WIT 2003

What is a digital library?

Simply put, a digital library is a searchable collection of electronic materials/items made available via a central point of access (or “portal”). You can also think of a digital library as a centralized electronic collection or a gateway to electronic resources. For more technical definitions, click here.

You may not have heard the term "digital library," but maybe you have heard "cybrary" or "virtual library." For our purposes, all of these things are one and the same.

Digital libraries can collect all kinds of information, including:

• digital reproductions of primary source materials
  ex. Image from Chicago's Columbian Exposition: Early construction at Jackson Park (eCUIP)
  ex. Broadsides (Handbills): "Revenge! Working Men to Arms!" (Chicago Historical Society's The Haymarket Affair Digital Collection)
  ex. Historical map: The Dissolution of Austria-Hungary (eCUIP)
  ex. Manuscript: The Anti-Slavery Movement. A lecture by Frederick Douglass (Library of Congress, American Memory)
• digital reproductions of secondary source materials
  ex. Magazine article: "Flying Sculptures" (eCUIP)
  ex. Book: Hyde Park Houses (eCUIP)
  ex. Exhibit: The Dramas of Haymarket (Chicago Historical Society)
  ex. Storybooks: Internation Children's Digital Library
• links to Web pages and sites (Web directories, webliographies, etc.)
  ex: Science Web Guide (eCUIP)
  ex: Folklore and mythology (University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Ashliman)
  ex: Teen Space (The Internet Public Library)
  ex: Virtual field trips in science and math (Eisenhower National Clearinghouse)

TRY IT OUT! Use the following digital libraries to find an example of one primary resource, one secondary resource, and one Web site that you can use with your students. E-mail the name of each resource, the digital library you used to find it, and the URL for the resource to your mentors.

eCUIP: The Digital Library Project
America's Library
American Memory
International Children's Digital Library
The Internet Public Library

Find more information about digital libraries on the Resources page.