Universal access in digital libraries

Digital libraries are concerned with the creation and management of information sources, the movement of information across global networks and the effective use of this information by a wide range of users. A digital library is a vast collection of obj ects that are of multimedia nature, e.g., text, video, images, and audio. Users wishing to access the digital library objects may possess varying capabilities, preferences, domain expertise, and may use different information appliances. With the phenomenal growth of the Internet, the number of different information appliances will, if not already, increase substantially in the near future. Facilitating access to complex multimedia digital library obj ects that suits to the users\u27 requirements is known as universal access. The main objective of this thesis is to present our research work in the area of Universal Access within digital library environment. In this thesis, we will first present the current and future trend in information appliances, followed by discussion on the scope of our work. We propose an object manifestation approach in which digital library objects automatically manifest themselves to cater to the users\u27 capabilities and characteristics. We provide a formal framework, based on Petri nets, to represent the various components of the digital library objects, their modality and fidelity and the playback synchronization relationships among them. We develop methodologies for object delivery without any deadtime under network delays. We have implemented a working system prototype to realize our approach

From Hypatia to Victor Hugo to Larry and Sergey: ‘All the World\u27s Knowledge’ and Universal Authors’ Rights – The 2012 British Academy Law Lecture

Access to ‘all the world’s knowledge’ is an ancient aspiration; a less venerable, but equally vigorous, universalism strives for the borderless protection of authors’ rights. Late 19th-century law and politics brought us copyright universalism; 21st-century technology may bring us the universal digital library. But how can ‘all the world’s knowledge’ be delivered, on demand, to users anywhere in the world (with Internet access), if the copyrights of the creators and publishers of many of those works are supposed to be enforceable almost everywhere in the world? Does it follow that the universal digital library of the near future threatens copyright holders? Or are libraries the endangered species of the impending era, as publishers partner with for-profit Internet intermediaries to make books ubiquitously available? Does access-triumphalism therefore risk giving us not the universal digital library, but the universal digital bookstore? And, whether libraries or commercial intermediaries offer access, how will the world’s authors fare

Establishing the Digital Library: don’t ignore the library standards and don’t forget the training needed.

The literature on Digital Libraries tends to be about developing your own digital library, but most usage of digital libraries worldwide is access to commercial databases of full-text material: initially scholarly materials, but more recently, newspapers and monographs. There is no difference in principle between the industrialized world and developing countries; everyone want to access the same materials. Electronic materials are heaper to deliver to developing countries when compared with printed materials. The main problems concern spending wisely the little money that developing countries have and establishing the infrastructure to get the digital material to the users who need them. The standards needed to implement digital libraries are universal, and librarians in developing countries need to be aware of these standards and support their implementation in their systems, develop an appropriate infrastructure, and put resources into training so that the tools can be used to good effect. The Open Access movement must be taken into account and repositories set up for institutional materials as in the industrialized world

Public Libraries: techno trends and collective memory

By public library I mean here a library providing some kind of universal access to its assets, one whose readership isn’t exclusively tied and restricted to a particular organization – including the generally called public libraries, but also many specialized libraries, such as the academic of the open kind. Despite all efforts, public libraries continue to face strong barriers to their participation in the information society. Participants of the World Meeting on the Future of the ISIS Software recognized that “the ISIS Software Family has a unique technological concept and developmental mission to cope with Information Storage and Retrieval Systems (ISRS), particularly for developing countries where the technology is widely known and used; that the ISIS Software Family has now fully embraced the Free and Open Source Software approach and the support of UNICODE structures to be fully open and multilingual” (Rio Declaration 2008), restating thus the persistent relevance of this software family. OSS (Coar 2006) is defined as software whose source code is freely available, therefore allowing for free inspection and/or utilization, i.e., it is available for study and use by everyone without any payment or any other barrier to access. the lack of technical skill in libraries, a situation that libraries share with much of the public and cultural sectors. The study of OSS ILS, and of the their adaptation to the needs of specific public libraries may be the solution to this. Library Management Systems) that enhances digital archive interoperability between a diverse range of libraries

Libraries and Book Publishers

Although Maine is a rural state, it has had success in keeping pace with technological changes since the rise of the Internet 20 years ago. In this section, authors describe some of these successes and the challenges faced by both consumers and libraries in the new digital environment. New technologies and new forms of digital media pose challenges both for publishers and libraries, as discussed by Tom Allen and Maureen Sullivan in their articles on e-books. Allen presents the publisher’s perspective on this potentially disruptive technology, while Sullivan examines the issue from the perspective of libraries and their historic mission of providing universal and unencumbered access to materials

