Digital library is developed on the basis of traditional library, which is different from traditional library in many aspects, such as function, structure, operation mode, service mode, evaluation standard, work focus and so on. This paper compares them from the following aspects.
1. Different collection structures
The traditional library is mainly based on paper carriers, and other carriers coexist, so its repeated concepts and refusal rate will not disappear; Digital library is about electronic publications and online digital information. Its storage medium is not limited to printing. It has a variety of media, such as text, sound, light, images, movies, etc., and its storage carrier also includes CDs, tapes and various digital electronic devices. It provides intelligent information retrieval means through multimedia, hypertext, hypermedia and other technologies, and shows readers all kinds of vivid, concrete, vivid and lifelike information. Moreover, there is no repetition and refusal rate of network information resources.
2. Different service modes
The service of traditional library is to passively serve readers with the new library as the center, which can only serve readers in a certain area and period of time due to the limitation of time and space. The service of digital library is open, and it is a distributed library group. Through broadband high-speed internet, digital library will form a consortium of many libraries or information resource units distributed in a region or country, effectively store and manage different types of information in different places according to unified standards, and provide them to readers in a simple and easy-to-use way. Due to the limitation of beyond space and time, readers can remotely cross the database at any time and place on the Internet to obtain any needed information resources, thus achieving a high degree of resource enjoyment. It is user-centered, and users search for information through network terminals. Network can bring a large number of network information resources to users' homes or offices, and users can access many digital library information resources at the same time. It has no time and space restrictions and serves readers 24 hours a day.
3. Different work priorities
Traditional libraries focus on circulation and reading after editing; Digital library focuses on information collection and analysis, reference and network navigation, and librarians really become information navigators. Digital library can realize interoperability among heterogeneous databases, services and workstations, and is exploring deep semantic interoperability. It uses federated or coordinated software to retrieve content from similar data objects and services in a consistent and coherent manner.
4. The service life of literature information carriers is different.
Traditional libraries are mainly based on paper carriers, and China is known as "paper has a long life". So far, no portable file carrier is easier to save and protect than paper. As long as it is well preserved, it can be used for hundreds of years. However, electronic carriers not only have harsh storage conditions, but also have a very short life. Digital information is easily affected by viruses and other factors, resulting in the permanent loss of data. If the library can't renew the online database due to financial constraints, it will have nothing, because the library has only purchased a license for a period of time.
Librarians have different tasks.
The main task of traditional librarians is to collect, organize, preserve and become the role of social communication; In the era of digital library, managers are no longer just passive managers of information resources, but have changed from cultural workers to information collectors, managers and disseminators, navigators and workers who use literature information. It can publish and spread the information of various literature resources at any time through the network, guide or navigate readers, and provide readers with a variety of compatible multimedia remote digital information services.
6. Polarization of library development funds
The development of traditional libraries is slow, and the cost of library construction is not much after basic completion; However, the development and construction of digital library has high investment, which is characterized by high capital investment, high-tech equipment and high consumption. Moreover, the construction and enjoyment of information resources is also a high investment. For example, the China Digital Library pilot project of the National Library of China and the Calis project of the Ministry of Education cost tens of millions of RMB.
7. The indicators for evaluating libraries are different.
Traditional libraries generally take the number of books as the main evaluation index. For example, the evaluation of a university library depends on how many books and periodicals each teacher and student has, how many new books and periodicals they buy each year, or how many large books and special books are stored. These indicators focus on the collection of books in each library. Its characteristics are: emphasizing investment and scale, ignoring output and benefit. Indicators such as input and scale, such as books and periodicals purchase expenses, equipment purchase expenses, buildings, collections and personnel, are quantitative, while output and benefits, such as service quality and quantity, overall benefit and efficiency, per capita benefit and efficiency, are often lack of quantitative indicators, and the requirements are vague and the evaluation is difficult to operate. The modern library takes the quantity of documents and information available to libraries and readers, and the quantity, quality and benefit of products produced by these documents and information as the index to evaluate a library. Its characteristics are: emphasizing output and benefit, reducing the weight of input and scale, quantifying the number of documents and information used and the quantity, quality and economic benefit of products, making the evaluation easier to operate.