The very recent emergence of the 'information society' has created new situations that political and economic disciplines have never previously considered. There is a new complexity and many open questions for both individuals and societal macro-structures, which have to maintain, despite this revolution, a satisfactory level of activity and at the same time have to build a new state of stability. With regard to problems identified by many researchers relating to the storage and processing of (semi-)structured digital data, accessibility and sharing, intellectual property, digital documents, information retrieval, information literacy, relevance of information, information profiles of users, etc., the policies envisaged by some for the 'information society' may cause concern and embarrassment from a scientific point of view. This book gathers together 13 contributions from leading information science researchers and presents some of the scientific challenges for these areas, which are also the greatest challenges facing us in the current digital age.

Table of Contents:
Preface xv Fabrice PAPY and Gil-François EUVRARD Chapter 1. The Growth of the Role of Librarians and Information Officers in Digital Libraries 1 Christian LUPOVICI 1.1. Changes in the world of documentation 1 1.1.1. Transformations in society 3 1.2. Transformations in the economic situation of libraries 3 1.2.1. Too many hits?! The new trend of vague search entries 3 1.2.2. The integration of heterogenous services 4 1.2.3. The librarian’s challenge to reach customer satisfaction 5 1.3. Changing a paradigm: changing the object “information” 5 1.3.1. Breaking with the traditional way of managing physical objects 5 1.3.2. New objects in documentation 6 1.4. Changing a paradigm: information in a network of documentation 7 1.4.1. Information is linked to a network of information 7 1.4.2. Processing a high flux of dematerialized information 8 1.5. A new way of organizing libraries: the impact of the digital revolution 8 1.5.1. Impact on the functioning of a library 8 1.5.2. Impact on the concept of information 9 1.5.3. Impact on distribution 9 1.5.4. Impact on intellectual property 9 1.6. New trends 10 1.6.1. Introducing administrative aspects of documentation into the document 10 1.6.2. The librarian’s role in the editing process 10 1.7. The digital library 11 1.7.1. The virtual library 11 1.7.2. A “real” library 11 1.8. Introducing different layers to the core sector of the profession 12 1.8.1. Support for online library users 12 1.8.2. Providing training for users 12 1.8.3. Managing materialized objects as well as digital documents 12 1.9. Broadening skills and responsibilities for all of the library’s staff 13 1.9.1. Managing old and new techniques simultaneously 13 1.9.2. Increasing qualifications and responsibilities 13 Chapter 2. The Tao of the Digital Library: A Library Without a Librarian? 15 Joachim SCHÖPFEL and Jacques CREUSOT 2.1. The technological supremacy of the concept of the “digital library” 16 2.2. TSI’s influence on the market 18 2.3. The virtualization of a document’s function 19 2.4. Development and changes to job profiles in the CNRS directory 1982–2002 20 2.5. Supporting professions – the INIST approach 22 2.6. A new job profile is emerging – the e-serials librarian 24 2.7. Developments in training requirements – the UKSG workshops 1990–2004 26 2.8. “He who takes the longest strides…” 28 2.9. Bibliography 30 Chapter 3. The Reader Faced with a Digital Library: the Experience of the Pasteur Institute 33 Emmanuelle JANNÈS-OBER 3.1. Introduction. 33 3.2. Which services should be aimed at what kind of audience? 34 3.2.1. Content 35 3.2.2. Services 36 3.2.3. Programs 38 3.3. How are services used? 39 3.3.1. Empirical knowledge and how users carry out their research 39 3.3.2. Some statistics 41 3.4. Current problems 42 3.4.1. How to organize the extremely high number of hits 42 3.4.2. Can the costs be controlled? 44 3.4.3. How to create a new dialog with the user. 44 3.4.4. Appendix: Biolib’s search interface 46 Chapter 4. University Students’ Information Strategies: From Institutional Expectations to Real Uses 47 Marie DESPRÉS-LONNET 4.1. Introduction 47 4.2. Methodological issues 48 4.3. Relating use and environment 50 4.4. Resource legitimacy 53 4.5. The evolution of the figure of the “third party” 56 4.6. Conclusion 57 4.7. Bibliography 58 Chapter 5. The Digital Spirit: Digital Libraries and Democracy 61 Olivier FRESSARD 5.1. Books and libraries function as an objective spirit 61 5.2. The symbolic value of books stored within a library 63 5.3. How can the project of a digital library be realized? 64 5.4. Digital libraries are actually very rare! 66 5.5. Technical supports and new ways of reading 66 5.6. Two different types of logic within reading processes 69 5.7. The sociological significance of different reading processes 71 5.8. Does the “library of democracy” exist? 