The Roles of Digital

Libraries In Teaching
and Learning
Gary Marchionini and Hermann Maurer

L
ibraries have long served crucial roles in learning. The first great library, in Alexandria 2,000
years ago, was really the first university. It consisted of a zoo and various cultural artifacts in
addition to much of the ancient world’s written knowledge and attracted scholars from around
the Mediterranean, who lived and worked in a scholarly community for years at a time. Today,
the rhetoric associated with the National/Global Information Infrastructure (N/GII) always
includes examples of how the vast quantities of information that global networks provide (i.e.,
digital libraries) will be used in educational settings [16]. This paper describes how digital

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 67

This paper describes how digital libraries are evolving Third, libraries serve social and intellectual roles by
to meet the needs of teaching and learning and iden- bringing together people and ideas. This is distinct
tifies issues for continued development. We distin- from the practical role of sharing resources in that
guish formal, informal, and professional learning libraries provide a physical place for teachers and learn-
and argue that digital libraries will allow teachers and ers to meet outside the structure of the classroom, thus
students to use information resources and tools that allowing people with different perspectives to interact
have traditionally been physically and conceptually in a “knowledge space” that is both larger and more
inaccessible. We illustrate the types of information general than that shared by any single discipline or
resources digital libraries offer to teachers and learn- affinity group. Browsing through a catalog in a library
ers and discuss some of the issues and challenges dig- provides a global view for people engaged in special-
ital libraries present for teaching and learning. ized study and offers opportunities for serendipitous
insights or alternative views. In many respects, libraries
How Do Libraries Support Teaching serve as centers of interdisciplinarity—places shared by
and Learning? learners from all disciplines. Digital libraries extend
A library is fundamentally an organized set of resources, such interdisciplinarity by making diverse information
which includes human services as well as the entire spec- resources available beyond the physical space shared by
trum of media (e.g., text, video, hypermedia). Libraries groups of learners. One of the greatest benefits of digi-
have physical components, such as space, equipment, tal libraries is bringing together people with formal,
and storage media; intellectual components, such as col- informal, and professional learning missions.
lection policies that determine what materials will be Formal learning is systematic and guided by instruc-
included and organizational schemes that determine tion. It takes place in courses offered at schools of var-
how the collection is accessed; and people, who manage ious kinds and in training courses or programs on the
the physical and intellectual components and interact job. The important roles libraries serve in formal learn-
with users to solve information problems. ing are illustrated by their physical prominence on uni-
Libraries serve at least three roles in learning. First, versity campuses and the number of courses that make
they serve a practical role in sharing expensive direct use of library services and materials. Most of the
resources. Physical resources, such as books and peri- information resources in schools are tied directly to
odicals, films and videos, and software and electronic the instructional mission. Students or teachers who
databases, and specialized tools, such as projectors, wish to find information outside this mission have in
graphics equipment, and cameras, are shared by a com- the past had to travel to other libraries. By making the
munity of users. Human resources—librarians (also broad range of information resources discussed in this
called media specialists or information specialists)— article available to students and teachers in schools,
support instructional programs by responding to the digital libraries open new learning opportunities for
requests of teachers and students (responsive services) global rather than just local communities.
and by initiating activities for teachers and students

