The nature of the changes that university libraries face in the digital age is addressed in the document. Work and training schemes for all those involved in the process of
electronic publishing within universities are proposed. The role of libraries and computing centers as change agents is defined. The author describes the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations(ndltd) in Humboldt University at Berlin, Germany

Peter, Schirmbacher

English

E-LIS

BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1, P. 3-83* Director of the Computing Center, HumboldtUniversity, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin,Germany. Peter@schirmbacher.deNew Trends in DigitalUniversity LibrariesPeter Schirmbacher *ResumenEl documento aborda la naturale-za de los cambios que actualmenteenfrentan las bibliotecas universi-tarias en la era digital. Se proponenesquemas de trabajo y capacita-ción para los involucrados en elproceso de publicación electrónicadentro de las universidades. Se defi-ne el rol de las bibliotecas y centrosde cómputo como motor de cam-bio. Se menciona la iniciativa Net-worked Digital Library of Theses andDissertations (ndltd) sobre tesis ydisertaciones digitales en la Univer-sidad de Humboldt en Berlín, Ale-mania. (frre)Palabras clave: bibliotecas uni-versitarias, bibliotecas digitales, pu-blicación electrónica, era digital,capacitación, centros de cómputo,métodos de trabajo, NetworkedDigital Library of Theses and Dis-sertations, ndltd, tesis digitales,disertaciones digitales, HumboldtUniversity, Alemania. (frre)AbstractThe nature of the changes that uni-versity libraries face in the digitalage is addressed in the document.Work and training schemes for allthose involved in the process ofelectronic publishing within uni-versities are proposed. The role oflibraries and computing centers aschange agents is defined. The aut-hor describes the Networked Di-gital Library of Theses and Dis-sertations (ndltd) in HumboldtUniversity at Berlin, Germany.(frre)Keywords: university libraries, di-gital libraries, electronic publishing,digital age, training, computingcenters, work methods, NetworkedDigital Library of Theses and Dis-sertations, ndltd, digital theses, di-gital dissertations, Humboldt Uni-versity, Germany. (frre)IntroductionWhen speaking about trends in uni-versity digital libraries it is neces-sary to concentrate on the mainpoints and discuss only selecteddetails. I want to address the topicsa little bit more from a perspectiveof a university service departmentlike a library or a computing center.In most cases these service depart-ments are responsible for organi-zing the information processes inuniversities, establishing new tech-nologies and trying to influence thehabits of the users.Changing LibrariesThere is no doubt that the presenttime is the time of changing univer-sity libraries. Scholarly libraries havea very long tradition and experien-ce. Nowadays, a lot of things arechanging without precedent in thepast times. At first we have thechange from essentially paper-based materials to digital materialswith different kinds of presenta-tions like text oriented documents,multimedia documents with pictu-res, videos and audio files. Second-ly, the workflow in a digital library ischanging. That means that in thepast we had a traditional way(workflow) based on very long esta-blished experiences that startedhundreds of years before. Today, we face a situation wherethere are nearly no standards. In adigital library we have nearly no4BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1Universities and their scientists whoare not only producers, but alsomain players and consumers ofinformation, can take an active andshaping role in distribution througha comprehensive university networkof document and publication ser-vers, by employing a well mapped-out policy. Texts and documentsthat are produced at universitieslike dissertations, professional qua-lifications, research reports, pre-established, ever changing techno-logies. The whole life cycle within alibrary, starting with acquisition,exploitation, cataloguing, long-termpreservation and retrieval, has nearlycompletely changed. We discussedmetadata and created the DublinCore Metadata Set. But I do notknow the percentage of libraries,which are already using the DublinCore for all their stored materials.There is no consistency in descri-bing multimedia documents. Inmost cases there is no procedureto secure the authenticity and theintegrity of the digital document.We are at the very beginning of theconstruction of “the library withoutwalls”, trying to define the courseand extent of this change. The Process of Electronic