| Digitisation and internet technologies lead to the formation of digital documents and digital /
virtual libraries. Changes in the concept of these libraries are compared to traditional ones and a working definition of virtual library of
Comenius University, which has been developed within a strategic study of Integrated information and communication system of Comenius
University in Bratislava, is included. A principal difference between this type of library and the "pre-internet" library-information
systems lies in the necessity, respectively the existence of the following functions, components and tools: ability to process all types of
digital documents with the help of metadata element set for their description (e.g. Dublin Core), existence of standards for searching and
browsing the documents in the databases with various structures (Z39.50), integration of special parts of the library system with the record
management system, administrative management system and full-text searching system, existence of search engines for full-text searching of
web pages, existence of hybrid search engines (combined searching in indexed databases and hierarchically structured directories), existence
of meta-search engines based on the exploitation of several search engines, existence of suitable information infrastructure (especially
access to internet), existence of acceptable interface between the man and the computer (human-computer interface), existence of interface
to external information systems. |
