ERIC Number: EJ875988
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Oct
Pages: 41
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-2519
EISSN: N/A
Cultural Dimensions of Digital Library Development, Part I: Theory and Methodological Framework for a Comparative Study of the Cultures of Innovation in Five European National Libraries
Dalbello, Marija
Library Quarterly, v78 n4 p355-395 Oct 2008
This study examines the influence of culture on digital libraries of the first wave. The local cultures of innovation of five European national libraries (Biblioteca nacional de Portugal, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, the National Library of Scotland, and the British Library) are reconstructed in case histories from interviews with policy makers and developers of institutional digital libraries. The theories of culture and organizational rationality, social-choice systems, and strategies of organizational behavior helped articulate the framework for analysis. The study provides a historical foundation for understanding the processes of innovation in the earliest digital projects and digital libraries that resulted in an initial mass of digitized heritage material. Theory, methodology, institutional histories, and a summary of findings are presented here. Part II will present the foundational narratives of development--reconstructing the histories of digital initiatives in five European national libraries and their cultures of development. [For Part II, see EJ858561.]
Descriptors: Innovation, Government Libraries, Electronic Libraries, Foreign Countries, Comparative Analysis, Library Development, Comparative Education, Cultural Influences, Institutional Characteristics, Organizational Theories, Organizational Change, Library Research, Interviews, Case Studies, Historical Interpretation
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-188; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: Media Staff
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: France; Germany; Portugal; United Kingdom (Great Britain); United Kingdom (Scotland)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A