PublishingUse and provision of scientific do-cuments in digital format via theInternet are an improved form ofscholarly communication, as com-pared to the conventional publica-tion in printed form. It is necessary,however, that all the parties invol-ved adapt their working methods tothese new opportunities. This startsright with the author who can sup-port high-quality retrieval by specifi-cally structuring the text. However,a vast reform of work routines andresponsibilities will be demandedfrom service departments like libra-ries or computing centers.Electronic publishing is still at thebeginning of its development. Thisis why it is so important to developand use standards and principleswidely. With the advent of W3C spe-cifications of XML, the ISO standardi-zation of the Dublin Core MetadataSet, the Open Archives Initiative,and others, global efforts towardsstandardization are now a reality.However, a new “culture of electro-nic publishing” is necessary.New Trends in Digital University LibrariesBIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 15prints, lecture notes, and othermaterials known as gray literature,are rarely published by publishinghouses or distributed by bookse-llers. These materials can now beproduced at much lower costs.They can also be distributed a farbetter, and they can be more easilyindexed and designed to reach andmeet user’s needs. University RepositoriesThe network of documents andpublication servers forms the tech-nological core of the publicationprocess. The university should workout a policy that defines the basisof the technological and long-termapproach on how to treat thesedocuments. Following the acquisi-tion policy of the respective univer-sity it should be decided which kindof documents will be included intothe server, and the criteria of treat-ment, e.g. for long-term preserva-tion. Such policy should includecommitments to the following fields:Securing server accessGuaranteeing authenticity and in-tegrity of documentsDefine the criteria for long-termpreservationDefine the accepted documentformats and their conversiontools, oriented towards long-termestablished standards like SGMLand XMLtion for long-term archiving andpreservation, and the integrationof the electronic publicationprocess into the technologicalcourse within the library and thecomputing center.Digital Preservation and ArchivingJay Jordan1 writes about the impor-tance of digital preservation andarchiving. He describes someexamples and developments in theUnited States, United Kingdom andAustralia. All these attempts arevery important and bring us a littlebit closer to the solution of unsol-ved problems. In a paper of theGerman Initiative of NetworkedInformation (called DINI) compara-ble with the American Coalition ofNetworked Information, we wrote:“The majority of these projects dea-ling with long-term availability ofdigital publications use the referen-ce model Open Archival InformationSystem (OAIS).2 This model stemsfrom the context of the data archi-ves of space travel, Meteorology,and Astrophysics. It claims to com-pletely describe the functioningscale of an archiving system for anydata at all. This model include:Define the metadata set (orient-ed towards Dublin Core) and itsentryDecide on a search engine, andthus defining retrieval optionsWithin the university, legal, financial,personnel, and material foundationsfor supporting the publication pro-cess of electronic documents haveto be established:Legal foundations, like the agree-ments to safeguard authors’ rightsas well as the recognition of elec-tronic-only documents such asprofessional qualifications.Financial and material founda-tions on one side are mainly influ-enced by Costs for computer hardwareand software, Personnel costs for systems maintenance, and on the otherhand by Savings by rationalization incomparison to previous publi-cation methods, and Revenues from sales to thirdparties.Expenditures for personnel aredefined according to the tech-nologies used. These expensesdepend on the intensity of takingcare of potential authors, thedegree of processing the publica-Peter Schirmbacher1 Jordan, Jay. Trends in Digital University Libraries. Biblioteca Universitaria, Nueva Época, vol. 5,no. 2, julio-diciembre, 2002, p. 122-123.2 http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html6BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1The transfer and the inclusion ofdata into the archiveTheir secure placement in stor-age systemsThe management of metadatarelevant for long-term archivingApplying methods for long-termarchiving Securing the permanent usabilityof the archived data Establishing the interoperabilityof