Purpose

The D-Lib Forum supports the community of researchers and developers working to create and apply the technologies leading to the global digital library. Its goal is to support and facilitate collaborative activities, information exchange, and communications of this community.

Background

Over the past several years, we have seen an increasingly capable set of digital libraries emerge from the research community working with libraries, commercial interests, and users. The two phases of the federal interagency Digital Library Initiative are examples of these activities. Individual digital libraries have been developed and deployed that make available both potentially useful collections of materials and the services that permit such material to be exploited by various users. The emergence of the networked information system environment has allowed us to envision digital library systems that transcend the limits of individual collections to embrace collections and services that are independent of both location and format.

Recognizing the need for interoperability and remote access to these various content and services, there are a number of activities underway aimed at developing standards for specific interfaces. These include such efforts as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardize various aspects the Web (an important infrastructure for digital libraries), Z39.50 standards for remote interaction with databases, and Dublin Core to standardize a metadata element set to facilitate resource discovery. These efforts, both individually and in aggregate, are helping us move towards a seamless information system.

D-Lib Forum Objectives

The purpose of the D-Lib Forum is to facilitate community activities and provide the supporting infrastructure for information exchange and collaboration amongst the researchers and developers of the digital library community. Its focus is on communications, information exchange, and collaborative activities.

Collaborative Working Groups

The formation of collaborative working groups will be encouraged and supported. The staff of the D-Lib Forum will work with the chair of each working group to identify those supporting infrastructures that are most useful for that particular working group, and will provide such support. Support elements could include electronic mailing lists, bulletin boards, news groups, and provision of a web site for working and completed documents.

Information Exchange and Communications

D-Lib Forum will provide support for communications and information exchange amongst the D-Lib community. This includes publication of an on-line magazine (D-Lib) as well as other elements as needed, such as web pages and electronic mailing lists.

 

D-Lib Forum home | D-Lib Forum Advisory Board

 

Administrative Point of Contact: Bonita Wilson
This web page last modified 9/30/02