M
(proactive services). Responsive services include main- uch learning in life is infor-
taining reserve materials, answering reference ques- mal—opportunistic and strictly
tions, providing bibliographic instruction, developing under the control of the learn-
media packages, recommending books or films, and er. Learners take advantage of
teaching users how to use materials. Proactive services other people, mass media, and
include selectively disseminating information to faculty their immediate environment
and students, initiating thematic events, collaborating during informal learning. The
with instructors to plan instruction, and introducing public library system that developed in the U.S. in the
new instructional methods and tools. In these ways, late nineteenth century has been called the “free uni-
libraries serve to allow instructors and students to share versity,” since public libraries were created to provide
expensive materials and expertise. free access to the world’s knowledge. Public libraries
Second, libraries serve a cultural role in preserving provide classic nonfiction and fiction books, a wide
and organizing artifacts and ideas. Great works of litera- range of periodicals, reference sources, and audio-
ture, art, and science must be preserved and made and videotapes so patrons can learn about topics of
accessible to future learners. Although libraries have tra- their own choosing at their own pace and style. Just as
ditionally been viewed as facilities for printed artifacts, computing technology and worldwide telecommuni-
primary and secondary school libraries often also serve cations networks are beginning to change what is pos-
as museums and laboratories. Libraries preserve objects sible in formal classrooms, they are changing how
through careful storage procedures, policies of borrow- individuals pursue personal learning missions.
ing and use, and repair and maintenance as needed. In Professional learning refers to the ongoing learning
addition to preservation, libraries ensure access to mate- adults engage in to do their work and to improve their
rials through indexes, catalogs, and other aids that allow work-related knowledge and skills. In fact, for many
learners to locate items appropriate to their needs. professionals learning is the central aspect of their

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 Digital Libraries
work. Like informal learning, it is mainly self-directed; learners of all types to share resources, time and ener-
but unlike formal or informal learning, it is focused on gy, and expertise to their mutual benefit. The follow-
a specific field closely linked to job performance, aims ing sections illustrate some of the types of information
to be comprehensive, and is acquired and applied lon- resources that are defining digital libraries.
gitudinally. Since professional learning affects job per-
formance, corporations and government agencies Scientific Data Sets
support libraries (often called information centers) An enormous amount of attention is being given to
with information resources specific to the goals of each making data sets collected by scientific projects avail-
organization. The main information resources for pro- able to broader communities of users. International
fessional learning, however, are personal collections of efforts such as the Earth Observing System and the
books, reports, and files; subscriptions to journals; and human genome project demand large investments of
public resources and cre-
ate huge volumes of data.
Multiple forces act to
Information promote the develop-
Inform al Resources
Learni ng ment of digital libraries
of scientific data from
F orm al these projects. First, the
Learni ng Pr o f es s io n al
(K-12 and College) tools used to collect,
Lear n in g
transmit, and analyze
Information data generate or require
Resources Information
Resources digital signals; thus, the
information materials
Tech n o lo g y are in digital rather than
paper form. Second, the
data must be made avail-

Figure 1. Current model of technological

support for different types of learning
Informal
Learning
the human networks of colleagues nurtured
Formal Professional
through professional meetings and various com- Learning
munications. Many of the data sets and computa- Learning
(K-12 and College)
tional tools of digital libraries were originally
developed to enhance professional learning.
The information resources—both physical and
human—that support these types of learning are
customized for specific missions and have tradi- Digital Libraries
tionally been physically separated, although com-
mon technologies such as printing, photography, (Information Resources + Technology)

and computing are found across all settings. This

situation is depicted in Figure 1. Digital libraries Figure 2. Digital libraries lead to integrated
combine technology and information resources resources and types of learning
to allow remote access, breaking down the physi-
cal barriers between resources. Although these
resources will remain specialized to meet the needs of able to scientists worldwide on a timely basis, and
specific communities of learners, digital libraries will digital electronic networks make this possible.
allow teachers and students to take advantage of wider Third, the huge public investments involved encour-
ranges of materials and communicate with people age scientists to disseminate data as widely as possi-
outside the formal learning environment. This will ble to maintain public support and further
allow more integration of the different types of learn- educational and social progress. Providing access to
ing, as depicted in Figure 2. Although not all students these data sets through electronic libraries is an
or teachers in formal learning settings will use infor- important challenge, especially in the U.S., where
mation resources beyond their circumscribed curricu- the law mandates that publicly supported scientific
lum and not all professionals will want to interact even data be made freely available to citizens (see the
occasionally with novices, digital libraries will allow sidebar by Gey).

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 69

 Although electronic journals are becoming more common,
they have not achieved as much penetration
as many expected.

