Study On Digitised Integration Of Library And Archive Services

It is an important mission for libraries, archives and other cultural institutions tovigorously promote the dissemination and sharing of cultural resources, for library andarchive resources are an important carrier of knowledge as well as an important part of thenational cultural wealth. In China, fragmented administrative systems, coupled withfragmented business practices, have hindered the process of the digital cultural resources as awhole providing effective services to the community and the general public. The developedEuropean and American countries have taken the lead in co-practices of the cultural sectorsconcerned with libraries and archives, obtaining a lot of valuable experience inco-construction and sharing of cultural resources. China has also ushered in a historicallygreat opportunity for libraries, archives and other cultural institutions to cooperate. First, atthe macro level, the national cultural strategy requires to promote the process of integrationof cross-sector holdings. China is actively deploying and promoting the national culturalresource sharing project, aimed at providing users with one-stop service through fullintegration of national cultural resources, and establishing a full-coverage resource systemby using digital networks and platforms. At the meso level, influence of informationtechnology makes resource integration of different collection departments a possible andurgent need, as in the Internet age, library and archive resources are mainly in digital form,and the development of information technology provides a reliable technical support forintegration of cultural resources of different properties and types. At the micro level, users’demand for full access to cultural resources has sped up the transformation of operationalprocedures of traditional collection institutions. Network users are no longer concernedabout the source and attribute of information, but instead, show unprecedented attention tothe usefulness of the information. Such backgrounds serve as policy basis, technical support,and practical foundation for the implementation of a comprehensive integration of digitallibrary and archive resources. Study on integration service of digital library and archiveresources is of great theoretical and practical value. In theory, it reveals the mechanism underwhich information service theories and practical research fuse and interact with each other indifferent disciplinary contexts. The interdisciplinary research perspective helps to expand thescope of radiation in their disciplines, enrich the theoretical systems related to informationservices, and provide a new growth point for the academic development. In practice, the study can effectively promote the concept of national culture construction, collaboration, andco-construction, coming up with new ideas for activation of the national cultural resources,heritage of civilization,and knowledge sharing, and putting forward operational modesconcerned with the protection of intangible cultural heritage in the digital environment.Based on the perspective of cross-sector cooperation, the thesis explores the ways toimplement digital resources integration of library and archive services.Ways to implement digital integration service of library and archive resources shouldbe discussed from a systematic perspective. First of all, effective mechanisms of cooperationbetween different cultural institutions must be established, which is the basis and premise ofintegrated service implementation. Because of the limit of administrative systems, librariesand archives belong to different administrative departments. Lack of motivation andexperience in the long-term management practice requires in-depth discussion of thefeasibility of cooperation between the two, and in turn a practical cooperation mode suitablefor the current Chinese situation can be produced. Second, the fact that library and archiveresources, as the basis of integration, are heterogeneous in nature, namely, they are classifiedaccording to different principles of order and organization methods, makes it a key tointegration service implementation to build technical and administrative programs which areinvolved in effective integration of library and archive resources. Diversified informationservice means and models, which are characteristic of the network environment, will beintegrated into a unified portal platform, to provide users with integrated services. It is thevery way to implement integration service. Based on the logic from staff (agency) toresources to service, the thesis proposes a framework concerned with implementation ofdigital library and archives resources integration at three levels. The thesis develops inaccordance with the structure of general statement followed by specific details and thenfollowed by conclusion. A question is raised in the first part. Based on the literature reviewand practical case studies, the practical needs of cooperation between library and archivesinstitutions are analyzed, and the general framework of the study is proposed. And thenimplementation plans of integration service are designed at different levels in the secondpart. The third part of the thesis mainly deals with the guarantee mechanisms of the digitalintegration service of library and archives resources.The thesis consists of eight chapters, the specific contents being as follows.The introduction part presents the background at the macro, meso and micro levels,against which the study on integration service of library and archives resources is carried