OAIS-compliant archivesInformation HabitsJay Jordan describes the habits ofstudy3 of the typical users of amodern library. We can observe thesame development in Germany. It isimportant, that we find the right con-clusions and measures to drive thisevolution. We have to organize edu-cation to meet the information needsand skills of the different groups ofparticipants in the process of elec-tronic publishing and consumptionof electronic information in the sce-nario of digital libraries. For AuthorsA recommendable, long-term publi-cation model that is based on theuse of XML / SGML as the archivingformat. Although, XML is the formatclasses to work with style sheetsfor text processing systems isconsidered to be essential. Thiswill guarantee a high quality stan-dard of the received documents.For authors, it is important thatthe earlier they take part in thesetraining courses, the easier it willbe later for them to prepare theirdocuments for electronic publish-ing. As long as there are no ade-quate tools that allow direct writ-ing and setting up an archivingformat like SGML / XML, the use ofcommon text processors aimingto a conversion into an archivingformat requires specific training. For the Service StaffTo teach the use of digital docu-ments, the control, and the conver-sion into representation and archi-ving formats, requires regulartraining of staff. These trainingcourses have to be adapted to thespecific tasks of the particular staff,including:Cataloguing of electronic docu-ments, Dublin Core and metadataapplications, Controlling the legibility of docu-ments (using Word, WordPerfect,LaTeX), and enabling staff toadvise and train the authors.Conversion into PDFConversion into SGMLHandling digital signatures andtime stampsthat is often used for designingweb presentation of documents,tools for authors of scholarly works,rarely exist. The conventional texteditors so far may include compo-nents that allow a later, almostautomatic conversion of documentsinto XML. While preparing the sub-mission of the document, authorstherefore have to be specificallytrained on using these tools forstructural mark-up. To promote a greater contributionof scholarly documents in electro-nic format within a university, theestablishing of the following servi-ces is recommended:Contact with authors. The libraryshould offer a contact for the elec-tronic publishing of documents. Web-based information system.The software developed for elec-tronic publishing should beinstalled on a university server.The university’s homepage wouldprovide advice and informationfor interested authors. General information lectures. Inshort regular information lecturesauthors and contact persons inthe departments would familiarizewith the procedure of electronicpublishing. These events can alsoserve as a multiplier training,especially when staff from thedepartments is addressed specif-ically. Authors’ training. Carrying outregular training or introductoryNew Trends in Digital University Libraries3 Jordan, Jay. Trends in Digital University Lib-raries. Biblioteca Universitaria, Nueva Época,vol. 5, no. 2, julio-diciembre, 2002, p. 127.BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 17About NDLTDThe NDLTD initiative, born in the USA,as an open federation of currently145 member universities and sup-porting organizations, such as rese-arch institutions or private compa-nies. NDLTD’s activities are focused onuniversities, libraries, faculties andgraduate students in order to sup-port authoring, indexing, archiving,dissemination and retrieval of elec-tronic theses and dissertationsworldwide.NDLTD is aimed towards the impro-vement of graduate education byallowing students to produce elec-tronic documents, use digital libra-ries, and understand issues in elec-tronic publishing. NDLTD’s vision is to increase theavailability of student research do-cuments for scholars and to preser-ve them electronically and to empo-wer students to convey a richermessage through the use of multi-media and hypermedia technolo-gies. NDLTD encourages and supportsuniversities to unlock their informa-tion resources and to advance digi-tal library technology by sharingexperiences, tools, technology andknowledge.Staff should not only carry out theirtasks but should also be able togive qualified advice to authors.This requires a higher intensity inteaching and training than the onethat is available at the moment. For readersTackling the provided search engi-nes is rarely systematic. Intelligentsearch engines, however, can pro-cess extensive additional informa-tion containing description of thestructure and the contents of docu-ments. This works as long as thesedescriptions are