Digital Diversity: Broadband and Indigenous Populations in Alaska

Presented at the Experts Workshop. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation.Alaska Natives comprise several cultural and linguistic groups including Inupiat, Yupik, Athabascan, Aleut, Tlingit and Haida, organized into some 226 tribes. Approximately two-thirds of the indigenous population live in more than 200 rural villages, most of which are remote settlements with fewer than 200 people and no road access. Since the late 1970’s, all communities with at least 25 permanent residents have had telephone service, but broadband connectivity remains limited. The major mechanism for extending Internet access to rural Alaska has been federal universal service funds, specifically the E-rate program that subsidizes Internet access for schools and libraries, and the Rural Health program that subsidizes connectivity for rural health clinics and hospitals. Under the federal Stimulus program, Alaska has also recently received funding for infrastructure to extend broadband in southwest Alaska, for improved connectivity for rural libraries, and for training and support for rural public computer centers. These initiatives primarily support improvements in Internet and broadband availability for rural Alaska. However, this paper proposes a more rigorous framework including not only availability, but more broadly access, and also adoption, and examines how these concepts apply to Alaska natives. The paper also examines other elements of digital diversity, including innovation in applications and content, ICT entrepreneurship, and participation in telecommunications policy-making

E-books at the University of Hong Kong libraries: current status, issues and the future

E-books are now nothing new to staff and students of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the oldest university in Hong Kong and one of the leading tertiary institutions in the Asia-Pacific Region. E-books from netLibrary and other Web-based e-books vendors found their presence in the library website at the beginning of this century and almost at the same time, library staff began engaging in the production of electronic versions of printed books. The University of Hong Kong Libraries (HKUL) has been aggressive in building up its e-book collection and as of end of June 2005, the number of e-books in the library collection amounted to more than 918,000, nearly all of which can be accessed online by registered borrowers. On the other hand, e-book production has become an operational priority of HKUL and it is now actively partnering with sister institutions in book digitization projects. This paper provides an up-to-date account of the provision of e-books at HKUL, including size and compoistion of the collection, usage as well as projects currently undeertaken in book digitization. In addition, the issues that HKUL has been facing in dealing with e-books, namely budgetary implications, copyright restrictions, consortia purchasing, access, bibliographic control, usage tracking and promotion, will be addressed to. Finally, the paper concludes with a projection of the future of e-books at HKUL.published_or_final_versionUniversal digital libraries: universal access to information, the 1st International Conference on Universal Digital Library, ICUDL2005

Keeping Up Accessibility Practices and How It Relates to Purchasing and Collection Development in Academic Libraries: A Case Study at the College of Staten Island Library

At the College of Staten Island (CSI) Library-CUNY, the library has access to over 160 different electronic resources. A concerted effort started in 2016 to start collecting relevant voluntary product accessibility template (VPAT) statements from new and current vendors and integrate these new practices into acquisition and electronic resources (ER) workflows. The paper will discuss the responsibilities of purchasing agents in libraries, acquisition or ER librarians, in regard to understanding disability law and how these legal mandates apply when investigating, acquiring, and maintaining electronic resources. Relevant tools will be discussed, in particular the use of VPATs and WCAG 2.0 guidelines that can be used when evaluating digital resources for Section 508 compliance. A VPAT repository was started using Centralized Online Resource Acquisitions and Licensing (CORAL) tool, by the CSI library. The benefits and the limitations of these evaluation tools will be discussed, as well as the sharing of current processes used at other libraries in determining the accessibility of e-resources. The concept of universal design (UD) and how to incorporate UD into better purchasing decisions for ER products will be introduced

The Role and Activities of the IFLA Libraries for the Blind Section

The purpose of this article is to introduce some of the issues that blind and other print disabled people face in connection with reading and to explain how this situation influences the role of libraries for the blind. It goes on to describe the structure and purpose of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and its Libraries for the Blind Section, and to highlight the Section???s challenges, goals, and activities contained in its latest strategic plan.published or submitted for publicatio

Completing the Connection: Achieving Universal Service Through Municipal Wi-Fi

The federal universal service scheme is designed to ensure that everyone has affordable access to advanced telecommunications and information services. Despite the development of cost-effective technologies that drastically reduce the cost of telephone services vis-à-vis the Internet and Wi-Fi networks, federal regulations generally prevent municipalities or private companies from providing wireless Internet access with universal service funds. Federal regulations have replaced technology costs, lack of business incentives, and consumer affordability as the primary barrier to universal service. Competitive neutrality, the pro-competitive and technology-neutral approach to universal service funding, must be fully embraced in order to empower local communities with the choice of technologies that best suits their residents in providing universal and affordable access to advanced telecommunications and information services