out. The national cultural strategy, information technology influence and demand from culturalinstitutions and users are considered to have promoted the cooperation between variouscultural institutions to conduct integration service. The interdisciplinary research perspectivetheoretically expands the scope of radiation of library and archives science, enriches thetheory systems related to information service, and provides a new growth point fordisciplinary development. On a practical level, the cooperation and co-construction conceptprovides a new idea for the national culture resources activation, civilization heritage, andknowledge sharing, and prepares a workable mode for protection of non-material culturalheritage in the digital environment. On such basis, the concept of digital integration servicesis discussed, and7important component areas of integration service are suggested..Literature review and practical research. A systematic review of the literature data onthe integration and sharing of digital cultural resources, inter-library cooperation, culturalheritage protection and other aspects provides a solid theoretical support for the presentstudy, explores the limitations of the existing research, and then finds space for this study. Asto advances in practice, the study discusses representative practical projects conducted in theEuropean and American countries, ranging from global projects to intercontinental projectsand to national projects. Comparative analyses have been made between projects carried outoverseas and domestically, producing useful experience and valuable enlightenment forChina to implement the relevant practice.On the basis of literature review and practical research, the study’s theoreticalfoundation, practical basis, and overall framework of integration service implementation areput forward. Bases on information cluster theory, cross-sector management, informationresource classification and organization, this study proposes integration serviceimplementation framework of digital library and archives resources from three dimensionsinvolving institutions, technologies and services respectively, with users’ needs in the digitalcontext as a starting point, and customer satisfaction as the core to establish the influencingfactors of integration service.The institutional dimension focuses on the cooperation modes of different culturalinstitutions. First, analysis of foundation and value of inter-library cooperation is made forthe purpose of studying the feasibility of cooperation between libraries and archives. Thenanalysis of obstacles likely to occur in inter-library cooperation is made through case studiesof several different patterns of cooperation. Finally, alternative cooperation modes of libraryand archives institutions against Chinese administrative background are made available for selection.The research goal at technological dimension is to provide a reference standard foreffective description of library and archives resources. Since the library and archivesresources have their own organization technology and standards, a standardized informationorganization technology is essential to the effective integration of the two. Starting withcomparative analysis of common digital resource description standards, with reference torelated research findings abroad on metadata conversion, based on metadata descriptionmethods of mixed DC and EAD, this section introduces metadata programs aimed at libraryand archives resources aggregation, and tries to achieve the mapping and converting betweenthe metadata standards under discussion and other metadata criteria.Building a multipurpose portal platform with integrated applications and services iswhat the service dimension aims to accomplish. Integration of institutions and resourcesrequires a unified portal platform to realize the integration of services, and the integration ofdifferent service models is a means to achieve the integration services. With focuses onmodes such as the library and archives resources based knowledge services, customerdemands based personalized push, mobile Internet based ubiquitous intelligent services, andsemantic-based cross-media services, this section proposes the functional structure of theportal platform.Efficient and effective guarantee mechanisms are indispensable to the implementationof integration of digital library and archives resources. Five aspects including strategicplanning guide mechanism, technical standard realization supporting mechanism, resourceintegration and reserve mechanism, management co-ordination incentive mechanism, andrisk control mechanism are scrutinized in this part. How the five mechanisms interact withone another is also dealt with in this part.The last part summarizes the whole dissertation, proposing conclusions, and researchgaps as well as prospects.By using a variety of research methods including literature survey, case study,comparative analysis, and system development to do systematic research into related topics,the paper attempts to get innovation in the following areas.(1) Cross-sector cooperation models in line with Chinese management scenarios areintroduced with feasibility of cooperation between libraries and archives deeplydemonstrated.(2) Metadata solutions targeted at integration of library and archives resources proposed by this paper makes available reference technical standards for integrating heterogeneouscultural resources.(3) Library and archive resource service portal platform is constructed, which integratesdifferent institutions, heterogeneous resources, and information technology and services.