Customer Reviews

Practical Digital Libraries: Books, Bytes, and Bucks (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems)

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This is a very informative, well-balanced book on digital libraries. Lesk considers both the pros and cons of electronic versus print-only libraries, and provides detailed descriptions of how to digitize and distribute a variety of content - text, images, audio, video, etc. He also gives historical and philosophical background on issues concerning digital libraries. The only problem I had was that some parts were too technical for me to understand. This may be because I'm just starting out in the field, and the book may be more accessible to those with more experience. However, I think the addition of a glossary to the book would help quite a bit. Overall, I found the book educational and enjoyable, and I recommend it highly.

This book is one of the most thorough discussions on the ins and outs of digital libraries I've ever seen. Lesk knows his stuff, both on the library - classification - document side and on the computer - technology side. Unfortunately, the reader also needs to be conversant with both sides, especially the technical. I feel the book is sometimes too heavily tilted toward the engineering/technology side. Kudos to Lesk, however, for his discussions of the economics of information, intellectual property, and international activities.