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Article: The digital library edge: for research, virtual beats brick and mortar.
- Article from:
- Information Outlook
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Special Libraries Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Your dearest library memory might be the day you discovered a fascinating book while casually glancing at the shelves. It might be a practice of sneaking a non-crunchy snack into the study area so that you could munch quietly while savoring a read. Or it might be that day you took your date deep into the stacks for some less-than-intellectual enjoyment.
How can a disembodied digital library improve upon these? It can't. But for research purposes, DLs have the edge over brick-and-mortar libraries.
"Library" stems from the same root as book (Latin liber, liber = book) and is defined broadly as a knowledge store-house. Whether it stores x-rays, articles, ...