Digital Library: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Future

This article discusses the concept of a digital library, its advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional libraries, and the future of digital library technology. It explores the accessibility, storage, and preservation benefits of digital libraries, as well as the issues of copyright and pricing. The article also highlights the potential of digital libraries to overcome limitations of physical libraries and enable distance learning. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of the digital library landscape.

Running head: DIGITAL LIBRARY
Environmental Scan - Digital Library
Student’s name
Institution Affiliation(s)

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A digital library
A digital library can be defined as a collection of organized materials that are available in
electronic form. These materials can be provided in the format of books, papers, visual images,
sound and audio files, video files, articles and magazines (S. Li, Jiao, Zhang, & Xu, 2019).
Digital libraries also include methods or techniques of organizing, storing and retrieving the
materials, files and media that is contained in these libraries. Digital libraries can vary greatly
both in size and in scope and can be maintained by individuals, organizations or institutions such
as universities and other institutions of higher learning (Li & Liu, 2019). Digital libraries can
also be affiliated with an established physical library that is owned by an institution search as a
University. The electronic content and materials in these libraries can be stored locally, or it can
be accessed remotely by using computer networks. Digital libraries that are accessed through the
internet offer embedded software that can help in accessing documents of different types such as
PDF readers while other complex files like video files can be accessed through video streaming
services. One great asset that digital library technology provides is the capability to update this
library on a daily basis or even several times a day (Turan & Bayram, 2013).
A traditional library
The traditional library is one that contains books and information sources in print form or
as physical units. This is not the case with digital libraries where the information is stored
electronically. There are several advantages and disadvantages of the traditional library. Using
information sources in print or physical format limits the use of a particular resource to only a
few individuals at a time (Lovasz, Lovasz, & Gruescu, 2014). Furthermore, the cost of
purchasing printed sources is high, and they occupy a lot of space. Yet again, it is quite easy for
printed sources to get damaged or destroyed due to careless use or in case of fires. The sources

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can also be stolen from the library or from those who borrow them. However, using sources in
this form does not necessitate the purchase of equipment such as computers or the use of the
Internet (Ahmad & Abawajy, 2014).
Traditional Versus Digital Libraries
Most, if not all the disadvantages of the traditional library have been overcome by the
digital library. Storing books in digital format makes them easy to access. Access in this respect
is not limited to a few people but it is possible for use almost by an unlimited number of people
across the world at the same time. In this respect, digitization overcomes as well as the
restrictions imposed by distance and physical boundaries to library users. In this sense, it makes
it possible for academicians to undertake distance studies without the need to travel to specific
locations physically (Agosti, Ferro, & Silvello, 2016).
Another major importance of having documents or files stored in digital format is with
respect to availability in time. When books and periodicals are stored electronically, their access
is not limited to certain times of the day and night. Furthermore, searching sources is made quite
easy, less space is used for storage and preservation, and conservation of the sources can be done
for an unlimited amount of time. Digitization of the sources may also help in improving their
value in so far as display and sound quality is concerned (McCallum, 2014). This is so because
flaws may be removed from the sources electronically before they are finally stored for public or
private use.
Content of information sources
The information stored in e-books is usually quite much the same as that in hardcover
sources. E-books have the added advantage in that flaws that are inherent in them can be
corrected easily without additional costs to users. The credibility of sources does not much

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depend on the format in which they are stored or accessed but on factors such as authors,
publishers and level of currency. In this respect, a hardcover book is as much credible and of
similar quality as its electronic counterpart. In some cases, there are different versions of editions
of one source. In such a situation, it is better to choose the most recent version based on the year
of publication (Sun & Yuan, 2012).
Terms of accessing digitized sources and their Price
In order to access digitized sources, clients normally have to pay some form of
subscription or buy the book altogether. In most cases, subscriptions run for a predefined period
of time which may be extended upon addition of subscription fees. The prices of e-books
compared to hardcover books currently are almost equal. However, it is predicted that the prices
of e-books will lower over the years compared to their hardcover counterparts. Institutions such
as universities and save a lot when they buy one e-book that can serve its entire population at a
go without additional costs associated with using the e-book. In this respect, e-books emerge as a
cheaper alternative to their hardcover counterparts (Xie & Matusiak, 2016).
Copyright
The issue of copyright infringement features prominently where other people’s sources
are used by second or third parties. Digital libraries usually store sources that are in the public
domain which are not limited for use by copyright laws (Shuva, 2012). However, more recent
sources which are not in the public domain are usually stored with the authority of publishers
who in fact benefit from their sale online. In this respect, online libraries take necessary
measures to avoid infringing or their clients are infringing on copyrights. Library clients,
however, remain liable to these laws whenever they use information from digitized sources

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without giving credit to their authors much as it happens with hardcover sources (Yang & Li,
2016).
Digital library as an emerging technology has authors, publishers and representative
agents concerned about the possibility of infringing the copyrights. It is much easier to download
an e-book or copy a CD ROM to make unauthorized copies of someone else’s work than it is to
reproduce bound volumes of materials and redistribute them illegally. Due to this effect, critical
changes in the copyright laws and in the way these rules are enforced will happen as digital
libraries become more widespread (Barbuti, Ferilli, Redavid, & Caldarola, 2014).

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