This book provides a lot of information on digital library concepts. As an introduction it may be a good resource but I found the information to be somewhat poorly organized. The volume of material felt overwhelming. The information provided is slightly dated even two years after publication. I would have to say that there are better titles available for providing a structured overview, and better titles for detailed specifics. ( )

Having helped put together The Whool School Library Handbook with Blanche Woolls from ALA, here comes nifty tidbits (edited and shortened from the orginal) from a wide range of published literature about digital libraries. It is like taking a short course in the topic form $55. And, there is enough humor to keep you going. The book is divided into sections: 1. Definitions (where many terms and concepts are defined in short articles rather than in dictionary-type formal definitions); 2. Users (articles describing who, why, and how folks are interacting with the digital library); 3. The Landscape (articles describing the various issues surrounding digital libraries); 4. The Market (articles dealing with the not-so-free digital library); 5. Tools (articles describing wikis, blogs, and other basics; 6. Operations (articles describing how librarians make the digital library work); 7. Preservation (articles looking at preservation in an era where so much changes so fast). 8. The Future (articles that see at least five minutes into the future). So, if you want to brush up quickly, get started, or just see what the major voices are saying all in one volume, this one will do the trick. Get it fast and read it. This stuff goes out of date quickly. ( )