One example of how primary data sets are used in tion as many expected [23, 24]. As electronic journals
education is the Earth System Science Community Cur- develop, they will certainly improve informal and pro-
riculum Testbed project, which links students and fessional learning and will likely become useful
teachers in high schools and universities in an effort to resources in the K-12 arena, which has traditionally
build an earth system science (ESS) community maintained only modest journal collections in
(http://www.circles.org. The project aims to build a schools. Two common approaches to electronic jour-
curriculum for the interdisciplinary field of ESS by link- nals are (1) to store files in LaTeX, PostScript or
ing teachers of physics, chemistry, biology, and other ASCII form in a fileserver and email the files or allow
sciences to ESS scientists and NASA data sets. Teams of FTP access to them (the “generic approach”); and
students in each classroom explore topics such as acid (2) to store documents in hypertext/hypermedia sys-
rain and global warming by taking advantage of a grow- tems and allow on-line browsing and perusal (the
ing electronic community of students, teachers, and “hypertext approach”). The first sidebar gives a sam-
researchers. Using tools such as Mosaic, FTP, and Stel- ple of electronic journals that use the generic
la, teachers and students in schools in North America approach; the second sidebar gives a sample of those
access data sets at different levels of representation, using the hypertext approach.
analyze the data, simulate scenarios, collaborate with The main problems that these publications solve
scientists and students at remote sites, and publish to different degrees are related to information
reports. This project, funded as part of the NASA digi- retrieval support, display of complex graphics and
tal library initiative, illustrates how electronic technolo- formulas, and distribution speed and reliability. A
gy can support collaboration among scientists and recent journal using the “hypertext approach” is
students and how digital libraries of data, messages, and J.UCS, the Journal of Universal Computer Science
student reports are grown and managed. The ESS com- (see http://www.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/Cjucs_root or
munity is thus manifested as an organic, evolving digi- send an email for general information to
tal library that includes primary data sets, conversations [email protected] with subject [info]). It
about them, and the results of using them. addresses these three problems by using a range of
searching techniques, including scoped searches;
Other Data Sets using HFT, RTF, and particularly LaTeX and Post-
Textual databases of classic works (out of copyright) Script as file formats to provide high-quality display;
and image collections for important artistic exhibits and using a worldwide network of what started as 65
or museums have been assembled by scholars and “foundation servers’’ to remove many of the access-
made available through the Internet. (See [13] for a time problems associated with earlier attempts.
collection of arts and humanities electronic resources
and projects.) As more schools and individuals Newsgroups, Listservs, and Mail Archives
acquire access tools and funds, it is likely that private Perhaps the first examples of digital libraries in net-
digital libraries will move out of specialized markets worked environments were the archives produced
to provide access to primary information for a fee. by the many USENET newsgroups and listservs avail-
For-profit companies such as publishers of print, able through global networks. News reading and fil-
music, and film products and radio and television tering programs [21, 25] and search tools such as
broadcasters own enormous volumes of information, Archie and Veronica [7] provide rudimentary aids
and international information infrastructures will for locating information in these electronic discus-
create new markets for that information. Teachers sions. Listservs are used for specialized projects (the
and learners will likely not be heavy on-demand users ESS project previously mentioned and the Perseus
for this information but rather want to use it as the project both have listservs) and for distance educa-
raw material for study and for integration into tion courses. In a cable television course taught by
instructional presentations. How these materials will Marchionini, a listserv was used by students to pre-
be made available and what “fair use” policies will sent “one-minute papers” at the conclusion of each
evolve remain to be determined. session. This provided continuity between sessions
and personalized the interactions between the
Electronic Journals instructor and students, who would otherwise have
Although electronic journals are becoming more only remote telephone access during live sessions.
common, they have not achieved as much penetra- In another semester, students in graduate seminars

