Digital dreams – analogue reality? Personal views on a current issue

51. évfolyam, 2005. 2. szám

REISZ László

Könyvtári Figyelő (Library Review) vol. 15. (51.) 2005. no. 2. pp. 269 – 274.

According to the author, information – in other words, content – is more important than format. Although printed documents will continue to be in use, digital collections are expected to prevail in the future. Digitisation cannot be regarded as simple provision of copies: it has enhanced features compared to the original copy. Two types of digitising projects can be distinguished: one of them is carried out for archiving purposes, while the other one focuses on the delivery of documents. Preservation projects are directed at the most valuable documents or works of cultural heritage in cases where the original format is hardly or not at all accessible by users. From the point of view of use, they primarily satisfy special academic and research needs. Digitisation of rare or endangered works with preservation purposes requires expensive and complex hardware. At the same time, the result will be an attractive picture file taking large storage space that, nevertheless, will not be suitable for direct access and use. The other type of digitisation activities satisfies the needs of the wide public (e.g. in the educational field) and aims to make available documents that are out of print, exist only in a few copies or cannot be loaned. As these works are digitised not as pictures but as texts, they take less storage space and require less expensive hardware, but at the same time they need more investment in human expertise and workload. The author's vision of the future library is a cyberspace where information is available irrespective of the format, yet it is accessible by all users.

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