Monthly Archives: April 2011

Recent Developments in the Design, Construction and Evaluation of Digital Libraries

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Proposal Submission Deadline: April 16, 2011

Recent Developments in the Design, Construction and Evaluation of Digital Libraries

A book edited by Dr. Colleen Cool and Dr. Kwong Bor Ng

Queens College, City University of New York

 

Introduction

Over the past two decades there has been an evolutionary change in the world of libraries from mostly print based collections to today’s current environment in which the phrase digital library is no longer new, but rather, is synonymous with library itself.  Scholars and practicing librarians continually grapple with issues and challenges as the digital library continues to evolve and change the library landscape. Chapters  in this volume will address recent developments in the design, construction and evaluation of digital libraries in a variety of library environments. Emphasis will be on practical strategies and lessons learned from real world case studies. A context for understanding current trends will be created by an introductory historical framework that discusses the evolution of digital libraries and a unifying framework that looks at digital library users, content and evaluation. Authors will include academics and practicing professionals, with strong representation from the international community.

Objective

This volume will include the diverse writings of designers, content builders and evaluation specialists in the digital libraries arena, in order that scholars and practitioners have a unified and better understanding of this multifaceted topic area. This work will inform both theory and practice, with the following objectives:

                    Presenting a critical analysis of the subject to assist faculty and practicing librarians;

                    Presenting  case studies displaying innovation and creative use of technology in libraries in and outside of the United States?

                    Bringing  to the attention of scholars and practitioners the global perspectives on digital libraries represented in these practical case studies;

                    Synthesizing  current approaches to the evaluation of digital libraries, from both user and system oriented approaches;

 

Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of digital libraries and electronic archives. Moreover, this book will provide faculty and graduate students in LIS programs a thorough and comprehensive reference for teaching and learning of the growing area of digital librarianship.

 

Recommended topics discussed in the case studies include, but are not limited to, the following:

                    Competing concepts of the digital library

                    Essential components of a digital library

                    Evaluation metrics and library services of digital library

                    Approaches to user-centered digital library design, lessons learned and challenges ahead

                    For whom are digital libraries being created, and for what purpose?

                    Digital libraries for Individuals, Communities and Societies

                    Digital collection building, collection development policy and content management

                    Techniques for creating collections

                    Traditional and novel methods for evaluating digital libraries from system-oriented and user-centric perspectives

                    Library services in digital library environments

                    Changes and future challenges in digital librarianship

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before April 21, 2011, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the objective and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by June 1, 2011 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters (7000+ words) are expected to be submitted by Aug 16, 2011. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global, publisher of the “Information Science Reference”, as part of the book series, Advances in Library Information Science (ALIS), edited by Mirela Roncevic.  For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.

Proposals for chapters should be sent to both:

Colleen Cool:  colleen.cool@gmail.com

Kwong bor Ng: kbng@qc.edu