expressed in a ma-chine-readable form following inter-national standards (Dublin Core).To put these successfully into usewithin a search strategy requiresusers to know about these options.They should be aware of the struc-tural characteristics that can beused in a conditioned search. Usingthis option specifically requires awide dissemination of informationand training for all scholars and stu-dents about the metadata that canbe handled by search engines, andabout intelligent search strategiesto be employed within a search.The Humboldt University Project of Digital Theses & DissertationsThe project Digitale Dissertationenwas launched in September 1998by the computing centre and thePeter Schirmbacheruniversity library of the HumboldtUniversity of Berlin. The main aim isto build up a digital library (a certi-fied document server) for our uni-versity where official universitypublications such as theses anddissertations are archived andpublished on the Internet. Ourefforts are espacially devoted tohelp authors to create their owndigital publications, developing aworkflow model for submittingelectronic theses and handle themwithin the university library. Anothereffort is directed to modeling andtesting a security solution for archi-ving digital publications. The projectis available at http://dochost.rz.hu-berlin.de/epdiss/index_en.htmlHumboldt University participates inthe Networked Digital Library ofTheses and Dissertations (NDLTD)iniciative, applying international stan-dards such as Dublin Core DataSet, XML and SGML. Currently thereare 145 international members ofthe iniciative. CHM8BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1Goals The main goals of the NDLTD initiati-ve are:for graduate students to learnabout electronic publishing anddigital libraries, applying thatknowledge as they engage intheir research and build and sub-mit their own ETD, for universities to learn about digi-tal libraries, as they collect, cata-log, archive, and make ETDsaccessible to scholars worldwide, for universities to learn how tounlock the potential of their intel-lectual property and productions, for graduate education, to im-prove through more effectivesharing, and for technology and knowledgesharing to speed up, as graduateresearch results become morereadily and more completely avail-able. For more information about the ini-ciative access the following sites:http://www.ndltd.org/http://tennessee.cc.vt.edu/~lming/cgi-bin/ODL/nm-ui/members/index.htmConclusionThe NDLTD initiative is only anexample of cooperation and use ofinternational standards devoted tounlock universities’ information re-sources and to advance digitallibrary technology by sharing ofexperiences, tools, technology andknowledge.There is a lot of work to be done todefine the course of the changetowards the library without walls. I believe that cooperation and com-pliance to international standardswill certainly pave the way.At present in Germany there aresome different projects in the fieldof digital libraries. It is a main issuesupported by the German ResearchFoundation (DFG). Of course, it is stillnecessary to discuss all the diffe-rent issues related to this field likethe foundation of electronic univer-sity publishing houses or printingon demand services and so on.Considering that the new trends indigital libraries have to be seen wit-hin a broader perspective, I wouldlike to repeat my statement fromthe beginning of this document:“We are at the very beginning insetting up digital university libra-ries”. !ReferencesBiblioteca Universitaria: Revista de la Dirección General de Bibliotecas de laUNAM [online]. <http://dgb.unam.mx/revista.html> [March 2003]. Semestral.ISSN 0187-750X.JORDAN, Jay. Trends in Digital University Libraries. Biblioteca Universitaria, NuevaÉpoca, julio-diciembre, 2002, vol. 5, no. 2, p. 115-129.Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Official Members) [online].<http://tennessee.cc.vt.edu/~lming/cgi-bin/ODL/nm-ui/members/index.htm> [March, 2003]Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations [online]. <http://www.ndltd.org/> [March, 2003]Open Archival Information System (OAIS) [online]. <http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html> [March, 2003]Project “Digitale Dissertationen” at the Humboldt University of Berlin. [online].Humboldt University. <http://dochost.rz.hu-berlin.de/epdiss/index_en.html>[March, 2003]New Trends in Digital University Libraries

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Official Members) [online].<http://tennessee.cc.vt.edu/~lming/cgi-bin/ODL/nm-ui/members/ index.htm> [March,

Revista de la Dirección General de Bibliotecas de la UNAM [online].

