DIGITAL LIBRARIES AND THEIR UTOPIAS

Abstract

The humanity has always desired to build total libraries that put together, at reach of its senses, all the possible knowledge. This desire has been repeatedly expressed in the fiction literature and in the dreams of visionary minds. The digital library seems to be another step towards the realization of that ancestor dream, without requiring all the information is gathered in one single place. In this direction, the work traces the historical trajectory of the digital libraries, discusses what is mean by digital library, examines the key challenges that the digital library researchers must confront in the next few years, and finally, analysis what the various segments of the society expect from them.