71 5.9. Access and usage 73 5.10. Tocqueville – a sociological model of democracy 74 5.11. The library’s devices and the disposition of the public 76 5.12. Libraries are facing a cultural crisis 78 5.13. Conclusion 80 5.14. Bibliography 80 Chapter 6. Accessing Library Catalogs in the Age of Digital Libraries and Search Engines: Gaps, Disruptions and Transformation? 83 Dominique LAHARY 6.1. Prehistory 83 6.1.1. Secondary information 84 6.1.2. What about access to documents? 86 6.2. The age of OPAC 86 6.2.1. A high level of uniformity 87 6.2.2. How to access documents according to their content 87 6.2.3. Too many or no hits at all – a choice must be made 88 6.2.4. Some progress is being made 88 6.2.5. Disadvantages and features the system lacks 89 6.2.6. Are catalogs actually used by the public? 89 6.3. The secret order 91 6.3.1. Libraries must now imitate search engines which so successfully imitated them in the first place 91 6.3.2. The secret order’s manifesto 92 6.3.3. Plea for resurgence 92 6.3.4. Realizing the project 94 6.3.5. Remote access 99 6.3.6. New solutions combined with traditional ones 100 6.4. Conclusion 101 6.5. Bibliography 102 Chapter 7. Stakes and Prospects of Heuristic Visualization for OPAC Use 103 Sophie CHAUVIN 7.1. Complexity of information systems 103 7.1.1. Complexity of inter-related information systems for documentation 105 7.1.2. Complexity, training and catalogs 106 7.2. Sense and visualization 107 7.2.1. The multidimensional space of a library 107 7.2.2. Accessing the stock of documents via metadata 108 7.2.3. Improved online catalogs – they lead to an increase in unintended applications 110 7.3. Visualization and the trail of knowledge 110 7.3.1. Principles of a heuristic visualization 110 7.3.2. Reticular systems and hypertextual trails 112 7.4. Interface, intermediaries and amplification of coherence 115 7.5. Usage and perspectives 116 7.6. Bibliography 118 Chapter 8. 3D Interaction for Digital Libraries 123 Pierre CUBAUD 8.1. Introduction 123 8.2. The page as a surface 124 8.2.1. Structured light 126 8.2.2. Photogrammetry 127 8.3. The book and reading interfaces 130 8.4. Research collections and research interfaces 134 8.5. Conclusion 139 8.6. Bibliography 140 Chapter 9. Using Facets to Classify and Access Digital Resources: Proposal and Example 145 Michèle HUDON 9.1. Introduction 145 9.2. Examining existing classification structures 147 9.2.1. Sample 147 9.2.2. Methodology 147 9.2.3. Results and discussion 148 9.3. A faceted structure to organize and access resources in a virtual library in education 151 9.3.1. Creating a special virtual collection of web resources in education 152 9.3.2. Classification and indexing 154 9.3.3. Development of a faceted classification structure 155 9.3.4. Using the faceted structure 159 9.3.5. Next steps 165 9.4. General conclusion 165 9.5. Bibliography 166 Chapter 10. Digital Libraries: the Publication of Legal Documents Online within the Info-mediation Service 169 Fabien GIRARD DE BARROS 10.1. Availability, instantaneity and simplicity of information: the minimum requirements for legal publications on the Internet 170 10.1.1. Accessing legal information: application of the classic unities of tragedy within the company 171 10.1.2. Judicial security and the instantaneity of the response 172 10.1.3. The simplicity of access: ergonomics – providing a helping hand with the abundance of information available on the Internet 173 10.2. The relevance of information: from the documentalist’s know-how to the documentalist/info mediator 175 10.2.1. The emergence of relevant search engines 175 10.2.2. Contextualization: first steps towards the relevance of information 176 10.2.3. Providing training for the jurists: reinforcing the link between the jurist and the documentalist 176 10.3. The sharing of judicial information: when the judicial publisher becomes the computer technician 177 10.3.1. Intranet: the symbiosis of official information and personal doctrines 178 10.3.2. Channels: communication within the communication service 178 10.3.3. The alert and the newsletter: managing updates 179 10.4. Conclusion 180 10.5. Bibliography 180 Chapter 11. What Scholarly and Pedagogic Material is Available Online for the Virtual User Within French Universities? 181 Ghislaine CHARTRON and Marc MINON 11.1. The availability of scholarly and pedagogic material online within French universities: an assessment 181 11.1.1. An economic scale that distinguishes three models 182 11.1.2. Published material as public property 182 11.1.3. Published material within a market economy 184 11.1.4. Published material and a common economy 186 11.2. Published digital resources and distance teaching devices: an even weaker synergy 188 11.3. The evolution of activities for libraries: future priorities? 