Trends in Digital University Libraries. Biblioteca Universitaria,

New Trends in Digital University Libraries

E-LIS repository

BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1, P. 3-8
3
* Director of the Computing Center, Humboldt
University, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin,
Germany. Peter@schirmbacher.de
New Trends in Digital
University Libraries
Peter Schirmbacher *
Resumen
El documento aborda la naturale-
za de los cambios que actualmente
enfrentan las bibliotecas universi-
tarias en la era digital. Se proponen
esquemas de trabajo y capacita-
ción para los involucrados en el
proceso de publicación electrónica
dentro de las universidades. Se defi-
ne el rol de las bibliotecas y centros
de cómputo como motor de cam-
bio. Se menciona la iniciativa Net-
worked Digital Library of Theses and
Dissertations (ndltd) sobre tesis y
disertaciones digitales en la Univer-
sidad de Humboldt en Berlín, Ale-
mania. (frre)
Palabras clave: bibliotecas uni-
versitarias, bibliotecas digitales, pu-
blicación electrónica, era digital,
capacitación, centros de cómputo,
métodos de trabajo, Networked
Digital Library of Theses and Dis-
sertations, ndltd, tesis digitales,
disertaciones digitales, Humboldt
University, Alemania. (frre)
Abstract
The nature of the changes that uni-
versity libraries face in the digital
age is addressed in the document.
Work and training schemes for all
those involved in the process of
electronic publishing within uni-
versities are proposed. The role of
libraries and computing centers as
change agents is defined. The aut-
hor describes the Networked Di-
gital Library of Theses and Dis-
sertations (ndltd) in Humboldt
University at Berlin, Germany.
(frre)
Keywords: university libraries, di-
gital libraries, electronic publishing,
digital age, training, computing
centers, work methods, Networked
Digital Library of Theses and Dis-
sertations, ndltd, digital theses, di-
gital dissertations, Humboldt Uni-
versity, Germany. (frre)
Introduction
When speaking about trends in uni-
versity digital libraries it is neces-
sary to concentrate on the main
points and discuss only selected
details. I want to address the topics
a little bit more from a perspective
of a university service department
like a library or a computing center.
In most cases these service depart-
ments are responsible for organi-
zing the information processes in
universities, establishing new tech-
nologies and trying to influence the
habits of the users.
Changing Libraries
There is no doubt that the present
time is the time of changing univer-
sity libraries. Scholarly libraries have
a very long tradition and experien-
ce. Nowadays, a lot of things are
changing without precedent in the
past times. At first we have the
change from essentially paper-
based materials to digital materials
with different kinds of presenta-
tions like text oriented documents,
multimedia documents with pictu-
res, videos and audio files. Second-
ly, the workflow in a digital library is
changing. That means that in the
past we had a traditional way
(workflow) based on very long esta-
blished experiences that started
hundreds of years before. 
Today, we face a situation where
there are nearly no standards. In a
digital library we have nearly no
4
BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1
Universities and their scientists who
are not only producers, but also
main players and consumers of
information, can take an active and
shaping role in distribution through
a comprehensive university network
of document and publication ser-
vers, by employing a well mapped-
out policy. Texts and documents
that are produced at universities
like dissertations, professional qua-
lifications, research reports, pre-
established, ever changing techno-
logies. The whole life cycle within a
library, starting with acquisition,
exploitation, cataloguing, long-term
preservation and retrieval, has nearly
completely changed. We discussed
metadata and created the Dublin
Core Metadata Set. But I do not
know the percentage of libraries,
which are already using the Dublin
Core for all their stored materials.
There is no consistency in descri-
bing multimedia documents. In
most cases there is no procedure
to secure the authenticity and the
integrity of the digital document.
We are at the very beginning of the
construction of “the library without
walls”, trying to define the course
and extent of this change. 