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 Digital Libraries
in human-computer interaction taught by Mar- Specialized Hypermedia Corpora
chionini at the University of Maryland and Borgman A variety of hypermedia materials are becoming avail-
at UCLA collaborated on term projects through able, and these collections are often served from a
email and FTP services. Students gained broader library rather than through dedicated machines in
perspectives by virtue of the diversity in back- classrooms. The Perseus hypermedia corpus (2.0)
grounds that students from the different schools includes about 200 plays, books, poems, and text frag-
brought to the courses, and both positive collabora- ments in Greek and in English translation; almost
tions and “techno-bullying” were observed. See [15] 25,000 24-bit color images of vases, sculpture, coins,
for a set of experiences in and sites; maps; site plans;
the virtual classroom. and a variety of search,
In another setting, navigation, and display
Maurer used Hyper-G Selected electronic tools [6, 20]. Hundreds of
[17] as both electronic journals providing colleges and scores of
library and discussion generic access high schools are currently
forum. In a 200-student using Perseus to support
class on “Societal Aspects Numerische Mathematik Electronic Edition instruction in Greek lan-
of Computer Science,” Sponsor: Journal of the same name guage, ancient history,
some 50 high-quality Topic: Mathematics Greek literature, religion,
papers from specialists Format: TeX and LaTeX archaeology, and art his-
were made available to Features: Every electronic issue some two weeks tory. At many sites,
students via Hyper-G as before the printed issue Perseus is delivered
the basis of a wide-rang- Access: [email protected]. through a campus net-
ing electronic discussion. work. In some sites,
Students were able to Electronic Publication Perseus is provided on a
comment on papers and Sponsor: MIT standalone machine in a
earlier comments, the Topic: Theoretical computer science library. The many CD-
structure of the discus- Format: LaTeX or PostScript ROM corpora now avail-
sion being visualized Features: Subscribers receive a notice each time an able for specialized topics
using the XWindows article is published; available for FTP challenge schools and
client Harmony [11]. Access: [email protected]. individuals to be judicious
The experiment created in acquisition and use of
a network of over 4,000 EJournal these materials, thus
hyperlinked documents. Sponsor: University of Albany increasing the need for
Students remained Topics: Theory and practice surrounding electronic resource-sharing func-
“semi-anonymous’’ to “text”; social psychological, literary, economic, and tions of libraries.
encourage free discus- pedagogical implications of computer-mediated Another instance of an
sion: that is, students networks emerging corpus of mate-
were allowed to choose Format: Plain Ascii rial entering digital
arbitrary pen names Features: Listserved libraries is the PC library
known only to each indi- Access: [email protected]. [19], a product developed
vidual and to the instruc- by a publishing consor-
tor (the latter because Asia-Pacific Journal (APEX-J) tium. Originally designed
student evaluation was Sponsor: University of Hawaii for standalone PC appli-
based on the quality of Topic: Education in multicultural, international cations, it has now migrat-
contributions). The campuses ed to client/server
experiment exemplifies Format: Plain Ascii architecture. At the time
blurring of the border- Features: Quarterly of writing, some 40 sub-
lines between electronic Access: [email protected]. stantial reference vol-
libraries and (CSCW) umes, including a
[8]—the semistructured Digest of Physics News Items 10-volume encyclopedia
threads of conversation Sponsor: American Institute of Physics, (“Meyer A—Z”), dictio-
that make up news by Phillip F. Schewe naries for most European
archives and lists provide Topics: Physics languages (“Langenschei-
another type of digital Format: Plain Ascii dt dictionaries”), the
library product that will Features: Posted in the Internet newsgroup famous German-English
find increasing use in sci.research; back issues can be downloaded by FTP “Oxford Duden,” and
both formal and infor- from NIC.HEP.NET. standard scientific refer-
mal learning. Access: [email protected] ence books on medicine,

