Probably no single factor in recent years has so influenced the field of information and library science than the development and accessibility of digital technology.    Online Personal Access Catalogs (OPACS), digital libraries, electronic document delivery and remote access have all had a profound effect on the focus of librarianship – if not in our basic mission, then certainly in our methods.  I remember how surprised I was to find that ILS 501, my first foray into library science, was basically a course about computers.  In this class I learned about bits and bytes and created my first web page.  This laid the foundation for later studies in ILS 551 - Digital Libraries and ILS 642 - Managing Electronic Resources.  I found that being a distance education student encouraged me right away to become proficient in Internet search strategies and use of library resources through remote access.  It moved me rather quickly into the digital age.  For example, my first web page project for ILS 501 was actually a two-person effort – and my webpage partner lived in Pennsylvania (I live in Connecticut).  For two people who have never even met to successfully create a single web page across different states, across different platforms and using different editing and graphics software, proved to be as educational as the information presented in the lectures and the readings.  Where technology is concerned, and truthfully in most of my studies, there has been no substitute for experience.  And of course, there is still so much to learn.

Because our profession is now grappling with these changes and developments, several of my key concepts appear under the heading of technology.  Yet these concepts, although given new names, are familiar ones.  Copyright existed long before the Internet made it a pressing issue.  Metadata used to be called cataloging, and is an expansion and development of the same purpose.  And the mission of libraries is always relevant, whether it concerns serving distance learners or creating a comfortable reading room.  Ultimately we must embrace the technology as a way of furthering our main goal of serving our patron community.

Key concept: hypertext. 

In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush wrote an article published in the Atlantic Monthly where he envisioned a new way to configure and access the world’s wealth of scholarly and scientific information.  He imagined the creation of a machine he called the “Memex.”  This machine would provide a form of “associative indexing” – allowing a researcher to access one subject linked to another as his mind dictated.  “The human mind… operates by association… Selection by association, rather than by [traditional] indexing, may yet be mechanized.”  (Bush, 1945)  Bush’s vision aptly predicts that advent of hypertext links, the digital technology that allows researchers to hop from one web page to another in search of information.  Hypertext is roughly defined as information displayed as a linked network through which researchers are free to navigate in a non-linear manner.  The term itself was coined by Harvard scholar Ted Nelson in 1965, who later described it in his 1974 work Dream Machines as “non-sequential writing.”  This has given rise to the general term “hypermedia,” which refers to digitally linked text, graphics, sound or video.  This concept of hypermedia is important for understanding the process of information retrieval, the building of web pages, digital libraries, and pathfinders. (Ted Nelson and Xanadu, 2001)

I applied this concept in the creation of a web page for my internship at Fairfield University.  I was asked to create a list of review resources and vendors for the Multimedia Librarian, who is responsible for selecting and ordering CDs, CD-ROMS, and DVDs for the library.  The web page is called Multimedia Acquisitions and Selections.

Key concept:  metadata. 

Put simply, metadata is data about data.  It comes in many forms and guises and is a 
crucial and underlying concept to the organization and accessibility of library materials. 
Metadata typically describes the salient information regarding the content and form of a 
Work and is most often used in relation to electronic resources.  It can include cataloging and indexing information, and can describe works in a variety of formats, including text, graphics, sound and video.  Machine-readable cataloging records - or Marc records - are also a form of metadata.  In order to be useful, metadata must be an accurate representation of the work and its contents.  It must also participate in some kind of structured, standard terminology. 

Metadata was an implicit concept employed in many of the classes in my course of study.  In ILS 506, Information Analysis, we learned the basics of MARC 21, the standard code for describing bibliographic information.  In ILS 551 - Digital Libraries, and ILS 531 - Indexing and Abstracting, metadata was key for understanding the process of information retrieval.   In my final project for Digital Libraries, I proposed the creation of a digital video library of Shakespeare’s performed works.  This project, called The Globe Theater Digital Library, explores the importance of metadata in more depth.

Key concept:  copyright.

Copyright refers to the protection extended to the creators of artistic works which allows them certain exclusive rights.  As stated in U.S. Code 17, Section 106, these rights include: 

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; 
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; 
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by  rental, lease, or ending; 
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; (5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and 
(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission. (LII 2002)

Works are considered copyright-protected from the moment of their creation, when they are fixed in some kind of tangible medium, like a print-out of a document, or a recording of a song.  But there are many and various permutations of the copyright law.  It is in fact a whole field of law unto itself.  There are many exceptions to the rules set down in Section 106.  For starters, not all artifacts are protected.  Works that are compilations of factual information - the phone book, for example - are not subject to copyright.  Works in the public domain, freeware, and ideas are not copyrighted and may be used without infringement.  Also it is important to understand that just because a work does not contain a copyright symbol, does not necessarily mean it is in the public domain; the law no longer requires copyrighted works to carry a notice.  Moreover, although works are available free over the Internet, this does not necessarily mean that they are not copyrighted, nor are users exempt from infringement if they are used without permission.  However, by virtue of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) transmitters of information (ISP’s) have limited liability if the content  being transmitted is misused.  End-users are still primarily the responsible party.  All in all, copyright is a complex issue that places responsibility first and foremost on the user. 

In ILS 599 - Special Topics: Copyright in the New Millennium, Professor Arlene Bielefield encouraged us to become familiar with U.S. Code 17, Sections 106, 107, and 108.  These covered the basics of trademark and copyright, fair use and classroom and library exemptions.  Even after three months, we had just barely scratched the surface.  Copyright in particular has become an issue for the publishers and vendors of electronic databases.  For a brief discussion of the issue of copyright as it was applied to a particular student project, please the Access, Copyright and Maintenance section of  The Globe Theater Digital Library.

References

Bush, Vannevar.  (July 1945)  As We May Think. The Atlantic Monthly.  176:1, 101-108.  Retrieved 2/2002.

Ted Nelson and Xanadu. (2001)  Electronic Labyrinth. Retrieved April 2002.

U.S. Code 117, Section 106.  (2002)  Legal Information Institute (LII).  Retrieved April 2002.