The Process 
of Electronic Publishing
Use and provision of scientific do-
cuments in digital format via the
Internet are an improved form of
scholarly communication, as com-
pared to the conventional publica-
tion in printed form. It is necessary,
however, that all the parties invol-
ved adapt their working methods to
these new opportunities. This starts
right with the author who can sup-
port high-quality retrieval by specifi-
cally structuring the text. However,
a vast reform of work routines and
responsibilities will be demanded
from service departments like libra-
ries or computing centers.
Electronic publishing is still at the
beginning of its development. This
is why it is so important to develop
and use standards and principles
widely. With the advent of W3C spe-
cifications of XML, the ISO standardi-
zation of the Dublin Core Metadata
Set, the Open Archives Initiative,
and others, global efforts towards
standardization are now a reality.
However, a new “culture of electro-
nic publishing” is necessary.
New Trends in Digital University Libraries
BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1
5
prints, lecture notes, and other
materials known as gray literature,
are rarely published by publishing
houses or distributed by bookse-
llers. These materials can now be
produced at much lower costs.
They can also be distributed a far
better, and they can be more easily
indexed and designed to reach and
meet user’s needs. 
University Repositories
The network of documents and
publication servers forms the tech-
nological core of the publication
process. The university should work
out a policy that defines the basis
of the technological and long-term
approach on how to treat these
documents. Following the acquisi-
tion policy of the respective univer-
sity it should be decided which kind
of documents will be included into
the server, and the criteria of treat-
ment, e.g. for long-term preserva-
tion. Such policy should include
commitments to the following fields:
Securing server access
Guaranteeing authenticity and in-
tegrity of documents
Define the criteria for long-term
preservation
Define the accepted document
formats and their conversion
tools, oriented towards long-term
established standards like SGML
and XML
tion for long-term archiving and
preservation, and the integration
of the electronic publication
process into the technological
course within the library and the
computing center.
Digital Preservation 
and Archiving
Jay Jordan1 writes about the impor-
tance of digital preservation and
archiving. He describes some
examples and developments in the
United States, United Kingdom and
Australia. All these attempts are
very important and bring us a little
bit closer to the solution of unsol-
ved problems. In a paper of the
German Initiative of Networked
Information (called DINI) compara-
ble with the American Coalition of
Networked Information, we wrote:
“The majority of these projects dea-
ling with long-term availability of
digital publications use the referen-
ce model Open Archival Information
System (OAIS).2 This model stems
from the context of the data archi-
ves of space travel, Meteorology,
and Astrophysics. It claims to com-
pletely describe the functioning
scale of an archiving system for any
data at all. This model include:
Define the metadata set (orient-
ed towards Dublin Core) and its
entry
Decide on a search engine, and
thus defining retrieval options
Within the university, legal, financial,
personnel, and material foundations
for supporting the publication pro-
cess of electronic documents have
to be established:
Legal foundations, like the agree-
ments to safeguard authors’ rights
as well as the recognition of elec-
tronic-only documents such as
professional qualifications.
Financial and material founda-
tions on one side are mainly influ-
enced by 
Costs for computer hardware
and software, 
Personnel costs for systems 
maintenance, and on the other
hand by 
Savings by rationalization in
comparison to previous publi-
cation methods, and 
Revenues from sales to third
parties.
Expenditures for personnel are
defined according to the tech-
nologies used. These expenses
depend on the intensity of taking
care of potential authors, the
degree of processing the publica-
Peter Schirmbacher
1 Jordan, Jay. Trends in Digital University Libraries. Biblioteca Universitaria, Nueva Época, vol. 5,
no. 2, julio-diciembre, 2002, p. 122-123.
2 http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html
6
BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1
The transfer and the inclusion of
data into the archive
Their secure placement in stor-
age systems
The management of metadata
relevant for long-term archiving
Applying methods for long-term
archiving 
Securing the permanent usability
of the archived data 
Establishing the interoperability
of OAIS-compliant archives
Information Habits
Jay Jordan describes the habits of
study3 of the typical users of a
modern library. We can observe the
same development in Germany. It is
important, that we find the right con-
clusions and measures to drive this
evolution. We have to organize edu-
cation to meet the information needs
and skills of the different groups of
participants in the process of elec-
tronic publishing and consumption
of electronic information in the sce-
nario of digital libraries. 
