Has the digital library arrived?

In February 1999, the National Library started an internal network for the library. The data of more than 5 million copies of library material can be looked up on the network, which has greatly improved in speed and effectiveness. Two thousand computers have been installed for readers to use. However, some parts of books haven't been listed online and readers can get information only by inserting the title of a book, which may not be convenient for readers.

Currently, the National Library has links with four domestic networks and the cable TV network. So it is capable of a billion bits of information. The digitalization of the material has had some success and in 1999, the National Library's website was visited about 104 million times. Meanwhile, only about 2,700,000 readers paid a visit to the library that year. Today, between 150,000 and 200,000 readers visit the National Library's website every day.

By the end of 1999, the National Library had collected 22 million books, including 5,660,000 Chinese books. But the information readers can get on-line is still limited. So you could say, the true digital library is still far from us.

National Library staff researcher Sun Chengjian thought digital standards should be unified. A single library could not be called a digital library; rather, a digital library must consist of a group of libraries, he said. So the standard of digitalization needs to be unified in order to benefit all visiting readers. In fact, digitalization of a library is not just about a single library or several libraries, but should involve all libraries of a country, even the libraries of the world, Sun said. Making full use of the Internet, libraries can share their resources simultaneously. Sun also said that when compared to the enormous financial backing and information of foreign digital work, Chinese digital libraries need more cooperation and adjustment.

(21DNN.com 02/08/2001)