Contents: Preface. 1. Key concepts of digital library. 2. Digital library resources. 3. Digital library cataloguing systems. 4. Library automation. 5. Information retrieval. 6. Interlibrary lending. 7. Bibliographic display. Index.

"Digital Libraries are the organisations, which provide the resources, including specialised staff to select, structure, offer intellectual access to interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works, so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or a set of communities. Though the resources that the digital libraries require to perform their functions are similar to those required by conventional libraries, yet they are in many ways, different in kind. For storage and retrieval, digital libraries are almost exclusively dependent on computer and electronic network systems.

Like other organisations, digital libraries too need evolve criteria for measuring their performance in a flourishing and highly competitive world. The needs and interests of the communities they serve will ultimately determine the trajectory of development for digital libraries, including the investment they make in content and technology.

The present volume provides a lot of information on almost all aspects of digital libraries, ranging from imaging technology and techniques to digital library standards and copyright issues. The content of this work must be valuable to librarians, teachers and students of library and information science." (jacket)