Contents: Preface. 1. Digital library issues. 2. Electronic libraries. 3. Library networking environment. 4. Electronic networking strategies. 5. Library contents. 6. Library and hypertext. 7. Telematics. 8. Information metadata. 9. Digital information access technology. 10. Information professions. Bibliography. Index.

"The term 'Digital Library' covers the creation and distribution of all types of information over networks, ranging from converted historical materials to kinds of information that have no analogues in the physical world. In some ways digital libraries and traditional libraries are very different, yet in other ways they are remarkably similar. People still create information that has to be organized, stored and distributed and they still need to find and use information that others have created.

An underlying theme of this book is that no aspects of digital libraries an be understood in isolation or without attention to the needs of the people who created and use information. Although the book covers a wide range of technical, economic, social and organizational topics, the focus is on the actual working components of a digital library." (jacket)