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 71

computer science, and CAD are either available or in ensuring secure and legal usage by students and
preparation. Some of them contain high-quality dia- teachers. One example of how libraries and comput-
grams and pictures. Two aspects of the PC library are ing centers cooperate today is negotiation of site
particularly worth mentioning. First, an arbitrary sub- licenses for these products and maintaining firewall
set of the books in the library can be “activated” at (access authorization) services to ensure that licens-
any time, and all searches (including fuzzy full text) ing agreements are met. These collaborations can
only grow as acquisition, organization, and dis-
semination of specialized software and hyper-
media corpora increase.
Selected electronic journals
providing hypertext access Indexes and Directories
A host of bibliographic and catalog databases
MUSE may be included in digital libraries. These
Sponsors: Johns Hopkins University Library and Homewood range from the more than 20-million-record
Academic Computing database of bibliographic citations in OCLC to
Topic: JHU Press journals the millions of citations in on-line databases for
Access: telnet://jhuniverse.hcf.jhu.edu:20001/ specialized literatures such as medicine (e.g.,
MEDLINE) and engineering (e.g., NTIS). Ter-
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC) tiary databases such as citation indexes and
Sponsor: Annenberg School of Communication, Univ. of databases of directories make information-
Southern California seeking more effective but require specific skill
Topic: Interpersonal and social aspects in communication and effort on the part of information-seekers.
networks Many of the thesauri for specialized literatures
Access: http://www.huji.ac.il/www<hr>jcmc/jcmc.html are available in electronic form (e.g., Medical
Subject Headings, ACM Computing Reviews
Electronic Journal of Combinatorics Classification System), and techniques for
Sponsors: Georgia Institute of Technology and the American merging and filtering these languages to allow
Mathematical Society. users to search across multiple databases are
Topics: Combinatorics, graph theory, and discrete algorithms emerging. Although most indexes to image
Access: http://ejc.math.gatech.edu:8080/Journal/journalhome.html and sound collections currently use words
from captions or titles, new pattern-matching
Newsletter of the National Research Center on Student techniques are emerging to categorize and
Learning (NRCSL) classify multimedia objects [10]. In the past,
Sponsor: Learning Research and Development Center bibliographic instruction has been provided by
Topic: Education librarians as a supplement to “regular” courses,
Access: gopher://gopher.pitt.edu/11/news/lrdc but widespread availability of digital libraries
will require remote instruction and support
Journal of Universal Computer Science (JUCS) related to information-seeking skills and
Sponsors: Springer Publishing Co. and Graz Univ. of Technology knowledge.
Topics: All areas of computer science
Access: http://www.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/Cjucs<hr>root Electronic Search and Display Tools
It has often been said that the Internet is start-
ing to provide the largest library humankind
has ever had. As true as this may be, the Inter-
are carried out only within the books activated. Sec- net is also the messiest library that ever has existed.
ond, the PC library is not just a set of static books but Navigation and display tools such as Mosaic allow
can be used in a variety of modes other than read- users to browse the World-Wide Web and display text
only: users can leave comments (for themselves or for and multimedia objects. Search tools such as the
others); searches can be activated from other appli- Wide-Area Information Server (WAIS), Archie, and
cations and the results used in those other applica- Veronica allow people to search specific directories
tions; books can be augmented by additional or list archives (see [22] for an overview of tools).
(personal) entries, including multimedia material However, in addition to index and directory services
(e.g., personal pictures or video clips); and material or navigation tools, it has become apparent that such
is automatically hyperlinked using a keyword-based “a posteriori” tools to organize the unstructured
technique. Internet universe are not sufficient. Rather, some “a
As vendors develop new products and as these spe- priori” structuring is necessary. This was done quite
cialized corpora become available through global successfully first with Gopher [3] and later with
networks, libraries should take responsibility for WWW [5]. However, “first-generation hypermedia

