A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and accessible by computers.The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. Furthermore, a digital library is a type of information retrieval system. The user currently can search via names, standardized key words or other text-based means.
The focus of the project is research and development for novel access to information in digital libraries. On the one hand, the user will be supported and guided by allowing her to visually investigate relevant search result sets. On the other hand, methods will be developed to extract cross links and semantic relations from a document set selected by the user.
DiLiA project lasts from 2008 to 2010 and its manager is Norbert Reithinger.
Another project about the same topic is ‘LUCAS’ Limerick University Computerised Assistive System, which was developed by J. Behan and D.T. O’Keeffe, from Ireland, and developed to assist individuals within a library environment while also socially interacting with them. Human-Robot interaction is initiated through a 3-D animated character displayed on the robots onboard p.c.
These intelligent library assistants are used in some public libraries or university libraries in order to make the search of books or another kind of documents easier to users. Nevertheless, the ability to shelf-read,
shelve, and search, with real-time interaction with the items is not available with the intelligent library assistant.
SOURCES:
- DiLiA,The intelligent Library Assistant (2009). In DFKI LT, by Norbert Reithinger. Retrieved 12:17, June 5, 2009, from http://www.dfki.de/lt/project.php?id=Project_447&l=en
- Digital library. (2009, June 1). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:08, June 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digital_library&oldid=296390029
- The development of an intelligent library assistant (2009). In ACM Portal. Retrieved 14:30, June 5, 2009, from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1166971
- The 3M? Digital Library Assistant : observations from the field(2009). In University of Nevada by Jennifer L Fabbi and Jason Vaughan. Retrieved 16:27, June 5, 2009, from http://www.3m.com/wcms/viewimage15ff.pdf?iRurcFO=57913240&langid=1