For Authors
A recommendable, long-term publi-
cation model that is based on the
use of XML / SGML as the archiving
format. Although, XML is the format
classes to work with style sheets
for text processing systems is
considered to be essential. This
will guarantee a high quality stan-
dard of the received documents.
For authors, it is important that
the earlier they take part in these
training courses, the easier it will
be later for them to prepare their
documents for electronic publish-
ing. As long as there are no ade-
quate tools that allow direct writ-
ing and setting up an archiving
format like SGML / XML, the use of
common text processors aiming
to a conversion into an archiving
format requires specific training. 
For the Service Staff
To teach the use of digital docu-
ments, the control, and the conver-
sion into representation and archi-
ving formats, requires regular
training of staff. These training
courses have to be adapted to the
specific tasks of the particular staff,
including:
Cataloguing of electronic docu-
ments, Dublin Core and metadata
applications, 
Controlling the legibility of docu-
ments (using Word, WordPerfect,
LaTeX), and enabling staff to
advise and train the authors.
Conversion into PDF
Conversion into SGML
Handling digital signatures and
time stamps
that is often used for designing
web presentation of documents,
tools for authors of scholarly works,
rarely exist. The conventional text
editors so far may include compo-
nents that allow a later, almost
automatic conversion of documents
into XML. While preparing the sub-
mission of the document, authors
therefore have to be specifically
trained on using these tools for
structural mark-up. 
To promote a greater contribution
of scholarly documents in electro-
nic format within a university, the
establishing of the following servi-
ces is recommended:
Contact with authors. The library
should offer a contact for the elec-
tronic publishing of documents. 
Web-based information system.
The software developed for elec-
tronic publishing should be
installed on a university server.
The university’s homepage would
provide advice and information
for interested authors. 
General information lectures. In
short regular information lectures
authors and contact persons in
the departments would familiarize
with the procedure of electronic
publishing. These events can also
serve as a multiplier training,
especially when staff from the
departments is addressed specif-
ically. 
Authors’ training. Carrying out
regular training or introductory
New Trends in Digital University Libraries
3 Jordan, Jay. Trends in Digital University Lib-
raries. Biblioteca Universitaria, Nueva Época,
vol. 5, no. 2, julio-diciembre, 2002, p. 127.
BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1
7
About NDLTD
The NDLTD initiative, born in the USA,
as an open federation of currently
145 member universities and sup-
porting organizations, such as rese-
arch institutions or private compa-
nies. 
NDLTD’s activities are focused on
universities, libraries, faculties and
graduate students in order to sup-
port authoring, indexing, archiving,
dissemination and retrieval of elec-
tronic theses and dissertations
worldwide.
NDLTD is aimed towards the impro-
vement of graduate education by
allowing students to produce elec-
tronic documents, use digital libra-
ries, and understand issues in elec-
tronic publishing. 
NDLTD’s vision is to increase the
availability of student research do-
cuments for scholars and to preser-
ve them electronically and to empo-
wer students to convey a richer
message through the use of multi-
media and hypermedia technolo-
gies. 
NDLTD encourages and supports
universities to unlock their informa-
tion resources and to advance digi-
tal library technology by sharing
experiences, tools, technology and
knowledge.
Staff should not only carry out their
tasks but should also be able to
give qualified advice to authors.
This requires a higher intensity in
teaching and training than the one
that is available at the moment. 
For readers
Tackling the provided search engi-
nes is rarely systematic. Intelligent
search engines, however, can pro-
cess extensive additional informa-
tion containing description of the
structure and the contents of docu-
ments. This works as long as these
descriptions are expressed in a ma-
chine-readable form following inter-
national standards (Dublin Core).
To put these successfully into use
within a search strategy requires
users to know about these options.
