Digital Library Federation
Encyclopedia
The Digital Library Federation (DLF) is an international consortium of libraries and related agencies that are pioneering the use of electronic-information technologies to extend collections and services. Since its formation in 1995, DLF has made a number of significant contributions to the academic library and library services vendor communities.
, U.S. Library of Congress
, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
, and the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA). The purpose of the organization was to create a distributed, open, digital library.
In September 1995, CPA received a nine-month planning grant from IBM
for $100,000 on behalf of DLF to support the preparation of a technological and policy proposal with specific guidelines for creating and maintaining a national digital library.
Over the next nine months, DLF convened a Planning Task Force to establish working groups to consider the key technical, financial, and organizational issues to forming a national digital library, resulting in three areas of focus in which DLF could play a role in building a digital library infrastructure: discovery and retrieval, rights and economic models, and archiving. A report was issued to IBM on June 1, 1996.
Many of the DLF's early efforts formed around defining and elaborating technical architectures for digital libraries. This work focused on interoperability and metadata standards, and work was conducted intensively by the relatively small cadre of persons from the first institutions, most on a core "technical architecture committee" in DLF. For example, an early initiative led by one member of the committee, Bernie Hurley, was the articulation of an SGML
DTD
for encoding information about digital objects. That work, MOA2, ultimately evolved into METS. Similarly, in the area of interoperability, much of the early interest in interoperability moved form a focus on the Z39.50 protocol to work on Open Access Initiatives and OAI-PMH.
(CNI), Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR), Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC), the Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL) research library, and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).
The group is staffed by an executive director, and by a few other employees who work in office space provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources, which originally incubated DLF and which continues to collaborate with it on some of its publications. Peter Brantley is the current DLF executive director.
DLF is governed by a board of trustees, composed of directors from each partner institution. It is funded by member fees from partner institutions, and from foundation grants.
Most of the group's activities are conducted by fellows and staff from member institutions who volunteer to coordinate a particular project or plan forum activities.
Mission
DLF's mission is to enable new research and scholarship of its members, students, scholars, lifelong learners, and the general public by developing an international network of digital libraries. DLF relies on collaboration, the expertise of its members, and a nimble, flexible, organizational structure to fulfill its mission. To achieve this mission, DLF:- Develops and adopts technical standards
- Promotes best practices
- Leverages shared actions, resources, and infrastructures
- Encourages the creation of digital collections that can be brought together and made accessible across the globe
- Works with the public sector, educational, and private partners
- Secures and preserves the scholarly and cultural record
History
The Digital Library Federation was formed on May 1, 1995 by twelve academic libraries, the New York Public LibraryNew York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, U.S. Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
, and the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA). The purpose of the organization was to create a distributed, open, digital library.
In September 1995, CPA received a nine-month planning grant from IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
for $100,000 on behalf of DLF to support the preparation of a technological and policy proposal with specific guidelines for creating and maintaining a national digital library.
Over the next nine months, DLF convened a Planning Task Force to establish working groups to consider the key technical, financial, and organizational issues to forming a national digital library, resulting in three areas of focus in which DLF could play a role in building a digital library infrastructure: discovery and retrieval, rights and economic models, and archiving. A report was issued to IBM on June 1, 1996.
Many of the DLF's early efforts formed around defining and elaborating technical architectures for digital libraries. This work focused on interoperability and metadata standards, and work was conducted intensively by the relatively small cadre of persons from the first institutions, most on a core "technical architecture committee" in DLF. For example, an early initiative led by one member of the committee, Bernie Hurley, was the articulation of an SGML
Standard Generalized Markup Language
The Standard Generalized Markup Language is an ISO-standard technology for defining generalized markup languages for documents...
DTD
Document Type Definition
Document Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...
for encoding information about digital objects. That work, MOA2, ultimately evolved into METS. Similarly, in the area of interoperability, much of the early interest in interoperability moved form a focus on the Z39.50 protocol to work on Open Access Initiatives and OAI-PMH.
Organization
DLF is a membership organization with 37 partner members (mostly larger research libraries in North America), and five allied organizations: Coalition for Networked InformationCoalition for Networked Information
The Coalition for Networked Information is an organization whose mission is to promote networked information technology as a way to further the advancement of intellectual collaboration and productivity. It is a joint initiative of the Association of Research Libraries as well as EDUCAUSE...
(CNI), Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
ICPSR, the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, was established in 1962. An integral part of the infrastructure of social science research, ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction , and offers in...
(ICPSR), Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body whose role is to support post-16 and higher education and research by providing leadership in the use of ICT in learning, teaching, research and administration...
(JISC), the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
(LANL) research library, and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).
The group is staffed by an executive director, and by a few other employees who work in office space provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources, which originally incubated DLF and which continues to collaborate with it on some of its publications. Peter Brantley is the current DLF executive director.
DLF is governed by a board of trustees, composed of directors from each partner institution. It is funded by member fees from partner institutions, and from foundation grants.
Most of the group's activities are conducted by fellows and staff from member institutions who volunteer to coordinate a particular project or plan forum activities.
General activities
DLF initiatives change with needs; as some projects come to fruition or find new support, the DLF invests in others, staying flexible as a catalyst for experiment and change. For example, the DLF has promoted work on the following:- Digital library structures, standards, preservation, and use
- Archives for electronic journals
- Online collections for use in teaching
- Internet services that expand access to resources of use to scholars
- Assessments of the future roles of libraries.
Conferences
Forums are convened periodically and include a number of digital library practitioners from each of the member institutions. They serve as meeting places, market places, and congresses. As meeting places they provide an opportunity for the DLF Board, advisory groups, initiatives to conduct their business and to present their work to the broader membership. As market places, they provide an opportunity for member organizations to share experiences and practices with one another and in this respect support a broader level of information sharing between professional staff. As congresses, Forums provide an opportunity for the DLF to continually review and assess its programs and its progress with input from the broader membership community.Contributions
DLF has played a significant role in the origin or evolution of these digital library initiatives:- ARTstorARTstorARTstor is a non-profit organization that builds and distributes the Digital Library, an online resource of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. The ARTstor Digital Library also includes a set of software tools to view, present, and manage images for...
- Archivists' Toolkit
- Cataloging Cultural Objects
- DLF/OCLC Registry of Digital Masters
- Global Digital Format Registry
- Making of AmericaMaking of AmericaMaking of America is a digital archive hosted by Cornell University and the University of Michigan. The Making of America collection at the University of Michigan consists primarily of books published in the United States between 1850 and 1877. The Making of America collection at Cornell contains...
- METSMETSThe Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard is a metadata standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library, expressed using the XML schema language of the World Wide Web Consortium...
- OCKHAM Initiative
- OAIOpen Archives InitiativeThe Open Archives Initiative is an attempt to build a "low-barrier interoperability framework" for archives containing digital content . It allows people to harvest metadata...
- SUSHI Protocol (ANSI/NISO Z39.93)
- TEI LiteTEI LiteTEI Lite is an XML-based file format for exchanging texts. It is a manageable selection from the extensive set of elements available in the full Text Encoding Initiative Guidelines.-External links:*...