Distributed Computing Architectures for Digital Libraries Workshop

Abstract

Digital libraries (DLs) are increasingly common on the Web, providing ordered, vetted digital collections to targeted user groups. To date, much of DL research has focused on the acquisition and representation of digital objects, optimizing and personalizing user services, and interoperability efforts. Few DLs employ mirrors, much less some of the more sophisticated, non-client-server architectures found in WWW deployment, e.g. peer-to-peer systems and distributed storage architectures. Although these new architectures have been succesfully applied to a large number of Internet services, they have had little impact on DL research. Are they technically suitable for DL use, or do social and economic issues prevent their adoption?