190 11.3.1. Evolution of activities 190 11.3.2. Two future priorities for libraries 191 11.4. Bibliography 193 Chapter 12. The Revel@Nice Project: the Creation and Prospects of a Pioneering Site of Online Periodicals and Journals 195 Michel ROLAND 12.1. The project 195 12.1.1. Purpose of the site 195 12.1.2. History 197 12.2. Creation 199 12.2.1. Timetable for the creation of the site 201 12.2.2. Human resources and project management 201 12.2.3. Precisions and modifications 203 12.2.4. Launch of the site and performance analysis 204 12.3. Sustainability and longevity 205 12.3.1. Publishing sustainability 205 12.3.2. Technological sustainability 205 12.3.3. Institutional sustainability 206 12.4. Post-scriptum: today 207 12.4.1. Visibility 207 12.4.2. Versioning 207 12.4.3. Current prospects and perspectives 208 Chapter 13. Evaluating the Use and Users of Digital Journal Libraries 211 David NICHOLAS and Paul HUNTINGTON 13.1. Introduction 211 13.2. Digital libraries evaluated 213 13.3. Use of digital journals 214 13.3.1. Downloads (ranked lists) 215 13.3.2. Article use 215 13.4. Site penetration and “bouncing” 216 13.4.1. Infrequent visitors 217 13.5. Reflections on what constitutes a digital library “user” 217 13.6. Reflecting on the meaning of “use” 218 13.7. Widespread popular interest in digital journals 218 13.7.1. The rising popularity of the e-journal 218 13.7.2. Abstracts make a come back 219 13.8. Search approaches 219 13.9. User diversity 220 13.10. Conclusions 221 13.11. Bibliography 222 Chapter 14. Digital Collections in Libraries: Development and Continuity 223 Hélène ROUSSEL 14.1. Introduction 223 14.2. Adaptations and alterations in the document chain 224 14.2.1. Identification and selection 224 14.2.2. Purchases, subscriptions and licenses 225 14.2.3. Intellectual and physical processing of documents 227 14.3. Searching and catalogs 229 14.4. … searching and mega-catalogs 230 14.5. Organization of collections 231 14.6. Physical processing, accessibility and placement online 231 14.7. Preservation 232 14.8. … and dissemination 232 14.9. Conclusion 233 14.10. Bibliography 234 Chapter 15. Ergonomic Standards and the Uses of Digital Libraries 235 Nicole LOMPRÉ 15.1. Introduction 235 15.2. The evolution of ergonomic standards for user interfaces 236 15.2.1. Guidelines for leading computer manufacturers 240 15.2.2. Recommendations by WCAG for accessibility and standard number ISO/DIS 9241-171 242 15.2.3. Publishers and ergonomic recommendations 245 15.3. Study of the uses of digital libraries 247 15.3.1. Libraries and privileged relationships with the users 247 15.3.2. Getting lost in digital library interfaces 248 15.3.3. The use of online catalogs and databases 249 15.3.4. Listening to the researchers’ needs 252 15.3.5. User-centered focus groups within libraries 253 15.3.6. Suggested recommendations for improving digital libraries 253 15.3.7. Recommendations based on user opinions 256 15.4. Conclusion 256 15.5. Bibliography 258 Chapter 16. A Document Information System Within the University: From the Project’s Conception to its Installation 263 Corinne LEBLOND 16.1. Where do the university and its document information system originate from? Conditions for use of such a system 265 16.1.1. Local context: the document information system within the university 265 16.1.2. The emergence and development of a regional online university 266 16.2. The implementation of the document information system 267 16.2.1. The success of the modernization of documentation 267 16.2.2. The objectives and main priorities of the document information system 268 16.3. From the idea to reality: the spread of the document management system and the documentation portal 273 16.3.1. Technical configuration of the document information system 273 16.3.2. The document information system as a development tool 273 16.3.3. The services on offer when carrying out research from the documentation portal 275 16.4. The evolution and spread of the document information system 277 16.4.1. Strengthening co-operation with other university services in order to gather and broadcast all of the digital information that has been produced 277 16.4.2. The integration of the document information system within the global information system of the University of Artois 278 16.4.3. Providing the content for the document information system 279 16.5. Uses and feedback 280 16.6. Prospects and development 283 Chapter 17. Do Libraries Have a Future in Academia? 285 Robert CAMPBELL 17.1. The control of knowledge 285 17.2. The changing use of journals 286 17.3. Will the serials librarian survive? 287 17.4. Towards a more efficient system 288 17.5. The challenge ahead 290 17.6. The versioning problem 291 17.7. Developing countries 291 17.8. Open computation 291 17.9. Conclusion 292 17.10. Bibliography 293 List of Authors 295 Index 299