Virtual Library vs Digital Library

[EGERIA - Gerenciamento da Informacao]

Hi,

Here I am again. This time I have a conceptual question. As an information
scientist working with new technologies and Internet I've been invited to
make papers and to give courses on subjects like Virtual Libraries and
Digital Libraries. I've been talking to some people in Brazil (I'm
Brazilian) and I believe that a lot of peope consider both terms as
sinonyms. That's not my opinion and I would like to know yours. 

I've made a search on Internet on "Virtual Library (ies)"and then on
"Digital Library (ies). I did not find those concepts, but I observed that
although we can find some confusion, in general these terms point to
different things. So here you are my opinion and I would like to know who
agree or desagree. And if you have some formal description I would be
gratefull (if they are from reliable source, of course. I do not want crazy
definitions as the following I've read on Internet made by a Portuguese
Librarian that said: Virtual Library is concerned with the the
implementation of virtual reality facilities to Libraries (sic).

Let's see some of my thoughts on the subject:

a)  DIGITAL LIBRARY - It's the same thing as Electronic Library. The name
DIGITAL means that the collection is on a binary format and stored on an
electronic device. So it is a Library whose material (books, journals,
reports, thesis, and so on) is stored on electronic format (on CD ROM or
winchester). They can be read and printed through a computer. It doesn't
mind if those publications  can be accessed by a standalone computer, a
local network, or the Internet. As described above a Digital Library have a
staff, and services. One can borrow material, request copies and so on. As
it is on any paper based Library.  The only change is the storage media. A
Digital Library .project may include a "Virtual Library".
b)  VIRTUAL LIBRARY - It's a collection of links. Those links do not
reflect  physical Library material. Instead it reflects subjects categories
of sites on Internet. The name virtual means "not real" . So we cannot
borrow anything from a Virtual Library. I believe that the word Library is
in the concept VIRTUAL LIBRARY because it looks like a Library index. But
it's a kind of  "link management system", not  a kind of Library. A good
example is the WWW Virtual Library: A good exemple is WWW Virtual Library:
<http://vlib.stanford.edu/Overwiew.html> I believe they created that name.

As I have seen many organization and people (including some Government
organizations, University professors, consultants and so on) using these
concepts in a confused way  I'd like to discuss it better. I believe that
the same must occur in other countries, so it will be usefull to many of
us. On information age we are coping with changes in a way we never did
before. And  time is not enough to consolidate new conceps. We do not know
yet what a new term means and many other are being created do describe the
same thing. If we do not stop to understand the meaning of things we are
talking about we will soon be on "Babel". I'll post a mail to WWW Virtual
Library asking them what do they mean with the title of their site "W3
VIRTUAL LIBRARY".

I'd love to receive comments and information on the subject. Thank you.

Regina Cianconi
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