They should be aware of the struc-
tural characteristics that can be
used in a conditioned search. Using
this option specifically requires a
wide dissemination of information
and training for all scholars and stu-
dents about the metadata that can
be handled by search engines, and
about intelligent search strategies
to be employed within a search.
The Humboldt University 
Project of Digital Theses 
& Dissertations
The project Digitale Dissertationen
was launched in September 1998
by the computing centre and the
Peter Schirmbacher
university library of the Humboldt
University of Berlin. The main aim is
to build up a digital library (a certi-
fied document server) for our uni-
versity where official university
publications such as theses and
dissertations are archived and
published on the Internet. Our
efforts are espacially devoted to
help authors to create their own
digital publications, developing a
workflow model for submitting
electronic theses and handle them
within the university library. Another
effort is directed to modeling and
testing a security solution for archi-
ving digital publications. The project
is available at 
http://dochost.rz.hu-berlin.de/epdiss/
index_en.html
Humboldt University participates in
the Networked Digital Library of
Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
iniciative, applying international stan-
dards such as Dublin Core Data
Set, XML and SGML. Currently there
are 145 international members of
the iniciative. 
CH
M
8
BIBL. UNIV., NUEVA ÉPOCA, ENERO-JUNIO 2003, VOL. 6, No. 1
Goals 
The main goals of the NDLTD initiati-
ve are:
for graduate students to learn
about electronic publishing and
digital libraries, applying that
knowledge as they engage in
their research and build and sub-
mit their own ETD, 
for universities to learn about digi-
tal libraries, as they collect, cata-
log, archive, and make ETDs
accessible to scholars worldwide, 
for universities to learn how to
unlock the potential of their intel-
lectual property and productions, 
for graduate education, to im-
prove through more effective
sharing, and 
for technology and knowledge
sharing to speed up, as graduate
research results become more
readily and more completely avail-
able. 
For more information about the ini-
ciative access the following sites:
http://www.ndltd.org/
http://tennessee.cc.vt.edu/~lming/
cgi-bin/ODL/nm-ui/members/
index.htm
Conclusion
The NDLTD initiative is only an
example of cooperation and use of
international standards devoted to
unlock universities’ information re-
sources and to advance digital
library technology by sharing of
experiences, tools, technology and
knowledge.
There is a lot of work to be done to
define the course of the change
towards the library without walls. 
I believe that cooperation and com-
pliance to international standards
will certainly pave the way.
At present in Germany there are
some different projects in the field
of digital libraries. It is a main issue
supported by the German Research
Foundation (DFG). Of course, it is still
necessary to discuss all the diffe-
rent issues related to this field like
the foundation of electronic univer-
sity publishing houses or printing
on demand services and so on.
Considering that the new trends in
digital libraries have to be seen wit-
hin a broader perspective, I would
like to repeat my statement from
the beginning of this document:
“We are at the very beginning in
setting up digital university libra-
ries”. !
References
Biblioteca Universitaria: Revista de la Dirección General de Bibliotecas de la
UNAM [online]. <http://dgb.unam.mx/revista.html> [March 2003]. Semestral.
ISSN 0187-750X.
JORDAN, Jay. Trends in Digital University Libraries. Biblioteca Universitaria, Nueva
Época, julio-diciembre, 2002, vol. 5, no. 2, p. 115-129.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Official Members) 
[online].<http://tennessee.cc.vt.edu/~lming/cgi-bin/ODL/nm-ui/members/
index.htm> [March, 2003]
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations [online]. <http://
www.ndltd.org/> [March, 2003]
Open Archival Information System (OAIS) [online]. <http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.
gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html> [March, 2003]
Project “Digitale Dissertationen” at the Humboldt University of Berlin. [online].
Humboldt University. <http://dochost.rz.hu-berlin.de/epdiss/index_en.html>
[March, 2003]
New Trends in Digital University Libraries


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New Trends in Digital University Libraries

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