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 Digital Libraries
techniques” do not seem to be sufficient for large promise several advantages to teachers and learners
amounts of data; “second-generation techniques” by extending the classroom; however, as with all tech-
[4], involving distributed database mechanisms, nologies, there are costs and tradeoffs associated with
scope definition facilities for searches, bidirectional these advantages.
link databases [14] for automatic link maintenance, One clear difference between traditional libraries
and other advanced techniques, are emerging. For and digital libraries is that digital libraries offer
example, Harmony [11], the XWindows client for greater opportunity for users to deposit as well as
Hyper-G, WWW, Gopher, and WAIS, provides use information. Thus, students and teachers can
sophisticated navigational facilities when used in easily be publishers as well as readers in digital
conjunction with a Hyper-G database: The facilities libraries. The number of student-produced “home
include visual “local maps” of all in- and outgoing pages” continues to grow as teachers and students
hyperlinks, a 3D landscape generator, a history and not only bring digital library information into the
hierarchy browser, Boolean searches on attributes, classroom but move the products of the classroom
and full text searches including approximate match- out into the digital libraries. Just as distinctions
es in user-defined scopes that may arbitrarily cross between publishers and readers are becoming less
even the physical boundaries of servers. Such fea- clear in networked environments, Internet access in
tures will make working with large electronic classrooms blurs distinctions between teaching and
libraries less frustrating than it sometimes is now, learning. Students bring interesting and important
and will certainly ensure the use of electronic information to class discussions and in many cases
libraries is more efficient than using large amounts lead teachers and classmates to new electronic
of printed material. As these tools evolve, better inte- resources and tools. Teachers increasingly will find
gration of search and display will be necessary. One themselves in the important roles of moderators
approach is dynamic queries [2] that provide graph- and critics, modeling for students ways to examine
ical representations for database elements and slid- and compare points of view and look critically at
ers for adjusting parameters on those elements. As information. Teachers who have begun using net-
parameters are changed, the graphical display is worked materials in their classes are early adopters
immediately updated, providing immediate visual of new ideas and technologies and are comfortable
answer sets. sharing power with students. Just as “authority of
information” has become an issue in professional
Digital Libraries In Education: Promises, Chal- communities that leverage networks, the authority
lenges, and Issues of information in classrooms, which has traditional-
The examples above illustrate that digital libraries ly rested solely with teachers, will increasingly be
have obvious roles to play in formal learning settings challenged by students locally and remotely.
by providing teachers and learners with knowledge Digital libraries will support communities of inter-
bases in a variety of media. In addition to expanding est and allow more specialized courses to be offered.
the formats of information (e.g., multimedia, simula- For example, students at different high schools in the
tions), digital libraries offer more information than CoVis project collaborated by sharing a digital library

The most important changes digital

libraries bring may be in advancing
informal learning. The same advantages that accrue
to classroom learning also accrue to individuals pursuing
their own learning.
most individuals or schools have been able to acquire of weather data [12], and students in the ESS Com-
and maintain. Digital libraries are accessible in class- munity Project described earlier share a variety of
rooms and from homes as well as in central library NASA data in classes in Washington, D.C., St. Louis,
facilities where specialized access, display, and use Los Angeles, and New Mexico. Telecourses have
tools may be shared. Remote access allows possibili- already allowed rural schools to offer advanced place-
ties for vicarious field trips, virtual guest speakers, ment courses to a few students by sharing teachers
and access to rare and unique materials in classrooms across geographical distances. As network access
and at home. The promise is one of better learning improves in schools, highly specialized courses
through broader, faster, and better information and offered on a distributed basis will become common,
communication services. These physical advantages and it is likely that some of these will be offered by

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 73

students. Internet-based courses have already been their “property” available electronically without
offered successfully, although mainly on the topic of secure mechanisms for profit.
the Internet itself, and network-based electronic con- Even more challenging, however, is building
ferences have proven effective (e.g., University of intellectual infrastructures for digital libraries.
Maryland Professor Thomas O’Haver recently ran a These include techniques for using electronic
chemistry conference that involved 450 participants information in teaching and learning [18]. Teach-
from 33 countries). ers must learn how to teach with multimedia
The most important changes digital libraries resources and how to share informational authority
bring may be in advancing informal learning. The with students. Designing activities that take advan-
same advantages that accrue to classroom learning tage of digital library resources requires time and
also accrue to individuals pursuing their own learn- effort to examine what is available and integrate
ing. In many ways, Freenets are extensions of the information into modules and sequences appropri-
public library system. Digital libraries are digital ate to the students and curriculum. Furthermore,
schools that offer formal packaging for specific skills modeling the research process for students requires
and topics as well as general browsing for creative teachers to grapple with problems on the fly, make
discovery and self-guided, informal learning. The mistakes, recover, react to dead ends, and demon-
design community has already begun to consider strate all the other uncomfortable and frustrating
ways to support learning on demand in electronic aspects of problem-solving. Like Euclid, who pre-
environments [9] to address problems of coverage sented the products of geometric research in the
(since no learning system can cover all things learn- form of neat, polished deductive proofs (rather
ers may need) and obsolescence (systems and knowl- than the empirical and intuitive thought that led to
edge changes). the theorems), teachers are more comfortable pro-
viding polished packages/modules rather than the

