The Web Versus Digital Libraries: Time to Revisit This Once Hot Topic
At the end of last century (Internet time elapses much quicker than normal time, and it already looks like a long time ago), the “information explosion” on the Web on one side, and the flourishing of research activities on digital library technologies on the other, spurred heated discussions about the future of traditional libraries. The view of one camp was that since “all” the information was available on-line, the use of smart search engines and clever software tools would allow Digital Libraries to provide all the information (and the services) needed by an information seeker. The view of the other camp was that the value of information was not just in its sheer quantity, but was rather in the organization and the quality of the information made available, and that could never be done by “programs”.