Looking at Web of Science, the first use of the phrase digital library comes from around 20 years ago. It is therefore timely to summarise work in what is a very large field. Described as a book on digital library research and presenting case studies, individual research projects and some broad analysis of themes such as open access, usability and social inclusion, this text will appeal to a broad range of readers: library practitioners, researchers, academics and library school students will all find much of value in this impeccably researched book. To achieve this, the editors have assembled a truly international field of experts to review the field of digital libraries with authors working in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Malta, among others.
With the explosion of social networking in recent times, it is no surprise to find that a social element of digital libraries features strongly with several chapters covering metadata, crowdsourcing and collaborative search and retrieval. A chapter on digital libraries and open access penned by the editors neatly summarises green and gold open access and predicts a bright future for open-access digital libraries. However, this view is not shared by Fraser, who contributes a chapter on intellectual property and digital libraries, promoting the idea of a copyright registry as an alternative solution for scholarly publishing. Whatever the reader concludes from this, it is fascinating to see the development of big deals for serials summarised so adroitly in the discussion.
Other chapters also provide developmental context and a wealth of information: it is fascinating to learn the first e-journal was derived from the Kellogg project at Syracuse University in 1987, that the first e-book is credited to Michael Hart, originator of Project Gutenberg in 1971, but that the first e-reader device did not come along until 1998, which was also the year of the first e-book ISBN. A chapter on information access reviews six digital libraries, namely, PubMed, ACM Digital Library, NDLTD (a theses and dissertations resource), NSDL (National STEM Digital Library), Europeana (a cultural heritage information resource) and Music Australia, to give the reader a well-rounded understanding of the development of digital libraries not limited to the academic sector.
There are chapters covering design and architecture; integrating subject categories from multiple repositories; usability and user interactions; and digital preservation. The book concludes with a final chapter on research trends, again written by the editors, to give a comprehensive view of digital libraries. One quickly overcomes an occasional sense of overlap between some chapters, as overall the book provides a broad review of digital libraries and is sure to appear on reading lists for information science students in the next few years.