F
or the promises to be fulfilled, issues messy details of discovery and problem-solving.
of access and intellectual property Applying digital libraries in classrooms requires dif-
must be addressed. Although the U.S. ferent attitudes and tolerances for such learning
Library of Congress has committed to conditions.
becoming a digital library, it can make Just as teachers must learn new strategies for using
available only documents or finding electronic tools in teaching, students must learn how
aids created within the library or gov- to learn with multimedia (both actively and passive-
ernment agencies, items out of copyright, and rep- ly) and how to take increased responsibility for
resentations from exhibits or events sponsored by directing their own learning. In our observations of
the library. Although these represent enormous students in classrooms where Perseus was used, stu-
quantities of information, the core holdings of the dents expressed concerns about taking notes:
library—the books, films, and recordings—cannot because a screen of text, a screen of vases, and the
be made available electronically under current copy- instructor’s verbal comments were concurrently
right law. Whether the copyright law will change to available, they did not know what to write down!
allow materials to be accessed electronically under Although better technological tools, such as net-
some educational fair-use arrangements remains to worked laptop computers, may solve the technical
be settled. Curators, theater owners, and publishers problem, the issues of what to attend to and how
are loath to give up restricted access, due to under- multiple streams of information should be integrat-
standable self-preservation concerns. Some of these ed require new combinations of perceptual, cogni-
fears may be unfounded. For example, in the 1930s, tive, and physical skills for learning. In short,
owners of professional baseball clubs allowed only building intellectual infrastructures requires intel-
World Series games to be broadcast on the radio, lectual, emotional, and social breakthroughs for
because they feared that attendance at regular teaching and learning.
games would go down if all games were broadcast. At the nexus of physical and intellectual infra-
When Lawrence MacPhail in Cincinnati began to structure is the interface to the digital library. Tools
broadcast the Reds’ games in 1938, entire new mar- for finding, managing, using, and publishing elec-
kets opened up beyond the traditional male atten- tronic information must be both powerful and easy
dees—women and men who previously did not to use. Digital libraries must provide a mix of soft-
know much about baseball became interested and ware and people to provide reference assistance and
attendance went up (Ken Burns’ PBS series Base- question-answering services (e.g., Ackerman’s
ball). Additionally, entire new revenue streams from Answer Garden system for handling XWindows ques-
advertising became available, which today eclipse tions [1]). The people in the digital library will go
attendance profits. However, historical examples beyond reference to serve as teachers on demand.
are not likely to be enough to convince publishers They must be aided by software that shunts “typical”
and other information industry entities to make questions toward pathfinders or frequently-asked-

74 April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

 Digital Libraries
question services. Thus, digital libraries will extend blow? Networked computer tools for studying the weather. In
what has been the most beneficial feature of elec- Proceedings of ED-MEDIA ’94 (Vancouver, B.C., June 25-30).
tronic networks—communication—to teaching and AACE, Charlottesville, Va., 1994, pp. 209-216.
13. Getty Art History Information Program, The American Council
learning settings. Good interfaces will allow learners of Learned Societies, and The Coalition for Networked Infor-
to take advantage of digital resources equally well in mation. Humanities and Arts on the Information Highways: A Pro-
classrooms, homes, and offices. file. Getty Art History Information Program, Santa Monica,
Clearly, digital libraries have important roles to Calif., 1994.
14. Haan, B.J., Kahn, P., Riley, V.A., et al. IRIS hypermedia services.
play in teaching and learning. Existing physical Commun. ACM 35, 1 (January 1992), 36-51.
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