Digital libraries – tools and services for effective management and sharing of digital content on the Internet

The development of modern services, essential for the future shape of information societies, depends on the level of advancement of three fundamental factors: computer network technology, middleware services and tools, and digital content. Among these factors, the creation of digital resources related to culture and world cultural heritage, science, education, as well as electronic publishing and the audiovisual sector, is of particular importance. This is due to the fact that their appropriate quantity and quality are necessary for the emergence of advanced services in next-generation networks. Ensuring that digital content possesses attributes such as durability, reliability, easy access, multilingualism, and effective management is only possible through the integration of access to content with access to tools. These tools should support the presentation, management, and processing of this content in a network environment. The best examples of such environments are digital libraries. One of the first digital libraries in the world was Project Gutenberg, started in 1971, which currently provides access to over 16,000 electronic publications collected through the work of volunteers from around the world. Today, more and more institutions recognize the need to create publicly accessible digital libraries. Such libraries, in addition to the possibility of hosting currently produced textbooks, scientific publications, or educational resources, also enable the preservation of cultural heritage. Valuable old prints can be digitized and safely shared with millions of readers on the Internet. An example of such initiatives is the American National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program implemented by the Library of Congress. Systems supporting the construction of digital libraries are currently being developed in many projects around the world. Examples include the Fedora, DSpace, Greenstone, and dLibra projects, as well as commercial software such as IBM’s DB2 Content Manager. The Fedora project, developed at the University of Virginia and Cornell University, can be treated as a platform providing the basic functionality of a digital library. This platform enables the launch and management of a digital repository. It provides remote interfaces for management, access to digital content, and searching of content and metadata.