/
Specialized Libraries:
13 Making of America: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
14 International Childrens Digital Library: http://www.icdlbooks.org/
15 NYPL Digital: http://www.nypl.org/digital/index.htm
16 NDLTD Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertation: http://www.ndltd.org/
17 Perseus Digital Library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
18 DLESE -- Digital Library for Earth System Education:
http://www.dlese.org/library/index.jsp
19 E-LIS E-prints in Library and Information Science: http://eprints.rclis.org/
20 SMETE Digital Library -- http://www.smete.org/smete/
21 Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org/
22 Exploratorium Digital Library: http://www.exploratorium.edu/educate/dl.html
23 Scientific Commons: http://en.scientificcommons.org/
24 Biodiversity Heritage Library: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
25 BEN (Digital Library Portal for Biological Sciences):
http://www.biosciednet.org/portal/index.php
26 Teachers Domain: http://www.teachersdomain.org/
27 Open Educational Resources (OER): http://wwew.oercommons.org/
International:
28 The European Library: http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/index.html
29 Europeana: http://www.europeana.eu/
30 The World Library: http://www.wdl.org/en/
31 British Library Online Gallery: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/index.html

Submit the report in softcopy.

Present it in POWERPOINT format, amount of pages is depends on your creativities.

Please observe the date due given. Do not hesitate to consult me should encounter with any
problem while doing this assignment.
Abu Bakar Suleiman
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Information Management, UITM
019-7772132
abs8700@yahoo.com
abuba551@uitm.edu.my