DL Education in the EU and in the US: Where Are We?, Where Are We Going?

Abstract

The EU i2010 policy framework to build the European Information Society has positioned digital libraries as a critical component for its realization. The i2010 Digital Libraries initiative sets out to make all Europe’s cultural resources and scientific records – books, journals, films, maps, photographs, music, etc. – accessible to all, and preserve it for future generations. In the US, digital libraries have been indicated as a critical component in the long-term realization of the promise of cyberinfrastructure, as tools that will change how science and humanities research is organized, stored, disseminated, and curated (Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure). Since the advent of digital libraries in the early nineties, a consistent focus of DL research and development, beyond Computer Science, has been the application of DLs in educational contexts. Many projects have explored how best to teach WITH digital libraries, but only more recently has research been conducted on the best way to teach ABOUT digital libraries.