The Science, Technology and Industry Collection

The first shared electronic collection of the CDL will be the Science, Technology and Industry Collection, covering a literature that accounts for over 80 percent of the published electronic material now available. Choosing a collection focused on science and technology will permit the University to achieve economies of scale when accessing the highest cost literature, establish a digital collection with the critical mass needed to investigate a variety of issues relating to scholarly and scientific communication, create a resource that will encourage collaborative activities with the private sector, and relieve the campuses of the need to provide additional support for the development of these digital collections.

Programs

The California Digital Library (CDL) will be responsible for the design, creation and implementation of systems, which support the shared collections of the virtual library of California. It will enable knowledge generation, access, and use through programs, which provide:

Information access and delivery via electronic communications;

• Licensing and acquisition of shared electronic content
• Managing electronic content to assure its efficient and effective delivery
• Supporting digitization of paper-based materials

• Establishing policies and procedures for archiving Digital Library electronic content
• Developing secure, reliable, electronic delivery mechanisms
• Fostering standard that promote interoperability

• Providing user support
• Training information providers at the campus level

• Encouraging digital publishing in support of scholarly communication
• Encouraging the migration of selected campus-based content into the Digital Library

• Developing technologies, which facilitate distribution of print-based content across the University
• Developing partnerships with other entities and encouraging shared access to collections among California institutions of higher education.

Full development of the California Digital Library will take place over 5-7 years. Phase 1 will concentrate on establishing an organizational framework designed to provide enhanced access to electronic and printed content. In Phase 2, the CDL will begin to create new content by digitizing texts and facsimiles and by supporting scholarly communication through digital publishing. In Phase 3 new technologies will be used to transform the delivery and creation of information resources.

Structure

The California Digital Library will be a separate entity, representing a collaborative effort of all campuses of the University and complementing the existing University Library system. An Executive Director and a small staff with specialized skills in finance, user training, networked information delivery and information technology will manage the Library. The Director will work closely with an Advisory Board. To assure the breadth of input necessary, the Board will be composed of Vice Chancellors, other Academic Administrators, University Librarians, a LAUC representative, Information Technologists, and Faculty, including relevant Senate committee representation. Librarians on each campus will be formally appointed to the CDL and participate in its design and in its implementation at the campus level.

Support for faculty research

Although the CDL will focus on delivery of information to users, it can also play an important role as a testbed for research. UC faculty in many fields, including computer science, sociology, human factors, and public policy, all have interests in the use of digital information. Through the CDLwe can align their research interests and those of others outside of the University within an operational unit. The CDL has already begun to explore the possibilities for coordinated programs. The Interlib concept developed for the NSF Digital Library program proposes a cooperative effort involving UCSB, UCB, Stanford, SDSC and the CDL that supports faculty research and studies the application of that research to CDL users. Interlib will provide an opportunity for the CDL to provide a new model of academic communication, a migration path for transferring technology, and an application for evaluating digital library technology. At the same time Interlib provides opportunities for faculty research on large-scale distributed digital library and collaborative workspace services and for scalable, interoperable systems services.

Last updated: 6 April 1998